7 'yV'T^ 
 
 *0 PRINCETOlSr, N. J. 
 
 Section,.. 
 Shelf Number 
 
 Division 
 
 E.I.5.CP. 
 
A COMMENTARY 
 
 ON tBB 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 
 
 By R. V. FOSTER, D.D. 
 
 Professor in the Cumberland University Theological School, 
 
 Lebanon, Tennessee. 
 
 Author of Introduction to Study of Theology, Old Testament Studies, etc. 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENN.: 
 GCMBSSLiin) Pbssbttebiak PuBu^^;)rQ^ House. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, 
 
 By CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 In the •ffice of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 .>^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Romans was 
 written at the request of the Board of Publication whose 
 imprint it bears. It was the desire of the board, as expressed 
 by Dr. W. J. Darby, that I should base my work on the King 
 James version of the epistle, and that it should little exceed 
 a hundred thousand words, being only a handy commentary 
 intended chiefly for those readers who, in all Churches, will 
 ever be the majority. And yet it is hoped that the volume 
 may not be without value to many ministers of the gospel, 
 who may not often have opportunity to study those works 
 which deal at greater length with questions of critical detail. 
 
 Not only, however, was the previous intellectual prepara- 
 tion on the part of the reader for commentary study to be 
 taken into consideration, but his purse as well ; for if the 
 book had been much larger it would also have cost much 
 more, and hence while it might have done a greater good to 
 the few, it would have done less to the many. 
 
 The above words being addressed to my readers in general 
 I now beg to address a few to my reader in particular : 
 
 My object has been to ascertain as clearly as possible at the 
 outset the one thing of which the Apostle is writing to the 
 Romans, and to keep distinct trace of this one thing during 
 our movement from the beginning to the end of the epistle. 
 It seemed to me possible to do this, for before the actual 
 work of writing the commentary was begun, I had studied 
 the epistle sufficiently to see that it was not made up of a 
 
 (iii) 
 
iv Preface. 
 
 collection of disjointed chapters or paragraphs, but that in 
 it there was a thought in which all its other thoughts found a 
 bond of unity. I therefore ask the reader to withhold his 
 judgment concerning the merits or demerits of my work 
 until he has read the book through carefully, including the 
 Introduction, taking into consideration meanwhile the words 
 above addressed to my readers in general. 
 
 The Epistle to the Eomans is regarded as the one most 
 difficult of interpretation in the New Testament. It abounds 
 in conjunctions and other words which denote relations ; and 
 relational words, though the smallest, are the very ones 
 whose meanings are the most elusive. These are they upon 
 which the reader must keep his eye constantly fixed if he 
 would not drop the thread and lose himself in the labyrinth. 
 And let the English reader say what he will about the unim- 
 portance of knowing Greek, it is utterly impossible to know 
 with any certainty what the meaning in English is unless one 
 knows what is the correspondent in the original. 
 
 I,et the English reader notice, for example, as he reads the 
 epistle, how frequently the word " for," or " because," or 
 " therefore," etc., occurs, and let him notice the number of 
 instances in which he can make any thing out of it. Indeed, 
 a knowledge of the Greek original itself is not always suffi- 
 cient, for instances are not infrequent in which it devolves on 
 us to choose the one we prefer of two or more tolerably well 
 authenticated Greek readings; or, it may be, the one we 
 prefer of several well attested definitions. These are not 
 matters, ordinarily, that interfere in any serious way with any 
 of the fundamental doctrines or principles of Christianity. 
 But, nevertheless, when one comes to interpret — and all Bible 
 students are interpreters — it is necessary for one to decide, 
 either tentatively or absolutely, which one of the two or more 
 exegetical possibilities he will prefer. 
 
Preface. 
 
 No book of the New Testament has a larger literature than 
 the Epistle to the Romans, and none has given rise to a 
 longer list of exegetical opinions, each differing from all the 
 others. But this only shows that it is a great epistle, and 
 need not be a source of discouragement even to the humblest 
 student. The *' word," at least in its main significancies, " is 
 nigh thee, even in thy mouth." 
 
 If the reader is not willing to walk without a guide through 
 the museum wherein the wonderful thoughts of the greatest 
 of the apostles are exhibited, let him select the one whom he 
 is willing to follow at least for once. If he should not find in 
 this little volume the interpretation he prefers, he may be 
 comforted in knowing that he has only to search elsewhere, 
 in order to find it, for hardly an interpretation could be 
 thought of which some writer has not entertained. Are we, 
 therefore, utterly at sea ? No. Protestantism is not excessive 
 individualism. It thinks in recognized and organized 
 groups, and within certain defined limits every individual 
 finds himself thinking in harmony with his group. 
 
 It has sometimes been said that it is a blessed thing that 
 every poor sinner does not have to understand the deep 
 things of the Bible and of theology in order to be saved. It 
 is indeed a blessed thing — for otherwise none could be saved. 
 If I may reverently make the comparison, it is also a blessed 
 thing that every man does not have to understand the deep 
 things of legal science in order to citizenship in the State. 
 And yet every citizen may laudably desire to be intelligent 
 and somewhat informed in regard to that noble science. 
 
 It is my earnest prayer that the Holy Spirit, in whose dis- 
 pensation we live, may so use this little volume as to make it 
 helpful to some readers in their effort to become good citi- 
 zens of the kingdom of heaven on earth. 
 
 R. V. FosT]BR. 
 
■m-'i^- 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 Chapter I. 
 
 PAUIy. 
 
 PAeB. 
 I.— Before His Conversion i 
 
 1. The Name. 
 
 2. The Birthplace. 
 
 3. The Early lyife. 
 
 II.— His Conversion, 10 
 
 1. The Preparation. 
 
 2. From What to What. 
 
 3. His Relation With Other Apostles. 
 
 III. — After His Conversion, 18 
 
 1. Preaching Jesus as the Son of God. 
 
 2. In Celicia and Syria. 
 
 3. His Person and Character. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 I.~The Date, 25 
 
 IL— Authenticity, 25 
 
 III.— The Church at Rome, 26 
 
 IV.— Occasion and Design, 28 
 
 v.— Styi^e of the Episti^e, 30 
 
 VI.— Leading Thoughts, Words, Texts, . . 35 
 
 VII,— Testimonies Concerning the Epistle, . . 39 
 
 (vii) 
 
viii TABI.E OF Contents. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 THE TEACHINGS OF THE EPISTLE. 
 
 L— The Line of Thought, 43 
 
 II._Paui,'s Doctrine of Sai^vation, ... 47 
 
 III.— The Ethicai, Teaching, 59 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 L— The Preface (i. 1-15). ^5 
 
 IL— The Doctrine Announced (i. 16, 17), . . 80 
 
 IIL_The Doctrine Expounded (i. i8-v. 21), . . 84 
 IV.— The Doctrine in its Rei^ation to Sanctifi- 
 
 CATiON (vi.-viii.), . • ' • • .182 
 v.— The Doctrine in its Historicai, Aspects 
 
 (ix.-xi.), 260 
 
 VI.— The Doctrine in its Ethicai. Aspects (xii.-xiv.), 331 
 
 VII.— C0NC1.US10N AND Greetings (xv., xvi.), . 383 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I. Before His Conversion. 
 
 I. The Name: "Saul who was also called Paul." 
 The fact that he whom we Gommonly call Paul bore 
 also the name Saul has been accounted for in various 
 ways. Some have supposed that he obtained the name 
 from his connection with the conversion of Sergius 
 Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, of which we have an 
 account in the 13th chapter of Acts. This opinion has 
 been held by many eminent scholars, both ancient and 
 modern. But it does not seem to the present writer at 
 all probable that either Paul himself or his friends 
 adopted the name because of the part which he had in 
 the conversion of the Roman governor of Cyprus. To 
 have immortalized his elation over the event in any 
 such way as this would have been utterly unlike Paul. 
 Others have held that the name which his mother gave 
 him was Saul, that being a name well known in the tribe 
 of Benjamin to which he belonged, but that in his ear- 
 ly manhood he came to be called Paulus because he 
 was small of stature.* The most probable explanation 
 
 * 2 Cor. X. 10. Paulus means /////<?. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 of the two names is that "Saul" was his Aramaic 
 or Hebrew name, the name which his Jewish parents 
 gave him on the day of his circumcision, and that later 
 on when he came to be known by Gentiles, per- 
 haps even before his conversion, he also received the 
 Roman name Paul. It had never been uncommon for 
 Israelites to receive two names, as in the case of Abra- 
 ham, Jacob, Solomon, Daniel, etc., and at this period 
 of their history many Jews also received names of 
 Greek or Roman origin. Peter, the distinguished 
 apostle, bore a Greek name, as did also Philip and 
 Stephen. Forever severed, as he was, from Judaism., 
 both in his beliefs and in his apostolic labors, it is not 
 strange that he should have preferred his Gentile name. 
 And by this name in his Epistles he always called him- 
 self He began to be in a pre-eminent sense the apos- 
 tle to the Gentiles when he landed on Cyprus, the 
 scene of his first foreign missionary labors, and from 
 that time onward his Gentile friend and companion, 
 Luke, speaks of him as Paul. It is probable also that 
 his Roman name would serve him a better purpose in 
 his capacity of Roman citizen than would his Hebrew 
 name. When Luke wrote the Acts, Paul was an old 
 man, worn and weary, and languishing perhaps in a 
 Roman prison. When he first appears in history as 
 the young and violent persecutor of the cause for 
 which he afterward gave his life, he is introduced as 
 " Saul who is also Paul; " and the brief formula would 
 be enough to make Gentile or Jewish readers, who had 
 not known it before, pause and think that so great a 
 transition from the man "Saul" to the man "Paul" 
 could not be brought about unless the cause were also 
 a great reality. 
 
Paul. 3 
 
 2. His Birthplace. Tarsus, the birthplace of the 
 writer of the Epistle to the Romans, was about five 
 hundred miles almost due north of Jerusalem. It was 
 situated near the shore of the Mediterranean, on both 
 banks of the cool and swift Cydnus. At the time of 
 Paul's birth it had been no mean city for hundreds of 
 years. Rawlinson tells us on the authority of ancient 
 inscriptions, that it was founded by the Assyrian king 
 Sennacherib about B.C. 685; and from Xenophon, who 
 wrote about B.C. 400, we learn that it was already a 
 great and flourishing city. Subsequently it became 
 the seat of a school of philosophy and general educa- 
 tion more famous even than the schools of Alexandria 
 or of Athens, and which sent forth teachers to Rome 
 itself and other distant places. The great Stoic phi- 
 losopher, Athenodorus, the teacher of the Emperor 
 Augustus, taught in the school at Tarsus, as did also 
 the Platonic Nestor a little later on, or about the time 
 when the young Saul was first walking the thronged 
 streets of the great city. 
 
 Tarsus became a Roman city B.C. 66, receiving its 
 freedom from Anthony, and the dignity of being 
 classed as a metropolis from Augustus. It was the 
 capital of a rich province, and in its harbor might be 
 seen ships from all parts of the Mediterranean. Greeks, 
 Romans, and Jews abounded there — "the three peo- 
 ples of God's election," through whose unconscious 
 agency was to be brought about the fullness of time, 
 and the chief instrument in the world-wide proclama- 
 tion of the gospel of this fullness was also to be the 
 young citizen of Tarsus, whose name was Saul. But 
 for the most part, " the inhabitants were vain, efiem- 
 inate and luxurious, more like Phoenicians than 
 Greeks, Their sensuous Eastern religion in these 
 
Introduction. 
 
 golden days of affluence had more attraction for them 
 than the grave philosophy of the Porch, and the le- 
 gend supposed to be graven on the statue of Sardanap- 
 alus, at the neighbor city of Anchiale, ' let us eat and 
 drink, for to-morrow we die,' which Paul quotes in 
 I Cor. XV. 32, might have been the motto of the mass 
 of the townsmen." 
 
 3. His ^arly I/ife, It had long been "the time 
 of the dispersion," and we know not when nor from 
 what place Paul's father or forefather went to Tarsus. 
 We are told in the Acts that Paul was a Roman citi- 
 zen, and he himself also informs us that he was born 
 a freeman. But no clew is given us to the ground on 
 which this exceptional distinction was based, and for 
 the reason that the statement concerning his citizen- 
 ship is only made incidentally in the course of the 
 narrative, and is nowhere the special topic of the his- 
 torian's treatment, it is extremely far-fetched, there- 
 fore, to doubt the reality of his citizenship, as some 
 have done, merely because the ground of it is not 
 given. It was probably due to some distinguished 
 service which one of the family in former days had 
 rendered to some distinguished Roman ; though the 
 most that can be affirmed with considerable certainty 
 is that it was not due to the fact that he was born in 
 Tarsus ; for this city did not possess such rank in the 
 list of Roman cities as to confer the privilege of citi- 
 zenship as a mere matter of birthright. As a rule it 
 had to be either earned or bought ; and the fact that it 
 had been earned or bought by one of Paul's ancestors 
 of near or remoter degree is a proof that his family 
 was one of some social distinction. 
 
 The exact date of Paul's birth is not known, to us. 
 
Paui.. 5 
 
 He speaks of himself as an old man when in the year 
 A.D. 62, he was lying in prison at Rome. He is 
 spoken of as a young man when in the year A.D. 33, 
 he participated in the stoning of Stephen. Hence he 
 must have been born very nearly the same time as 
 Jesus. "When the boy Jesus was playing in the 
 streets of Nazareth, the boy Paul was playing in the 
 streets of his native town, away on the other side of 
 the ridges of Lebanon. They seemed likely to have 
 totally different careers, yet by the mysterious ar- 
 rangements of Providence these two lives, like streams 
 flowing from opposite water-sheds, were one day, as 
 river and tributary, to mingle together." And both 
 Paul and Jesus carried with them into their subsequent 
 ministries as Master and disciple, the influences, ap- 
 parently, which were about them in their early years. 
 Jesus loved the country, and much of his ministry was 
 spent in places where nature was more visible than 
 the work of man. He loved to draw his illustrations 
 from rural sources — the birds of the air, the lilies of 
 the field, the shepherd leading his sheep, the sower 
 sowing in the field by the wayside, the tares, the house 
 built upon the sand, or upon a rock, and the vineyard, 
 and the husbandman, etc. And the nature of his 
 earthly ministry was in deepest harmonj^ with these 
 influences of his boyhood. But with Paul we are i:i 
 a different atmosphere. He was born and reared in 
 the great city. He was used to scenes of tramp and 
 hurry, and monuments of human energy; and is thus 
 wisely fitted to become the bearer of Christianity to the 
 world's great centers of population and power. He 
 preaches and writes to the people gathered at Antioch, 
 and Ephesus, and Thessalonica, and Corinth, and 
 Rome. He is equally at home with Jew, and Greek, 
 
Introduction. 
 
 and Roman, and barbarian of nameless blood. And 
 we see that his speech abounds in illustrations drawn 
 from scenes of busy life — the athlete engaged in the 
 wrestle or the race, the soldier panoplied in full ar- 
 mor, the swordsman who fights not as one beating 
 the air, and many others of like sort, all of which 
 were matters of daily observation to those whom he 
 addressed. Jesus himself consecrated this Paul to his 
 ministry among the Gentiles of msmy cities and many 
 nationalities ; and both in respect to his mission and 
 the grandeur of zeal, and energy, and judgment, with 
 which he accomplished it, no man in the New Testa- 
 ment history is more unique than he. 
 
 We do not know how much of his education Paul 
 received in the schools at Tarsus. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that he lived there until he was at least twelve 
 years of age ; and that he attended the Jewish school 
 in connection with the synagogue, learning the princi- 
 pal facts in regard to the history of his own remarka- 
 ble nation, and reading the Old Testament Scriptures 
 in the Alexandrian Greek version, from which he after- 
 ward made the most of his quotations when writing 
 his epistles. His father being a man of some promi- 
 nence, as his Roman citizenship may imply, and being 
 doubtless also a Pharisee of the straightest type, would 
 lay no small stress on the importance of his son's know- 
 ing the literature and traditions of his own people. He 
 must also have acquired a practical knowledge of the 
 I^atin tongue,as well as of the native dialects of Cilicia. 
 The fact that in his writings he rarely quoted from the 
 Greek literature does not argue a want of acquaintance 
 with it ; and the fact that in two instances at least he 
 does quote from Greek poets does argue a greater de- 
 gree of familiarity with the literature than was pos- 
 
Paul. 7 
 
 sessed by the vast majority even of the better class 
 of Jews. It is not at all likely that even a stray copy 
 of Aratus, or Cleanthus, or any Greek poet or phi- 
 losopher, was often on sale in the Jerusalem book 
 market. 
 
 At Tarsus Paul learned the trade of tent-making 
 out of the Cilician hair-cloth so extensively manufact- 
 ured there. From this, however, we can infer nothing 
 as to the poverty or wealth of his father, for in view of 
 the uncertainties of human fortune, it was the excel- 
 lent custom of every Jewish parent to teach his son a 
 trade. Even the most learned doctors of the law had 
 their trade, and it was not regarded as disreputable for 
 the most learned rabbi to make his living by working 
 with his hands. Indeed, it was regarded as a degrada- 
 tion of the law for a Jew to make his living by teach- 
 ing the law. The combination of some secular busi- 
 ness with the study of the law was especially recom- 
 mended by the great Gamaliel. But whether, as a 
 matter of expediency or otherwise, the trade which 
 Paul learned in his youth served him an excellent pur- 
 pose in his after years ; and in the light of the peculiar 
 civilization of his day it was not regarded as a strange 
 or pathetic thing that the apostle, even in his old age, 
 should preach gratuitously and earn his living by mak- 
 ing tents. In the light of his Jewish training and sur- 
 roundings, his saying that the laborer in the gospel 
 " is worthy of his hire," is very significant, and one 
 which not even apostolic authority could have insisted 
 upon in his day. 
 
 At the age of twelve the Jewish boy became what 
 was technically called bar mitsoah, or ** son of the law," 
 which meant that he was then expected to begin to 
 observe the Mosaic law like older people, and was 
 
8 Introduction. 
 
 taken up to the temple feasts, and began to observe 
 the feasts, especially the great day of Atonement. It 
 may have been about this time that the young Saul 
 began his career at Jerusalem as a student under the 
 great doctors of the law, of whom Rabban Gamaliel 
 was at that time the most distinguished. But whatever 
 may have been the exact date, the ardent youth must 
 have entered upon his studies with the greatest enthu- 
 siasm, and it would seem that his zeal never abated. 
 While the young Saul was thus pushing forward with 
 the utmost eagerness to the day of his graduation in 
 the college at Jerusalem, the young Jesus, with whom 
 he was afterward to be so intimately associated, was 
 quietly abiding his time, growing in favor with God and 
 man, in the life of obscurity at Nazareth. It was the 
 custom of the youthful rabbis, on completing their 
 studies, to scatter abroad over the world wherever there 
 were Jews, for the purpose of beginning their practi- 
 cal work. Of course we do not know when Paul re- 
 ceived his degree and left Jerusalem, nor do we know 
 where he went, but it must have been about the time 
 that Jesus began his public ministry, and he must 
 have gone to a city which Jesus did not visit, for he 
 himself tells us that he never saw Jesus in the flesh. 
 Had he remained in Jerusalem, so zealous and rigid 
 a Pharisee would doubtless have met him who at- 
 tracted so much attention in the temple and rebuked 
 the Pharisees so scathingly. But after a while he 
 came back. Jesus, the Nazarine, was no longer there 
 in person, but in his stead there was a hated sect of 
 Nazarines, followers of Jesus, and Saul began to per- 
 secute them bitterly. They did not hold his views 
 concerning the Mosaic law, nor did they hold their 
 own views silently. Paul's was an astute mind, but he 
 
Paul. 9 
 
 forgot during at least one short period of his life that 
 the best way to destroy a supposed wrong is to build 
 up the opposite right. No error, whether real or un- 
 real, can ever be eradicated by dragging its advocates 
 to prison either in the literal or figurative sense. 
 
 There is no conclusive evidence that Saul ever be- 
 came a member of the Sanhedrin, and it is probable 
 that he never did. He was an intense Pharisee, he 
 had a profound knowledge of the law, he was skilled 
 in legal disputations, he was an active and violent 
 persecutor of the first Christians, he had the con- 
 fidence of Jews in authority, and this is all that can 
 be said with certainty in respect to this ever open 
 question. And it is a question, after all, of no im- 
 portance. It is probable, however, that he would 
 have become a member, or else greater than a mem- 
 ber, had he not become a Christian. Nor can it ever 
 be shown that he was, or was not, at any period of his 
 life a married man. It is quite certain that he had no 
 wife while he was an apostle, but any one is at liberty 
 to suppose that he was a widower. Paul himself no- 
 where says any thing that is opposed to such a sup- 
 position. It was a rule that members of the San- 
 hedrin should be married men, but as his member- 
 ship in that body is an open question, so also is this 
 other in so far as it depends upon the former. Of 
 Paul's family in Jerusalem all that we know is, that 
 he had a married sister there, and that she had a son 
 who was instrumental on one occasion in rescuing his 
 uncle from the violence of the Jews. 
 
lo Introduction. 
 
 II. Saul's Conversion. 
 
 I. The Preparation, Saul's conversion was 
 not as sudden as it may usually seem to the casual 
 reader to have been. That is to say, it did not take 
 place without a previous mental or spiritual prepara- 
 tion therefor. He was not breathing out threatenings 
 against the Christians when he was converted, nor 
 for some little while before. The journey from Jeru- 
 salem to Damascus was a many days' journey, and it 
 is a fact quite worthy of notice that he was not con- 
 verted near Jerusalem. One may easily do in the 
 excitement of the moment and when the object of 
 his rage is at hand that which he can not do after 
 calm reflection. On the long and silent journey 
 there was opportunity for the still small voice. It 
 could assert itself in the calm of the Syrian plain as 
 it could not do amid the passionate and whirling life 
 at Jerusalem. Saul's zeal as a persecutor brought 
 him to his critical moment, and at the critical moment 
 his zeal failed him. But it is not probable that he 
 was satisfied thoroughly with himself when he left 
 Jerusalem. He wanted to be in a state of harmony 
 with God, and he felt that he was not, and his zeal in 
 persecuting the sect which he thought was obnoxious 
 to God did not bring him that sense of inward peace 
 which he may have thought it would ; and his going 
 to Damascus to engage in further persecutions was 
 only with the hope of buying at a larger price in the 
 same coin the peace which he desired and had not 
 obtained. It was as Luther doing small penances and 
 then walking over the mountains to Rome that he 
 might do larger ones, seeking peace and finding it 
 
Paul. h 
 
 not. There were, however, plenty of Pharisees at 
 Jerusalem who were restful enough of heart — restful 
 because they were dead. The commandment had not 
 come to them, and hence they had no consciousness 
 of sin or of being in discord with God. But Saul's 
 profound knowledge of the whole Mosaic law, and 
 his keen appreciation of its spiritual import, would 
 by no means permit him to be satisfied with the dead 
 formality of mere outward observance. When the 
 seed which Gamaliel sowed fell into Paul's heart it 
 fell into deeper and richer soil than the average, and 
 it was destined to spring up and produce fruit which 
 Gamaliel himself did not dream of And the subject 
 of the address of Stephen, in whose martyrdom he 
 himself had participated, was the spiritual signifi- 
 cance of the law. Saul had too keen and profound 
 an intellect, and too sensitive a nature, not to see the 
 point of the address plainly. And his unrest was 
 made only the more unrestful. He had opportunity 
 to think on all these things deliberately and at length 
 as he traveled toward Damascus; and the vision of 
 the martyr's face " as it had been that of an angel," 
 was doubtless often before him in the quiet hours, and 
 the memory of his dying words, " Father, lay not this 
 sin to their charge," must have abided with him. 
 Years afterward in one of his references to his life 
 before his conversion the only event which he men- 
 tions in particular was the fact that he had partici- 
 pated in the stoning of Stephen. The words would 
 seem to have been spoken as with a suppressed sob. 
 " Thou knowest that I consented to the death of thy 
 martyr." The central thought of Stephen's preach- 
 ing, and his prayer, and his death, were the blows 
 which Saul could not resist. And so at last, far away 
 
12 Introduction. 
 
 from Jerusalem on the road to Damascus, the conflict 
 with his weakening Pharisaism on the one hand and 
 his increasing convictions on the other culminated in 
 the everlasting downfall of Saul the Pharisee. Such 
 was the natural process which led to his conversion, 
 and through such a process, differing perhaps only in 
 the intensity of the struggle, has many another man 
 been caused to pass. The Law is alwa3^s the Slave 
 who must lead man to Christ. There is a light, as 
 real as any light, which we can not see with our 
 usual eyes; there is a voice, as real as any voice, 
 which we can not hear with our usual ears. And 
 when the darkness hitherto has been dark enough, 
 and the conviction and struggle suddenly culminate 
 in the overthrow of our old selves, then our other 
 eyes may be opened to the Light from heaven, and 
 our other ears to the voice of Him whom we had 
 persecuted ; and it is no doubt true that this quicken- 
 ing of our spiritual senses may, if intense enough, 
 produce a temporar}^ paralj^sis of our physical senses. 
 There may have been more than all this in the inci- 
 dents connected with Saul's conversion ; but whether 
 so or not all this is sufficient to meet the demands of 
 the narrative which has been furnished by Paul him- 
 self and the historian Luke. Paul related the inci- 
 dents as he actually experienced them, and he re- 
 garded the experience as abundant proof that he 
 really had been persecuting the glorified Son of God, 
 And all the logic of Jerusalem and the Jewish world 
 could not force him to gainsay his own experience. 
 He knew his past mental conflict, he knew his pres- 
 ent peace, he remembered the Light which had 
 flashed upon him, and the Voice which he had heard, 
 too well for further debate with himself. 
 
Paul. 13 
 
 2. From What to What, But from what was 
 Saul converted and /<? what was he converted? it 
 being understood that we use the term conversion 
 here, not in the sense of regeneration or the change 
 **from nature to grace." His new birth differed in no 
 essential respect from the regeneration, or new birth 
 of any other man. But when we speak of Saul's con- 
 version, from what do we understand that he was con- 
 verted, and to what? It is not quite right to say that 
 he was converted from Judaism to Christianity. That 
 is what Paul's Jewish enemies were always afi&rming, 
 and it is what Paul himself often felt it necessary to 
 deny. Strictly speaking he was not converted from 
 Judaism, for in the true sense of that term he was al- 
 ways more faithful to Judaism than the Jews who op- 
 posed him. Christianity and the genuine old Judaism 
 from Abraham to Moses, and onward were only two 
 phases of one and the same thing. Paul knew very 
 well that justification, harmony with God, salvation 
 in short, which was the end ostensibly aimed at by 
 both Jew and Christian, was attained in precisely the 
 same way in the Old Testament as it was according to 
 the teachings of Stephen, himself, and other Chris- 
 tians. It was the Jew who had per\^erted the teach- 
 ing of the law, who had failed to recognize the spirit 
 of the law, and not Paul. He, having seen it himself, 
 meant to call his brother Jew back to the true spirit- 
 ual interpretation of the law, such indeed as he might 
 often have read in the great Psalmist (Psalm li. 17, 
 19 ; and the great Prophet Isaiah i. 1 1-16, etc.). There 
 could, in the very nature of the case, be but one way 
 for man to have peace with God, and this way was as 
 open to one man as to another. The old Judaism 
 recognized this, as Stephen and Paul well knew. It 
 
14 Introduction. 
 
 was the scribe and Pharisee who by their manifold tra- 
 ditions had made the law of no effect. It was these 
 who had criminally failed to understand their own 
 Scriptures, forsaking the old landmarks, and also 
 leading the people away. So far as the outward form 
 of Judaism was concerned, circumcision and all the 
 other details, Paul cared very little for these one way 
 or another, neither on the part of himself nor of his 
 converts, provided only the inward spirit could be 
 duly recognized. The continuation of the old ordi- 
 nances was quite consistent with Paul's views, but 
 they were really not essential, and there was really no 
 reason why the converts, whether Jews or Gentiles, 
 should be incumbered with them, they were in the 
 first place only tokens and memorials of the divine 
 purpose of salvation, and of their own relation to this 
 purpose; and a much simpler system of tokens and 
 memorials, as for instance an organized community 
 of those who held to Judaism in its spirit, with a few 
 simple rites, would do just as well now as the old 
 elaborate system had formerly done. And indeed a 
 good deal better, for the simpler system would not be 
 so burdensome, nor so likely to conceal from view the 
 true inner core of the matter — which was that, what- 
 ever outward forms there might be, the only way after 
 all for any man to be in a state of harmony with God, 
 and hence really happy, was to have that disposition 
 toward God which is often expressed by the one word, 
 Faith. It was in part then, these views to which Paul 
 was converted, and it was the lifeless and prevalent 
 Pharisaism from which he was converted. 
 
 But having been turned about to such an extent as 
 this, Paul could not fail also to see that the salvation 
 for which he had longed was the right no less of the 
 
Paui.. 15 
 
 Gentile than of the Jew, for how could God prefer one 
 sinful person to another sinful in the same sense and 
 in the same degree ? And this led him to the grasp 
 of Israel's real mission, which was, not the selfish 
 enjoyment of a gift given to it only, but that it should 
 be the means of distributing the knowledge of a com- 
 mon gift to all men, and of bringing all men into 
 actual possession of it. It was this farther step that 
 widened and deepened the chasm between Paul and 
 the Pharisees. 
 
 Paul had seen the germs of these views to which he 
 was converted in the teachings of Jesus as represented 
 in the preaching of Stephen and other first Christians 
 in Jerusalem, and he had detected their significance 
 and tendency with a keener insight perhaps than the 
 majority of these earliest preachers themselves had 
 done; and the very moment he became convinced 
 that this Jesus was really the Messiah, by witnessing 
 for himself his glorified humanity, the question was 
 settled forever with him. He did not abandon the 
 Old Testament, for he constantly quoted from it in 
 confirmation of his views, and hence he did not aban- 
 don Judaism. He simply abandoned its perversions, 
 linking in his teaching the true old with the new 
 phase, and endeavoring in a life-long effort, so far as 
 his relation to his brother Jews was concerned, to call 
 them back to the ancient doctrine of a world-wide 
 salvation by grace through faith, rather than a Jewish 
 salvation by works consisting in legal observances. 
 But never was any man more misunderstood by his 
 own countrymen than was Paul. Savonarola, John 
 Huss, Jerome, and some others, have in a small way, 
 lived a little in advance of their day ; but Paul was 
 eighteen centuries in advance of his people — and how 
 
1 6 Introduction. 
 
 much more than this? for the Jews as a people have 
 not yet moved up abreast of Paul. 
 
 3. PauVs Relation to Other Apostles. But 
 
 we might as well ask just here, in what doctrinal atti- 
 tude did this conversion of Paul, as above defined, 
 place him in respect to the other apostles — Peter and 
 and James in particular. And we feel obliged to 
 answer the question by saying that they occupied 
 essentially the same ground, though they did not see 
 their position so clearly as Paul saw his, nor did they 
 have so thorough a grasp of its details and tenden- 
 cies. Like Paul, Peter and James held that that 
 which after a while was called the gospel was, not 
 something essentially different from Judaism, but only 
 another phase of Judaism ; and a phase at that with 
 which the old ordinances were not at all inconsistent. 
 Circumcision and the rest, thought they, can serve 
 their proper end as symbols and memorials of God's 
 redemptive purpose no less truly under the new 
 phase than they did under the old. But Paul reached 
 his conclusion in regard to the share which the Gen- 
 tiles might have in this salvation in advance of Peter 
 and James, and with a greater degree of mental assur- 
 ance of the correctness of his position. And at last 
 when these two leading apostles did advance so far as 
 to see that the gospel might be preached also to the 
 Gentiles, they were still a good deal more dim sighted 
 than Paul in regard to the question of the old ordi- 
 nances. With Paul the matter of their observance or 
 non-observance, whether by Gentile or Jewish con- 
 vert, was a mere matter of expediency, while with 
 Peter and James it was, for a considerable time at least, 
 rather a matter of conscience. The Holy Spirit was 
 
Paul. 17 
 
 leading the apostles into all the truth, was leading 
 them gradually. Every mind is not so constituted 
 that it can be caused to reach the truth at a single 
 bound; nor indeed had Paul himself so reached it. 
 The usual method of the Spirit in leading the Church 
 forward from truth to truth is the gradual method of 
 the rising sun. 
 
 Had the Jews as a people intelligently accepted the 
 new phase of Judaism, or of what is commonly called 
 the Old Testament dispensation, introduced by Christ 
 and his apostles, they might, without any violence 
 whatever to the doctrines of the gospel have kept up 
 the old Mosaic ordinances. Circumcision and bap- 
 tism might still have been employed as tokens of 
 membership, and the sacrifices, and the Lord's-supper 
 might still have been employed as tokens of faith in 
 the broken body and the shed blood of the Lamb slain 
 from the foundation of the world. That was what 
 the sacrifices used to be, or at least that was their 
 original attention — memorials of God's promise and 
 purpose of redemption, though the old Israelites did 
 not always so regard them. It was easy enough doc- 
 trinally thus to retain the ordinances, and at the same 
 time admit all that was involved in the Messiahship 
 of Jesus ; and Peter and James, at first at least, were 
 in favor of doing this. But Paul was more progres- 
 sive and bolder, seeing clearly that so much symbolism 
 had already, under its abuses, concealed the truth 
 from the people to a greater extent than it would 
 reveal it ; and seeing also that there could be no man- 
 ner of use in incumbering the new phase of Mosaism 
 which they preached with such a mass of burdensome 
 and already perverted ordinances. Some minds can 
 not thrive on the truth without the aid of outward 
 
1 8 Introduction. 
 
 symbols of truth, but Paul's was not such a mind. 
 And so at the very outset of his ministry he differed 
 with Peter and James — not at all in regard to the 
 inner and essential truth, but only in regard to the 
 question as to whether they ought to employ a certain 
 set of outward symbols. Paul's field of labor evi- 
 dently did not lie within the walls of Jerusalem, and 
 it was a blessed thing for the Gentile world that it did 
 not. That was the providential place of the much 
 more conservative James, for the Jews of Jerusalem 
 also must have at least a briefly lingering opportunity. 
 
 III. After His Conversion. 
 
 I. Preaching Jesus as the Son of God. 
 
 After the culminating point in his conversion was 
 reached on the road near Damascus, and the sight of 
 the living and glorified body of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 and the incidents which occurred in the house of 
 Ananias, Paul straightway preached this Jesus in the 
 synagogues, that he is the Son of God. This truth 
 was the one of fundamental importance in the new 
 phase of the Old Testament religion called the gospel, 
 and of which we spoke in the foregoing section. To 
 admit the divine Sonship of Jesus, was to admit 
 every thing that constituted the gospel. So it was, at 
 least, with any Jew, though not so perhaps with the 
 modern Gentile who is also nominally a Christian. 
 He may be indisposed to doubt the historical evidence 
 in favor of the divinity of Jesus, and yet be any thing 
 else than a Christian at heart. If Paul could induce 
 his hearers, whether Jewish or Gentile, to believe that 
 Jesus was really the Son of God the fundamental 
 point would be gained, for though it might not set 
 
Paul. 19 
 
 them right in all matters of private morals and relig- 
 ious worship, it would be equivalent to the full com- 
 mittal of themselves to the gospel. He could make 
 no progress, therefore, in winning converts until this 
 doctrinal point was gained, and hence the emphasis 
 which he so often places in his preaching on the evi- 
 dential value of the facts pertaining to Jesus, particu- 
 larly his resurrection, of which he himself had ocu- 
 lar proof. " If Christ be not risen our hope is vain." 
 If Christ be not risen we have no proof that he was 
 the Son of God; if he was not the Son of God his 
 death was of no avail, and there is no basis of hope 
 for peace or harmony with God — no more than if the 
 world had never heard or dreamed of Christ. The 
 first preaching of the apostle was therefore necessarily 
 Christological and argumentative, the heart and the 
 life having to be reached through that mental faculty 
 which apprehends evidence. 
 
 How long Paul continued to preach at Damascus 
 we have no possible means of knowing, the "many 
 days" mentioned in the account in the Acts being 
 indefinite. It was three years, however, before he 
 returned to Jerusalem. He went from Damascus into 
 Arabia, but to what place or ^places it is useless to 
 inquire. No man will ever know. But it is not 
 probable that he went in order that he might in soli- 
 tude adjust himself to his new convictions, or receive 
 revelations concerning what he afterward called his 
 gospel. He was already adjusted most thoroughly to 
 his new convictions, and he received revelations from 
 time to time during his ministry as he needed them. 
 He may have gone into Arabia for the purpose of 
 preaching Jesus as the Savior, and the way of 
 peace with God to a city or people not mentioned in 
 
20 Introduction. 
 
 connection with his ministry ; or he may have gone 
 for the purpose of obtaining the rest and strength 
 which would doubtless be much needed after so long 
 a period of intense mental conflict and excitement as 
 that through which he had just passed. We know 
 not. We can only say that this retirement of Paul 
 from history was no period of idle and listless wan- 
 dering. 
 
 After a while he returned to Damascus where he 
 preached Jesus with such earnestness and boldness 
 that the Jews took counsel as to how they might slay 
 him, as they in Jerusalem had for the same cause 
 slain Stephen. But his time was not come, and he 
 fled to Jerusalem. Although it had been three years 
 since he had left Jerusalem, and although the whole 
 current of his life had changed, the brethren there, it 
 seems, had received no information concerning him, 
 they were afraid to receive him, for Saul, the fierce 
 persecutor of the Christians, was still fresh in their 
 memory. He might now be only a wolf in sheep's 
 clothing. But Barnabas knew him ; and so Paul be- 
 gan to preach to that same audience of Grecian Jews 
 which a few years before had been addressed by 
 Stephen, and of which* he himself had been one. But 
 only fifteen days had passed before he was obliged to 
 flee again for his life. He went to Cesar ea and thence, 
 perhaps by ship, to Tarsus. 
 
 2. Cilicia and Syria, For four or five years 
 more Paul disappears from history. The great work 
 of his life as the recognized apostle to the Gentile 
 world is not yet open to him. We can easily infer, 
 however, that during this long interval of silence on 
 the part of the historian, Paul is engaged in preaching 
 
Paui.. 
 
 21 
 
 the gospel in unoflScial ways in his native Tarsus and 
 other parts of Cilicia. At last Barnabas is sent to An- 
 tioch by the Church in Jerusalem to engage in the 
 great work that was going on there. And Barnabas 
 remembers Saul, and going on to Tarsus in search of 
 him again brings him into the sphere of the Church's 
 work. For one whole year he and Saul preach the 
 gospel in the power and demonstration of the Spirit 
 to the multitudes of Grecian Jews and others who 
 thronged the synagogues in the great Syrian city near 
 the sea. This year's work brought Paul face to face 
 with what was to be his life's mission. The Spirit 
 said ''Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul." The 
 Church placed itself into what we may call official re- 
 lation with the heathen world. The gates were opened; 
 and Saul sailed from Antioch to Cyprus, and thence 
 to various points in Asia Minor on his first great mis- 
 sionary tour. Henceforth he is pre-eminently the 
 recognized missionary to the Gentiles, and henceforth 
 he is in labors and suffering ''more abundant than 
 they all," founding churches all along from the Cyd- 
 nus to Italy, and perhaps beyond, and having on his 
 shoulders the burden of them all. He wrote for the 
 benefit of the Churches which he established, or which 
 were under his direct influence, and for the benefit of 
 the Church of all subsequent ages, epistles making in 
 all nearly twice as much as the apostle John wrote, and 
 nearly a third of the entire New Testament. It was 
 largely through Paul and his subordinate workers that 
 Asia Minor, the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and 
 the western Roman world, were conquered for Christ. 
 
 3. Other Missionary Labors. From the time 
 of Paul's conversion to the date of his first missionary 
 
22 Introduction. 
 
 tour from Antioch was a period of seven or eight, 
 years. From the beginning of this tour to the sup- 
 posed date of his martyrdom by Nero, was a period of 
 about twenty years. Four of these years, or on the 
 hypothesis of a second imprisonment at Rome even 
 more than four, were spent in captivity as the " pris- 
 oner of Christ;" and with the chain about his arm, 
 the other end of which was fastened to a Roman sol- 
 dier, the apostle, whose zeal could by no means be 
 quenched, preached Christ and wrote immortal epis- 
 tles. Sometimes he was in perils of the sea. Some- 
 times he might be seen working as a day-laborer at 
 tent-making so that he might enable himself to preach 
 the gospel. Sometimes he was in peril of wild beasts, 
 whether on his journeys or in the gladiatorial arena, 
 forced to fight for the amusement of a Roman or bar- 
 barian rabble. Sometimes he might be seen lying by 
 the roadside as one dead, stoned by the brutal mob. 
 Sometimes he was collecting funds from the Churches 
 which he founded, for the benefit of the impoverished 
 members of the mother Church at Jerusalem which 
 was always loath to receive him. Sometimes he was 
 lying in a Roman jail, beaten with as many stripes as 
 the law would allow. And at last when the end was 
 near at hand he could say in looking back over it all, 
 "I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith;" 
 and no man who was ever born into this world could 
 say it with more truth than did Paul. In point of suf- 
 fering and self-sacrifice, the labors of the greatest 
 evangelists of our country pale into trifles and shame 
 as compared with his. And yet it is surprising how 
 little space is devoted in the biblical narrative and 
 epistles to the details concerning Paul's privations and 
 sufferings. If Paul had been what some of his mod- 
 
Paul. 23 
 
 em critics have presumed to pronounce him — the unin- 
 spired leader of a mere anti-Judaising sect — we should 
 have had much more of his autobiography and much 
 less of his gospel, whether in the Acts or in the Epis- 
 tles. He conceals the one that he may reveal the 
 other. 
 
 4. His Person and Character, It is commonly 
 supposed that Paul possessed no graces of person. 
 He himself informs us incidentally that he was insig- 
 nificant in stature, and mentions in the same manner 
 his physical infirmities. But he did possess the graces 
 of Jewish and Greek culture. The specimens of his 
 oral addresses which Luke has preserved for us do not 
 show any want of the graces of the orator. He never 
 on any occasion betrays any assumption of contempt 
 for the proprieties of speech or personal bearing. 
 Through all his ministry he was a man of abounding 
 earnestness, but he was also everywhere and under 
 all circumstances the Christian gentleman. He neith- 
 er wrote nor spoke the polished Greek of the classic 
 Athens of former days. That sort of Greek was prac- 
 tically obsolete in his time; and when he addressed 
 the Athenians on Mars Hill the great philosophers and 
 poets were gone long ago, and it is not probable that 
 there were any in his audience whose Greek was any 
 better than his— though many may have thought so. 
 
 But whatever may be said of his person and out- 
 ward culture, in character and spirit his converts might 
 well have afforded to imitate him even as he also imi- 
 tated Christ. Life had no value for him apart from 
 the privilege and the daily act of living for Christ. He 
 was always serious and yet always cheerful. He was 
 always earnest, admitting of no half measures. He 
 
24 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 was always zealous and yet always prudent. He was as 
 firm as adamant and yet as tender as a nursing moth- 
 er. He was liberal of spirit, having nothing in him of 
 the intolerant and narrow bigot. He was perfectly 
 willing for the Jewish Christian to observe his cere- 
 monial scruples, but he would fight to his dying day 
 for the untrammeled privilege of offering an untram- 
 meled gospel to the heathen. He was as high-minded 
 as a prince, and yet he was ever clothed with the gar- 
 ments of humility. He was always considerate and 
 courteous in all his relations with others whether of 
 high or low degree. He was not perfect; but he was 
 a higher type of man than Augustine, or Luther, or 
 Calvin. He approached more nearly to the perfect 
 character of the Christ who was absolutely all to him 
 than any other man that has lived on this earth since 
 his day. 
 
Thk Bpistlk to the Romans. 25 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 I. Date. 
 The Epistle to the Romans was written by Paul 
 while at Corinth, a few weeks before his fifth and last 
 visit to Jerusalem since his conversion. The date as- 
 signed to it, by Michaelis, Lardner, Macknight, Alford, 
 Conybeare, and scholars generally who have treated 
 the subject, is A.D. 58. Compare Rom. xv. 25, 26 
 with Acts XX. 1-3. For the place at which it was 
 written compare Rom. xvi. 23 with i Cor. i. 14. The 
 Epistle to the Romans was the fifth which Paul wrote. 
 All of his epistles should be read in connection with 
 and in the order of his history as given in the Acts. 
 So far as it can be ascertained the order is as follows : 
 I Thessalonians, A.D. 51, or about seven years after 
 he left Antioch with Barnabas on his first journey ; 2 
 Thessalonians, A.D. 53 ; Galatians, A.D. 55 ; i and 2 
 Corinthians, A.D. 57; Romans, A.D. 58; Colossians, 
 Philemon, Ephesians, Philippians, A.D. 63, during his 
 imprisonment at Rome ; i Timothy and Titus, A.D. 
 67, from Macedonia; 2 Timothy, A.D. 68, from Rome. 
 These epistles present various doctrines and practical 
 admonitions generally, according to the circumstan- 
 ces of the Churches to which they were addressed. 
 
 II. Authenticity. 
 
 That Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans has al- 
 ways been admitted by the Church and by all Individ- 
 
26 Introduction. 
 
 ual critics whether conservative or radical, ancient or 
 modern. Even such critics as Baur, who rejected the 
 Pauline authorship of most of the epistles ascribed to 
 Paul, admits that he wrote the one to the Romans. 
 Some critics have doubted, however, -whether the last 
 chapter was addressed to the Church at Rome, think- 
 ing that the first fifteen chapters may have been ad- 
 dressed to the Romans, and that the whole epistle, in- 
 cluding the added sixteenth chapter, was also sent to 
 the Kphesians. The objections to the last chapter as 
 a part of the original epistle as sent to the Christians 
 at Rome are by no means unanswerable, though the 
 question is not one of sufiicient practical importance 
 to justify us in devoting space to it here. The first 
 quotation made from the epistle by any writer was 
 the passage, chapter i. 29-32, quoted by Clemens 
 Romanus, A.D. 96. Subsequently verses from it were 
 cited or quoted word for word by Ignatius (A.D. 115), 
 Polycarp (A.D. 118), and various other early Christian 
 writers. 
 
 III. The Church at Rome. 
 
 At the time when Paul addressed his epistle to the 
 Christians in Rome, Jews had been there for more 
 than one hundred and fifty years, and constituted no 
 inconsiderable element of its million and a half of 
 population. Great numbers of them had been trans- 
 ported thither by Pompey, B.C. 63 ; and Josephus tells 
 us that an embassy sent to Rome shortly after the 
 death of Herod the Great, were met my eight hundred 
 thousand Jewish residents of the mighty city. And 
 at the time when Paul was writing this epistle, 
 their influence was so strong, says Seneca, that " the 
 conquered race gave laws to the conquerors." The 
 
The Epistle to the Romans. zj 
 
 Romans hated them as it has always been the lot of 
 the Jew to be hated. Tiberius tried in vain to get rid 
 of them ; Claudius sought in vain to banish them. 
 
 How did Christianity reach Rome ? Most probably 
 as every thing else reached it ; for not only did all the 
 roads in Italy lead thither, but all the roads in the 
 then known world. People from Rome went to all 
 quarters of the earth, and people from all quarters of 
 the earth went to Rome. It is probable that a Chris- 
 tian element had been in the great city since the day 
 of Pentecost when there may have been many Jew 
 and Gentile proselytes from Rome at Jerusalem at- 
 tending the annual feasts ; and converts from Kph- 
 esus, and Corinth, Philippi, and other cities of Asia 
 Minor and Greece had doubtless gone thither from 
 time to time in great numbers. In his letter Paul 
 presents his greetings to old friends by name whom 
 he had know at Ephesus, while on the contrary some 
 well-known ones as Pudens, and Claudia, whose 
 names are elsewhere identified (2 Tim. iv. 21) with the 
 Roman Church were not there when the letter was 
 written. They were coming and going, and Paul 
 seems to have kept very well posted as to the move- 
 ments of those who were his aids in his work. Taci- 
 tus, writing of the Neronian persecution which oc- 
 curred about six years after Paul wrote this epistle, 
 tells us that Christian martyrs (to say nothing of the 
 number not slain) were a great multitude. 
 
 But it does not seem that the large Christian com- 
 munity at Rome, thus formed by accretions from all 
 parts of the Church, possessed at this time any 
 regular organization, though it is probable that the 
 members met each other at frequent assemblies of 
 some sort, at which the epistle was doubtless read 
 
28 Introduction. 
 
 again and again. No allusion is contained in it to 
 elders or other officers of an organized Church. The 
 Church was composed of both Jewish and Gentile 
 Christians, as the epistle itself indicates in several 
 places. But the great critics are about equally- 
 divided on the question as to which element was the 
 majority; it is useless to discuss it, for the data is in- 
 adequate, and it can never be determined with cer- 
 tainty. The epistle is addressed to both. 
 
 IV.— The Occasion and Design. 
 
 As it is quite probable that the Church at Rome 
 really had no apostolic founder; as it is also quite 
 probable that while Paul was at Corinth the Christians 
 at Rome were a numerous flock having no shepherd ; 
 as it would be no infringement, therefore, of the 
 courtesies of the apostolate, or the pastoral functions 
 of another, for Paul to write to them ; and as a good 
 many of them were doubtless his own converts and 
 personal friends who had gone thither from other 
 parts of the empire ; it was quite natural that Paul 
 should desire to write to them, especially as he could 
 not for the present accomplish his longing to make 
 them a personal visit. Phoebe, a deaconess of the 
 church at Cenchrea, a few miles out from Corinth, 
 was going to Rome; and, in the absence of regular 
 postal facilities for others than officers of the empire, 
 Paul takes advantage of this opportunity to send the 
 Christians at Rome a letter. Such was the occasion. 
 
 In order to see, without going into details here, the 
 design which Paul had in view in writing such an 
 epistle as he did, we must recall the fact that the 
 great Imperial city was the meeting place of Gentiles 
 
Thk EPISTI.E TO THE Romans. 29 
 
 and Jews from all parts of the world. A letter from 
 Paul, on the fundamental question in issue between 
 the Christians and their opponents, if read over and 
 over again for months or years in the assemblies at 
 Rome, would be heard by more people than could in 
 that day be reached by a single epistle directed to 
 any other city in the world. It was a golden oppor- 
 tunity to set forth, defend, and advertise his gospel, 
 which Paul could not suffer to escape him. When he 
 writes to the Thessalonians, the Corinthians, Gala- 
 tians, and others, he must for the most part write 
 such letters as are demanded by the circumstances of 
 these Churches respectively. But to write, not to the 
 organized Church at Rome, but " to all them that be 
 at Rome," was very much the same as writing a 
 Catholic epistle, a letter to Christians of whatever 
 locality ; and there was no better way to have it scat- 
 tered over the whole empire than to send it first to 
 Rome where it would doubtless be copied a great 
 many times by the Christians who were constantly 
 coming and going. So Paul designs to write such an 
 epistolary treatise as would meet the wants of Chris- 
 tians generally, at that time and thereafter, and such 
 a one as he would wish to have thus scattered 
 abroad. And such a one he did write. The Epistle 
 to the Romans is addressed to the Church in all the 
 world and in all the ages. The Church may, as some 
 may think, already have reached the point where it 
 no longer needs a special inspired epistle to advise it 
 against the evil of drinking wine to excess at the 
 Lord's-supper, and other such practices ; but it never 
 will reach that point in its progress where it can 
 cease to reiterate with the utmost emphasis the truth 
 that Christ, and Christ alone, is the power of God 
 
30 Introduction, 
 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth, whether 
 Jew or Gentile. 
 
 v.— STYI.E OF THE EPISTI.E. 
 
 It is impossible to adequately appreciate the Epistle 
 to the Romans, either in its separate arguments or as 
 a whole, apart from what we may call an adequate 
 valuation of its style. The epistle was written, in the 
 first place, in the Greek language, a heathen language 
 put to the very usual service of expressing thought 
 which was wholly foreign to it. It was not only put- 
 ting heavenly contents into an earthen vessel, but 
 into an earthen vessel which was already filled with 
 something more or less different, and which therefore 
 had to be displaced to as great an extent as possible 
 by the new. And after the thought is once put into 
 the Greek vessels by inspired hands it has to be 
 transferred by human hands to English vessels for the 
 benefit of ourselves. This of course may greatly in- 
 crease whatever original diSiculty there may have 
 been in clearly apprehending the thought. 
 
 But apart from this infirmity of the Greek, or any 
 other language, when thus called to an unusual service, 
 the subject itself which Paul treats is one to which 
 neither the Jewish nor Gentile mind of that age was 
 accustomed. The view which Paul presents was a 
 difficult one to grasp because it was a most radical 
 innovation upon the current doctrine of human salva- 
 tion—doing, though strange to say, perhaps even 
 more violence to the preconceived views of his 
 brother Jews, than it did to those of his Gentile 
 readers. The plan of salvation by grace through 
 faith is not the depraved human heart's favorite one 
 
The Epistle to the Romans. 31 
 
 in any age, especially if it be further informed that 
 the faith is to be reposed in him who was once known 
 as Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 But Paul himself, though an inspired writer, was an 
 earthen vessel. Or, to change the figure: When the 
 light from the sun has passed through the lens, it is 
 still the pure light of the sun ; but it has not the same 
 color on this side of the lens as it had on the other. 
 There it was immaculate white, here it is blue, or 
 green, or orange. Nor is it so easy to see with the 
 lens as it would be to see without it; but refracted 
 light is the best we can have in this world. Truth 
 clothed in the colors of the rainbow ; after a while we 
 may see it in unsullied white. Paul, Peter, John, and 
 the rest, are for the present our lenses, for through 
 them the Sun's light comes to us. 
 
 Dwelling for a moment on such considerations as 
 these, we may easily see that it was quite natural 
 even for Peter to say that there are some things " in 
 brother Paul hard to be understood." And the very 
 fact that Paul could be used by the Holy Spirit as the 
 medium for conveying such truths is of itself a proof 
 that he was in point of intellect beyond the average 
 even of the inspired writers. 
 
 One of the necessities, therefore, under which one 
 or more of these various disadvantages, under which 
 Paul wrote, place him, was the necessity of employing 
 many figures of speech, or the same figure many 
 times. These figures abound in the Epistle to the 
 Romans; and one of the great temptations under 
 which he unconsciously labors who pauses in his 
 reading to seek after the apostle's meaning, is to exact 
 too much of the figure, or, to make it illustrate four 
 things when it was only intended to illustrate one. 
 
32 Introduction. 
 
 Figures are indispensable, and yet hardly any thing 
 may be more easily abused, whether by being ignored 
 or by being perverted. Take as one illustration the 
 word " law," which occurs so often in this epistle. 
 What is Paul's doctrine concerning the law {no^nos) ? 
 This is a fundamental question, and the answer must 
 be obtained chiefly from this epistle and that to the 
 Galatians. But it can not be done unless we observe 
 the figures in connection with which it occurs and 
 the various senses in which it has been necessary 
 to use it. At one time he calls the law a slave 
 whose duty it is to lead us to Christ, as the Greek 
 slave was required to conduct the children safely to 
 school. At another time he speaks of the law as our 
 Master who lords it over us in no gentle manner. 
 Again, he speaks of the law as being holy, righteous, 
 and good. And of the law of sin ; and he says that 
 we are free from the law ; and that we are not free, but 
 still under obligation to obey it, and again, that the 
 law is a kind of weapon with which sin slays us ; and 
 so, a great many figures, affirmations, denials, etc., all 
 concerning law and all in the same epistle. They are 
 not contradictory ; but if the casual reader — and most 
 readers of the epistle are only too casual — did not 
 forget one statement before he has reached the next, 
 they might seem to be contradictory. As Paul speaks 
 of law in several senses, or of the same law from 
 several points of view, so also does he in the same man- 
 ner speak of some other things ; and it is quite neces- 
 sary to be mindful of this when we would know his 
 meaning in this place or that. 
 
 But such mild personifications, metaphors, and the 
 use of the same word in different senses, are not the 
 only figures which we find in this epistle. He speaks 
 
The Epistle to the Romans. 33 
 
 of invisible things as being seen — a form of speech 
 which the rhetoricians call oxymoron; and also of 
 Abraham's hoping though he had no hope (iv. 18) ; 
 when I am weak then I am strong. Nor should one 
 fail to notice the frequent antithises which charac- 
 terize the epistle, between such words as " flesh" and 
 "spirit,!' "law," or ''works of the law," and "faith," 
 " bondage " and " freedom," " bondmen " and " free- 
 men," "foolishness" and "wisdom," etc. In chapter 
 X. 13-15, Paul employs what the logicians call a 
 regular sorites, and in various other passages logical 
 arguments in the strictly technical sense. 
 
 In chapter vii. i , and following verses, his argument 
 is from analogy ; in chapter vii. 9-25, from personal 
 experience, while in various parts of the epistle he 
 draws his arguments from the Old Testament Script- 
 ures, using for this purpose the Greek version which 
 was the one most accessible to his Gentile readers. 
 His citations, however, are not made invariably for 
 logical or argumentative purposes, but here and there 
 for what we may call purposes of rhetoric. His style 
 is adorned with expressions and fragments of expres- 
 sions from the Old Testament, just as any writer's 
 style may be most influenced by the book which he 
 reads most. Thus is to be explained his apparently 
 free and illogical use of passages from the Scriptures, 
 and particularly his so-called rabbinical allegorizing, 
 of which the well-known passage. Gal. iv. 22-31, is 
 said by some to be an instance. Paul did not mean 
 to be understood as using the story of Sarah and 
 Hagar as an argument in the strict sense, but simply 
 as a familiar concrete or illustrative way of stating a 
 truth which he should otherwise have had to state in 
 unadorned abstract terms. 
 3 
 
34 Introduction. 
 
 It may be truly said of the style of this epistle, as 
 of all Paul's epistles, that it is in harmony with the 
 character and temperament of the author, with whom 
 we have already become acquainted in the Acts. It 
 is just such an epistle as we would expect Paul to 
 write. It is characterized by the inward disposition, 
 the abundant heart, the moral earnestness, of this 
 ^reat apostle. Its argumentative character and its 
 warmth and rush of thought are eminently Pauline. 
 And to these traits are due, for the most part, the di- 
 gressions, parentheses, and what the grammarians call 
 anacalutha, so frequent in his writings. We shall have 
 occasion to notice these in the course of the commen- 
 tary, meanwhile it is necessary only to ask the reader 
 of the epistle to remember that as originally written 
 it contained none of the helps to its understanding 
 such as are employed by modern writers of treatises. 
 It had no title page ; no section headings ; no indicated 
 divisions of any sort ; no intimations to the reader as 
 to where the line of thought changes, or as to where a 
 new phase of the subject is taken up. Such helpful 
 acts of the book-makers were not employed by the 
 book-makers of Paul's day. The reader was left to do 
 his own analyzing, to detect the argument, the transi- 
 tions of thought, and the aim of the whole, without 
 the aid of previous notice, or "table of contents," 
 furnished by the writer. As for our chapter and 
 verse divisions of the epistle, Paul is not responsible 
 for them, of course. They are helpful chiefly for 
 purposes of convenient reference ; but if one would 
 understand the epistle as thoroughly as possible he 
 should often read it at one sitting and without any 
 notice whatever of the chapter and verse divisions. 
 
The Epistle to the Romans. 35 
 
 VI. — Leading Thoughts, Words, Texts. 
 
 1. The subject of the doctrinal part of the epistle 
 is, " The Way of Human Salvation." But the discus- 
 sion of this subject is introduced by an elaborate 
 statement of the universal sinfulness and guilt of 
 both Jew and Gentile. The epistle is, therefore, an- 
 thropological in the first place in order that it may be 
 the more powerfully sotereological. If a universal 
 guilt is not admitted there can be no need to prove 
 that a universal salvation is provided. The four 
 main thoughts of this part of the epistle may, there- 
 fore, be briefly stated as follows : 
 
 (i) All men are guilty before God. (Chapter iii. 
 page 19.) 
 
 (2) All, therefore, need a Savior. If the Jews who 
 have the law are in the same condition before God as 
 the Gentiles, it would seem evident that, whatever 
 else the law may do, it can not serve as a Savior. 
 Therefore 
 
 (3) Christ died for all, thus providing salvation for 
 all. Therefore, again 
 
 (4) All Christians are one body in him, there being 
 no distinction in him between Jew and Gentile, etc. 
 
 2. Some of the leading words in the epistle are 
 (i) Sin; in its more general sense represented by 
 kamartia, in its more specific forms represented by 
 various words. 
 
 (2) Righteousness y justification ; represented by the 
 same word in the Greek, with varying shades of 
 meaning necessary to be noticed in reading the epistle 
 whether in the Greek or English. Sometimes the 
 gospel plan of salvation, as distinguished from salva- 
 
2)6 Introduction. 
 
 tion by works, is called God's righteousness, or rather 
 a manifestation of God's inherent righteousness to us. 
 Sometimes it is called the righteousness of Christ, 
 because it was manifested in Christ. To say then 
 that we are saved by the righteousness of Christ, is 
 not to say that we are saved independently of a sub- 
 jective change ; it is to say simply that we are saved 
 by the gospel plan and not by our special works or 
 " deeds of the law." The subjective state into which 
 our personal appropriation of this righteousness of 
 Christ — or, in other words, our personal appropriation 
 of the salvation provided through Christ — is called 
 justification. The act of God in admitting us to terms 
 of harmony with him because of our acceptance of 
 the provided salvation is also called justification; 
 it is justification as a divine act, as distinguished 
 from justification as a human state. In this last 
 sense justification is the same as rigkt7iess — the state 
 otherwise called regeneration, a term which Paul 
 does not use, though the thing meant is not to be 
 regarded as absent from his teaching. 
 
 (3) Imputing or recko7iing. By this Paul does not 
 mean that God's righteousness or Christ-righteousness 
 as above defined, or indeed in any sense, is imputed to 
 us in the sense that we are really not righteous 
 but that God only makes believe that we are. He 
 simply means that God chooses to regard our accept- 
 ance of the offered salvation through Christ as per- 
 fectly satisfactory to him ; and that we are in this case 
 just as well-pleasing to him as if we had never been 
 either sinful or sinners. Nor does Paul mean that 
 God imputes Adam's sin to us whereas we are not 
 guilty of Adam's specific sin. He simply means that 
 God reckons or regards all men, both Jews and Gen- 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 2>7 
 
 tiles, as guilty because they really are guilty, not of 
 Adam's sin but because of Adam's sin. It would have 
 been the greatest of misfortunes to some men if God 
 had not imputed guilt to these "some men," or in 
 other words, if he had not thought of them as being 
 guilty; for if he had not thought of them as being 
 guilty he could not have thought of them as needing 
 a Savior. This word "impute" occurs in one or 
 more forms ten times in the fourth chapter alone. 
 
 (4) Faith. This also is pre-eminently a Pauline 
 word. As a noun and verb it occurs about fifty times 
 in the Epistle to the Romans. Paul is eminently the 
 Apostle of Faith as contrasted with John the Apostle 
 of Love, or Peter the Apostle of Hope, or James the 
 Apostle of Works. It is not necessary, however, to 
 suppose that any one of these undervalues the teach- 
 ings of the others. They present different phases of 
 the gospel. The word faith is used in various senses, 
 the right understanding of which is essential to the 
 right understanding of Paul. Sometimes it denotes 
 (a) a mere act of the mind, as first, a simple ac- 
 knowledgment of the truth of any thing irrespective 
 of any allusion to evidence, or second, an acknowl- 
 edgment of the truth as based on evidence ; or third, 
 an act of self-surrender to Christ and of appropriation 
 of him as our Savior. Sometimes it denotes {b) a 
 state or condition, as first, trust, confidence, repose in 
 Christ, or second, fellowship and union with Christ. 
 Sometimes it is used {c) as antithetical to works in 
 the technical sense — that is, the ceremonial works in 
 particular as practiced by the Jews of Paul's day. Or 
 {d) as including works, not ceremonial, but works as 
 including the whole sphere of the Christian life and 
 activity ; as the stream may be regarded as a part of 
 
38 Introduction. 
 
 the fountain from which it flows. Sometimes it is 
 used also to denote the gospel plan of salvation, as 
 when the adherents of " the faith " are spoken of. 
 
 (5) Law Nomos ; a word already referred to on 
 page 32, and which will be noticed further in the com- 
 mentary on passages in which it occurs. 
 
 (6) Flesh ; in a figurative sense, not the body. The 
 words flesh and fleshly or carnal stand in antithesis to 
 spirit and spiritual; but when the word "spiritual" 
 stands thus in contrast with the word " carnal," or 
 fleshly, it should not be confounded with the word 
 " spiritual " in contrast with the word " material ; " as, 
 a "spiritual nature," a "carnal nature," or, a "spir- 
 itual body," a " material body." 
 
 (7) For, the preposition ; represented in the New 
 Testament by several Greek words as peri, huper, dia, 
 anti, etc. Christ "suffered for us," died "for us," 
 " for our sins, " for the ungodly," the just for the un- 
 just; in behalf of us, on account of our sins, in 
 another's place, in the interest of another, etc. The 
 word used here or there is determined by the aspect 
 of the subject presented, or the person or thing 
 spoken of. Paul uses huper in Romans. Preposi- 
 tions and conjunctions, are small words, but they are 
 important ones and often require the greatest care 
 and attention. 
 
 (8) All. Salvation offered to all, because all need 
 salvation. 
 
 3. Leading texts. Chapter iii. 9 ; all under sin, iii. 
 20; through the law comes the knowledge of sin,, 
 iii. 28 ; justification by faith apart from the works of 
 the law, v. i ; being justified by faith, etc., v. 12 and 
 18; wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the 
 
The Epistle to the Romans. 39 
 
 world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon 
 all men, for that all sinned .... even so by the 
 righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men 
 unto justification of life, v. 20, 21 ; grace abounding 
 more exceedingly than sin, vi. 11 ; dead unto sin, alive 
 unto God in Christ Jesus, viii. ; no condemnation to 
 them that are in Christ Jesus, viii. 28 ; all things work 
 together for good to them that love God, viii. 29, 30; 
 foreknowledge, foreordination, calling, justification, 
 glorification, viii. 31 ; if God be for us who is against 
 us? xi. 25; Israel's partial hardening, etc., xi. 32 ; all 
 regarded as disobedient, that mercy might be offered 
 to all, xi. 36 ; of him, through him, unto him, are all 
 things, xii. i ; our bodies to be presented to God a 
 living sacrifice, etc. 
 
 VII. Testimonies Concerning the Kpisti^e. 
 
 It stands at the head of the Pauline epistles, not 
 merely in length, but especially as a comprehensive, 
 systematic, and profound discussion of the plan of hu- 
 man salvation. The following are the judgments of 
 some of the greatest biblical scholars of the ages in re- 
 gard to this epistle : 
 
 " It is the grandest, the boldest, and in all its depths 
 and heights the most complete composition of the 
 greatest apostle." — Meyer. 
 
 " It is the most remarkable production of the most 
 remarkable man It is the heart of the doc- 
 trinal portion of the New Testament. It presents in 
 systematic order the fundamental truths of Christian- 
 ity in their primitive purity, inexhaustible depth, all- 
 conquering force, and never-failing comfort. It is the 
 
40 Introduction. 
 
 bulwark of the evangelical doctrines of sin and 
 grace. ' ' — Schaff. 
 
 " It is the cathedral of the Christian faith. 
 The true understanding of this masterpiece of the 
 apostolic mind is reserved for those who approach it 
 with the heart described by Jesus in his Sermon on 
 the Mount — the heart hungering and thirsting after 
 righteousness. For what is the Epistle to the Romans ? 
 The offer of the righteousness of God to the man who 
 finds himself stripped by the law of his own righteous- 
 ness (i. 17). To understand such a book we must yield 
 ourselves to the current of the intention under which 
 it was dictated." — Godet. 
 
 " It is the chief part of the New Testament and the 
 purest gospel, well worthy to be committed to memory 
 word for word by every Christian man, and to be pon- 
 dered daily and employed as the daily bread of the 
 soul. It can never be too often nor too well read and 
 considered, and the more it is understood the better it 
 tastes." — Luther. 
 
 " It is the most profound work in existence." — Cole- 
 
 "Throughout the discussion, constant reference is 
 made to law and justice; and this is characteristic of 
 the epistle Rome was the city of impe- 
 rial law, and the great seat of jurisprudence and gov- 
 ernment. It was therefore fitting that to Jews and 
 Gentiles residing there should be addressed this dem- 
 onstration of the position of mankind, as trangressors 
 condemned by divine law and justice, and unable by 
 deeds to justify themselves. The world centered at 
 ancient Rome ; and in a letter sent to Rome was the 
 whole world proved and pronounced to have been 
 guilty before God The question which 
 
The Epistle to the Romans. 41 
 
 presses is that of justification, and no one can inter- 
 pret the epistle who does not keep this before his 
 mind." — Eraser. 
 
 Canon Farrar calls attention to the fact that the 
 phrase " in Christ " occurs thirty-three times in this 
 epistle, and the phrase "justification by faith" only 
 three or four times, and thinks the former much bet- 
 ter expresses the essence of Paul's evangelical theolo- 
 gy than the latter. 
 
 "A grand summary of the doctrine and practice of 
 Christianity. " — Cony bear e. 
 
 " It must not, however, be considered that the whole 
 of the Christian faith, or even of the Pauline concep- 
 tion of Christianity, is developed in this epistle. This 
 is only treated as it bears on the relation of God to 
 man — the fall of man and his redemption through 
 Christ." — Gloag. 
 
 Other topics, as the nature of God, the person and 
 dignity of Christ, the Church, etc., are discussed in 
 other epistles. 
 
 The ancient Chrysostom was accustomed to have this 
 epistle read through to him twice every week. ' Me- 
 lanchthon copied it twice with his own hand word for 
 word in order that he might the more thoroughly im- 
 bibe its spirit and teaching. Dr. James Morrison says, 
 in speaking of his own experience, that going from 
 the din, and strife, and worry of the outer world to the 
 study of Paul is like entering a spiritual university— 
 a home for the heart— Paul is both inspired and 
 inspiring. 
 
 " O Christianity, had thy one work been to produce 
 a St. Paul, that alone should have rendered thee dear 
 to the coldest reason." — Sailer. And Godet, in quot- 
 ing these words, adds : ''And thou, O St. Paul, had 
 
42 Introduction. 
 
 thy one work been to compose an Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans, that alone should have rendered thee dear ta 
 every sound reason." 
 
 ''Quid est enim Paulo rarius. What is rarer than 
 Paul? " — Melanchthon. 
 
Thk Teachings t)F the Epistle. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Epistle is readily divided into two parts, the 
 Doctrinal, chapters i.-xi., and the Practical, chapters 
 xii.-xvi. The doctrinal portion, however, is preceded 
 by the Salutation and Introduction, verses 1-15. 
 Before proceeding with our sketch of the teachings 
 of the epistle, it may be well to present the analysis 
 somewhat more in detail. 
 
 I. The Line of Thought. 
 
 I. 
 
 Superscription, vs. 1-7. 
 
 Paul, .... To all that be in Rome, .... Grace 
 to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 II. 
 Introduction, vs. 8-15. 
 
 1. He thanks God for the faith of the Roman 
 Christians. 
 
 2. Expresses to them his earnest desire to make 
 them a personal visit. 
 
 III. 
 The Fundamentai, Theme, vs. 16, 17. 
 
 The gospel, that is the doctrine of justification by 
 faith in Christ, is the power of God unto salvation to 
 both Jews and Gentiles. 
 
44 Introduction. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Argument, 
 
 Or the fundamental theme unfolded and proved (ch. 
 i. i8; xi.). 
 
 I. First Proposition. 
 
 The universal need of salvation, or righteousness, 
 ch. i. i8; iii. 20. (i) In the case of the Gentiles; 
 (2) in the case of the Jews, who were no less guilty, 
 and under condemnation, notwithstanding their 
 greater light and theocratic privileges. 
 
 2. Second Proposition. 
 
 The universal offer of this salvation, or righteous- 
 ness, on condition of faith in Jesus Christ, by whose 
 atoning work it became possible for God to make the 
 offer (ch. iii. 21; v. 11). 
 
 3. Third Proposition. 
 
 Adam and Christ. To the one is to be traced our 
 condemnation and death ; to the other is to be ascribed 
 our justification and life (v. 12-21). 
 
 At this point in his argument Paul anticipates cer- 
 tain objections which might be made against his doc- 
 trine as thus far set forth. 
 
 4. First Objection. 
 
 Paul's doctrine seems to promote sin ; it furnishes 
 no ground for holiness of life. It would seem that 
 we might rather continue in sin that this free grace 
 might abound (vi. i). 
 
 5. Answer. 
 
 Sin destroyed ; justification by grace through faith 
 promotes holiness of life (vi. 2-14). 
 
Thk Teachings of the Epistle. 45 
 
 6. Second Objection. 
 
 Is not the law discredited ? If we are free from the 
 law and under grace, may we not sin as much as it 
 may please us ? (vi. 15.) 
 
 7. Answer. 
 
 The objection shown to be based upon an erroneous 
 apprehension of what is meant when it is said that by 
 grace we are freed from the law (vi. 16-23). Paul, in 
 continuation of his answer to the objections, sets 
 forth at some length the true spiritual function of the 
 law (vii. 1-25). He concludes by re-affirming that 
 Christ, and not the law, is both our justification and 
 our sanctification — that is, it is He who frees us from 
 the condemnation of the law and enables us to live 
 holy lives (viii.). 
 
 8. Third Objection. 
 
 What about the Israelites ? Are they not the elect, 
 covenant people ? And does not this doctrine which 
 makes salvation, whether of them or of the Gentiles, 
 a matter of grace, attribute unfaithfulness to God, by 
 making void his ancient covenant promise ? 
 
 9. Answer. 
 
 This objection, which, in the estimation of the Jew, 
 was certainl}^ a very formidable one, Paul, who affirms 
 himself to be a true and faithful Jew, answers at 
 length in chapters ix., x., xi., and concludes by exult- 
 ingly declaring that this divine treatment of Jew and 
 Gentile, instead of being a proof of unfairness and 
 unfaithfulness on the part of God, is really an exhibi- 
 tion of the depth of the riches both of the wisdom 
 and knowledge of God. 
 
 This concludes the doctrinal part of the epistle. 
 
46 Introduction. 
 
 V. 
 
 Practicai,. 
 
 The practical holiness, or right living, which has its 
 root in the doctrine of salvation as set forth in the 
 preceding chapters, " I beseech you therefore'' (xii. i). 
 
 I. Co7isecration of the Whole Life. 
 
 This consecration is the necessary starting point of 
 the new life, and based on a true and healthy view of 
 ourselves and of our position, and should mdnifest 
 itself in the Christian's relation both to the Church 
 and to the world (ch. xii.). 
 
 2. The Christian and the State {xiii.), 
 3. Concerning Things Indifferent {xiv-xv. 7). 
 4. Paul Again Adverts, but in Less Argumentative Tone, to 
 the Oneness of Attitude of Jew and Gentile to the Com- 
 man Gospel {xv. 8-33). 
 
 5. Personal Messages (xvi.). 
 
 A description more in detail of Paul's doctrinal and 
 ethical teachings as set forth in this epistle, and as 
 understood by the present writer, is presented in the 
 two following sections. The doctrinal portion is the 
 more difficult ; but if we will study it carefully, and 
 with constant reference to its fundamental theme, as 
 above stated, and in constant recognition of our 
 dependence upon the enlightening help of the Holy 
 Spirit, we shall, doubtless, not err in our apprehension 
 of its main thoughts and of their relation one to 
 another. It was not intended that the epistle should 
 be an enigma to us, nor was it intended that it should 
 be regarded as a scrappy letter. It is a profound 
 epistle because it deals with its subject in a manner 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 47 
 
 with which the human mind in Paul's day was an 
 titter stranger ; one to which the heathen mind, what- 
 ever other views it may have about salvation, is still 
 a stranger ; one which the human heart in its natural 
 condition, however much it may be enlightened in 
 other respects, is loath to accept ; and one which even 
 the Church, in some of its branches especially, has 
 not invariably seen with such clearness of vision as to 
 duly emphasize its fundamental teaching. Luther 
 was in a certain true sense the second Paul who wrote 
 the epistle to "the Romans;" and to this day all 
 Christians do by no means agree as to the exact place 
 occupied by what they all call " works," in the plan 
 of human salvation. 
 
 II. — Paul's Doctrine of Salvation. 
 
 Only he who recognizes himself as sick, as a cap- 
 tive, or as lost, can recognize his need of a physician, 
 a deliverer, or of one who can conduct him to the 
 desired way. Only he who has truly descended to 
 the recognition of himself as a guilty and condemned 
 sinner, can ascend to the recognition of Christ as the 
 only Savior. The true doctrine concerning salvation 
 is based, therefore, on the true doctrine concerning 
 man as a sinner ; or, as the theologians might say, the 
 Pauline soteriology rests on the preceding Pauline 
 anthropology. And this, of course, is the natural and 
 logical order. 
 
 I. Paul begins his discussion with an explicit an- 
 nouncement of his own doctrine of salvation in the 
 fewest words (chapter i. 16, 17). Underlying this, 
 however, is the assumption which none of his readers 
 would deny, that the question of questions with every 
 
48 Introduction. 
 
 rational human being is, How shall man be just be- 
 fore God? Or, in other words. How shall man be 
 placed in a state of harmony with God ? The ques- 
 tion admitted of three answers : 
 
 First. By glorifying God as God ; worshiping him 
 and not the creature; living in harmony with the 
 truth in so far as revealed in nature and the human 
 heart. 
 
 This was the answer which the Gentile, or non- 
 Jewish people, might have given to the question. 
 Paul makes no objection to it. On the contrary he 
 tacitly admits the correctness in the abstract of this 
 theory of salvation, and severely arraigns the Gentiles 
 because they did not live in harmony with it. He 
 draws a truthful and dark picture of the current Gen- 
 tile life, showing that it was the farthest possible 
 remove from the requirement of the theory. They 
 had the knowledge of God to begin with, but they did 
 not retain it; they grossly perverted it. Instead of 
 worshiping God in spirit and in truth, they worshiped 
 him in the form of idols and images of corruptible 
 things ; and so on through the fearful list of specifi- 
 cations in chapter i. 24-32. This picture was true, is 
 true, and has ever been true, of the heathen life as a 
 whole, however many individual exceptions there 
 may have been to it. The trouble with this theory is, 
 not that it is false in itself, for Paul himself expressly 
 affirms in this immediate connection (ii. 6-10) that 
 God will render to every man according to his deeds ; 
 on the one hand, to those who by patient continuance, 
 etc., eternal life ; and on the other to those who live 
 unrighteous lives, indignation and wrath ; but the fault 
 of this first answer is, it is not practicable; as a 
 theory of salvation the facts show that in its relation 
 
The Teachings ok the Epistle. 49 
 
 to the vast heathen or Gentile mass of mankind it 
 does not work well. The world lies in darkness and 
 sin. 
 
 Second. The Jew's answer. The fact that we have 
 been called by God's own sovereign choice, as the 
 seed of Abraham through Isaac, into covenant relation 
 with him, and the implied observance on our part of 
 the covenant law, is itself the pledge of our harmony 
 with God, or, in other words, of our salvation. And 
 the only way for the Gentile to have a like salvation 
 is for him to become a Jew through the prescribed 
 formulas of proselytism. 
 
 The objection to this answer lay not in the answer 
 itself, but in the Jew's misapprehehsion of its true 
 meaning ; as is shown in the fact that while the Jew 
 may have observed the letter of the formal law ever 
 so strictly, he nevertheless did those things which are 
 charged against the Gentiles and, more than that, had 
 pleasure in others who did them. This, of itself, was 
 sufficient evidence that the Jew was not in harmony 
 with God, or, in other words, had not attained to sal- 
 vation ; for no Jew who had rightly read the Old Tes- 
 tament, and who therefore had a conscience not dead 
 to moral distinctions, would suppose for a moment 
 that the God of the Old Testament could look with 
 approbation on the doers of such things as they did. 
 Hence, the Jews also must be regarded as under con- 
 demnation, and the theor}^ of salvation as interpreted 
 by them must be regarded as a failure. 
 
 Third. Paul's answer. Harmony with God, or right- 
 eousness, or justification, or salvation, as it may be 
 variously called, is a gift of grace offered alike to all 
 men, whether Jew or Gentile, and which may become 
 the personal possession of any man, simply by an act 
 4 
 
txO Introduction. 
 
 of cordial appropriation of it, which act is called faith 
 in its narrowest sense, and its ultimate ground and ob- 
 ject, of course, is Christ. This is elsewhere called 
 "the new and living way" to be saved. Not because 
 it had not in a certain sense always been the onl}- way ; 
 not because it was essentially and totally different from 
 the way furnished through that inner law which Paul 
 says the Gentiles were unto themselves; not that it 
 was essentially different from the way or mode of sal- 
 vation that was in operation in the case of Abraham 
 and all the Old Testament peoples, and which the Jews 
 of Paul's time grossly misapprehended and perverted; 
 but new because it was the revival of an obsolete doc- 
 trine, and living because it secured life. Paul sets 
 forth the fundamental relation of Christ to this salva- 
 tion in chapter iii. 24, 26. He is a ''propitiation ;'' 
 that is to say, He it was who rendered it morally pos- 
 sible for God — no^ to be propitious toward us — but to 
 manifest his propitiousness toward us by offering us 
 pardon, or the removal of the sentence of condemna- 
 tion. This " propitiatory " act of Christ, however, was 
 one that lay wholly between him and God the Father ; 
 for, as we said, its intended effect was to render it mor- 
 ally possible — not for God to be propitious, for he was 
 always and intrinsically propitious, but to manifest his 
 propitiousness in our pardon or justification, and so 
 far as this intended effect of what Christ did is con- 
 cerned, it would have been accomplished, whether any 
 man had ever possessed the least knowledge of the 
 historic Christ or not. Paul does not say this in the 
 passage above referred to, nor indeed in so many 
 words elsewhere; but he implies it, as appears from 
 his atti^tude toward what we called above the first an- 
 swer to the question, How shall man be justified or 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 51 
 
 saved ? In order that Christ might render it possible 
 for God to manifest his propitiousness, or pardoning 
 grace, toward the Gentiles, it was not necessary for the 
 Gentiles to know that he had done it, for it was already 
 done before the fact was ever announced to the world ; 
 and all that was now necessary in order that this pos- 
 sible propitiousness of God might become actual in 
 its relation to man was (i) That man should be caused 
 to know not merely that God is inherently of a pro- 
 pitious or loving and gracious nature, but that there 
 is no reason on his part why he may not manifest him- 
 self as such to sinful man. Hence, the emphatic an- 
 nouncement at the outset, and, in one form or another, 
 often repeated afterward, that Christ is our "propitia- 
 tion," or the basis of our hope of mercy, or our " mer- 
 cy-seat" — for these varying forms of expression are 
 not really changes of idea but only of the figure. 
 
 The second (2) thing necessary in order that the pro- 
 pitiousness, which Christ has made it possible for God 
 to manifest toward us, may be actually manifested to- 
 ward us is, what in the above-mentioned passage (iii. 
 25), and often elsewhere, Paul calls " faith in his blood," 
 or faith in him, or simply faith ; which faith necessa- 
 rily implies a humble and contrite spirit, a peniten- 
 tial recognition of our worthiness of condemnation, 
 and a penitential desire to live in harmony with the 
 law of right, which is the law of God, and in the case 
 of those who know Christ historically it also implies 
 a grateful and penitential recognition of what he has 
 done to render it possible for God to exhibit toward us 
 his inherent propitiousness in so far as to remove all 
 condemnation. But in the case of those who did not 
 know Christ historically, or in other words had no 
 knowledge of his propitiatory work, all that was nee- 
 
52 Introduction. 
 
 essary to their salvation was the disposition toward 
 sin on the one hand and God on the other, which the 
 word faith implies, but it would not have been suffi- 
 cient had not Christ been a propitiation. But the 
 charge which Paul makes against both Jew and Gen- 
 tile is that they were utterly without this disposition, 
 as was clearly shown by their wicked lives. Any oth- 
 er view than this would seem to sever the plan of sal- 
 vation preached by Paul from the plan of salvation re- 
 vealed in the Old Testament — which Paul repeatedly 
 declared he was not doing. So far as his relation to 
 his own people was concerned his gospel was really 
 an elaborate attempt on his part to bring back to the 
 old paths the wandering Jew. 
 
 And this provided salvation is as universal as sin 
 and sin is as universal as the race. Nor need those, 
 who by faith made it their salvation actually, have any 
 fear as to its final certainty ; for through the suffering 
 discipline to which we are subjected and the suffering 
 and ever faithful mediation of Him who died for the 
 ungodly, we have a hope which shall never be disap- 
 pointed ; for if Christ would die for the ungodly, so 
 also will he ever thereafter pledge his faithfulness to 
 those who enter into the life of fellowship with him. 
 
 2. In so far as the " foolish heart " of the Gentiles 
 was not utterly darkened and indifferent to such mat- 
 ters, it was in despair. So no opposition would come 
 from the Gentiles to Paul's exposition of the way to 
 be saved, or of the way to attain unto true righteous- 
 ness. It was the Jew whose objections Paul had to 
 meet. 
 
 (i) The first of these objections, which Paul repre- 
 sents as being addressed to him is: Does not your 
 exposition of the nature of salvation and of the way 
 
The Tkachings of thk Epistle. 53 
 
 whereby it is to be attained, remove all ground for 
 holiness of life ? Does it not rather promote sin by 
 encouraging us to do evil that good may come, or in 
 order that grace may have only the greater opportu- 
 nity to be manifested toward us? (vi. i.) 
 
 ** By no means," says Paul (vi. 2) ; and he proceeds 
 in the following verses to show that he who repre- 
 sents him as so teaching greatly misapprehends and 
 perverts his meaning. This righteousness, he says, 
 which is a gift of grace, and which becomes ours by 
 faith, or by our identifying ourselves in spirit with 
 Christ, is in its very nature antagonistic to lawless- 
 ness. Another name for this gift of grace is spiritual 
 life, and another name for sin or lawnessness is spir- 
 itual death ; and he who is spiritually alive can not at 
 the same time be spiritually dead. The very fact that 
 we have come into possession of this gift implies in 
 its very nature that we are dead to sin, and of course 
 therefore it is impossible for us to be dead to sin and 
 at the very same time show that we are still alive to 
 sin by still living in sin. Or in other words, as this 
 righteousness by faith consists in the perfect union 
 of ourselves with Christ, we are obliged to share his 
 disapprobation of sin, and to live in spirit, at least, 
 just such a life as he lives — which is not our old one 
 of sin or lawlessness. Paul represents this coming 
 into possession of righteousness which is a gift of 
 grace, this transition from the old life of sin or law- 
 lessness to the new life of spiritual obedience in 
 Christ, under a variety of figures. It is a transition 
 from death to resurrection, our old selves having 
 been crucified, our new selves being the risen ones 
 which have no more affinity for sin. It is also repre- 
 sented as being a transition from a state of bondage, 
 
54 Introduction. 
 
 sin being the master to whom we gave up our mem- 
 bers, to a state of freedom from sin's mastery but of 
 enslavement to the service of God. The same 
 thought is presented in the reference to the marriage 
 law (vii. if.) which binds a woman to her husband so 
 long only as he lives. The relation between sin and 
 ourselves is dissolved, so that we are no longer under 
 sin's law, whether sin be regarded as a master or as a 
 husband. 
 
 Thus does Paul refute the charge of the Jew that 
 his theory of human righteousness instead of secur- 
 ing human righteousness really encouraged human 
 lawlessness; and thus does he at the same time lay 
 firmly the foundation of the true doctrine of sanctifi- 
 cation, or morality, or holiness of life, as it may be 
 variously called : this foundation being the fact that 
 it is a self-contradiction in the very nature of the 
 case, to say that one who is dead to sin may continue 
 to approve a life of isin. 
 
 (2) Another objection which the Jew is represented 
 as making is : " What of the law ? " he says. " If we 
 can attain to righteousness apart from the works of 
 the law, is not the value of the law depreciated ? It 
 would seem that its only tendency is to provoke us to 
 sin." (vi. 7.) 
 
 This objection to Paul's teaching causes him to set 
 forth the true function of the law which the Jew ob- 
 viously misapprehends. Paul does not discredit the 
 law. It does provoke to sin, for the very fact that 
 one is forbidden to do a thing does arouse in him a 
 desire to do that thing, and a desire to which he only 
 too often yields. But this is not the fault of the law ; 
 it simply shows the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Why 
 should I desire most of all to do that which is for- 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 55 
 
 bidden simply because it is forbidden? The evil 
 principle is within me whether there be any law in 
 existence or not. But if there be a law, and if it 
 be known by me, it simply enables me to know my- 
 self as a sinner. When I had not the law I was a 
 sinner and did not know it — that is, sin in me was 
 dormant, or was dead and I was alive, or thought I 
 was; but when I had the law sin that was in me 
 showed that it was only dormant and I myself was 
 dead. Hence, all that the law can do, and all that it 
 was intended to do, is to plunge me into a state of 
 conscious separation from God, and thereby neither 
 justify me nor sanctify me, but enable me to realize 
 my need of both justification and sanctification. In- 
 deed, the more I — that is, any man whether regen- 
 ate or unregenerate — endeavor to shake off the yoke 
 which sin by means of the law has put upon me the 
 more galling and intolerable do I find its weight to 
 be. This is the conflict described in the last half of 
 chapter vii.; and it never ceases. It continues through 
 life side by side with the experience described in the 
 next chapter. My sanctification or holiness does not 
 come by means of the law ; it can never so come. It 
 comes apart from my relation to the law. It consists 
 in my being in Christ Jesus — walking, living day by 
 day, according to the spirit and not according to the 
 flesh. I — that is, my real self, live according to which- 
 ever I approve. And so after all, it is not I who sin. 
 My spirit is in union with His Spirit. This is my 
 sanctification. Notwithstanding the incessant con- 
 flict, what shall I fear? Nothing. Not God, not 
 Christ, not tribulation, not separation from Christ, 
 not any thing; for God hath determined that I 
 should be conformed to the image of his Son. 
 
56 Introduction. 
 
 3. But to the Jew there was yet another obstacle in 
 the way of his acceptance of Paul's phase of the doc- 
 trine concerning salvation, and to the Jew it was a 
 very grave one. It was his doctrine concerning the 
 election of Israel. He misapprehended Paul because 
 he misapprehended the true view of God's choice of 
 Israel. God is absolute sovereign, that is true ; and so 
 the Jew thought that the Jew believed. But after all, 
 in reality he did not so believe. Paul did, and hence 
 he believed that in the exercise of his absolute sov- 
 ereignty he might also elect to save the Gentiles, at 
 least some Gentiles — all who were sincerely seeking 
 after him if haply they might find him. He might in 
 the exercise of his absolute sovereignty even deter- 
 mine to reject Israel as his people and elect for him- 
 self a new people out of the Gentiles. If he had 
 sovereignly chosen one of Isaac's sons and his de- 
 scendants to be his people, and not chosen the other, 
 could he not in thief case also exercise, if he should 
 deem it best, a like sovereignty ? Had he not even in 
 the days of Moses, declared with the utmost emphasis 
 that his sovereignty was a free sovereignty, bound 
 by no law extraneous to himself, bound by no 
 law save his own holy will or nature? Had he 
 not, long after Israel had become his elect people, 
 threatened them plainly through Moses with sum- 
 mary rejection, saying that his sovereignty was such 
 that he was perfectly free to extend this electing mer- 
 cy to whom he would and to withhold it from whom 
 he would ? Even so now he could sovereignly elect to 
 save Gentiles. 
 
 So the Jew's misapprehension of his relation to God, 
 which he regarded as a guaranty of his salvation, was 
 based upon another twofold misapprehension, first of 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 57 
 
 the nature of salvation or righteousness, and second 
 of the nature of the divine sovereignty. And both 
 these misapprehensions were founded in the first place 
 on a false reading of the Old Testament Scriptures. 
 Had he not expressly said that as the potter chooses 
 one piece of clay and rejects another, the reason not 
 necessarily being apparent to any one but the potter, 
 so also could he choose one people and reject another. 
 Why should the Jews interpret this to mean that God 
 chose them and rejected the Gentiles and that he could 
 not choose the Gentiles and reject them? Was not 
 this to deny or limit the divine sovereignty rather 
 than to affirm it ? It would seem so ; for a sovereign 
 who can not revoke his choice or reverse it, when the 
 conditions upon which it was made no longer exist, 
 is not really an absolute sovereign. God's election of 
 Israel has never gotten beyond God's control. And 
 had he not expressly said by the mouth of one whom 
 the Jews regarded as one of his prophets, " I will call 
 that my people which was not my people?" What 
 could this mean but that he would call the Gentiles 
 his people, and in a more explicit sense than had hith- 
 erto been done ? From all which it should seem evi- 
 dent that God had not by any irrevocable decree de- 
 barred the Gentiles from that righteousness which 
 consisted, so to speak, in the absorption by faith of 
 God's own righteous character, and which alone con- 
 stituted the salvation of the Jew, and that by reason 
 of the very nature of this righteousness which consti- 
 tuted his salvation, it could not be necessary for the 
 Gentile, in order that he might possess it, to pass 
 through a process of Jewish proselytism. 
 
 4. The discussion of the Jewish attitude toward this 
 subject gives Paul occasion to do two things : 
 
58 Introduction. 
 
 (i) To set forth (chapter x.) the divinely intended 
 relation of the Jews — his own dearly beloved people — 
 toward the Gentiles. The more we read Paul the 
 more we are struck either with his inspiration or his 
 profound insight into the teachings both of the 
 Old Testament and of Jesus in the Gospels — profound 
 insight because so utterly opposed to the most deep- 
 seated and cherished prejudices of the Jews, he him- 
 self being a Jew and having been a Pharisee of the 
 strictest sect. The true spirit of the teaching of 
 the Old Testament, which the Jew could not con- 
 sistently regard as offensive, was that the supreme 
 fact in regard to Israel was, not that he was to be the 
 exclusive people of God in any literal and national 
 sense, but that he was to occupy toward the Gentiles 
 a missionary relation ; he was to be a light-bearer to 
 them ; he was to be a witness of God to them, bearing 
 witness as to how even the Gentiles also may be saved 
 and must be saved ii^ saved at all. This only way of 
 being saved can not in the very nature of the case ad- 
 mit of any distinction between Jew and Gentile — be- 
 tween one man and another. It is like the physician's 
 medicine, which if it is good for an Englishman is un- 
 der like circumstances good for a German. Right- 
 eousness is righteousness ; the Lord is the same Lord. 
 That which he. condemns in the Gentile he can not 
 approve in the Jew. Christ is Lord, and whosoever, 
 whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free, whosoever the 
 wide world over, calleth on the name of the Lord, as 
 the Jew's own scriptures teach, shall be saved. But 
 would there not be more calling upon God, more peni- 
 tential hungering and thirsting after his righteousness, 
 if men only knew of God— only knew of his right- 
 eousness and the fact that it might in some sense be 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 59 
 
 transmitted into their own natures, making them the 
 sons of God, in the likeness of God, in unison with 
 God ? But how can they know this unless they know 
 Him who is the revealer of God and his righteous- 
 ness ? And how can they know Him unless they be 
 told? And who is there to tell them but the Jew? Or, 
 in other words, him who already knows, whoever he 
 maybe. "How beautiful are the feet of them that 
 bring glad tidings of good things." But if Israel 
 would neither accept the message nor be the bearer 
 of it to others, then they who were called God's peo- 
 ple should no longer be his people, and through agen- 
 cies of his own providing those who had not been 
 called his people should become his people. And this 
 in turn should at last prove to be a blessing to Israel 
 by provoking her to jealousy. It is not God's purpose 
 to cast off Israel. The gospel having proceeded from 
 Israel is to return to Israel, and it is God's purpose to 
 so exercise his loving and unrestricted sovereignty as 
 to give salvation as an actual possession to all, wheth- 
 er Jew or Gentile, who sincerely call upon his name, 
 and to those who were historically acquainted with 
 the crucified and risen Jesus, calling on his name and 
 calling on the name of the Lord were one and the 
 same thing. They could never clearly and fully know 
 the Lord until they knew him as Christ. 
 
 III.— The Ethicae Teaching. 
 
 The manner of life, in our relation to God, to one 
 another, and to the State, which should naturally 
 grow out of Paul's theory of salvation, is presented 
 in chapters xii. and following. Instead of being one 
 of evil doing and lawlessness, as the Jew supposed, it 
 was in all respects the very opposite. We have 
 
6o Introduction. 
 
 space here for only a very brief consideration of 
 Paul's teaching on this subject. 
 
 1. The Basis, "I beseech you thhrefore, 
 brethren," etc. This word "therefore" links Paul's 
 practical ethics with his doctrine of salvation. Being 
 saved consisted in being "transformed," an inward 
 renewal, having God's righteousness in us, or in other 
 words still, in having Christ in us. It is in this that 
 our character, or spiritual life, consists. This is the 
 Pauline basis of ethics. The outer Mfe is to be the 
 manifestation of the inner Christ, a continual setting 
 forth of the perfect will of God, as the water in the 
 stream illustrates the character of the fountain from 
 which it flows. Such a life, therefore, as his theory 
 called for could not be otherwise than one of entire 
 consecration to God, non-conformity to the world as 
 being the antithesis of God; theoretically perfect, 
 however practicall/ imperfect it might be by reason 
 of ingredients which fall into it by the way, and 
 which did not come from the fountain. 
 
 2. Our Relation to God, This inward consecra- 
 tion becomes outwardly devoted service to God in 
 whatever sphere his providence may have placed us ; 
 and all our acts are to receive that quality which 
 renders them acceptable to God from the spirit of the 
 Christ within us, from which spirit our acts proceed. 
 If we serve God reluctantly in this or tliat prescribed 
 capacity it is not God's service, because the manner 
 of service which proceeds from the Christ within us 
 is not a reluctant service. This Christ within us 
 becomes our character, and it is our character which 
 determines the quality of our service. 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 6i 
 
 3. Our Relations to one Another, Here again 
 our manner of life is to receive its moral tone and 
 quality from the Christ dwelling in us, as the fruit re- 
 ceives its quality of sweetness, or bitterness, or sour- 
 ness, from the juice which pervades it. Paul's teach- 
 ing on this subject in the last half of chapter xii. is 
 only an expansion of the thought which he expresses 
 elsewhere: Let that mind or disposition be in you 
 which was also in Christ Jesus. If Christ's disposi- 
 tion be in us that is the disposition which will also 
 determine our manner of life toward others. We 
 may infer his mind from his life. He might, when he 
 was persecuted, have taken vengeance into his own 
 hands, but he did not do it. When he was reviled he 
 did not revile back again. He did not return evil for 
 evil. He did not bear himself haughtily, thinking of 
 himself more highly than he ought to think. He 
 was meek, patient, and forgiving. If Christ be per- 
 fectly formed within us, so shall our manner of life 
 be identical with his, for from the same fountain can 
 not come two different streams. 
 
 4. Our Relation to the State (chap. xiii.). 
 The principle which Paul lays down for the guidance 
 of the Roman Christians in their relations to the 
 Roman government is also of universal obligation : 
 Let every soul submit himself to the government 
 which is over him. Why? Because government is 
 ordained of God, just as the family is, and the 
 Church. God is a God of order, not of confusion and 
 anarchy. Christians can not be Christ-like without 
 being God-like, and they can not be God-like without 
 loving order. But there can be no social order where 
 there is no social organism — a renunciation of some 
 
62 Introduction. 
 
 individual rights, and the recognition of the authority 
 of law. If the government in any particular instance 
 happens to be a bad one in any respect, submit to it, 
 for even a bad government is better than to have 
 every man set out for himself, and for himself alone. 
 If the government commands you to do what is 
 morally wrong, still submit to it, not by obeying its 
 commands, but by quietly submitting to its punish- 
 ment. Government is ordained of God, but any par- 
 ticular form of administration may be changed, not 
 by substituting lawlessness, but by introducing in the 
 place of the bad a better form. The difference is 
 great between the anarchist and him who, while he 
 resists the government, at the same time recognizes 
 the universal binding force of social law, and if need 
 be bows in meek submission to its penalty. 
 
 5. In Relation to Things Indifferent, Two 
 
 things are here to be accomplished — first, a test or 
 criterion must be furnished whereby to determine 
 what acts are indifferent ; second, to exercise a spirit 
 of charity toward one another in regard to these 
 matters. 
 
 Of course, in the estimation both of Jew and 
 Gentile, if there should be an agreement that a given 
 act or course of conduct is morally neither right nor 
 wrong, there could no longer be any dispute about it. 
 Hence, in order to appreciate the teachings of Paul 
 on this subject (chap, xiv.) it is necessary to read what 
 he says in the light of the important principle which 
 he has already established in a former part of his 
 epistle. This principle may be stated in a variety of 
 forms, as (i) Morality in the strict and true sense is 
 spiritual, something that inheres in and proceeds 
 
The Teachings of the Epistle. 63 
 
 from our character ; the act, therefore, deriving its 
 so-called m6ral character from the character of him 
 who performs it; or {2) MoraHty is not something 
 which can be made or unmade by the deliverances of 
 an ecclesiastical authority, but is something immut- 
 able ; or (3) Unto the pure are all things pure, even 
 meats or v/ines offered to idols ; or (4) Whatsoever is 
 not of faith is sin. The Christian's conscience is 
 determined by the Christian's character; and the 
 Christian's character is only another name for the 
 Christ, or divine righteousness in him. Whatsoever, 
 therefore, the Christian can not do with a good con- 
 science it is wrong for him to do, though not wrong 
 for another who can do it with an approving con- 
 science. The question, therefore, which every one is 
 to ask is not. Is it wrong to eat meat ? Is it wrong to 
 dance? Is it wrong to have Church fairs for the 
 purpose of raising money? etc., but. Is it wrong for 
 me to do so? And this is a question which every 
 person must determine for himself in the light of his 
 own conscience and in view of his individual responsi- 
 bility to God — for it is in his relation to God and not 
 to his fellow that every man must stand or fall. 
 
 But in its applications to our daily lives the prin- 
 ciple as laid down by Paul is also according to him to 
 be under the modifying influence of Christian charity. 
 All things may be lawful for me, but all things may 
 not be expedient, whereas you may regard them as 
 both in their relation to you. And in regard to these 
 debatable questions no Christian is to make his judg- 
 ment the standard of another's conduct. One may 
 esteem it right to do this or that, and another may 
 esteem it wrong ; but let each be persuaded in his 
 own mind, and act accordingly. The Christian who 
 
64 Introduction. 
 
 regards himself as strong, able to do with a good 
 conscience that which another's conscience will not 
 allow him to do, should respect the scruples of his 
 weaker brother, making no attempt to induce him to 
 act in opposition to his conscience. And if his 
 example in doing these debatable things should be a 
 source of temptation to the weak one, then for the 
 sake of his brother's infirmities of conscience he 
 should be willing to deny himself and refrain from 
 doing them. 
 
 Paul does not mean, however, that one is the abso- 
 lute keeper of another's conscience, or, in other 
 words, that the weakness of the weak is an absolute 
 law unto the strong. If the strong are to respect the 
 weakness of the weak, so are these latter to respect 
 the strength of the strong. The virtue of a charitable 
 and liberal spirit is not to be so pressed as to involve 
 the sacrifice of all liberty. The conscience of neither 
 party is to be the sl^ve of the conscience of the other. 
 " lyCt us not, therefore, judge one another any more,'* 
 is a precept addressed no less to the weak than to the 
 strong. If I, for reasons satisfactory to me, should 
 deem it best to act in opposition to my brother's con-^ 
 science, Paul's teaching allows me the liberty of so 
 doing. If Paul himself had not acted according to 
 this teaching it is not likely that he could ever have 
 been an apostle to the Gentiles. Jewish scruples were 
 not very favorable to his ministry, especially ; anb it 
 was his privilege, in the exercise of his strong liberty, 
 and of his broad Christian charity toward those who 
 differed with him in these matters of casuistry, to do 
 more than any other apostle toward removing such 
 harmful prejudices from the way of the gospel. 
 
COMMENTARY. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE PREFACE. 
 
 Verses 1-15. 
 (i. Superscription, vs. 1-7 ; 2. Introduction, vs. 8-15.) 
 
 It was the custom of ancient letter writers to sign 
 their names at the beginning of the letter, and not at 
 the end as we do, thus, "A. B. to C. D. ; " and then, 
 instead of saying ** Dear Friend " or " Dear Sir," the 
 Greeks said, "A. B. to C. D. Wishes Joy;" the 
 Romans, "A. B. to C. D. Wishes Health ; " and the 
 Jews, "A. B. to C. D. Wishes Peace." Paul combines 
 the classical and Jewish forms, giving a higher mean- 
 ing to both, and writes, '' Wishes Grace and Peace," 
 or, "Grace to you and Peace," often adding the 
 further words, ** From God our Father and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." Compare the superscription here with 
 that of each of Paul's other epistles. He does not 
 sign his name simply " Paul," as in the first and 
 second Thessalonians, the first which he wrote, but 
 usually writes it ofificially, " Paul, an apostle of Jesus 
 Christ," " Paul, a servant of Christ," etc. He here 
 includes in his salutation an expression of warm 
 personal sympathy for the Christians at Rome, many 
 of whom were, doubtless, old personal friends whom 
 he had drawn to him at Ephesus and other parts of 
 the Roman world. 
 
 5 . (65) 
 
66 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. I., V. I -.—Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be 
 an apostle, separated u7ito the gospel of God. 
 
 Verse i. Paul, See on this name, Introduction, 
 p. I. A servant. Bondman, or slave, as the word 
 dou/os here rendered always means. The word 
 servant is admissible, provided, we think, not of a 
 hired servant, nor of a servant in the sense in which 
 diakonos, or deacon, is rendered in chap. xvi. i, and 
 elsewhere. Perhaps many or even all the Christians 
 to whom Paul here writes were made familiar by 
 painful experience with the meaning of this word 
 which denoted a Roman slave. There were hundreds 
 of thousands of them in the great city at the time 
 when Paul was writing this epistle, and millions more 
 in other parts of the empire. The Roman master 
 had the power of life and death over his slave, and no 
 matter how arbitrar^y and cruelly he might use this 
 power, he was accountable neither to the slave nor to 
 the government. That Paul, in whose veins flowed 
 not one drop of the obsequious blood, should have 
 uniformly applied such a term to himself, shows how 
 absolute and intense was his allegiance to Christ. He 
 regarded himself not as his own but as Christ's prop- 
 erty, as truly as if he had been literally bought with a 
 price. He was, therefore, under bounden obligation 
 to Christ ; though it is by no means implied that he 
 regarded his master as a hard one. Jesus Christ, 
 This form of expression means Jesus who is the Mes- 
 siah ; it identifies Jesus of Nazareth with the Christ 
 or Messiah, and this Paul must have meant to do. 
 The form "Christ Jesus" would have meant the 
 Messiah who is Jesus. With us the forms are prac- 
 tically equivalent, though they were not originally so, 
 
Chapter I. 67 
 
 for the one ascribed divinity to Jesus, while the other 
 ascribed a lowly humanity to the Christ. The 
 humanity of Jesus was evident, but his divinity was 
 not. Called to be an Apostle. A man may be 
 called 10 be a Christian and yet not actuall}- be one, 
 for he may resist the Spirit's call. Paul means that 
 he is an apostle, not by self-appointment, not by 
 human appointment, but by the call of Christ, as were 
 the other apostles. It is this fact that is to give his 
 words official weight with those to whom he writes. 
 The word " apostle " denotes the special form of serv- 
 ice to which Paul was called by Christ. The apostles 
 were the servants to whom it was intrusted to found 
 the Christian Church ; the evangelists extended it by 
 securing converts, while the pastors and teachers 
 strengthened and otherwise contributed to its perfect- 
 ing by their special labors. The man who was an 
 apostle in this special sense might also combine in 
 himself the function of the others; but when the 
 evangelists are also called apostles the word must be 
 understood in an unofficial sense. Separated. Sep- 
 arated by Christ from all other vocations, and set 
 apart by him to his apostolic work. Paul does not 
 refer here to any human consecration nor to an 
 eternal election of himself to his office and work as 
 an apostle, but rather regards all the circumstances 
 of his life culminating in his conversion as a provi- 
 dential leading thereto; see Gal. i. 15. Unto the 
 gospel of God. Unto the work of preaching the 
 good tidings, not concerning God, but concerning 
 Christ, and of which glad tidings God is the author. 
 See verse 3. 
 
 V. 2. Promised. God had not merely promised 
 
68 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 2 : — IVhich he had promised afore by his prophets in the 
 holy Scriptures. 
 
 V. 3 -.—Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which 
 was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. 
 
 and caused the promises to be recorded in the Old 
 Testament Scriptures that there should at sometime 
 be glad tidings, but he had also promised that these 
 glad tidings should be preached to the Gentiles also ; 
 and we think that it is these latter promises that 
 Paul here has especially in mind, for he was pre- 
 eminently an apostle to the Gentiles, and refers to the 
 promises in immediate connection with his own work. 
 Paul's Jewish critics, with whom he will have much 
 to do before he concludes the epistle, might therefore 
 see in this verse allusion to the well-known Jewish 
 attitude toward the Gentiles in respect to the matter 
 of being saved. ^ 
 
 V. 3. Concerning bis Son. That is, the preach- 
 ing of the gospel concerning his Son. The Revised 
 Version omits the words, "Jesus Christ our Lord," 
 but inserts them in verse 4, so that in neither case is 
 there any doubt as to w^ho " his Son " is. Made of 
 the seed of David according to the ftesh. 
 Whether we regard Mary only or both Joseph and 
 Mary, as descended from David, the words here ren- 
 dered do not impl3^ that Paul believed Jesus' body and 
 human nature to be of the seed or race of David in 
 the same sense that Joseph or Mary was — that is. by 
 ordinary generation. The words are quite consistent 
 with Paul's belief, as elsewhere expressed, in the 
 immaculate conception on the part of Mary by the 
 Holy Ghost; and the words "was made," are in the 
 
Chapter I. 69 
 
 V. 4 -.—And declared lo be the Son of God with power, ac- 
 cording to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the 
 dead. 
 
 Greek "was born" or "became" — that is, the pre- 
 existent Son of God became human and in doing so 
 attached himself to the race of David by being born 
 of Mary a descendant of David. 
 
 V. 4. Declared to be the Son of God, We 
 
 must understand the word " declared " to carry with it 
 here the additional sense of proven to be. With 
 power. Not the Son of God endowed with power as 
 contrasted with his weakness as the seed of the 
 woman as mentioned in the preceding verse. He was 
 declared and proven in a powerful manner to be the 
 Son of God. The proof here referred to is his resur- 
 rection from the dead. According to the spirit 
 of holiness. As he was of the seed of David in 
 respect to the flesh, so was he declared and proven to 
 be the Son of God in respect to the spirit of holiness. 
 There were two sides, or parts, or natures, so to 
 speak, to Christ's being. In the one consisted his 
 humanity, in the other his divinity, or divine nature, 
 here called his "spirit of holiness," because as the 
 Son of God he was essentially spirit as God is, and 
 also essentially holy as God is. The expression does 
 not. therefore, we think, mean the Holy Spirit, though 
 he did descend and rest upon Christ. Christ himself 
 is elsewhere in the New Testament spoken of as "the 
 Spirit," and the "eternal Spirit" (i Tim. iii. 16; 
 Heb. ix. 14), but the Holy Spirit, or third Person of 
 the Trinity, is never spoken of as "the spirit of 
 holiness." 
 
70 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 5 : — By whom we have received grace and apostleship, 
 for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name. 
 
 V. 5. JBy whom. In tlie sense of, from whom, or 
 through whom. Christ having risen from the dead 
 and thereby established his oft-repeated assertion that 
 he was the Son of God, we (that is, Paul) have re- 
 ceived grace and apostleship. But if Jesus had not 
 thus established himself to be the Son of God, Paul 
 could not have received this from him, because 
 he could not have believed him to be other than an 
 impostor, one who had gathered about him a few dis- 
 ciples, attracted a momentary attention, and at last 
 been crucified. As we learn both from the Acts and 
 from his Epistles, Paul always regarded the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus, to which he himself could personall}^ 
 testify, as a fact of fundamental importance. It 
 proved that Jesus was all that he claimed to be ; and 
 hence in Paul's estimation to admit and acquiesce in 
 the resurrection was to admit and acquiesce in the 
 whole gospel. ** He was raised for our justification," 
 says Paul, because if he had not been raised we would 
 not have believed on him, and hence there could have 
 been no justification through faith in him. See also 
 chapter x. 9. 
 
 Grace and apostleship. By this Paul means all 
 that he was as a converted and renewed man and all 
 that he was ofiicially. It is a second afiirmation^ that 
 he received his apostleship not from man, not from 
 the Church, but directly from Christ. 
 
 Por obedience to the faith. The end, or pur- 
 pose, for which the " grace and apostleship " had been 
 conferred was that the gospel might be preached 
 among all the Gentiles and that they might thereby 
 
Chapter I. 
 
 V. 6 : — Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: 
 V. 7 : — To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be 
 
 saints : Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 attain to that obedience which consists not merely in 
 the single initial act of faith but also and especially 
 in the life or habit of faith. JPor his name. In 
 behalf of, or for the sake of his name. The gospel is 
 preached among the Gentiles, and they are won to 
 the obedience which consists in faith, for his name's 
 sake, or for the promotion of the honor and glory of 
 Christ's name. 
 
 V. 6. Among whom are ye also. The apostle 
 tells the Romans that they also are included among 
 the nations, or Gentiles, to whom it was his especial 
 apostolic privilege to publish the gospel ; as he was 
 by call of Christ the apostle to the Gentiles, so the 
 Romans were by call of Christ a part of his great 
 flock. This same authority which made it his duty to 
 address them made it their duty to hear him. The 
 expression, however, may also include the further 
 meaning that those to whom Paul was writing were 
 already members of the Church of Christ. 
 
 V. 7. To all that he in Rome. This verse 
 refers back to verse i, and concludes the superscrip- 
 tion of the letter. ''Paul .... to all that be at 
 Rome," etc. Compare this with the mode of address 
 employed by Paul in his other epistles. He addressed 
 the Corinthians, Thessalonians, and Galatians, as 
 Churches. The population of Rome at this time was 
 between one and two millions, and the Christians 
 gathered there were doubtless also very numerous, 
 
72 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 and were not as yet organized into a definite church, 
 or into a number of separate churches. Called to 
 be saints. That is, saints by call, as Paul was an 
 apostle by call. The word *' saints " is used to desig- 
 nate those who are now commonly called Christians, 
 and denotes those who are by profession set apart or 
 consecrated to the service of Christ. Christians were 
 fiist called Christians at Antioch about twelve years 
 before Paul wrote this epistle, but the word does not 
 seem to have come into general use at this time ; at 
 least, it does not occur but three times in the New 
 Testament, twice in the Acts, and once in the first 
 Epistle of Peter. The word " saint " might apply to 
 any earnest seeker after God, any one longing to 
 know the truth, and to do the truth, whether nom- 
 inally^ a Christian or not. There might be many such 
 at Rome who had not heard much of Christ, and to 
 all such this epistle, which has so much of Christ in 
 it, was addressed. ^ 
 
 Grace to you and peace. The Greek word 
 charis joy, is here, and often elsewhere in the New 
 Testament, rightly rendered grace. It means that 
 kind disposition of one person toward another which 
 is itself a favor and which often manifests itself in 
 the bestowment of other favors. It was the word 
 employed by Greek and Roman letter writers in a 
 formal sense merely, very much after the manner of 
 our '* Dear Sir ; " but Paul uses it in a higher and 
 more significant sense, and generally adds, as he does 
 here, " from God the Father," etc. The grace which 
 he feels toward us as Father, and which he also has 
 actually manifested toward us in his provision for us 
 and dealings with us may well produce in us joy. 
 But Paul also says and peace. This was the word 
 
Chapter I. y^t 
 
 which the Jews used ; but Paul uses it in a sense far 
 higher than the formal one ; it was with him not a 
 mere passing salutation, as one Jew might say to 
 another shalom Pka, peace be unto thee. Paul's wish 
 was a real one, and the peace which he prayed might 
 be to the saints at Rome was peace with their own 
 consciences, peace with one another, and peach with 
 Ood which comes from God the Father of them and 
 from the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. v. i ; John 
 xiv. 27. 
 
 Introduction, Verses 8-15. 
 
 After the salutation Paul does not proceed at once 
 to the statement and discussion of the fundamental 
 theme of the epistle, but, as in his other epistles, he 
 first writes a short introduction or preface. In verses 
 1-7, in addition to his usual salutation, he established, 
 as we have seen, between himself and the Romans an 
 official relation— he on his part being an apostle to the 
 Gentiles by call of Christ, they on their part being by 
 call of Christ the members of his great parish ; hence 
 his right to address them. But Paul was not merely 
 an apostle and profound reasoner ; he was also a man 
 of profound emotional nature, tender and aflfectionate 
 of heart. He now proceeds, therefore, as he also did 
 in other instances, to further win the attention of his 
 readers by informing them of the deep and sincere 
 interest which he feels in their welfare, and of the 
 deep and sincere affection which he has for them. 
 They are far from the center of the usual apostolic 
 labors ; but he cares for them ; he prays for them ; he 
 commends their world-famed faith ; he longs to visit 
 them ; he thinks that he may derive strength and en- 
 
74 'The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 8: — Firsts I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you 
 ally that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. 
 
 V. 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 always in m,y prayers. 
 
 couragement from the actual sight of those so faithful 
 under such adverse circumstances ; and thus does the 
 great and tender-hearted apostle establish between 
 himself and them a relation of heart to heart. 
 
 V. 8. Pirst, In the first place, Paul expresses his 
 thanks concerning the Christians at Rome, before pro- 
 ceeding with the discussion of the great subject of 
 salvation ; the formal " in the second place," however, 
 does not occur. My God, One's God is the God 
 whom one serves and to whom one lives in close affec- 
 tionate relation. Through Jesus Christ. "The 
 gifts of God come to us through Christ, our thanks- 
 givings go to God tkrough Christ " (Bengel) ; so also 
 do our praj^ers ; he is the mediator between God and 
 man and man and God, he is as the ladder which the 
 angels ascended and descended. F'or you all. On 
 account of all of 3^ou. The whole world. Rome 
 being the center to which and from which Christians 
 from all parts were constantly moving, the faithful- 
 ness of those at Rome to their Christian profession 
 would become universally known. 
 
 V. 9. For God is my witness. The strong as- 
 sertion which I make is true, and since none but God 
 can know my constant, voiceless prayers concerning 
 you, I solemnly appeal to him as my witness. The 
 burden, not only of all the Churches, but of each in- 
 dividual Church in his vast field, was on the heart of 
 
Chapter I. ys 
 
 V. lo: — Making request, if by any ineafis now at length I 
 might have a prosperous journey by the will oj God to come 
 unto you. 
 
 V. II -.—For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you 
 some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established. 
 
 Paul, and none but God could know how intensely ; 
 and at the very time he wrote this Epistle to the 
 Romans he was endeavoring to establish the Corin- 
 thians, and was gathering contributions to carry to the 
 poor Christians in far-away Judea. With my 
 spirit. With my inmost heart and soul. In the 
 gospel of his Son. In preaching the gospel of his 
 Son. The fact that he thus preached the glad tidings 
 of the Father's Son was proof that he thus served the 
 Son's Father. 
 
 V. ID. Making request. It had long been Paul's 
 desire and abiding prayer that he might at some time 
 be so prospered as to visit the Christians at Rome; 
 and this is a proof of his affection for them, and the 
 sincerity of his thanksgiving on account of them, 
 mentioned in verse 8. But he can not go now for he 
 is on the eve of a long journey to Jerusalem ; " and 
 the eagerness of desire is tempered by resignation to 
 the will of God, who will bring all to a prosperous 
 issue in his own way, and at his own time." Three 
 or four years after this Paul went to Rome, his ex- 
 penses being paid by the Roman government; and 
 thus was his prayer answered. But he went as a 
 chained prisoner. 
 
 V. II. For I long to see you. The word 'I 
 long" (epipotho), along with the expression of the 
 
76 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 12:— That is, that I may be comforted together with you 
 by the mutual faith both of you and me. 
 
 V. 13 -.—Now I would not have you ignorant^ brethren, that 
 oftentimes I purposed to come unto you {but was let hitherto), 
 that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among 
 other Gentiles. 
 
 desire which goes out toward them, is one of regret 
 at not having been able to come sooner. (Godet.) See 
 also ch. XV. 23. Spiritual gift. A gift to their 
 spirit, through Paul's spirit, from the Holy Spirit; 
 such as increase of strength, knowledge, love, hope, 
 faith. May he established. Made secure against 
 trials, especially the temptation to relapse into idolatry 
 and other forms of heathenism, as this was the trial 
 to which they would be most severely exposed. Paul 
 does not say " that I may establish you ; " he regarded 
 himself as only the means through whom the in- 
 creased strength was to be imparted. 
 
 V. 12. That iSy I may he comforted, etc. 
 
 Paul hastens to assure the Roman Christians, whose 
 faith he had commended in verse 8, that he does not 
 expect the benefit to be all on their side, but that he 
 also expects to receive needed encouragement from 
 his association with them, and from his actual observa- 
 tion of their faith. This is a beautiful example both 
 of Paul's humility and of his delicacy of feeling- 
 characteristics of the truly great man. 
 
 V. 13. Now I would not have you ignorant, 
 
 etc. Paul had been an apostle about twenty years; 
 his Roman readers misrht have said, If he feels so deep 
 an interest in us and has been an apostle so long, 
 
Chaptkr I. 'JJ 
 
 V. 14 : — / am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barba- 
 rians; both to the wise^ and to the unwise. 
 
 why has he not visited us? Hence, he assures them 
 that he has often purposed to visit them, but that he 
 has been let, or hindered, hitherto. He does not state 
 what the hindering cause was. Perhaps there was 
 more than one cause, one or all of which they might 
 not fully 'appreciate; or perhaps he does not wish to 
 place much stress on simply an anticipated criticism 
 of his failure to visit them. Rather than say any thing 
 that would intimate a belief on his part that the Ro- 
 mans earnestly desired him to come, he hastens to tell 
 them that the reason why he wishes to visit them is a 
 personal one, and recalls their mind by a different 
 choice of words to the fact stated in verse 1 1 , that he 
 wished to have some fruit of labor among them, even 
 as among other Gentiles. The whole verse furnishes 
 us another illustration of Paul's delicacy of feeling. 
 
 V. 14. I am debtor. Note the still varying 
 aspect in which Paul presents his desire to visit the 
 Romans; (i) that they may receive some spiritual 
 gift ; (2) that he may receive from them some spirit- 
 ual gift; (3) that he may have some fruit in them, 
 interest, as it were, on the gift which they had 
 received from him ; (4) that he may pay a debt which 
 he owes them. He was the apostle to the Gentile 
 world, and he was under obligation, the necessity 
 being laid upon him. He claims no credit for his 
 zeal, and it is no unholy ambition simply to be world- 
 wide in his ministry, for he looked also to Spain and 
 the countries far beyond Rome; it is simply an 
 apostolic debt, an obligation under which he has been 
 placed, not by but to all the Gentile peoples of what- 
 
78 Thh; Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 15: — So, as mwh as hi tne is, I am ready to preach the 
 gospel to you that are at Rome also. 
 
 ever nationality or degree of culture, and his duty is 
 his delight. It is worth while to notice this ground 
 on which Paul bases his missionary labors. It is not 
 their condition, however pitiable on any account 
 their condition may be, for the}^ may, after all, regard 
 themselves as " cultured Greeks," needing no mis- 
 sionary. But with Paul the basis of missionary labor 
 is simply the debt or obligation under which he has 
 been placed by Christ to all the heathen. It is a tre- 
 mendous debt, and he must endeavor with all his 
 might to discharge it, let the heathen themselves 
 think about as they pleased. The Church of to-day 
 should take the same true, and pure, and lofty view 
 of the matter ; and the Church which has to be 
 aroused by painful appeals to its pity, is not in a good 
 spiritual condition. I owe this debt and I am going 
 to pay it, no matter whether my creditor thinks he 
 needs the money or not — that is all that it ought to 
 be necessary to say about it. The fact that Christ has 
 saved the Church is the one circumstance that makes 
 it the Church's bounden duty to save the heathen ; and 
 the same may be said of any Christian individually, 
 for we are all apostles to the Gentiles, though, alas ! 
 we are not all Pauls. 
 
 V. 15. So, as much as in me is. The mean- 
 ing of Paul's words seems to be : So far as it depends 
 on me, or, as for my part, I am ready ; my only restric- 
 tion is, not the want of a willing and ready spirit, but 
 the want of opportunity. At Rome also, Paul 
 was just as ready and willing to preach the gospel to 
 the unconverted and cultured people of Rome as 
 
Chapter I. 79 
 
 elsewhere. He was not ashamed of this gospel in 
 any community or before any audience, however 
 influential or cultured. The words, " to you that are 
 at Rome," must not be restricted to the Christians 
 whom Paul was addressing; the learned and the 
 noble who knew little, or nothing, of the gospel, and 
 who might, perhaps, care nothing for it, are especially 
 meant, though he includes all as one population. 
 Several years afterward when Paul did actually preach 
 the gospel to Caesar's household he seemed to have 
 won some of these noble ones (Phil. iv. 22). 
 
8o Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE ANNOUNCED. 
 
 Justification by grace through faith.. Vs. i6, 17.) 
 
 Having presented his heart-felt salutations to the 
 Christians at Rome, and having in the prefatory state- 
 ments which we have just considered established 
 between himself and them agreeable relations, Paul 
 proceeds in a natural and informal manner to the 
 fundamental theme of his epistle: "The gospel the 
 power of God unto salvation to every one that 
 believeth," or, justification by grace through faith in 
 Christ. 
 
 V. 16 : — For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for 
 it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believ- 
 eth ; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 
 
 V. 16. The gospel of Christ, The Revised 
 
 Version omits the words "of Christ." They are not 
 essential to the sense, for the word "gospel" was 
 already understood to mean the gospel of Christ, and 
 besides the whole of what here follows makes the 
 meaning very clear. It is the power of God, 
 Not a power outside of God and which God uses in 
 order to save man ; but a power, or influence, or prin- 
 ciple, which proceeds from God into man, making 
 him safe and sound. To every one that believ- 
 eth. Two questions here arise : First. To every one 
 who believes what ? And the answer may be stated 
 in a twofold manner: (i) Believes the story or glad 
 tidings of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus ; 
 
Chapter I. 8i 
 
 V. 17: — For therein is the righteousness of God revealed 
 from faith to faith : as it is written, The just shall live by 
 faith. 
 
 (2) Believes God's righteousness, which is revealed in 
 Christ. Second question, What is it to believe ? It is 
 not simply to assent intellectually to the truth of a 
 proposition; for one may, of course, believe in this 
 sense that light illuminates, and yet be so situated as 
 not to be illuminated by it ; so may one believe that 
 the historical story of the life, death, and resurrection 
 of Jesus, is true, and yet have such an attitude toward 
 that story or revelation as not to be saved by it. 
 Before the light can lighten the window must be 
 opened ; before the gospel, or Christ, or the righteous- 
 ness of God, can become a curse-removing and health- 
 giving power to me, I must open the door of my soul 
 and admit it. And to open thus my soul's door is to 
 exercise faith. To the Jew Rrst, To the Jew 
 first in respect to time. The gospel was made known 
 first to the Jews, and then by Jewish preachers to the 
 Gentiles. And also to the Greeks, By Greeks 
 are here meant all who are not Jews ; it was a more 
 respectful term than Gentiles, which in the Jewish 
 use was generally equivalent simply to heathen, and 
 for this reason Paul probably here employs it ; the 
 gospel was the power of God unto salvation, also unto 
 those who regarded themselves as the most learned 
 and cultured. 
 
 V. 17. For therein. In the gospel. The gospel 
 is itself the revelation of the righteousness of God. 
 The righteousness of God, Not lAe righteousness 
 of, nor a righteousness of, but God's righteousness, as 
 distinguished here, perhaps, from his wrath mentioned 
 6 
 
82 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 in the next verse. But what is meant by God's right- 
 eousness ? It can not refer to God's act, as a judge, 
 of justifying or acquitting the condemned sinner, for 
 that act is not revealed in the gospel as having been 
 performed or as being performed. It refers rather to 
 the willingness or disposition of God to remove his 
 wrath from over the sinner on condition of faith, or of 
 what is called believing in the preceding verse. This 
 aspect of God's character was scarcely known to the 
 Gentiles ; it was fully revealed to the Jews in the Old 
 Testament, but the Jews had so far mutilated the reve- 
 lation as to substitute legal works for faith, or as to 
 depend on the covenant relation in which they stood to 
 God as a people, independently of any consideration 
 of personal character either on their own part or God's. 
 The gospel is a revelation of God's righteousness to 
 every one that believeth. A revelation to whom? 
 To every one who has heard the gospel as presented 
 either in the Old or New Testament ; but the revela- 
 tion is of benefit only to those who believe. 
 
 Revealed from faith to faith. Although the 
 gospel is a revelation to every man of God's righteous- 
 ness, it is a revelation which effects salvation only in 
 the case of those who believe ; that is, its efficacy pro- 
 ceeds on man's part from man's faith, and it proceeds 
 onward to yet higher degrees of faith. Faith does 
 not cease with being the mere act of opening the door 
 of the soul to the light or revelation which is called 
 the gospel, but it becomes ever thereafter our state or 
 character; we live with open door, and the light 
 which is life abides in us. This teaching should not 
 have been strange or new to Paul's Jewish readers, 
 for, as he reminds them, their own prophet said that 
 tke just shall live by faith; that is, the sinner whom 
 
Chapter I. 83 
 
 Paul here views as already made righteous by his faith 
 shall also live by his faith. Hab. ii. 4. 'The life 
 which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the 
 Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." 
 Gal. ii. 20. 
 
84 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 III. 
 THE DOCTRINE EXPOUNDED. 
 
 First Proposition : The universal need of salvation, (i. i8 — iii.. 
 20), in the case of both Jews and Gentiles. 
 
 (i) The Gentiles. 
 
 The apostle having briefly stated his fundamental 
 theme, viz.: that the gospel as a revelation of God's 
 righteousness is God's power unto salvation, proceeds 
 in the next place to develop the argument whereby 
 the thesis is to be established. He first shows the 
 condition of the Gentile world from which it appears 
 evident that the Gentiles had not attained into right- 
 eousness by glorifying God as God, etc., but that on 
 the other hand they had really lost the knowledge of 
 God, and instead of being righteous in his sight, they 
 had proceeded from bad to worse. Hence their need 
 of that salvation which is revealed in the gospel. 
 
 V. 18: — For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 
 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold 
 the truth in unrighteousness. 
 
 V. 18. V^or, The force of this word seems to be-: 
 The gospel is a revelation of the saving power or 
 righteousness of God, and such a revelation the world 
 needs, for there is also an abiding revelation of his 
 wrath, which Paul unfolds in a fearful manner in the 
 following verses. If he had discussed this revelation 
 before stating his doctrine of righteousness or salva- 
 tion by faith, the order of his words might have 
 been : As there is thus a revelation of God's wrath in 
 
Chapter I. 85 
 
 the human conscience so is there a revelation of his 
 righteousness or saving power in the gospel. 
 
 The Wrath of God, As the article is omitted 
 in verse 17 from "righteousness" so here it is 
 omitted, in the Greek, from "wrath;" God's right- 
 eousness, God's wrath. Is revealed. The univer- 
 sal conscience of man testifies that he is not right 
 with God, and that God is not and can not be pleased 
 with him as he is. The heathen know this, and the 
 fact that they do know it, and yet have not the gospel, 
 that other revelation of God, makes their condition, 
 if possible, only the more pitiable. The crowning 
 distinction of the Scripture is, not that it reveals 
 God's intense disapprobation of sin in man, for that 
 is revealed in man's own heart ; but its crowning dis- 
 tinction is that it reveals God's righteousness in 
 Christ as a power unto salvation from sin and all of 
 sin's consequences. F'rom heaven, " Righteous- 
 ness is revealed in the gospel, wrath is revealed from 
 heaven." It required the incarnation of God in 
 Christ on earth to fully reveal his righteousness, but 
 his wrath he revealed without becoming incarnate, 
 from his throne, as it were in heaven. Paul conceives 
 the revelation of wrath as preceding in point of time 
 the revelation of the gospel. The recognition of sin 
 is the recognition of wrath, and the recognition of 
 wrath is the necessary prelude of the gospel. See 
 the frequent mention of wrath in this epistle, chapter 
 ii. 5, 8; iii. 5; iv. 15; v. 9 ; ix. 22; sometimes it is 
 spoken of as being against sin, sometimes against 
 the sinner. " In God, who is the living good, wrath 
 appestrs," says Godet, " as the holy disapprobation of 
 evil, and the firm resolve to destroy it. But it is false 
 to say, as is often done, that this divine emotion 
 
86 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 applies only to the evil doer." As the sinner identi- 
 fies himself with sin he himself becomes the object 
 of the wrath and all its consequences. And Abbott : 
 " The truth of God's wrath can no more be eliminated 
 from Scripture without unraveling its whole texture 
 than can the truth of his love. They are indeed the 
 light and shade of the same quality in him. Love 
 has its wrath, and the intensity of the indignation 
 against evil and falsehood, will and must be exactly 
 proportioned to the intensity of the love for goodness 
 and truth." 
 
 Ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungod- 
 liness is impiety, or irreverence toward God; un- 
 righteousness is immorality. The ungodly is one 
 who is in opposition to the being and character of 
 God, the unrighteous is one who lives in opposition 
 to the will of God. The latter is the more general 
 term, the former is the stronger. Hold the truth 
 in unrighteousness. This describes the particular 
 class of men whom Paul had in mind, to wit : the 
 Gentiles, whom he at once proceeds to further de- 
 scribe. The sin here charged against the Gentiles is 
 not the sin simply of living unrighteously, or immor- 
 ally, but of having unrighteously held back or re- 
 pressed the truth — ^^that is, the knowledge of God 
 revealed in the conscience. They have wickedly held 
 back the truth by not allowing it to have on them its 
 legitimate effect; in other words, by resisting it. 
 Having repressed the light, they do the deeds of 
 darkness described in the following verses. 
 
 V. 19. Because. The force of this word, and the 
 meaning of the verse, may be exhibited thus : That 
 the Gentiles are guilty of thus repressing the truth is 
 
Chapter I. 87 
 
 V. 19 : — Because that which may be known of God is mani- 
 fest in them ; for God hath shewed it unto them. 
 
 V. 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 Godhead ; so that 
 they are without excuse. 
 
 evident because of the two existing facts which Paul 
 proceeds to state : {a) They have the truth, that is so 
 much of the knowledge of God as may be known by 
 men by the light of what may be called nature, for 
 God has thus shown or revealed it unto them ; {b) 
 they do not live in accordance with this truth or 
 knowledge which they have. They have not only 
 lived wickedly, but by thus living they have pre- 
 vented the truth from asserting itself in them and 
 developing into yet greater knowledge. If any man 
 would know the truth let him do so much of the truth 
 as he already knows. John iii. 21 ; vii. 17. But from 
 him that hath and doth not use it, shall be taken away 
 that which he hath. 
 
 That which may he known of God, So 
 much as may be known by men as men without a 
 special supernatural revelation, though this knowl- 
 edge also came to them from God. Paul states in the 
 next verse in what this knowledge consists. 
 
 V. 20. The invisible things. By which are 
 meant God's eternal power and Godhead, as stated 
 further on. Paul speaks of these as being seen — that 
 is, as being perceived w4th the mind's eye. They are 
 called invisible in contrast with the visible images of 
 God which the Gentiles made, verse 23, or perhaps in 
 contrast with the visible universe, or things made, by 
 which the invisible things are revealed to the human 
 
88 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 understanding. Prom the creation. Not invisi- 
 ble since the creation, but manifested to the mind's 
 eye ever since the creation, and manifested as stated 
 in the next clause by the visible works of God. The 
 heavens declare the glory of God; the earth also 
 declares his glory. His eternal power and God- 
 head, When man views nature power as exhibited 
 therein is that which most quickly arrests his atten- 
 tion. One of the oldest names of the divine Being, 
 El or Elohim, is a word which means the Powerful 
 One. Nor is he presented in nature simply as the 
 Almighty, but as one whose power is employed with 
 intelligence and benevolence. Paul says that this 
 power which the All-powerful One manifests in 
 nature is presented as eternal — that is, it dates be- 
 yond, and is the cause of all second causes ; and hence 
 there is in the first place but one cause. By Godhead 
 is meant divinity, or that essential element of God's 
 being and nature which distinguishes him from all 
 other beings and constitutes him God. Paul says 
 that God is thus clearly seen, being manifested by his 
 works ; not merel}^ see7i, as a brute may also see nature, 
 but clearly see7i, seen by intelligent mental discernment. 
 Physical nature is presented to man's physical eye ; 
 the invisible spiritual God presents himself by means 
 of nature to man's spiritual eye ; and thus spirit be- 
 comes visible to spirit. And this revelation of him- 
 self God has addressed to all men, so that the Gentiles 
 are without excuse. If they had used this knowledge 
 as they should have done, all would have been well 
 with them in their relation to God, as Paul says in chap- 
 ter ii. 7 ; but as it is, their knowledge is far in advance 
 of their morality, both their hearts and their lives be- 
 ing wofully wrong, as he proceeds to show. 
 
Chapter I. 89 
 
 V. 21 : — Because thaty when they knew God, they glorified 
 him not as God, neither were thankful ; but became vain in 
 their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 
 
 V. 21. Because, Paul now goes on to show how 
 the Gentiles held the truth in unrighteousness ; or, in 
 other words, how they had repressed or obstructed the 
 natural operation of the above mentioned knowledge 
 of God by their wickedness ; and hence why it was 
 that the wrath of God was revealed against them, to 
 wit : because knowing God they glorified him not as 
 God, etc. It is worth while to notice here that Paul's 
 history of the Gentiles in this respect is the history of 
 mankind generally. It is not ignorance that causes a 
 human soul to be "lost;" for all men, even the 
 heathen, know better than they do; and hence a large 
 function of the Christian, and of the Christian minis- 
 try especially, is to persuade men. But by failure to 
 use the knowledge it may be lost ; the eye of man's 
 spirit to which God as a spirit addresses himself may 
 become darkened or blinded, so that he can not be 
 clearly seen. The remaining part of this verse de- 
 scribes the first step in the awful estrangement from 
 God which the apostle depicts. 
 
 They glorMed Mm not as God. The heath- 
 ens worshiped, and they worshiped God ; but they did 
 not worship him as God, as a being of divine spiritual 
 perfections, but rather as a reflection or deification 
 of themselves. Neither were thankful. They 
 did not recognize and worship him as the author and 
 giver of all good — to do which is the best safeguard 
 against vain imaginations and a darkened heart. 
 
 Vain in their imaginations. Empty in their 
 reasonings as to what sort of being God is and how to 
 
90 The Kpistlk to the Romans. 
 
 V. 22 : — Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. 
 
 worship him, using various idols or images which 
 were merely empty nothings. Their foolish heart 
 was darkened. Such reasonings and practices 
 alwaj^s have the effect of gradually excluding so much 
 of God's light as is already in the heart, and then the 
 heart is darkened. The word " foolish " here means 
 stupid, senseless, mindless, as when we say one has no 
 mind for poetry, or mathematics, etc., meaning that 
 he has no relish, no talent, or aptitude, for such matter. 
 So the heart, failing to practice the truth, loses its 
 aptitude or ability to understand the truth, and then 
 soon loses the truth itself, and thus becomes darkened. 
 
 V. 22. Professing themselves to be wise, etc. 
 
 Pretending or alleging themselves to be wise. This 
 was self-conceit. Pools. The word here means 
 dull, destitute of what we call quickness of wit, or 
 keenness of perception or mental vision. It seems to 
 be a law of our being that this persistent pretense to 
 superior wisdom should produce in us dullness of wit. 
 As it is only the humble who shall be exalted, so 
 revelations are made only to "babes." It is a wise 
 divine law. "I thank thee, O Father, . . . be- 
 cause thou hast hid these things from the [so-called] 
 wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
 babes" (Matt. xi. 25). But Paul is not here speaking 
 of the Greek philosophy in general or absolutely, but 
 with respect to idolatry in particular, and he means to 
 say that all the wisdom of the sages did not prevent . 
 the Greeks and other cultivated nations from becom- 
 ing the most debased in their religion, and that this 
 pretense of wisdom in regard to God and divine 
 
Chapter I. 91 
 
 V. 23 : — And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God 
 into an image made like to corruptible man, aad to birds, and 
 fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 
 
 V. 24 : — Wherefore God also gave them, up to uncleanness, 
 through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own 
 bodies between themselves. 
 
 things was itself one of the chief initial causes of 
 their debasement. For one to follow the conceits or 
 "vain imaginations" of one's own or of another's 
 reason instead of the revelation which God has made 
 in his word or in nature is to prove that one is foolish 
 to begin with, and from this folly it is not far to dull- 
 ness, or bluntness of mental and spiritual perception. 
 
 V. 23. Changed . . . into. The meaning is 
 that they represented the incorruptible God, of glori- 
 ous perfections, by means of images of man and even 
 of beasts; such, by reason of their dullness, had their 
 conception of God become. Man was made originally 
 in the image of God, but he has come to such a state 
 that he changes God into the image of man, even of 
 the lowest beasts. Man has made himself to be his 
 own standard of perfection, and he can not rise above 
 it. 
 
 V. 24. Wherefore also. The Revised Version, on 
 the authority of several of the ancient manuscripts, 
 omits the word " also," but on the authority of many 
 others, and of the sense of the passage, it ought to be 
 retained. There were two renunciations : (i) The Gen- 
 tiles gave God up. (2) On this account God also gave 
 up the Gentiles. To uncleanness through the 
 lusts. Or rather, God gave them up in accordance 
 with the lusts or earnest or evil desires of their hearts 
 
^2 The BPISTI.E to the Romans. 
 
 V. 25 :— Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and wor- 
 shiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is 
 blessed for ever. Amen. 
 
 to uncleanness. The abyss toward which they were 
 tending was one of uncleanness, which Paul describes 
 in horrid detail in the following verses ; and God posi- 
 tively removed from them his withholding hand and 
 let them go ; his Spirit and providence would strive 
 with them no longer. By this deliberate resolve of 
 God their sins shall become the means of their pun- 
 ishment, and thereby perhaps ultimately of their res- 
 toration. Hence, while this was doubtless the revela- 
 tion of God's wrath referred to in verse 18, it was a 
 revelation of such wrath as looked beyond the inflic- 
 tion of misery to restoration, for even in wrath he re- 
 members mercy. After reaching a certain point of 
 progress in sin, the only way for their dull and 
 darkened soul to learn the evil of sin was to experi- 
 ence it by indulging sin in the utmost excess. At 
 last it biteth like an adder; and then might they 
 listen to the gospel message of healing. It is to 
 be observed, therefore, that this revelation or in- 
 fliction of God's wrath here referred to is such as 
 takes place in this world, had indeed already taken 
 place in Paul's time, and is ever doing so. But this 
 wrath ultimately becomes the wrath of "the day 
 of wrath" mentioned in ii. 5; and all along through 
 human history, and at the last, it is a righteous and 
 holy wrath. 
 
 V. 25. ^ho. This word here means "those who," 
 and the reference is back to verses 23, 24. God gave 
 up to uncleanness, etc., those, I say, who changed the 
 
Chapter I. 95 
 
 V. 26 : — For this cause God gave them up unto vile affec- 
 tions : for even their women did change the natural use into 
 that which is against nature. 
 
 glory or truth concerning God, or the true idea of God, 
 into the lie just mentioned ; that is, the images made like 
 unto man and beasts. ** Is there not a lie in my right 
 hand?" Isa. xliv. 20; that is, is there not an idol or 
 image in my right hand? See also Jer. xiii. 25; xvi. 
 19. The creature more than the Creator. As 
 they had changed or travestied the truth of God into a 
 lie, so it was '' the lie," or idol in the form of a creature, 
 which they worshiped ; the word which Paul uses, as 
 well as the context, shows that his meaning is, they did 
 not worship God at all, but the creature instead of 
 God. Who is blessed forever. Who is praised 
 forever, notwithstanding this conduct and condition 
 of the Gentiles; he is not affected by the dishonor 
 which t/iej/ cast upon him, but dwells in the midst ot 
 the praises of his people and of angels forever. Paul 
 frequently utters such heart-felt doxologies as this. 
 See vii. 25; ix. 5; xi. 33-36; Eph. iii. 21. 
 
 V. 26. Por this cause. Notice the progress of 
 the Gentiles in sin: i. They held back the truth in 
 unrighteousness ; 2. They did not glorify God as God, 
 but became fruitless in their disputations and dark- 
 ened in their hearts (verse 21) ; 3. They lost sight of 
 God and substituted the worship of idols (verses 23- 
 25) ; 4. Having sinned thus against God, they are 
 given up to sin against themselves in the vilest man- 
 ner. "The sin against God's nature entails as its 
 penalty sin against man's own nature," which is the 
 meet recompense of their error in repressing the 
 
94 'I^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 27 : — And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use 
 of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men 
 with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in 
 themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. 
 
 V. 28 : — And even as they did not like to retain God in their 
 knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate m,ind, to do 
 those things which are not convenient ; 
 
 truth at the outset and proceeding in the subsequent 
 steps of sin. See the note on verse 24. 
 
 V. 27. And likewise also the men. A most 
 unnatural sensual abomination is referred to in this, 
 such as was foreign even to beasts. We have other 
 ancient evidence than Paul's of the prevalence among 
 the Gentiles, particularly the Greeks, of this revolt- 
 ing sin. It seems indeed to have prevailed to such an 
 extent among various nations of antiquity as to re- 
 quire special laws for its prevention. Nor was this 
 awful abomination restricted to males, as Paul inti- 
 mates in verse 26. 
 
 V. 28. Did not like to retain God, Did not 
 
 think it worth while to retain in their mind such a 
 view of God as would cause them to make his will 
 the rule or law of their conduct, so God on his part 
 gave them over, etc. As they deliberately gave up 
 God, so God gave up them. He honors those who 
 honor him; he dishonors those who dishonor him; 
 this is a natural law in the spiritual world; both 
 natural and a law because God made it so, and he 
 made it so because he is God. It is not conceivable 
 that he could have made the unholy wholesome. 
 A reprobate mind. They did not approbate 
 God, as the words "did not like to retain," etc., 
 
Chapter I. 95 
 
 V. 29 : — Being filled with all unrighteousness^ fornication, 
 wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder ^ 
 debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers, 
 
 V. 30 -.—Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boast- 
 ers, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 
 
 V. 31 : — Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without 
 natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 
 
 mean. They reprobated God from their knowledge, 
 so God reprobated them unto themselves. Having 
 refused to appreciate the knowledge of God, they 
 became incapable of appreciating it. From them 
 that have and use not shall be taken away that which 
 they have. Notice how often Paul says God *' gave 
 them over," because of their apostacy from him ; 
 being merciful and holy, what else could he do ? I^et 
 them learn by experience ; let them see for them- 
 selves whither the road will lead them. 
 
 Vs. 29-31. In these verses Paul further describes 
 the reprobate condition of the Gentiles of whom he 
 is writing. It is a fearful picture, but true to the 
 original — a heaping of words of blackest import one 
 upon another. Any one may see for himself that it 
 is not in the slightest degree overdrawn by reading 
 such pagan authors as Cicero and Tacitus, and espe- 
 cially Juvenal ; or Gibbon's Rome, chap, ii., Farrar's 
 Early Days of Christianity, ch. i., Farrar's Life and 
 Times of Paul, Conybeare and Howson's Life and 
 Epistles of Paul, Lecky's History of European 
 Morals, Herbremann's Business Life in Rome, and 
 many other books. Froude, the English historian 
 and essayist, says : " Within historical times the earth 
 has never seen — ^let us hope it never may see again — 
 such a condition of human society as prevailed in the 
 
96 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Roman empire during the centuries which elapsed 
 between the crucifixion and the conversion of Con- 
 stantine." — Short Studies on Great Subjects. Paul was 
 a constant eye-witness of such things as he describes 
 in this chapter ; and even as he was writing these 
 words he was in a Roman city where a thousand 
 public harlots were kept at the public expense, to say 
 nothing of the private ones; and to " Corinthianize " 
 had become another name for harlotry. It is not sur- 
 prising that the clean and sensitive soul of Paul did, 
 under the influence of such daily observation of the 
 life about him, make his utterances vehement. Yes, 
 the doctrine of being saved by doing right is good as 
 a theory, but how are the Gentiles to be induced, or 
 rather enabled to do right? Not otherwise than by 
 dying and being made over again into new creatures,, 
 having in them Christ as their life. 
 
 V. 30. Haters of God, The Revised Version, 
 following the classical usage, the lexicons, and several 
 critical commentaries renders this word (theosteurgeio) 
 ^ated of God^ or hateful to God; so also the Vulgate, 
 Wiclif's version of 1380, and the Rheims of 1582. 
 But the Tyndale of 1534, Cranmer, 1539, Geneva, 
 1557, and the King James versions, and several 
 ancient patristic authorities, and many moderns, 
 render it haters of God. This makes the better sense, 
 and harmonizes better with the current of the apostle's 
 thought. All the classes mentioned were extremely 
 odious to God, but all were not to the same extent 
 haters of God; some were indifferent, some were 
 more or less criminally ignorant, while others were 
 avowed haters of God ; this was the climax of the 
 ascending scale. 
 
Chapter II. 
 
 97 
 
 V. 32 : — WAOy knowing the judgment of God, that they 
 which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do 
 the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. 
 
 V. 32. W^ho, Those who ; including not a distinct 
 and lost class, but all who fall under the description 
 mentioned in the preceding verses. Knowing the 
 Judgment of God, His judgment was, that those 
 who do such things are worthy of death, and this 
 they knew. Not only do, . . . but Implying that 
 it is even worse to coolly approve or applaud others 
 who do such things than it is to do them ourselves 
 under the pressure of passion or other temptation. 
 
 (2) The Jews. (Chap. ii. 1-29.) 
 
 Paul, having thus dwelt upon the awful pollution 
 and iniquity of the Gentiles for the purpose of show- 
 ing that there is absolutely no hope for them on any 
 other theory of salvation than the one which he had 
 announced (i. 16, 17), proceeds now to show that the 
 Jews also, on any other theory, are in a no less hope- 
 less condition. The facts that the Jews as a nation 
 were God's chosen people, and that they differed so 
 widely from the Gentiles in their religion, do not alter 
 in any way the truth of this statement. They rather in- 
 deed make the matter only so much the worse for the 
 Jews ; for God does not save a man because he has 
 such and such an amount of knowledge, or a religion 
 of such and such sort. God is no respecter of per- 
 sons ; he deals with all on the same principles ; and 
 if a man, or any number of persons, have much 
 knowledge and a good religion and do not live accord- 
 ingly, it is so much the worse for him. And all the 
 while Paul keeps before us the fact that the outer life, 
 
9.8 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. II., V. I : — Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, 
 whosoever thou art that judgest : for wherein thou judgest 
 another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest 
 the same things. 
 
 V. 2 : — But we are sure that the judgment of God is accord- 
 ing to truth against them which commit such things. 
 
 our conduct, is not our life in the true sense, only in 
 so far as it is the outflow of the life within us, and 
 from which alone it receives any moral quality. If 
 this inner life or principle, whether in Gentile or Jew, 
 is of the sort that God approves, it is well ; but if it 
 is not, it counts for nothing at all, no matter how 
 formally religious the outward conduct may be. 
 
 V. I. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O 
 man. The Jew had doubtless listened with much at- 
 tention and approbation to what Paul had said about 
 the Gentiles ; but now he turns upon the Jew himself 
 and tells him that he does the same things which he 
 so cordially condemns in the Gentiles. Whosoever 
 thou art. That is, any Jew who, being guilty him- 
 self, judges the Gentiles as if he were not guilty. The 
 words are no less applicable to all men, whether Jews 
 or Gentiles, in their relation with one another. 
 
 V. 2. But we are sure. The Revised Version 
 changes the word dut into and, which makes a good 
 sense, which is this : You condemn others for doing 
 certain things ; and God's judgment in regard to these 
 things is according to truth, as you will admit since it 
 is the same as yours ; therefore, as you do these things 
 you ought to expect God to condemn you. If we retain 
 the word d7it, the reasoning is this : You condemn, 
 and you admit that God condemns, these things 
 
Chapter II. 99 
 
 V. 3 : — And thinkest thou this^ O man, that judgest them 
 which do such things, and doest the sam,e, that thou shalt escape 
 the jiidgm.ent of God? 
 
 which the Gentiles do. You think, however, that, 
 although you may do the same things, you will be 
 judged by a different standard from the Gentiles ; but 
 such is not the case, God's judgment being in each 
 case according to truth or equity. This seems to me 
 to be the better of the two senses, as it is more in 
 harmony with the apostle's thought ; his purpose is 
 to show that Jews also are the objects of God's dis- 
 approbation, and this he could not do unless it were 
 settled at the outset that they are weighed in the same 
 balance as the Gentiles. 
 
 V. 3. And thinkest thou this. This is an in- 
 terrogative and therefore a more vivid method of 
 affirming that God surely will not approve in the Jew 
 that which he condems in the Gentile. If the Jew 
 did these things, and if the Jew was to be dealt with 
 on the same principles of equity as the Gentile, it 
 follows that the Jew also is in need of salvation ; and 
 it further follows that the Jew's theory of salvation 
 by works irrespective of character is a wrong one ; 
 and it still further follows, therefore, that Paul's own 
 doctrine as stated in chapter i. 16, 17 is the true one. 
 These are the thoughts which Paul has constantly in 
 mind, though his chief object in this chapter is as 
 stated in the last note. 
 
 V. 4. Or despisest thou, Paul's meaning here 
 is: Or is it possible that, instead of indulging the 
 illusory belief that you are to be judged on a different 
 principle from the Gentile, you really have a con- 
 
loo The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 4: — Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and for- 
 bearance and long suffering ; not knowing that the goodness 
 of God leadeth thee to repentance ? 
 
 tempt for the riches of God's goodness, etc., and are 
 sinning against him with a high hand ? If this be so 
 you are really in a worse condition than under the 
 other supposition. But one of the two suppositions is 
 true ; therefore in either case you are the objects of 
 God's disapprobation, and hence in need of a salvation 
 which your theory does not furnish. 
 
 Riches of bis goodness. The riches of his 
 goodness to you Jews, in choosing you as his people^ 
 in furnishing you with many revelations of his char- 
 acter and will^ in sending to you the Messiah, etc. 
 God might be good and yet not have forbearance or 
 long-suffering. He is good in that he bestows bless- 
 ings; and after he has bestowed blessings and we 
 requite him with ingratitude and rebellion he is for- 
 bearing in that he restrains his indignation giving us 
 warnings and opportunities for repentance ; and he is 
 long-suffering in that, though " vengeance is his," he 
 inflicts it not under the influence of passion or in the 
 excitement, as it were, of the moment. All these are 
 but manifestations of his love. Not knowing. That 
 is, not caring to know, utterly indifferent to the fact 
 that his goodness leadeth thee to repentance. 
 These displays of God's love always lead to repent- 
 ance ; thither they always point. But some men do 
 not follow, because they will not, the leading of love, 
 and hence some men never attain to repentance. 
 They are as travelers on a road with many partings 
 hither and thither, and who, despising the guide posts,, 
 reach not the right destination. 
 
Chapter IL ioi 
 
 V. 5 : — But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treas- 
 urest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and 
 revelation of the righteous judgment of God ; 
 
 V. 5. 'But after, etc. After here means according 
 to, as it does in such current expressions as a painting 
 or other production '* after AB" — that is, after the 
 manner of A B, or according to A B. The sense is : 
 According to the custom, or manner, or rule, of your 
 hard and impenitent heart you treasure up wrath, 
 etc.; it was the custom of your hard-hearted and stiff- 
 necked fathers, and you are doing as they did. Hard- 
 ness is incapability of being impressed by the displays 
 of God's love ; impenitence is the refusal to heed the 
 leadings of his goodness, which would have led the 
 Jew to the change not only of his outward life, but 
 also to the change of his views in regard to the way 
 to be saved, and hence to the realization of his condi- 
 tion as a lost and condemned sinner. T^reasurest 
 Up unto (or for) thyself wrath, God would have 
 bestowed upon them the riches of his goodness ; they 
 would have it not, but laid up for themselves the 
 riches of wrath, which " riches " can consist in noth- 
 ing more direful than all the nameless woes implied 
 in the words "separation from God," utter ungodlike- 
 ness. We feel an infinitesimal fragment of it, now 
 and then when, realizing keenly that we are impure, 
 we stand in the presence of the pure. And this 
 is a law, the outflow of the ver}- nature of God. 
 Against the day of wrath is the same as in 
 the day of wrath; the day of wrath is, as it 
 were, the place in which the impenitent store 
 up their treasures or riches of wrath. Paul does 
 not mention what day it is, whether the epoch 
 
102 The Epistlk to the Romans. 
 
 V. 6 : — Who will render to every man according to his deeds : 
 
 of the final overthrow of the Jews by the Romans, 
 or the day of the final general judgment ; his mind 
 is on the fact rather than the particular time. 
 The righteous judgment of God will at that time 
 be revealed upon the impenitent as not hitherto, 
 and it will also be revealed as righteous; he does 
 nothing unrighteously. 
 
 V. 6. Who will render. In opposition to the 
 vain belief of the Jews that God would judge them 
 on a different principle from that on which he would 
 judge the Gentiles, Paul here plainly affirms that God 
 will judge, or render to, every man, whether Jew or 
 heathen, on precisely the same principle — that is^ 
 according to their deeds, or lives, or character, all of 
 which expressions amount to the same thing, for a 
 man's deeds are not his, they are not any thing mor- 
 ally speaking, only in so far as they are the outflow 
 of his heart or character. ** Out of the heart pro- 
 ceedeth," etc.. Matt. xv. 19, 20. See also Matt. xii. 
 36, 37 ; 2 Cor. V. 10 ; Gal. vi. 7, and numerous other 
 passages. 
 
 The word of God nowhere teaches that it makes no 
 difference how a man lives provided only he has what 
 is commonly called " faith ; " but it does everywhere 
 teach that his relation to God, and consequently his 
 eternal destiny, is determined by his life ; his life in 
 the next world is the same life which he had in this 
 world ; his deeds here are the visible part of his life, 
 his faith here is the invisible part of the same life — 
 that part which may be said to be hid with Christ in 
 God. And when a man is said to be justified by faith 
 
Chapter II. 103 
 
 V. T.—To them who by patient continuance in well doing 
 seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life : 
 
 V. 8 : — But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey 
 the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 
 
 it is meant that it is this aspect of his life which ren- 
 ders him approved of God ; and when he is said by- 
 James to be justified by works, it is meant that it is 
 the same life considered in its visible aspect that ren- 
 ders him approved of God. A man may be con- 
 demned by his faith also, though the word is not used 
 in this bad sense in the New Testament. The ex- 
 pression in this verse, *' render to every man," which 
 is the same as to judge, means either to condemn or 
 to justify, to approve or to disapprove, according to 
 the deeds or works. 
 
 Vs. 7, 8. To them who, etc. Only two classes ; 
 but they are not the Jew and the heathen. Some of 
 the circumcised may be in both classes ; some of the 
 uncircumcised may be in both. The approved receive 
 eternal life — that is, they receive that which they have 
 all the while, by patient continuance in well doing 
 been seeking, viz., glory, and honor, and immortality. 
 These make eternal life. They receive this because 
 they are approved, and they are approved because 
 they sought this. This sort of seeking is what is 
 meant by their " deeds." Every man, be he even blind 
 Gentile, always finds what he truly seeks. But unto 
 them — the other class, which is also described by its 
 deeds or life. The word " contentious," or factious, is 
 one which applies to the inner disposition onlj^ which 
 shows that by " deeds" Paul did not mean simply the 
 acts of the outer life. It describes especially the 
 
I04 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 9: — Tribulation and anguish^ upon every soul of man 
 that doeth evil; of the few first, and also of the Gentile ; 
 
 Jewish rabbis who were much given to contentions. 
 The next clause refers to the outer life ; to not obey 
 the truth is to disobey it, but Paul describes both 
 negatively and positively by naming that which they 
 do not obey, and then that which they do obey. By the 
 truth is meant that truth of which the gospel is the 
 best embodiment; to obey it is to live in harmony 
 with it. By unrighteousness is here meant the oppo- 
 site of the truth ; sin is in its very nature a lie, and 
 Satan, the supreme embodiment of sin, is " the father 
 of lies." His servant ye are whom ye obey; and to 
 obe)^ sin is to obey one whose only law is lawless im- 
 pulse and passion. Indignation and wrath. In- 
 dignation is the mental state or emotion, so to speak, 
 of God toward the class of persons here described ; 
 wrath is its outward exhibition. The Revised Ver- 
 sion, following the best manuscript authority, reverses 
 the words, and reads "wrath and indignation" — that 
 is, the thought of Paul, as Godet suggests, sees the 
 wrath first and then the emotion from which it pro- 
 ceeds; but it is doubtful if Paul meant to lay any 
 stress on this distinction. 
 
 V. 9. Tribulation and anguish, Paul uses 
 these four terms, indignation, wrath, tribulation, an- 
 guish, rather for the purpose of conveying a strong 
 meaning than with reference to their psychological or 
 etymological meaning; this wrath which is the evi- 
 dence of God's intense indignation, reaching the class 
 of persons described, causes the severest affliction in the 
 whole being. The reader of the Greek text may easi- 
 
Chapter II. 105 
 
 V. 10: — But glory, honor , and peace, to every man that 
 worketh good ; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile : 
 
 ly see that '' eternal life " in verse 7 is in the accusa- 
 tive case, and is the object of the verb " will render " 
 in verse 6 ; God will render eternal life to the persons 
 there described. Indignation, wrath, tribulation, an- 
 guish, are in the nominative case ; these shall be or 
 come upon the persons described. The change is 
 significant. God renders to one, it comes upon the 
 other, himself being to blame ; he makes himself the 
 agent of his own miser5^ Upon every soul of 
 man. To every man's soul, and the rule applies to 
 every man who fulfills the description in the next 
 clause. 
 
 That doeth evil, (Katergazomai). That accom- 
 plishes evil as in the manner described in verse 8. 
 Of the Jew £rst. Upon the soul of the Jew, 
 The word Jirst must have the same force here as in 
 verse 10, and also i. 16. Paul's custom is to mention 
 the Jew first, because he was the first in knowledge, 
 opportunity, and responsibility. If he does evil it 
 will be only so much the worse for him, because of his 
 greater knowledge, etc. If he works good it will be 
 only so much the better, because of the greater risk 
 which he has escaped. 
 
 V. 10. But glory, Paul here repeats for the pur- 
 pose of emphasis. Glory, honor, and peace, I say. 
 He here mentions another constituent of eternal life, 
 peace. Compare verse 7. Peace was a precious word 
 with Paul. That worketh good, (Ergazomai), not 
 necessarily accomplishing good, but working good as 
 described in verse 7, chiefly it may be by " seeking." 
 
io6 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. II : — For there is no respect of persons with God, 
 
 V. 12 : — For as many as have sinned without law shall also 
 
 perish without law ; and as many as have sinned in the law 
 
 shall be judged by the law ; 
 
 The faithful servant is the one who has well done, 
 rather than the one who has been successful. But the 
 other class is here viewed as always successful in ac- 
 comphishing evil. To the Jew £rst. See preced- 
 ing note. 
 
 V. II. For God is no respecter of persons, A 
 
 reiteration in other words of the principle already 
 stated in its outward manifestation in verses 8-10; 
 and with this principle, even with these very words 
 almost, the Jew must have been acquainted ; see Deut. 
 X. 17; I Sam. xvi. 7; Job xiii. 10; xxxiv. 19; Psalms 
 Ixxxii. 2. But the Jew understood it to mean that in 
 so far only as one Jew is compared with another Jew 
 God is no respecter of persons. But Paul virtually 
 tells them that this is a false exegesis and that it 
 refers to Jew and Gentile no less truly than to Jew 
 and Jew. And Paul quotes it as an Old Testament 
 proof of his immediately preceding statement, a 
 species of proof which a Jew especially might be 
 supposed to be able to appreciate and accept. 
 
 V. 12. For as many as. In this verse it is shown 
 how this principle of impartial judgment applies to 
 Jews and Gentiles as well as to Jews as compared 
 with one another. The fact that the Jew has the law — 
 that is, much light and opportunity, and that this has 
 been withheld from the Gentiles, is no proof of par- 
 tiality on the part of God ; for each will be judged in 
 view of these two facts respectively. If the Gentile 
 
Chapter II. 107 
 
 V. 13 : — {For not the hearers of the law are just before Gody 
 but the doers of the law shall be justified. 
 
 perishes it will not be because he did not have that 
 revelation of law which was made to the Jews ; and 
 if the Jew is saved it will not be because he did have 
 it. It is not the absence of the law that causes the 
 one to be lost any more than it is the mere possession 
 of the law that causes the other to be saved. The 
 truth of the one proposition necessarily implies the 
 truth of the other. Salvation, or condemnation, is 
 not a matter of what one has or has not ; it is a 
 matter of what one is ; and because what one is is 
 manifested in what one works or does the latter may 
 be taken for the former, as it is in these verses. The 
 reason why Gentiles perish is because they are not 
 what they might and should be, as is shown by the 
 fact that they do not live as they should live. See 
 chapter i. 19-21. 
 
 V. 13. ¥ory etc. What I have said in the state- 
 ment just made is true, as you must know, for it is a 
 plainly implied and almost an explicitly stated prin- 
 ciple of your law (Deut. x. 5 ; xxvii. 26) that, not the 
 mere hearers or possessors of the law are just or 
 righteous before God, but the doers of the law are the 
 ones who shall be declared just or righteous, because 
 they are so, and they only. This is the plain meaning 
 of this verse, and does not contradict iii. 20, on which 
 see note at that place. Paul is not here speaking of 
 justification by faith in any sense, only in so far as 
 "faith" maybe included in "doing," but he is en- 
 deavoring to show the Jews that the mere fact that 
 God had favored them with the gift of his law was no 
 
io8 The EPISTI.E TO the Romans. 
 
 V. 14 : — For when the Gentiles^ which have not the law, do 
 by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not 
 the law, are a law unto themselves : 
 
 proof that they were well pleasing in his sight, for the 
 recipients of a gift might turn out to be very un- 
 worthy of it by not making the right use of it — even 
 much more unworthy and culpable than those who 
 had received no gift at all ; and his further point is 
 that this failure to do the law is the very thing which 
 must be affirmed of the Jews, and that hence they are 
 in precisely the same category before God as the 
 wicked Gentiles — that is, instead of being approved 
 they are condemned. 
 
 V. 14. ¥or the GentileSy etc. In this and the 
 following verse Paul shows, in application to the Gen- 
 tiles of the principle stated in verse 6, how they also 
 shall have to stand or fail to stand the test of law, but 
 not law in the same form as that which the Jews had. 
 Any law is a thing to be done or obeyed, and the Jew 
 and Gentile had each his form of law, and both were 
 forms of the same divine law. If the Gentile obeys 
 the unwritten form of the law he stands, if he diso- 
 beys he falls, just as in the case of the Jew who has 
 the written form, and hears it read in the synagogue 
 every Sabbath. Or, instead of making this verse 14 
 refer back to verse 6 we may connect it immediately 
 with verse 13 (which, however, is onl}^ an application 
 to the Jew of verse 6), thus: The principle that not 
 the mere hearers of the law are just before God, but 
 the doers, etc., applies just as truly to the Gentiles, 
 /or when they, which have not the form of law which 
 the Jews have, do by nature, or without the light of 
 
Chapter II. 109 
 
 V. 15 : — Which shew the work of the law written in their 
 hearts^ their conscience also bearing witness, and their 
 thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one 
 another ;) 
 
 the written revelation, the things which are required 
 by God's law, this very fact shows that they are not 
 left without God's law in some form, and according as 
 they obey it or do not obey it shall they be approved 
 or disapproved of God. So we reach the same con- 
 clusion as by going back to verse 6. 
 
 Do by nature. By simply choosing to follow the 
 direction of the moral faculty with which God has en- 
 dowed them. Are a law unto themselves — that is, 
 the dictates of this moral faculty are the Gentiles' law. 
 The law requires the possession and practice of vari- 
 ous traits of character; if the Gentile, who knows 
 nothing whatever of the law as such, prefers, posses- 
 ses, and practices these traits, he is not consciously 
 keeping the law, but he is observing or doing the 
 things contained in the law, and thereby he shows 
 that while he is without tAe law he is not without a 
 law. 
 
 V. 15. Which show. The pronoun in Greek is 
 not the simple relative wAo or which, but those who, or 
 as the same word also means in various places both in 
 classical and New Testament Greek, since they, or in 
 that they ; and the sense and connection with the pre- 
 ceding verse is as follows : The Gentiles, who have 
 not the written law, are nevertheless not without law, 
 or in other words the very constitution of their moral 
 natures must be regarded as their law ; and this is evi- 
 dent not only in the fact that they do by natural or 
 
no The EPISTI.E TO THE Romans. 
 
 V. i6 : — In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men 
 by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. 
 
 uninstructed preference the very things which the 
 written law requires or refrain from doing those things 
 which it forbids, but it must be regarded as further 
 evident in that they show the work, or requirement of 
 the law written not on tables of stone as in the case 
 of the Jews, but on their hearts ; and the fact that 
 this choice between actions is not a merely intellectual 
 one, or, in other words, that it is the outcome of the 
 law in their hearts, is evident from the testimony of 
 conscience, which even the heathen have, and from the 
 thoughts or debates which they engage in regarding 
 actions, sometimes approving, sometimes condemning. 
 A good many "thoughts" of Socrates and others on 
 right and wrong have come down to us in the writings 
 of Xenophon, Plato, etc. It is well known that the 
 modern heathen have a sense of sin ; the fact that 
 they have so little knowledge of the Savior from sin 
 and sin's consequences is what renders their condition 
 so peculiarly pitiable. 
 
 V. i6. In the day. If the parenthesis in which 
 the King James translators have placed verses 13-15 
 be regarded, verse 16 is to be connected back with 
 verse 12, thus: For as many as have sinned without 
 law shall also perish without law, and as many as 
 have sinned having the law shall be judged by means 
 of the law in the day — that is, in the final judgment 
 day, when God, etc. This is the sense, however, 
 whether the parenthesis be retained or omitted, for 
 verses 13-15 are only an expansion and application to 
 Jews and Gentiles respectively of the principle stated 
 
Chapter II. in 
 
 in verse 12. The secrets of men. The testimony 
 of their consciences and the secret thoughts or proc- 
 esses of approving and disapproving one another. 
 
 By Jesus Christ. By means of, or through; 
 Christ is to act as Judge in that day, as he now acts 
 as Savior. In office he is always both. He can not 
 be our Savior without also being our Lord, and hence, 
 our Judge. We can not accept him as the former 
 without accepting him as the latter. He is our Judge 
 any way ; the Universal Judge. See Matt.xxv. 31, 32 ; 
 Johnv. 22, 27; Acts xvii. 31. It is well to have him 
 who shall be our Judge first to be our Savior. But it 
 is hardly proper to intimate, as some do, that the Son 
 of God in his capacity of Son of Man will judge more 
 sympathetically than the Father himself would, for 
 this implies that the former might be a little more 
 lenient or partial toward us than the latter. On the 
 contrary, the Father and Son ** are one," in sympathy 
 as well as in other respects. The fact that Christ took 
 upon himself our suffering, tempted, and infirm nat- 
 ure and circumstances ought to bring us nearer to 
 him, but it brought him no nearer to us in loving 
 sympathy than he always was. He knew our 'frame, 
 he remembered that we are dust, long before he be- 
 came incarnate. His li/e on earth, as distinguished 
 from his death, was not intended to affect him as 
 judge; it was intended to affect us toward him. And 
 besides he is also to judge the angels, and he has 
 never taken upon himself their nature and circum- 
 stances. The reason why he is to be judge is not re- 
 vealed; and hence the only reason that can be assigned 
 is that it seemed good to the Father and Son that it 
 should be so. According to my gospel— that is, 
 
112 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 17 : — Beholdy thou art called a Jew, and restest in the laWy, 
 and makest thy boast of God, 
 
 the principle laid down and illustrated in verses 6-15 is 
 the rule according to which God will judge. Paul 
 dwells in his teachings on the fact and manner of the 
 judgment more than the other apostles, but in so far 
 as the others express themselves there is no contra- 
 diction. Paul wrote much more of the New Testa- 
 ment than any other one writer, and at the time he 
 wrote this epistle neither all of the four Gospels, nor 
 the Acts, nor the most of the other non-Pauline 
 books had been written. In their oral teachings, as 
 in their written, some of the apostles must have dwelt 
 more on one aspect or part of the Gospel and others 
 on another. Paul could speak of his teaching as his 
 gospel, because the Gentiles were acquainted with it 
 as his, though in its fundamental principle it neither 
 differed from nor contradicted that of the other apos- 
 tles. 
 
 V. 17. Having shown, in verses 6-16, the principle 
 on which God will judge all men, Paul now reverts to 
 verses 1-5, and shows that in view of this principle 
 on which God judges, the Jew can not expect to be 
 approved. But it is plain that he proceeds with great 
 caution to apply the principle to the Jew by name, 
 not because he has the least doubt of its truth, not 
 because he is afraid, but because of the violent and 
 intense prejudice of the Jews, to which nothing could 
 be more offensive than to say that God would judge 
 them by the same impartial rule of equity as he 
 judged the Gentiles. Paul had been full of intense 
 Jewish prejudice once himself, and knew how it was. 
 
Chapter II. 113 
 
 V. 18 : — And knowest his will, and approvest the things that 
 are more excellent, being instructed out of the law ; 
 
 Behold, The Greek text followed by the King 
 James translators has here ide, behold, that preferred 
 by the revisers and various commentators, as Bengel, 
 Meyer, Godet, Gifford, and others, has eide, but if. 
 The former is more dramatic, the latter more strictly 
 logical; but the meaning is practically the same in 
 either case. '' You are a Jew," he says, and then fol- 
 lo"Ws a long description of the Jew, his knowledge, op- 
 portunities, pretensions, etc., continuing one sentence 
 through verse 20 ; " but what does all this amount to," 
 he asks, ** inasmuch as your lives are manifestly out 
 of harmony with your knowledge and opportunity? " 
 
 Art called a, Jew, Bearest the proud name of 
 Jew. As we might say now : You who are called a 
 Christian, you who pretend to be a Christian by hold- 
 ing membership in the Church, you who know what 
 is implied in the word Christian, is not your life just 
 as bad as that of one who claims no such name and 
 makes no such pretensions ? 
 
 Restest in the law. Depend upon their posses-, 
 sion of the law for salvation. Boast of God. As 
 if the fact that they were God's people in a national 
 sense was sufficient to save them! The right sort of 
 glorying, however, is described in Jer. ix. 24. 
 
 V. 18. And approvest the things, etc. Paul 
 means that they approve in theory but not in practice, 
 but he suppresses these words probably because he 
 wishes to suggest here their condition of heart and 
 life rather than plainly state it. There is a touch of 
 irony in his method. 
 8 
 
114 The EPISTI.B TO THE Romans. 
 
 V. 19 : — And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of 
 the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 
 
 V. 20 : — An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes ^ 
 which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the 
 law. 
 
 V. 19. And art confident. Having stated in 
 verses 17, 18, the Jew's attitude of conceit and satis- 
 faction in respect to himself, the apostle in this and 
 the next verse describes his attitude toward the 
 heathen. " It was part of God's purpose in choosing 
 Israel that they should become the witnesses and 
 teachers of his truth" to the heathen; their sin lay- 
 in making a vain boast of their privileges, instead of 
 fulfilling the duty (Gifford). The word "confident" 
 expresses the proud air of assurance with which the 
 Jew set about guiding and enlightening the Gentile, 
 or heathen — now and then winning in such way a 
 Gentile proselyte, thus fulfilling in paltry measure 
 his world-wide mission of witnessing to the nations 
 concerning the truth; and after all, even when the 
 poor Gentile was won he was " twofold more the child 
 of hell" than he was before. Thus did the Jew 
 instruct. 
 
 Paul writes as if he had these words of Christ in 
 his mind, and he writes, apparently, as if it were diffi- 
 cult to prevent himself from speaking jUvSt as plainly. 
 The similarity of Paul's teaching in this chapter, as 
 well as elsewhere, with Christ's, is very close ; and as 
 we study the two side by side we can not help being 
 struck with the profound insight which the former 
 had into the spirit of the teachings of Him whose 
 apostle he was ; and this insight, strange as it may 
 seem, has not been appreciated by some otherwise 
 
Chapter II. 115 
 
 V. 21 : — Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest 
 thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steals 
 dost thou steal? 
 
 V. 22 : — Thou that say est a man should not commit adultery ^ 
 dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost 
 thou comm.it sacrilege ? 
 
 V. 23 : — Thou that makes t thy boast of the law, through 
 breaking the law dishonor est thou God? 
 
 keen-minded critics of Paulinism. Compare, for 
 instance, on this chapter alone, what Christ says on 
 the outside of the platter as compared with the inside, 
 the whited sepulchers, those who simply say, I^ord, 
 Lord, the parable of the wicked husbandmen, etc., all 
 of which was intended to have personal application 
 to the Jews, who would neither enter the kingdom of 
 heaven themselves nor permit the Gentiles to do so 
 in so far as their false teachings and false lives could 
 prevent. 
 
 Vs. 21-23. Thou therefore. The apostle having 
 reminded the Jew, in the preceding verses, of his 
 boasted knowledge and proud pretensions, now turns 
 upon him face to face, as it were : Is it possible that 
 you, O proud teacher of others, is it possible that you 
 teach not yourself? Does not the law which you have 
 forbid stealing ? And do you not steal ? Do you not 
 also say it is wrong to commit adultery ? And do you 
 not commit adultery? and so for the other specifica- 
 tions here mentioned — in all, four: theft, adultery, 
 sacrilege or robbery of temples, and dishonoring of 
 God, this last probably being meant as the summation 
 of the others. Theft and rapine, according to Jose- 
 phus, were common vices of the Jews (Jewish Wars, 
 V. 26). Our Savior accuses the Pharisees, the most 
 
ii6 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 pretentious sect of Jews, of extortion. See Matt, 
 xxiii. 14-25, and the whole series of woes there pro- 
 nounced. Sensuality was one of the commonest vices 
 among the Jews, as among Shemitic peoples gener- 
 ally. They pretended to abhor idolatry, but they 
 were not too good to rob heathen temples of their 
 valuable contents ; they even converted the courts of 
 the temple of God at Jerusalem into a ''den of 
 thieves." Such cases as these may seem to be ex- 
 treme, but are all professing Christians in these days 
 guiltless of such offenses against God and man? 
 Paul's argument would have been just as good had he 
 instanced less aggravated vices, but it is not likely 
 that it would have had much effect on the obdurate 
 Jewish conscience. To have named a series of " little 
 sins," so to speak, while just as legitimate from a log- 
 ical point of view, would have left his indictment 
 without weight in the estimation of the Jew. And be- 
 sides, he could hardly have named a well-known Jew- 
 ish vice that was not a large one (Ps. 1. 16 ; Isa. Hi. 5 ; 
 Ezek. xxxvi. 18-24). The Church member of to-day 
 might well read these verses, beginning with the 1 7th, 
 substituting the word " Christian " for " Jew," and add 
 the so-called smaller sins to those which Paul mentions. 
 The reader should keep in mind the point which 
 Paul is aiming to make, which is, that the Jews on 
 account of their sins are no less the objects of God's 
 intense disapprobation than the Gentiles are on ac- 
 count of theirs — and this, notwithstanding they have 
 God's written law, and hence, that they need a sal- 
 vation which this law has not furnished, no less than 
 do the Gentiles. 
 
 V. 24. JEor the name of God is blaspbemed. 
 
Chapter II. 117 
 
 V. 2\\—For the name of God is blasphemed among the 
 Gentiles through you, as it is written. 
 
 V. 25 \~For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the 
 law : but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is 
 made uncircumcision. 
 
 Spoken against ; just as professing Christians whose 
 lives are far from wliat they should be may be a 
 reproach to Christ among the heathen or unconverted 
 sinners about them. Instead of being a light to them 
 that are in darkness they are a cause of stumbling. 
 
 V. 25. jPor circumcision^ etc. The typical Jew 
 to whom Paul represents himself as speaking, may be 
 supposed to have asked at this point : If the fact that 
 we have the law is not a sufficient guaranty of our 
 salvation, is not circumcision, which is the sign of 
 God's covenant with us as his people? No, says 
 Paul, for there is something far more essential to the 
 binding force of the covenant in its true spiritual 
 sense, as distinguished from its mere national sense, 
 than simply the observance of its outward sign. In- 
 deed, circumcision amounts to nothing apart from a 
 circumcised heart— that is, unless the heart be right 
 with God, and its value then consists only in its value 
 as an outward symbol. In the place of Paul's word 
 " circumcision," we might substitute the words par- 
 taking the Lord's-supper, or baptism by water, or 
 joining the church; none of these amount to any 
 thing apart from a baptized heart, or a heart united 
 to Christ, or a heart v/hich identifies itself with the 
 "broken body and shed blood " of Christ. This may 
 be plain enough to us, but it was not so evident to 
 the Jew whose spiritual perception had been blunted 
 
ii8 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 26: — Therefore, if the uncirciimcision keep the righteous- 
 ness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for 
 circumcision ? 
 
 by long misuse of the truth. However good a re- 
 ligion may be, as that of the Old Testament, if its 
 outward and formal elements be the ones which are 
 persistently emphasized to the neglect of its spiritual 
 elements, as had long been the case with the Jews, 
 the effect can not be otherwise than exceedingly 
 deleterious. It was against this practical error that 
 the Old Testament prophets from the beginning to 
 the end earnestly sought to guard the Old Testa- 
 ment Israel. In view of which fact, to say nothing 
 of others, it would seem strange that the Jews of 
 Paul's day should have regarded him as such a 
 radical in his view^s, after all. But they did, never- 
 theless. 
 
 V. 26. Therefore if the uncircumcision. By 
 
 uncircumcision Paul here means the uncircumcised 
 Gentile. Righteousness of the law. The right- 
 eousness which the law requires. Shall not his 
 uncircumcision. The fact that he is uncircum- 
 cised and yet has in his heart and life the righteous- 
 ness which the law requires counts for more than if 
 he were circumcised and had not this righteousness, 
 since, as Paul has just shown, the main thing is, not 
 to be circumcised, but to keep the law. An uncir- 
 cumcised Gentile w4io does it is better than a circum- 
 cised Jew who does not. Just as we might say, A 
 non-church member, or unbaptized person, whose 
 heart and life are right is vastly more approved of 
 God than a church member whose heart and life are 
 
Chapter II. 119 
 
 V. 27 : — And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature^ 
 if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circum- 
 cision dost transgress the law ? 
 
 V. 28 : — For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither 
 is that circu'tncision, which is outward in the flesh : 
 
 V. 29 : — But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and cir- 
 cumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the let- 
 ter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 
 
 not right. See our Savior's parable of the two sons, 
 Matt. xxi. 28. 
 
 V. 27. Uncircumcision which is by nature. 
 
 By which is meant simply the Gentile heathen who 
 has not been circumcised, and is hence not outwardly 
 and technically one of the covenant people. Puliill 
 the law. I^ives, in outward life and heart in con- 
 formity with the will of God so far as known. See 
 verse 14 and note. Judge thee. Judge the Jew, 
 instead of the Jew's judging him (verse i). That is, 
 such a heathen has a better right to condemn the Jew 
 (or nominal Christian) than the Jew (or nominal 
 Christian) has to condemn him. 
 
 Vs. 28, 29. In these verses Paul states the reason 
 why circumcision in itself avails nothing to the Jew 
 and wh}^ uncircumcision in itself avails nothing to 
 the condemnation of the Gentile ; the really essential 
 thing to salvation being, not the outward sign, but 
 the inward grace or character, to the possession of 
 which the sign is supposed to testif}^; though the 
 sign may testify falsely as it only too generally did in 
 the case of the Jew. The uncircumcised Gentile far 
 beyond the limit of the visible Jewish church, if he 
 possessed the inward character and life, was vastly 
 more well-pleasing to God than the Jew, within the 
 
I20 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. III., V. I : — JV/iat advantage theft hath the Jew? or 
 what profit is there of circumcision ? 
 
 V. 2 : — Much every way : chiefly, because that unto them 
 were committed the oracles of God. 
 
 pale of the church, who possessed only the outward 
 sign. 
 
 A Jewish Objection. 
 
 At this point in his argument Paul anticipates cer- 
 tain objections on the part of the Jew to the principle 
 which he had laid down in the preceding chapter, as 
 being the one according to which God approves or 
 disapproves of men, whether Jews or Gentiles. 
 These questions and answers are a closely constit- 
 uent part of Paul's argument, and though it is not at 
 all necessary to suppose that he had before him an 
 imaginary Jewish opponent, it is of course necessary 
 to bear in mind that the objections or questions asked 
 are such as a Jew might readily raise. The last ques- 
 tions which lie thus puts into the Jew's mouth is in 
 verse 9. 
 
 V. I. (First question). What advantage then. 
 
 The two questions in this verse are only two forms 
 of one and the same, thus: In view of your state- 
 ment that God judges Jews and Gentiles on the same 
 principle, what advantage has the Jew? Or, in other 
 words, as one becomes a Jew by being circumcised, of 
 what value is this rite ? 
 
 V. 2. (Answer). Much every way; chiefly, A 
 good many advantages have belonged, and still belong 
 to the Jews which the Gentiles do not possess. I 
 need not enumerate them, but first of all, they were 
 
Chapter III. 121 
 
 V, 3 : — For what if sotne did not believe ? shall their unbe- 
 lief make the faith of God without effect ? 
 
 V. 4: — God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a 
 liar ; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy 
 sayings, and mightest overcome when thott art judged. 
 
 intrusted with the Old Testament revelations which 
 they now have in written form. Now it is a great 
 advantage and honor to have such a trust, for it fur- 
 nishes the Jew with certain knowledge of the charac- 
 ter and will of God, and of the kind of character and 
 lives he wishes ours to be ; and the very fact that this 
 Scripture is a trust committed to the Jew implies that 
 it was God's intention that he should use it for the 
 benefit of the heathen no less than of himself. 
 
 V. 3. (Answer continued). For what if some, 
 
 etc. This verse is generally regarded as being the 
 words of the imaginary Jew, and on this supposition 
 are variously interpreted. But it seems best to regard 
 them as the direct continuation of the preceding verse, 
 thus : For what if some of the Jews did prove faith- 
 less to this trust which was intrusted to them ? Shall 
 that make of no effect the faithfulness of God ? And 
 then Paul proceeds in the next verse to answer his 
 own question. (This use of faith in the sense of faith- 
 fulness is not unknown in the New Testament ; see 
 Titus ii. 10, etc.) 
 
 V. 4. God forbid. Literally, /ef it not be ; or, by 
 no means. J^et God be true. . . . Mvery man 
 a liar. The words "true" and "liar" in this verse 
 correspond to " faithfulness " and " faithless " in verse 
 3. Yea, God will remain true or faithful to his prom- 
 ise and purpose of salvation, even though not only 
 
122 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 5 : — But if our unrighteousness commend the right- 
 eousness of God, what shall we say ? Is God unrighteous 
 who taketh vengeance? {I speak as a m,an.) 
 
 some Jews, but every Jew, should prove false or faith- 
 less to his trust ; for if they are faithless, their privi- 
 leges shall be transferred to another people, and God's 
 faithfulness to his purpose, that in Abraham and his 
 seed should all nations be blessed, shall be vindicated 
 against all who would judge or accuse him of faith- 
 lessness. God can not be true to his character and 
 purpose and yet honor those who dishonor him by 
 being false to the pledges implied in the fact that they 
 are parties to the covenant. It was understood at the 
 very outset that the covenant with Israel was a condi- 
 tional one ; if ye Avill be and do so and so, y^ shall be 
 my people. 
 
 As it is written. Psalm li. 4. Quoted here as 
 showing that even the Jew's faithlessness, or other 
 sins, may be the very means which God will employ 
 to make only the more manifest to all men his faith- 
 fulness and righteousness. JiistiBed, Vindicated, 
 or shown to be true and fair in all his dealings. 
 Judged. Accused of being untrue to his promise 
 and purpose, and unfair in his dealings. The particu- 
 lar aspect of untrueness and unfairness, which is here 
 represented as being charged against God, has refer- 
 ence to his dealings with the Jews. But the words 
 may easily have a wider application. 
 
 V. 5. (Second question). If our unrighteous- 
 ness. The faithless and false lives of us Jews. (The 
 reference primarily is to the Jews, but the application, 
 of course, is general.) Commends the righteous- 
 of God. Vindicates and makes evident God's faith- 
 
Chapter III. 123 
 
 V. 6: — God forbid: for then how shall God judge the 
 world? 
 
 fulness and truth, or any other aspect of his character 
 as bearing upon his dealings with men, and all of 
 which are the outflow of his holiness. Now, if God 
 thus uses our unrighteousness, the objector might say, 
 in order to vindicate and make manifest the existence 
 in himself of the opposite attribute, does not the argu- 
 ment destroy itself? Does he not indeed prove him- 
 self to be unjust when he punishes the sin which he 
 uses as the sole means of advertising his righteous- 
 ness ? The form of the question in Greek is such as 
 implies a negative answer, and even in this case Paul 
 could not write the question without indicating that 
 he was not asking it in his ov/n capacity, but in that 
 of an objector : " I speak as a man." 
 
 V. 6. (Answer). God forbid. Let it not be. Paul 
 indignantly repels the imputation which the question 
 makes upon the character of God: " B}^ no means," 
 he says, and his further answer is a condensed syllo- 
 gism, thus : Major pre^riise — If God were unrighteous 
 there could be no final judgment of the w^orld, for the 
 doctrine of a final judgment assumes the justice of 
 the judge. 
 
 Minor premise — But you, as do even the pagans, 
 admit there will be a final judgment. 
 
 Conclusion — Therefore, 3^ou must admit that God is 
 righteous, and the fact that he draws a good result 
 from man's bad deed can not destroy his right to 
 judge that man. 
 
 V. 7. (Second objection in another form). V^or if^ 
 
124 '^HE EPISTI.K TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 V. 7 : — For if the truth of God hath more abounded 
 through my lie unto his glory ; why yet am I also judged as a 
 sinner f 
 
 V. 8 -.—And not rather, (aj we be slanderously reported, and 
 as some ajffirm that we say,) Let us do evily that good may 
 come ? whose damnation is Just. 
 
 The Revised Version, following the oldest Greek man- 
 uscripts, reads "but if" instead of "for if;" either 
 reading yields the correct meaning. In the one case 
 the Jewish objector says : I am not satisfied with your 
 answer, for if the truth or righteousness of God is 
 made to abound, or be glorified, by sin, it does not 
 seem to me to be right that God should judge me as 
 a sinner. If we take the words "but if," we do not 
 need to supply the words " I am not satisfied with 
 your answer." The truth of God. . . . My lie. 
 The truth of God means God as truth, or God con- 
 sidered as true to his own character, of which the 
 central element, we may say, is holiness. He is faith- 
 ful, just, etc., because he is holy ; and he will always 
 be faithful, just, etc., because he will always be true 
 to himself. " My lie," or the " lie of me," is myself as 
 false to God who is my standard of character and life. 
 
 V. 8. (Answer). And not rather, Paul answers 
 the objection of the Jew, as stated in verse 7, by ask- 
 ing him a question which on its very face answers 
 itself and shows the absurdity of the Jew's objection : 
 Why not say at once, let us do evil that good may 
 come. If I can magnify God's righteousness by sin- 
 ning, then I ought to sin. That is what your objec- 
 tion, as last stated, amounts to, and you know very 
 well that it is absurd, and that you do not believe it ; 
 for did you not severely criticise me when it came to 
 
Chapter III. 125 
 
 V. 9 : — IV/ta^ then ? are we better than they? No^ in no 
 wise : for we have before proved both fews and Gentiles, that 
 they are all tender sin ; 
 
 your ears that I was teaching this same pernicious 
 principle? But if your objection drives you, as you 
 see it does, to the acceptance of this false and blas- 
 phemous adage, you can see for yourself that the 
 objection is not valid. Whose damnation is just. 
 That is, the condemnation of those who do evil that 
 good may come, is just. And the Jew, who had just 
 pleaded that God, who derived glory from his sinning, 
 ought not, therefore, to judge him for sinning, must 
 have felt that the condemnation rested particularly 
 upon him. 
 
 V. 9. Wliat then ? are we better than they. 
 
 It is best to regard this question as asked by a Jew, 
 or by Paul as representing a Jew, thus : Well then, 
 since the pre-eminence of the Jews above the Gentiles 
 consists, as you have already stated, in their superior 
 advantages, do you think that we, though not as we 
 should be, are at least in some degree superior to the 
 Gentiles also in respect to piety ? The second part ot 
 the verse is Paul's very plain and emphatic answer to 
 this question. He affirms that they are all on a level. 
 The above is the meaning of the Vulgate Version, 
 Tyndale's, Cranmer's, the Genevan, and the King 
 James. It is also substantially the view of lyUther, 
 Calvin, Beza, Bengel, Macknight, BloomJSeld, Alford, 
 Wordsworth, Hodge, GifFord, Tholuck, Jowett, Thayer 
 (I^ex.), Abbott, and it is also the view of the Ameri- 
 can members of the New Testament Revision Com- 
 mittee. The Revised Version reads : Are we (Jews) 
 worse than they (the Gentiles) ? 
 
126 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. lo : — As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one : 
 V. II : — There is none that understandeth, there is none that 
 
 seeketh after God. 
 
 V. 12 : — They are all gone out of the way, they are together 
 
 become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not 
 
 one. 
 
 Prof. Godet's view is : " Have we (Jews) a shelter 
 under which we can regard ourselves as delivered 
 from wrath? " with which Dr. Morison seems closely 
 to agree : " Do we Jews bring forward pleas in behalf 
 of ourselves — that is, in bar of a sentence of condem- 
 nation against ourselves? " 
 
 V. IO-I2. As it is written. Psalm xiv. 1-3; 
 liii. 1-3. In concluding his proof of the sin and 
 guilt of both Gentiles and Jews Paul quotes, as he 
 often does, the testimony of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures, the evidence of which his Jewish readers 
 would naturally be supposed to regard as altogether 
 valid. But as a matter of fact the Jewish exegesis 
 and application of the Scriptures in Paul's day was 
 exceedingly loose and one-sided ; and the great diffi- 
 culty was to induce them to see and accept the testi- 
 mony of their own sacred books. The fact that Paul, 
 even with all the supposed exegetical faults which 
 have been attributed to him by rationalistic critics, 
 was so far in advance of the current rabbinical use 
 of the Scriptures proves that he was either under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit or an inexplicable 
 prodigy. 
 
 There is none righteous, no not one. In the 
 Hebrew, " There is none that doeth good," which is 
 in sense the same. The plain meaning of the words, 
 as used both by the Psalmist and the Apostle, is that 
 
Chaptp:r III. 127 
 
 such is the state, not of man, or a set of men, in a 
 given age or country ; but that such is man's state by 
 nature always and everywhere; a state of ungodli- 
 ness ; he of one sort morally, God being of another 
 sort; he unrighteous, unholy, etc., God being right- 
 eous, holy, etc.; this is the want of harmony or one- 
 ness between all men and God ; and in order that it 
 may be otherwise man must cease to be what he is by 
 nature and become the opposite by grace. And this 
 last is the point toward which Paul is proceeding. 
 But, to make the moral condition of the natural man 
 only sadder still the next verse informs us that there is 
 no man who, in his natural state adequately and fully 
 appreciates the above stated lamentable facts; so 
 obtuse does sin render his powers of moral or spir- 
 itual perception (Romans i. 21); if he could thus 
 adequately appreciate it he would not need the power 
 of the Psalmist's or the Apostle's persuasive logic, or 
 manifold holy influences, or the pleadings of the 
 Holy Spirit, to induce him to seek after God. 
 
 V. 12. Gone out of the way .... un- 
 profitable. The idea of the preceding verses is 
 here repeated and strengthened. '' Mankind resem- 
 bles a caravan which has strayed, and is moving in a 
 direction opposite to the right one, and whose mem- 
 bers can do nothing (are unprofitable) to help one 
 another in their common misery." — {Godet) Isaiah's 
 figure is that of sheep who have strayed from the 
 leading of the shepherd ; turned aside from his way 
 into their way. Isaiah liii. 6. 
 
 V. 13. Their throat is an open sephulcher. 
 
 See Psalm v. 9. Their throat is a sepulcher filled 
 
128 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 13 : — Their fhi^oat is a7i open sepulcher ; with their 
 tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their 
 lips: 
 
 V. 14 : — Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : 
 V. 15 : — Their feet are swift to shed blood : 
 V. 16 : — Destruction and. misery are in their ways : 
 V. 17 : — And the way of peace have they not known : 
 V. 18 : — There is no fear of God before their eyes. 
 
 with foul corruption, but opened so that from it pro- 
 ceed foul stenches. Compare our Savior's words, 
 Matt. XV. 18-20. The poison of asps. Psalm cxl. 3. 
 
 V. 14. Whose mouth. Psalm x. 7. In the pre- 
 ceding verse the throat, the tongue, and the lips ; in 
 this verse the whole cavity of the mouth is referred to. 
 
 Vs. 15-17. See Isaiah lix. 7, 8. 
 
 V. 18. See Psalm xxxvi. i. 
 
 We see that this Old Testament documentary evi- 
 dence which Paul adduces in favor of his proposition 
 — universal sinfulness — is a compilation from various 
 parts of the Old Testament Scriptures. The whole 
 passage, however, just as given here is found in The 
 Vulgate of Sextus and Clement, in Cranmer's English 
 Version of the Psalms (and hence in the Episcopal 
 Psalter), and in some editions of the Septuagint. 
 
 The reader will doubtless observe that in verse 5 
 of Psalm xiv. from which the first quotations are 
 made, a ''generation of the righteous" is mentioned, 
 and that in Luke i. 6, Zacharias and Elizabeth are 
 called "righteous." Does not this invalidate Paul's 
 argument? Certainly not; for neither the Psalmist 
 nor the Apostle is attempting to show that no man is 
 righteous in the sense that no man can be righteous, 
 but they both mean that no man is righteous who has 
 
Chapter III. 129 
 
 not the righteousness which comes of faith and which 
 consists in faith, or, in other words, who is not "justi- 
 fied by faith." This had been the only way for any 
 man to be saved, or to be righteous, all along through 
 human history, no matter whether he lived within or 
 without the pale of the Mosaic law. The fact which 
 Paul so laments is that man had so utterly lost sight 
 of this way as their corrupt lives and their hearts, so 
 unable to perceive the truth, abundantly proved that 
 they had. The distinguishing feature of Paul's 
 teaching as also that of his Master, Christ, was, not 
 that he attempted to introduce a hitherto unrevealed 
 way to become righteous in God's estimation but^ 
 that he brought men's minds back to the old way so 
 repeatedly stated in the Jewish Scriptures, empha- 
 sizing and pointing to it more clearly. 
 
 It should be observed also that Paul, thus far in his 
 argument is speaking of sin, not as original or native 
 to the human heart, but of the universal fact of sin 
 as evinced in its universal manifestation in human 
 life. This wide-spread fact existing, as it does, even 
 among the best informed peoples, would of itself, 
 apart from any consideration of sin's originality in 
 the heart, be abundantly sufficient to render it im- 
 perative that both Gentiles and Jews should be 
 urgently called away from their helpless theories of 
 salvation to the old, the true, the only way of being 
 just or righteous before God. The subject of original 
 sin or corruption Paul reserves until we reach chapter 
 V. 12 and following verses. 
 
 V. 19. Now we know. A form of speech, when 
 addressed by one to an opponent, has the force of: 
 Now you will of course admit. What things soever, 
 9 
 
130 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 19 : — Nozv we know that what things soever the law 
 saith, it saith to them who are under the law : that every 
 mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty 
 before God. 
 
 As, for instance, the prohibition of such a state of life 
 and conduct as that described in the quotations, 
 verses 10-18. The law. The precepts of the Old 
 Testament, whether contained in the Ten Command- 
 ments or elsewhere. It saith to. It speaks to or 
 addresses to. Them who are under the law. 
 Those who have the law and are, as accountable 
 beings, amenable to it. In this instance the Jews are 
 meant. 
 
 That, " In order that,'' not " so that ; " the one 
 denotes a purpose, the other an effect or result. The 
 apostle does not mean that the effect or result of 
 having the law is to stop the mouth b}^ taking away 
 the plea of ignorance ; this should be its effect, though 
 it seems it did not stop the mouth of the Jew. He 
 means that the law speaks to those who have it in 
 order that they may have no plea for sinning ; or in 
 other words, in order that they may be unable to plead 
 ** not guilt3^" If they should unfortunately though 
 honestly plead "not guilty," whereas they are guilty, 
 it would be the same thing as saying that they were 
 not sinners. But of course the first thing that a 
 sinner must do in order to salvation is to recognize 
 himself as a sinner. All the world. The Jewish 
 world is here particularly meant, though not exclu- 
 sively, the heathen world being adjudged by the law 
 which they have and which speaks to them. Chapter 
 ii. 14, 15. May become guilty. May recognize 
 themselves as guilty and hence as subject to his judg- 
 
Chapter III. 
 
 131 
 
 N. 20 '.—Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no 
 flesh be justified in his sight : for by the law is the kttowledge 
 of sin. 
 
 ment, or under his condemnation. It is the purpose 
 of the law to produce in man this recognition. 
 
 V. 20. Therefore, The Greek word is dioti; the 
 translation^ "therefore," makes the first half of this 
 verse to be the conclusion drawn either from the 
 statement in verse 19, or from the whole preceding 
 course of reasoning beginning back at chapter i. 18. 
 This is a good sense, and is supported by the 
 Genevan Version, and by Beza, Turretin, Macknight, 
 and other commentators. But the word (dioti) is 
 nowhere else in the King James version translated 
 '* therefore." It occurs in the New Testament 
 twenty-two times, and except in this instance is 
 always rendered because or for, which amounts to the 
 same thing. The Revised Version renders it because, 
 as does also the Vulgate, Tyndale, and Cranmer, and 
 is preferred by Bengel, Bloomfield, Meyer, Lange, 
 Alford, Wordsworth, Hodge, Godet, Morison, and the 
 majority of modern commentators. This rendering 
 makes the meaning to be : Why is it divinely desired 
 that the whole world should, as stated in verse 19, 
 recognize and admit its guilty and polluted condition ? 
 Because, says verse 20, by the deeds of the law shall 
 no flesh be justified in God's sight. This rendering is 
 to be preferred. 
 
 No flesh. Nobody, no person. Deeds of the 
 law. Outward conformity to law. This constitutes 
 a kind of personal righteousness, such as belongs to 
 him whom we call a mere moralist, but it is not the 
 
132 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 sort of righteousness which renders a man approved 
 of God, or justified. Hence, there is no contradiction 
 between Paul's statements here and in chapter ii. 13, 
 on which see note. Of the two classes, the true doers 
 and the non-doers of the law, the former are the ones 
 who shall be justified, but the righteousness by which 
 they shall be justified is not the righteousness which 
 proceeds out of the deeds of the law. From this 
 source righteousness can not proceed into the man 
 and become such a constituent element of him as to 
 render him divinely approved. Otherwise we might 
 as well say that a justifying righteousness proceeds 
 into us from the act of baptism, for instance, merely 
 because baptism is a Christ-appointed rite. The 
 righteousness which must displace the righteousness 
 of the mere moralist or legalist, the righteousness 
 which alone can justify us, or, in other words, cause 
 us to become the objects of God's approbation, 
 whereas we had been the objects of his disapproba- 
 tion, is a righteousness which must come into us, 
 becoming a constituent part of us, from a source 
 which Paul does not mention in this verse. And this 
 is true, for by the law is the knowledge of sin ; its 
 function is not to justify us, but to produce in us a 
 spiritual recognition or conviction of the fact that we 
 need to be justified ; in other words, that we are sin- 
 ners and hence disapproved of God, or, in other 
 words still, under his condemnation. 
 
 Second Proposition. 
 
 Salvation provided for all and offered to all; or 
 God's saving righteousness to become man's in lieu 
 of man's own legalistic righteousness on condition of 
 
Chapter III. 
 
 33 
 
 V. 21 : — Bu^ now the righteousness of God without the law 
 is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets ; 
 
 faith in Jesus Christ by whose atoning work it became 
 possible for God to make the offer (iii. 21 to v. 11). 
 
 V. 21. Paul, having now fully shown in the discus- 
 sion of his first proposition (p. 84), that both Jews and 
 heathens, whether they possess the written law or 
 only the unwritten law on their hearts, are in a state 
 of ungodlikeness, and hence, under divine disappro- 
 bation, proceeds to the positive side of his argument 
 and sets forth the only way whereb}^ they may become 
 actually righteous, viz. : by having infused into them 
 the God-righteousness in lieu of any so-called right- 
 eousness which they may have supposed they already 
 possessed. 
 
 'But now. These words mark the contrast be- 
 tween the erroneous conceptions of true righteous- 
 ness and of the way to be saved which had hitherto 
 prevailed both among Jews and heathen, and the 
 brighter light which is now thrown upon the subject 
 by Jesus Christ and the teachings of his apostles. It 
 is truly a " sweet antithesis." 
 
 The righteousness of God, Versus the so- 
 called righteousness of the Jew or heathen, which is 
 not the kind that God likes because it is not like 
 God's. Hence, God-righteousness may be taken as a 
 compound word like self-righteousness or man-right- 
 eousness. The former is the kind that "justifies" us, 
 for when God sees that in us which is in himself he 
 approves us. When it is in us it is ours. It is 
 higher, purer, more comprehensive, than the self or 
 man-righteousness. Hence, our Savior said : Except 
 
134 'I'he Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 22 : — Even the righteousness of God which is by faith 
 of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all thetn that believe ; for 
 there is no difference : 
 
 your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the 
 scribes and Pharisees, etc. 
 
 Without the law. Apart from law. Law does 
 not enter in any way as an ingredient or element of 
 this God-righteousness; if it exists in man at all it 
 exists in him just as it does in God — that is, as a 
 part of himself, so to speak, his very character ; for a 
 man righteous in this sense will do right and refrain 
 from doing wrong whether any law commands him to 
 or not. In this sense also he is free from law. But 
 though this righteousness is apart from law, it is not 
 apart from Christ " for without [or apart from] me ye 
 can do nothing ; " apart from him we can not even be 
 *' doers of the law." 
 
 Is manifested. More clearly made known, and 
 more freshly set forth in the person and teachings of 
 Christ and his apostles. But Paul is careful to state, 
 as we should be careful to observe, that this God- 
 righteousness as the means of salvation, is not now 
 manifested or made known for the first time. He 
 reminds his Old Testament readers that it ought not 
 to be regarded by them as a new and strange doctrine, 
 for it is abundantly witnessed by the whole Old Tes- 
 tament Scriptures — a fact with which the Jews ought 
 to have been acquainted. They may have read their 
 Bible much, but they did not read it well, and hence, 
 they were blind leaders of the blind. There never 
 was but one way to be saved. Paul was still the true 
 Jew in doctrine, but his brother Jews were not. 
 
 V. 22. I^ven the righteousnesSj etc. This 
 
Chapter III. 135 
 
 V. 23 : — For all have sinned and come short of the glory of 
 God ; 
 
 verse further defines the God-righteousness of verse 
 21 ; not in its intrinsic nature, but as the God-right- 
 eousness which becomes ours through or by means 
 of our faith in Jesus Christ. It is, then, a state, or 
 condition, of ourselves as moral beings, and consists 
 in God-likeness, and implies reconciliation, or the 
 absence of antinomy between ourselves and God. 
 The expression, the faith of Jesus Christ, does not 
 mean that this righteousness becomes ours through the 
 faithfubiess of Jesus Christ, although that is true of 
 course as a matter of fact ; it means our faith in him ; 
 and this righteousness is manifested to all and be- 
 comes the actual possession of all who exercise this 
 faith. 
 
 There is no difference. Between Gentile and 
 Jew, nominal Christian and heathen ; this righteous- 
 ness belongs to all alike on the one condition. 
 
 V. 23. For all have sinned, etc. That is, 
 there is no difference, etc., for all have sinned. And 
 come short. This verb is in the present tense ; all 
 are fallen short. Of the glory of God. It is 
 
 best to regard this " glor}^ of God " as being the same 
 as that mentioned in chapter ii. 7-10, where it is 
 coupled with honor and immortality , as constituting 
 eternal life. It is, then, in its relation to man, the 
 inheritance which is incorruptible, and undefiled, 
 and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven (i Peter 
 i. 4). The figure is, that in running the race for this 
 prize all are fallen far short of it, and hence, are 
 unentitled to it. The failure is due to themselves ; 
 
136 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 24 : — Being justified freely by his grace through the re- 
 demption that is in Christ Jesus : 
 
 they have loitered, or dallied, or turned aside from the 
 way into by-paths. Or, to use plain speech instead 
 of figure, they have been indifferent, or neglectful, or 
 have had wrong theories of the way to attain to the 
 inheritance, to which wrong theories they were 
 blindly attached by their prejudices (particularly true 
 of the Jews and many heathens). 
 
 V. 24. Being justified. It is better to connect 
 this with verse 22. Unto all them that believe, being 
 justified freely, etc. The God-righteousness becomes 
 ours through our faith in Christ, and then it consti- 
 tutes our ample justification. But it becomes ours 
 not because we earn it, not because by running we 
 have attained to it, for on the contrary we are fallen 
 short of it and the glorious inheritance which it 
 secures ; but it becomes ours as a free and gracious 
 gift of God. We might exercise faith (if such a case 
 be conceivable), and still this righteousness not be 
 ours unless God should graciously see fit to give it 
 to us. 
 
 Through the redemption. That is, through 
 the redemption that is in Christ, or through Christ 
 who is our redeemer, we are justified in the sense 
 above explained. Sin is a captivity ; Christ redeems 
 or delivers us from it. Sin is a great curse ; Christ 
 delivers us from it. Sin is bondage, a grievous slav- 
 ery; Christ delivers us from it. It cost him much 
 suffering to do it ; he even gave his life that he might 
 be our ransomer. Sin is viewed in many aspects by 
 Paul, and elsewhere in the New Testament, and Christ 
 
Chapter III. 137 
 
 V. 25 : — Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation 
 through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for 
 the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance 
 of God; 
 
 Stands in corresponding relation to them all. If sin 
 be our disease, Christ is our physician. If sin be our 
 death, Christ is our life. If sin be our lost condition, 
 Christ is our way. If sin be " the lie," Christ is " the 
 truth." If sin be a power which has dread mastery 
 over us, Christ is again our deliverer. But we must 
 bear in mind that the sin which has dominion over 
 me is not in fact one thing and myself another thing. 
 It is only so viewed by way of figure. The sin which 
 has dominion over me is, in a sense, myself. And 
 when I am delivered from this self then I am judi- 
 cially justified, or declared to be justified, because 
 then I actually am just or righteous ; and I am not 
 justified, in the sense of being acquitted, until / a^n 
 just or righteous, and I am righteous as soon as I am 
 redeemed. 
 
 V. 25. Hath set forth. Not, set forth in the 
 sense of "designed" or "foreordained;" nor does it 
 mean set forth in the sense of " formerly revealed ; " 
 it means to set forth in the sense of to exhibit, or set 
 publicly forth so that all maj^ behold him. 
 
 To be a propitiation. The Greek word here is 
 hilastario7i, and occurs in the New Testament only in 
 this verse and in Hebrews ix. 5, where it is rendered 
 mercy-seat. Many authorities regard the word as an 
 adjective, and many others regard it as a noun. The 
 views as to its meaning in this verse are almost with- 
 out number. A few illustrations may be given : 
 
138 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 1. Propitiator or reconciler. Thus some editions 
 of the Vulgate, Erasmus, Cajetan, Melanchthon. 
 
 2. A propitiation. Thus our King James Version, 
 Beza, Melville, the Geneva Version. 
 
 3. Mercy-seat. Origen, Theodoret, Luther, Tyn- 
 dale, Calvin, Grotius, Coccejus, Vitringa, Macknight, 
 Olshausen, Lange, Abbott, and many others. 
 
 4. Propitiatory sacrifice. Meyer, Ee Clerc, Moses 
 Stuart, Alford, Conybeare, Bloomfield. 
 
 5. Propitiatory, Whom God set publicly forth as 
 propitiatory, not exclusively as a propitiatory sacrifice, 
 but as propitiatory in his whole theanthropic person- 
 ality. This is Dr. Morison's view. 
 
 Christ is set forth as the one who by his inter- 
 mingled work and suffering has power to render God 
 (objectively) propitious. God always loved man. He 
 was always intrinsically propitious, but through Christ 
 he can be outwardly so in his actual dealing with the 
 sinner. But it would be better, perhaps, to avoid the 
 distinction here made between intrinsic propitious- 
 ness and outward or actual propitiousness by calling 
 the former simply love and only the latter propitious- 
 ness. With this understanding of terms we may 
 easily see that God could not have been propitious in- 
 dependently of Christ, and of what he did and suffered. 
 It was he who by the propitiatory element in him 
 made redemption from sin in all its aspects possible ; 
 and having made redemption possible, he therein 
 made possible justification in its judicial sense; or, 
 in other words, he therein made possible the removal 
 from us of God's disapprobation. Being sinners, God 
 at the same time loved us and intensely disapproved 
 or condemned us. So long as we approve of sin, so 
 long must God disapprove us, so long must his con- 
 
Chapter III. 139 
 
 demnation rest upon us ; for in approving sin, relish- 
 ing it, enjoying it, we identify ourselves with it ; we 
 make sin and ourselves one. God can never look 
 upon sin in the abstract, or sin as ourselves, " with 
 the least degree of allowance ; " and the only way 
 whereby we can have God look upon us with allow- 
 ance, or propitiously, is to identify ourselves with 
 Christ who is set forth as a propitiator or means of 
 propitiation. The next clause in the verse tells us 
 how this identification of ourselves with Christ is to 
 be effected ; or, which amounts to the same thing, how 
 that which is propitiatory in Christ becomes available 
 to each sinner. 
 
 Through faith in his blood. By means of faith 
 the object to which the faith is directed, or in which it 
 rests, being "his blood." Christ is a possible pro- 
 pitiatory means to every sinner, but he is not one 
 actually to any given sinner, except through the sin- 
 ner's faith. In his blood. The use of this expression 
 here and elsewhere by Paul (Rom. v. 9; Kph. i. 7; 
 Col. i. 20, etc.) indicates the emphasis which he places 
 upon ^/le blood as an element of Christ's propitiatory 
 work ; sometimes, both in the Gospels and Epistles, 
 it is simply faith " in Christ," but it is Christ in his 
 totality; and whatever may be the particular aspect 
 emphasized, " faith in Christ," " faith in his blood," 
 etc., it is always a personal identification with Christ 
 that is meant, the identification of ourselves with sin 
 ceasing. It is conceivable that the incarnate (ihrist 
 at the close of his public ministry might have re- 
 turned to the right hand of the Father in any one 
 of three ways ; (i) by transfiguration, (2) through the 
 gate of natural death, (3) death by violence. The 
 third is the only one that could have prevented his 
 
140 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 life-work from being practically, at least, a failure. 
 Whether, therefore, we translate the word (hilastarion) 
 mercy-seat, or propitiatory, or propitiation, in any case 
 Christ in his entirety is the only ground on which we 
 can hope for redemption from sin and the consequent 
 justification. 
 
 To declare his righteousness. To prove or 
 demonstrate his righteousness ; no allusion here to a 
 payment offered to justice in compensation for the 
 death which sinful men have merited. F'or tlie re- 
 mission. Because of, or on account of, the remission. 
 The word here rendered " remission " is not the usual 
 word for forgiveness or remission of sins. The word 
 here means to pretermit, to pass by, to tolerate, to 
 seem not to notice ; the usual word means to forgive 
 after having taken due notice of, to take away the sin 
 or charge against one, to remit. That are past. The 
 sins of the past ages of mankind vv^hich God, during 
 his long time of forbearance, pretermitted, or seemed 
 to take little notice of. 
 
 So then we may paraphrase the whole verse : Being 
 justified ... by means of the redemption that is 
 in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth publicly as 
 propitiatory, or as a means of propitiation, the cause 
 in us which renders it available to us being our faith, 
 and the cause in it which renders it effective being his 
 blood ; and the reason why God thus set forth Christ 
 as a means of propitiation was that he might demon- 
 strate or vindicate his righteousness against the charge 
 that he had taken no notice of the sins of the past 
 ages of mankind. 
 
 There is no implication, however, that God had not 
 in Old Testament times forgiven the sins of many in 
 the same sense and on the same ground that he for- 
 
Chapter III. 141 
 
 gives now ; but he had done it, so far as was apparent 
 to mankind, on the basis only of a pledged propitia- 
 tion ; and so long as this pledge should remain unful- 
 filled the forgiveness could not from man's stand-point 
 be any thing more than a pretermission, or passing by, 
 or overlooking, of the sins. But when the propitia- 
 tion should cease to be a promise, and become an 
 actual fulfillment, then and ever thereafter would the 
 righteousness of God, his absolute antithesis to all sin 
 and disorder, be fully known. 
 
 But with this difiicult and deeply significant script- 
 ure before us, and in order that we may inquire yet 
 further into its meaning, may we not ask : If it had 
 been possible for a man to be of a humble and con- 
 trite spirit, hating the sin of which he is possessed, 
 independently of any such proof of God's righteous- 
 ness, either in promise or actually, would it have been 
 possible for him to find acceptance with God ? The 
 case is supposable, for many heathen, before Christ 
 and since, have never known any thing of any such 
 proof of God's righteousness. Hence we answer that 
 it would have been possible for such a sinner to find 
 acceptance with God, but it would have been a matter 
 of pure trust on his part, as he had no proof or 
 demonstration of God's righteousness whatever ; but 
 it would not have been possible apart from Christ — 
 Christ in his totality of person and work. But as the 
 public setting forth of Christ referred to in this verse 
 was postponed four thousand years without destroy- 
 ing its validity and efficacy, so might it have been 
 postponed four thousand years more, or even until 
 the end of the world. 
 
 V. 26. At this time. The righteousness of God 
 
142 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 26: — To declare^ I say, at this time his righteousness : 
 that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believ- 
 eth in Jesus. 
 
 V. 27 : — Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what 
 law ? of works? Nay ; but by the law of faith. 
 
 had not formerly been so demonstrated, and the ob- 
 ject of setting forth the propitiation at this time is to 
 prove the righteousness of God, both in respect to the 
 past, and, as stated in this verse, in respect to the 
 present and all time to come. 
 
 That he might be justy etc. That he might be 
 known or recognized as righteous even in removing his 
 condemnation from the one believing in Jesus, and in 
 placing upon him his approbation. Luther's and Cal- 
 vin's idea is : That he alone might be righteous, and 
 the one making him righteous who believes in Jesus. 
 
 V. 27. Where is boasting then. In view of 
 the preceding considerations, especially of the state- 
 ments in verses 25, 26, where is the vainglorying of 
 Gentiles and Jews ? — glory in anj^ other ground of sal- 
 vation than that of the work of Christ ; the Jews in 
 their self-righteousness, the Gentiles in their wisdom 
 (i Cor. i. 20). The Jews, however, seem to be here 
 particularl}^ referred to. 
 
 It is excluded. Shut out ; there is no reason 
 whatever for vainglorying. By what law, or prin- 
 ciple of action, is this vainglorjdng of Jew and Gen- 
 tile shut out ? Of works ? Has it been barred out by 
 a law which enjoins works ? No ; for such a law rather 
 tends to encourage self-righteousness and self-praise. 
 It is excluded by the law which enjoins faith or the 
 personal acceptance of the righteousness which God 
 would graciously impart to us through Christ. 
 
CHAPTER III. 143 
 
 V. 28: — Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by 
 faith without the deeds of the law. 
 
 V. 29 : — Is he the God of the fews only ? is he not also of 
 the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also : 
 
 V. 30: — Seeing it is one God, which shall j testify the cir- 
 cumcision by faith, and uncirctnncision through faith. 
 
 V. 28. Therefore we conclude. In view, not 
 merely of verse 27, but of the whole preceding reason- 
 ing, we conclude, etc. The principle here stated has 
 already been explained as it appeared in former verses. 
 Without the deeds of law. Apart from the deeds 
 of the law. Righteousness comes to us, becomes ours, 
 not merely ours, but a part, so to speak, of our very 
 selves, by divine impartation or regeneration through 
 Christ, and not out of our deeds. 
 
 V. 29. Is he the God of the Jews only. Is 
 
 God the God of the Jews only? No; as you will 
 readily admit, he is the God of the heathen also; 
 hence I rightly said " a man," " any man," in verse 28 ; 
 for the statement applies alike to all men. 
 
 V. 30. It is one God, Or, rather, seeing that 
 God is one who shall, etc. That God is the only one 
 was a fundamental article of the Jewish religion, and 
 hence the Jews would be compelled to admit that he 
 was God over the Gentiles also, and must justify both 
 on the same principle — the one "by faith," the other 
 " through faith." Bj/ faith is literally out of faith ; 
 through faith means by 7neans of faith. So far as the 
 Jew's becoming righteous depended upon himself the 
 source of his righteousness was his faith and not his 
 circumcision; so far as the Gentile's depended upon 
 
144 'I'he Epistle to thk Romans. 
 
 V. 31 : — Do we then make void the law through faith ? God 
 forbid : yea, we establish the law. 
 
 himself he obtained it by means of his faith, and the 
 fact that he was uncircumcised was no hindrance. 
 
 V. 31. We establish the law. Instead of the law 
 being made of no effect by the teaching of verse 30, it 
 is only the more firmly established thereby, and in two 
 ways; (i) by taking away from it the function of pro- 
 ducing righteousness which the Jews had erroneously 
 attributed to it, and relegating it to its proper func- 
 tion of revealing sin and guiding to Christ ; (2) by im- 
 planting in us the principle of spiritual or heart obe- 
 dience to it, in lieu of the mere formal or outward 
 obedience. If the law has our heart's respect and 
 allegiance, it is more firmly established than if it 
 had not. 
 
 The Case of Abraham. 
 
 Having in the preceding section elaborated his doc- 
 trine of salvation by grace through faith versus the 
 doctrine of salvation by the works of the law, Paul 
 proceeds to further establish his thesis by considering 
 the Old Testament testimony concerning Abraham. 
 There could not be any doubt in the mind of the Jew 
 that Abraham was approved of God, and hence saved. 
 Now, if Paul could show that he was approved on his 
 theory or doctrine of salvation, and not on that of the 
 Jew, the honest Jew could not fail to see that the 
 argument was altogether against him. 
 
 But Paul does even more than this : He shows that 
 Abraham owed not only his righteousness, but his in- 
 heritance, and also his posterity, to his faith ; and then 
 
Chapter IV. 145 
 
 Chap. IV., V. I : — IVkai shall we say then that Abraham our 
 father^ as pertaining to the fleshy hath found? 
 
 V. 2 : — For if Abraham were justified by works^ he hath 
 whereof to glory ; but not before God. 
 
 he applies Abraham's case to us also who believe, etc. 
 We may, therefore, exhibit the contents of this chap- 
 ter as follows : 
 
 1. Abraham's righteousness due to his faith. Vs. 
 1-12. 
 
 2. Abraham's inheritance due to his faith. 13-16. 
 
 3. Abraham's posterity due to his faith. 17-22. 
 
 4. The case applied to believers of the present. 
 23-25- 
 
 Vs. I, 2. What shall we say then. In view of 
 the exclusion of boasting, or glorying, on the part of 
 the Jew, and of the equality before God of Jews and 
 Gentiles, what shall we say? etc. The words "as 
 pertaining to the flesh " are to be construed with 
 "Abraham our father." The question is one which a 
 Jew does not really ask, for he would scarcely have 
 called Abraham " our fleshly father ; " but Paul puts 
 the question, as it were, in the mouth of a Jew, and in 
 doing so shapes it as he wishes, making Abraham 
 their fles/tfy father, because of the point he will make 
 after a while that Abraham is the spiritual father of 
 believing Gentiles ; and that, after all, it is better to 
 have him for one's spiritual father than to have him 
 merely as one's fleshly father. Such is the construc- 
 tion called for by the King James and Revised Ver- 
 sions. It is proper to say, however, that the Ameri- 
 can Revision Committee, and many commentators, as 
 Bengel, Macknight, Conybeare, Godet, Meyer, Hodge, 
 10 
 
146 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 3 : — For what saith the Scripture ? Abraham believed 
 Gody and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 
 
 V. 4 : — Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned 
 of grace, but of debt. 
 
 Clarke, etc., would rather read: That Abraham, our 
 father, hath found or gained by the fleshly ordinance. 
 The other view seems to me to be preferable, as being 
 entirely in harmony with the whole course and spirit 
 of Paul's argument which, as Alford truly says, *' is 
 not to limit the paternity of Abraham to a mere flesh- 
 ly one, but to say that he was the spiritual father of 
 all believers." With this view agree Giffbrd, Lange, 
 Calvin, Locke, Chrysostom, etc. 
 
 'Hath found. Which kind of righteousness hath 
 he found, that of faith or that of works ; for if he was 
 justified by works, as we Jews hold, he has cause to 
 glory, and hence glorying is not excluded (iii. 27). 
 But Paul interprets : He may have cause for glorying 
 in the estimation of the Jews, but not before God, for 
 the righteousness which he obtained was not that of 
 works, but that of faith — a statement, too, which I 
 make (he says) on the evidence of your own scripture, 
 /or what saith the Scripture f It says this : 
 
 V. 3. Abraham, believed God, Had faith in 
 God, independently of any promise, even when God's 
 command was apparently in deadly opposition to his 
 promise, as in the case of the sacrifice of Isaac. And 
 it was counted. The faith was reckoned to him 
 for righteousness because it was righteousness. 
 
 V. 4. To him that worketh, etc. In the case 
 of one that works for hire what he receives is earned, 
 and not a matter of gracious bestowal. This is a prin- 
 
Chapter IV. 147 
 
 V. 5 : — But to him that worketh noty but believeth on him 
 ihat justifieth the ungodly ^ his faith is counted for right- 
 eousness. 
 
 ciple of common life, which applies no less truly in 
 the spiritual. 
 
 V. 5. Bnt to him that worketh not. To him 
 
 who works not for hire whatever he receives is received 
 as an expression of grace or favor. So there are only 
 two supposable ways of obtaining righteousness ; one 
 way is for a man to make himself righteous, the other 
 is for God to make him so. If he makes himself 
 righteous by his own works ; or, to put it otherwise, 
 if his righteousness consists in his works, it is some- 
 thing for which he owes no thanks to God ; but if 
 God makes him righteous, his righteousness is a mat- 
 ter of grace, and the only condition, as stated in this 
 and verse 3, as well as elsewhere, is his faith ; and 
 because he has faith God regards him as righteous. 
 That is, God regards him as righteous because he is 
 so. If this seems to be the same as saying that the 
 condition of man's righteousness is his righteousness, 
 it is only because of the double senses in which the 
 usage or weakness of language renders it neces- 
 sary for us to employ words. A man's having right- 
 eousness is the only condition upon which to be 
 righteous, and the only condition upon which he can 
 be declared so, and thought so, or counted so. Abra- 
 ham had this righteousness, all the elements of which 
 may be summed up in the one word " faith ; " and God 
 counted, or regarded, it just as acceptable and 
 pleasing to him as if Abraham had made himself 
 righteous by his works — far more so, indeed, for mere 
 
148 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 6 : — Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the 
 man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without workSy 
 
 outward conformity to law did not necessarily in any 
 case touch the inward character, whereas the other 
 did. But, to make the matter still clearer and more 
 conclusive in regard to Abraham, he was declared to 
 be righteous on account of his faith long before there 
 was any law or ordinance of circumcision — while he 
 was yet a Gentile, as it were. 
 
 V. 6. Even as David. This is not a new argu- 
 ment, but a quotation from another great and favorite 
 Jewish character confirmatory of the argument drawn 
 from Abraham's case. See Psalm xxxii. 
 
 Impute, This word occurs in this and verse 8 — 
 to " impute righteousness," to " impute sin ; " it does 
 not, of course, mean "to impart," for the Psalmist 
 could not speak of the Lord as imparting or not im- 
 parting sin. It is the same word which in verses 3, 5, 
 is rendered " counted." It is the translation of the 
 Hebrew word (hashak) meaning to think, regard, or 
 consider. God " imputes " righteousness to one apart 
 from his legalistic works in the sense that he regards 
 him as, or thinks of him as, righteous apart from 
 such works. But he does not regard him as righteous 
 apart from what the apostle calls " faith," and the 
 Psalmist "a guileless spirit." The words "without 
 works " do not occur in the Psalm, but the apostle 
 regards them as being plainly implied, for if the works 
 were all right there would then be no need of for- 
 giveness ; but there is need of forgiveness (see next 
 verse) ; hence the " works " instead of being right are 
 wrong. Therefore the righteousness is not acquired ; 
 
Chapter IV. 149 
 
 V. 7 : — Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are for- 
 given, and whose sins are covered. 
 
 V. 8 : — Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not im- 
 pute sin. 
 
 hence it is gratuitously imparted; and hence, again, 
 God can truly think of the man as righteous because 
 he made him so. 
 
 Vs. 7, 8. Iniquities, This is the word which may 
 particularly suggest the phrase " without works " (of 
 the law), at the end of verse 6. The Greek word 
 means things done contrary to law, or transgressions. 
 No sin can be committed, whether of omission or 
 commission, without the law being transgressed, and 
 when it is desired to view sin in this aspect it is called 
 transgression. F'or given. To forgive sin is to re- 
 mit or take away sin, as the Greek word here, and its 
 synonym elsewhere, means. Covered, Our sins are 
 said to be covered when thej^ are pardoned, or, in 
 other words, when they are concealed, as it were, 
 from the divine eye, so that he no longer sees them 
 as a charge against us for which we are to be pun- 
 ished, "lyord, lay not this sin to their charge ; " and 
 they are not imputed when they are thought of as if 
 they had not been committed; and they are thus 
 thought of because they are taken away and pardoned. 
 They are remembered against us no more ; he has cast 
 them behind his back ; as far as the east is from the 
 west so far hath he removed our transgressions from 
 us. These are familiar Old Testament expressions 
 which correspond respectively " to forgive" and "to 
 pardon." Sin, considered in its relation to the divine 
 will, is called guilt, and to this aspect of it the word 
 cover, or pardon, is more especially applicable; and 
 
150 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 9 : — Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision 
 only, or upon the uncircumcision also ? for we say that faith 
 was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 
 
 V. 10: — How was it then reckoned? when he was in cir- 
 cumcision^ or in uncircumcision ? Not in circumcision^ but 
 in uncircumcision. 
 
 V. 1 1 : — And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of 
 the righteousness of the faith which he had yet beihg uncir- 
 cum,cised : that he might be the father of all them that be- 
 lieve y though they be not circumcised ; that righteousness 
 might be imputed unto them also : 
 
 V. 12 : — And the father of circum,cision to them, who are 
 not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps 
 of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet 
 uncircum,cised. 
 
 when it is pardoned the divine condemnation or dis- 
 approbation is removed from us, and we are said to be 
 " cleared," acquitted, or justified, or approved, because 
 we are actually no longer guilty of that in respect to 
 which we had hitherto been the objects of condemna- 
 tion. Hence, the Bible sometimes speaks of our guilt 
 being canceled. Sin, viewed in its relation to the 
 divine holiness, is called pollution, and hence such 
 words as *' filthy rags," ** uncleanliness," "putrefying 
 sores," etc., and the corresponding words "to cleanse,"^ 
 "to wash," "to purge," "to take away," etc. Of 
 course the fundamental idea is practically the same 
 throughout; but it is often necessary to distinguish 
 these various aspects of the subject in order to appre- 
 ciate the language of the Scriptures and avoid confu- 
 sion of thought. Sin is an awful thing, and must be 
 looked at from many points of view in order to be 
 somewhat adequately seen. It can never be wholly^ 
 seen until we can see it as God sees it. 
 
Chapter IV. 151 
 
 Vs. 9-12. In these verses Paul shows (i) that this 
 blessedness of Abraham, which consists in being 
 righteous and regarded as righteous, is not in any way 
 to be attributed to his circumcision, it being expressly 
 stated that he was so regarded before his circumcis- 
 ion ; and that instead of his righteousness being due 
 to his circumcision, his circumcision was due to his 
 righteousness, and was only the outward sign and 
 seal of it. 
 
 He shows (2) that the blessedness of such righteous- 
 ness was not, therefore, intended to be restricted to 
 those who were circumcised, but was equally the priv- 
 ilege of the uncircumcised who should have a like 
 faith with Abraham's. 
 
 V. II. The father of all them that believe. 
 
 The spiritual father as distinguished from the fleshly 
 father of the Jews, as suggested in note on verse i. 
 
 V. 12. And the father of circumcision, Abra- 
 ham received the sign of circumcision, and subse- 
 quently to his being declared righteous, for two pur- 
 poses. The first is stated in the latter part of the 
 preceding verse; the second is here stated, namely, 
 that he might be not merely the fleshly but also and 
 especially the spiritual father of those Jews who were 
 not only circumcised, but also and especially had a 
 like faith with Abraham. Hence, we may add, his 
 being the spiritual father of the uncircumcised Gen- 
 tiles who have faith, and the circumcised Jews who 
 have faith, makes him the spiritual father of all the 
 faithful, and it makes all the faithful brethren. 
 
 V. 13. Heir of the world. Abraham's inher- 
 
152 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 13 : — For the promise, that he should be the heir of the 
 worlds was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law^ 
 but through the righteousness of faith. 
 
 V. 14 : — For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is 
 made void, and the promise made of none effect : 
 
 itance. What is here meant by "the world?" The 
 Land of Canaan, as a type of the universal dominion 
 of the Messiah, say Meyer and many other commen- 
 tators. The earthly Canaan and its antetype, the 
 heavenly, say Macknight and others. The land of 
 Canaan, and all that was embraced in the various 
 promises. Gen. xii. 3; xxii. 17, 18; xxvi. 3, 4 (Ps. ii. 
 8) — all of which was promised to Abraham, and hence 
 his heirship was not earned by his obedience. This 
 seems to be essentially the view of Godet, and it is 
 the preferable one. The promise will reach its com- 
 plete fulfillment " when the kingdoms of the world 
 are given to the people of the Most High, and Christ 
 will rule with his saints for ever and ever; " Dan. ii. 
 27, etc. {Schaff). 
 
 V. 14. -For iff etc. The meaning may be best 
 presented by a paraphrase : What I said in the pre- 
 ceding verse is true ; for if the heirship of the world 
 is earned by obedience to law, faith is emptied of all 
 its substance, and there can be no significance in 
 those scriptures in which it is said his faith was 
 counted to him for righteousness; and more than 
 this, the promise to Abraham and to his seed becomes 
 of no effect whatever, for what one has earned by 
 works is bestowed not as a matter of promise, but as 
 wages due. 
 
 V. 15. Because the law, etc. Another reason 
 
Chapter IV. 153 
 
 V. 15 : — Because the law worketh wrath : for where no law 
 is, there is no transgression. 
 
 V. 16: — Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace ; 
 to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed ; not to 
 that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the 
 faith of Abraham ; who is the father of us all, 
 
 is assigned why Abraham's heirship or inheritance 
 could not have been through the law ; for the out- 
 come of the law is wrath. Then follows an explana- 
 tion of why this is so : Where no law is there is 
 no transgression, and where no transgression is 
 there is no punishment or wrath. The opposite is 
 implied, that where there is law there is sure to be 
 transgression, and hence wrath. 
 
 The Revised Version, and many commentators on 
 the authority of several fourth century manuscripts, 
 read " but " instead of " for," in which case the apos- 
 tle's meaning becomes: Because the law worketh 
 wrath, dut where no law is there is no transgression — 
 that is, where the promise is there is no transgression, 
 and hence no wrath. The opposites are law versus 
 promise, wrath versus heirship or inheritance ; if the 
 law works wrath, it can not work inheritance ; if the 
 promise does not work wrath, it does work inherit- 
 ance. The two readings yield the same sense, but as 
 an argument the latter is simpler and more forcible. 
 
 V. 16. Therefore, etc. Having proved that the 
 inheritance is a matter of promise, not a thing earned 
 by works, the apostle now says: In order that the 
 bestowment of the inheritance might proceed from 
 grace on God's part, therefore it is caused to proceed 
 from faith on man's part to the end that the promise 
 might be sure of fulfillment to all of Abraham's 
 
154 The Epistle to the Romans 
 
 V. 17 : — {As it is written, I have made thee a father of many 
 nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quick- 
 eneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though 
 they were: 
 
 V. 18 : — Who against hope believed in hope, that he might' 
 become the father of many nations, according to that which 
 was spoken. So shall thy seed be. 
 
 spiritual seed ; for it is certain that there could have 
 been no bestowment had it been conditioned on obe- 
 dience, because no man could possibly have thus 
 earned it. 
 
 That which is of the law, means the believ- 
 ing Jews. That which is of the faith of Abra- 
 ham, means the believing Gentiles. 
 
 V. 17. As it written. This quotation from Gen^ 
 xvii. 5, is made in proof of the statement just made 
 that Abraham is the father of us all. Before him^ 
 Before God, or in the sight or estimation of God- 
 Abraham is the spiritual father of us all before God, 
 who quickeneth the dead. The promise that 
 Abraham should be the father of many nations was 
 made when he was old, and Isaac was not yet born ; 
 but the present tense "quickeneth," "calleth," pre- 
 sents these facts as if they were at the time actually 
 being accomplished. Isaac was the child of miracle. 
 Abraham's faith in God was such as to enable him to 
 embrace the fact that God could overcome nature. 
 
 V. 18. Against hope believed in hope. This 
 strong apparent contradiction (oxymoron) means 
 simply that Abraham, having no natural ground of 
 hope for the fulfillment of the promise, believed that 
 God by his almighty power could make dead nature 
 
Chapter IV. 
 
 155 
 
 V. 19 : — And being not weak in faith, he considered not his 
 own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years oldy 
 neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb : 
 
 V. 20: — He staggered not at the promise of God through 
 unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 
 
 work its fulfillment, and also that he would do so,. 
 That he might become. To the end that he 
 might become. This was the end not only to which 
 God looked, but also to which Abraham looked. 
 
 V. 19. Being not weak in the faith. Being 
 strong in the faith. He considered not his own 
 
 body, etc. That is, the thought of the deadness of his 
 body was no obstacle to his faith. Gen. xvii. 15-21. 
 The Revised Version, Godet, Gifford, and others, on the 
 evidence of strong external authority, omit the word 
 " not," and read : He considered the deadness of his 
 body .... but staggered not in his faith. The 
 meaning is evidently the same in either case, for of 
 course the text as it stands in the King James and 
 Received Greek Text does not imply that Abraham 
 was not aware of the deadness of his body and of 
 Sarah's womb. 
 
 V. 20. Giving glory to God, Admitting and 
 depending upon his almighty power over phys- 
 ical nature, as stated in the next verse. The glory 
 which Abraham gave to God was that he could 
 and that he would fulfill the promise — the glory of 
 faithfulness (or truth) and power. Was strong in 
 faith. The word rendered "was strong," rather 
 means to wax or grow strong. His faith grew strong 
 by trial, rising equal to every emergency. A doubt- 
 
156 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 21 : — And being fully persuaded, that what he had prom- 
 ised, he was able also to perform. 
 
 V. 22 : — And therefore it was imputed to him for right- 
 eousness. 
 
 ing man is a weak, staggering, man ; a man of strong 
 faith is a strong man. 
 
 V. 22. And therefore. That is, Because he had 
 strong faith in God and thus gave glory to God, and 
 therein was pleasing to God, his faith was counted or 
 reckoned in his favor as righteousness. To " impute " 
 does not mean to mentally attribute to one that which 
 he has not. Abraham had very strong faith, and it 
 was his faith that was "imputed" to him, and in 
 God's thought or estimation it was righteousness; 
 hence it must really have been righteousness. The 
 only two supposable ways, according to Paul, whereby 
 a man could be constituted righteous are by his works 
 or by his faith. If his faith constitutes him right- 
 eous, and this righteousness is merely imputed right- 
 eousness, in the sense of a kind of make-believe 
 righteousness, then we must use the same formula of 
 words in respect to works, and say God imputed his 
 works as righteousness — that is, he was not really 
 righteous by his works, but God merely thought of 
 him as righteous ; and hence in neither of the only 
 two supposable ways can man become really right- 
 eous. But the object of the Epistle to the Romans is 
 to prove that by works a man can not be righteous or 
 approved of God, and hence that by his faith he 
 can be. 
 
 Vs. 23-25. Abraham's case applied to present be- 
 
Chapter IV. 157 
 
 V. 23 : — Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it 
 was imputed to him ; 
 
 V. 24 : — But for us also, to whom, it shall be im,puted, if we 
 believe on hitn that raised up fesus our Lord from, the dead ; 
 
 V. 25 : — Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised 
 again for our justification. 
 
 lievers. IB^or his sake alone. That is, this fact that 
 it was his faith which constituted him righteous in 
 God's sight, as the statement of a principle, does not 
 apply to Abraham merely, but it applies to and was 
 written for the encouragement of all who have a like 
 faith with Abraham. Faith, it should be observed, 
 here denotes not so much the act of believing as the 
 habitual state or character of Abraham in his relation 
 to God and spiritual things. 
 
 V. 24. To us also. To all believers. To whom 
 it shall be imputed, A like faith with Abraham's 
 shall be in God's sight a like righteousness, no matter 
 who it is that has such faith, whether Jew or heathen. 
 That raised up Jesus. The test of Abraham's 
 faith-relation to God was the promise that a seed 
 should be raised up from his dead loins in whom all 
 the nations of the earth should be blessed. The test 
 of our faith-relation to God is that he "raised up 
 Jesus from the dead." The test in our case is no 
 more difficult than in Abraham's, for it is a miracle in 
 both. 
 
 V. 25. Who was, etc. The apostle here states 
 why the test of our faith-relation is that God raised 
 up Jesus from the dead, rather than some other mir- 
 acle. Was delivered for our offenses. Was 
 
158 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 delivered by the Father (chap. viii. 32), or by himself, 
 acting in accordance with the will of the Father, on 
 account of, or because of, our trespasses, as the word 
 "' offenses " here means. There is no sin that is not a 
 trespass ; and to call sin a trespass is to view it in one 
 of its many aspects. Christ is our "trespass offer- 
 ing." Paul here states that the Jesus whose divine 
 resurrection we are to believe is the Jesus who was 
 delivered unto death on account of our offenses. jPor 
 our justi£cation. On account of our justification. 
 If Jesus be not risen we are yet in our sins (i Cor. xv. 
 17); if we are not yet in our sins — that is, if we are 
 justified, then Jesus is risen, and he is risen because of 
 our justification. If our sins guaranteed (so to speak) 
 his death, the fact that his death accomplished the 
 intended result (our justification) guaranteed his res- 
 urrection. For if he had been such a Jesus as that 
 his death could not have accomplished the intended 
 result, he would also have been such a Jesus as God 
 would not have raised from the dead. 
 
 Paul, both in the Acts and in his Epistles, uniformly 
 lays great stress on the evidential value of the resur- 
 rection, as well as on the Savior as risen. We can 
 not believe that he who was crucified was the Savior 
 without believing that he was raised, nor can we be- 
 lieve the latter without believing the former. So far 
 as the death of Christ stood in relation to God, it 
 would have accomplished its purposed result, we may 
 suppose, even though he had returned to the Father 
 forever immediately at the moment of his death, with- 
 out his body ever being raised ; but so far as it stood 
 in relation to man, his death would have been in vain 
 without his resurrection. Hence, Paul sometimes at- 
 
Chapter IV. 159 
 
 tributes redemption to his death, and sometimes to 
 his resurrection, from which we may certainly infer 
 that in some sense both were necessary. The com- 
 plete Christ Jesus was necessary to constitute a com- 
 plete Savior — complete in his personality, in his 
 office, and in his work. But in the verse before us 
 the word for {dia with the accusative) in the two ex- 
 pressions " for our offenses," and " for our justifica- 
 tion," can not of itself determine the nature of the 
 connection between our oflfenses and his death, or our 
 justification and his resurrection. The word simply 
 states a connection, and we must infer that it was 
 necessary, as neither the death nor the resurrection 
 were mere incidents which might as well not have 
 occurred. 
 
 The Preservation op the Bei^iever. 
 
 (Chap, v., i-ii.) 
 
 This chapter naturally divides itself into two prin- 
 cipal parts; the first ending with verse 11, the second 
 continuing to the end of the chapter. In the first 
 part we have the conclusion of the discussion of the 
 Second Proposition, begun in chapter iii. 21. Com- 
 mentators differ as to the special teaching of these 
 eleven verses. Lange, Olshausen, and others, hold 
 that the purpose of the apostle is to set forth the 
 fruits of the justification, or righteousness, which as 
 he has shown, is offered to all, and may be the actual 
 possession of all on condition of faith. These fruits, 
 they say, are peace, hope of glory, patience, etc. ' Oth- 
 ers hold that the apostle's purpose is to show that the 
 salvation which has become the present possession of 
 the believer is also a sufficient and final salvation; 
 
i6o The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap, v., V. I : — Therefore being justified by faith ^ we have 
 peace with God through our Lord fesus Christ : 
 
 sufficient and final because the continued preserva- 
 tion of the believer in the saved state and its final 
 consummation are certain. There is, therefore, no 
 longer any ground for apprehension of divine wrath, 
 or of fear that his justification will not be valid in the 
 day of judgment. It seems to me that this is the 
 more correct of the two views. Paul does not mean 
 to call the attention of his readers to the fruits of 
 justification as such, but rather to the nature of justi- 
 fication in respect to its sufiiciency as a present and 
 final security against the wrath of God. 
 
 V. I. Therefore being justi£ed. The mean- 
 ing is : Inasmuch, therefore, as we are justified by 
 faith in the manner and in the sense set forth in the 
 preceding section, we are transferred out of our 
 former state of unrest and fear into a state of peace 
 in respect to God. We have no need to indulge evil 
 forebodings as to whether this sentence of approba- 
 tion which God has pronounced upon us will be sud- 
 denly and arbitrarily revoked at some future time, or 
 at the last day. 
 
 As between the two readings '* we have peace," in 
 the King James Version, and '' let us have peace," in 
 the Revised Version, the former is to be preferred. 
 It is not an exhortation, but a declaration that we do 
 have peace. Peace is henceforth our right. There is 
 absolutely no longer any ground for unres.t or fearful 
 apprehension. 
 
 Through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, it 
 is through or by means of the ever-living Christ that 
 
Chapter V. i6i 
 
 V. 2 : — By whom also we have access by faith into this grace 
 wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
 
 V. 3 : — And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also ; 
 knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; 
 
 we have now, and shall ever have, this peace with 
 God. " My peace I give unto you." 
 
 V. 2. By whom also. Through whom also. The 
 verb ** we have," in verse i, is in the present tense; 
 we have now and ever have peace ; the verb " we 
 have" in this verse is in the perfect tense. The 
 meaning is, through whom also we have had, etc. 
 We have already, at some past time, through Jesus 
 Christ as the way, had access to the favor or approba- 
 tion of God in which we now are, and in which we 
 shall abide. These words are addressed to believers. 
 
 And rejoice. The Revised Version here also un- 
 necessarily reads " let us rejoice." Not only do we 
 have peace, but we also do have as our privilege the 
 joyful hope of all the blessings which may be summed 
 up in the words "the glory of God." 
 
 Notice that Christ is presented in this and the 
 former verse as being the one through whom (i) we 
 have had and continually have access to that grace or 
 favor of God which consists in the possession of his 
 approbation, or, in other words, justification ; (2) as 
 the one through whom we have peace. 
 
 V. 3. Not only so, but. We do even more than 
 rejoice in hope, we rejoice in tribulation. The word 
 ** we glory " in this verse, is the same as "we rejoice " 
 in verse 2. This does not mean that we rejoice be- 
 cause of our tribulations, but in spite of them, or in 
 the midst of them ; so that it is possible for the be- 
 II 
 
i62 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 4: — And patience y experience ; and experience, hope: 
 
 liever to " rejoice alway ; " Phil. iv. 4; Matt. v. 11, 12. 
 Macknight, Bloomfield, and others, have observed 
 that the apostle dwells on this subject of rejoic- 
 ing in affliction because the Jews thought that 
 adversity was a mark of God's displeasure, and that 
 it ill suited the kingdom of their Messiah. The 
 words, therefore, are especially well calculated to en- 
 courage his Jewish-Christian readers. 
 
 Tribulation worketh patience. Only that 
 grows which is exercised. Afflictions call our pa- 
 tience into exercise, and thereby develop it more and 
 more. Knowing that good may come to him from 
 life's severe pressures, the Christian ma}^ after all, 
 rejoice not only in spite of them, but in a certain 
 sense because of them, and this, although no chasten- 
 ing in itself, " seemeth good for the present." See 2 
 Cor. iv. 17, which verse Paul had written before he 
 sent these words to the Romans. 
 
 V. 4. Experience. This word here means proba- 
 tion, or proof. Patient endurance of trials is a test 
 of our character as Christians. The word here ren- 
 dered "experience" also means approbation, and to 
 obtain the apostle's meaning more clearly we should 
 rather combine the two, probation and approbation. 
 Patient endurance of trials is such a test or proof of 
 character as shows the character to be approved of 
 God. And as this patience can be wrought into the 
 character, not by oral teaching, but only by actual 
 affliction, so neither can the character be otherwise 
 tested. He who has never been tried does not know 
 himself, and hence to this extent he has no valid 
 
Chapter V. 163 
 
 V. 5: — And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love 
 of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost 
 which is given unto us. 
 
 V. 6 : — For when we were yet without strength^ in due 
 time Christ died for the ufigodly. 
 
 V. 7 : — For scarcely for a righteous mafi will one die : yet 
 per adventure for a good fnan some ivould even dare to die. 
 
 V. 8 : — But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
 
 V. 9 : — Much more then, being now justified by his bloody 
 we shall be saved from wrath through him. 
 
 ground for hope or expectation of a glorious future 
 with God. But the moment this hope is produced in 
 him, then may he begin to rejoice ; and thus we are 
 brought back to the apostle's statement in verse 2. 
 
 V. 5. And hope maketh not ashamed. That 
 is, this hope shall not end in disappointment, and the 
 reason why it shall not end in disappointment is the 
 fact that God himself is the source of it; and that 
 God is the source of it is shown by the further fact 
 that he is the object of God's love ; and he may know 
 himself to be the object of God's love by the fact that 
 he has the Holy Spirit in him, who is the medium 
 through whom God reveals his love for us in our 
 hearts ever illuminating and warming our inmost lives. 
 Hence, there need be no apprehension on the part of 
 the one justified by faith of finding himself to be the 
 object of God's disapprobation at the day of judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Vs. 6-9. jPor whenf etc. In these verses the 
 apostle further confirms his statement that the be- 
 liever's hope of final salvation is well grounded. If 
 when we were yet without strength to earn salvation 
 
164 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 by the works of the law, as the Pharisees say we must 
 do ; if while we were yet in an unjustified state ; if 
 Christ so loved us as to die for us while we were 
 yet ungodly ; much more, etc., see verse 9. 
 
 V. 6. Without strength. Not without strength 
 to commit sin, but without strength to deliver our- 
 selves from sin ; unable to acquire salvation by obedi- 
 ence to the law. In due time. The apostle simply 
 tells us that at the right time Christ died for the un- 
 godly ; he does not tell us why it was that God con- 
 sidered it to be the right time. Several reasons might 
 be suggested, but the reader may perhaps easily think 
 of them for himself. We ma}^ be sure that God never 
 does any thing either too soon or too late. But man 
 himself is a factor in the redemption of his own race ; 
 and had the human race, with or without conscious 
 reference thereto, more speedily adjusted itself to 
 God's redemptive work the " fullness of time " might 
 have arrived sooner than it did. As man may now 
 hasten the answer to his own praj'^er that Christ may 
 soon come again to the world in yet greater display 
 of power and glory, so might it have been possible 
 for man to have hastened the time of his first coming. 
 
 V. 7. Righteous man. One who acts simply ac- 
 cording to the requirements of justice. Good man. 
 One who is not simply just, but also kind and benev- 
 olent. For the former one would hardly die, for the 
 latter one might possibly die. But God's love excels 
 this. See next verse. 
 
 V. 8. Commendeth. Exhibits, or manifests. His 
 love. In contrast with the human love of verse 7, 
 Paul is not meaning here to afiirm or deny that God's 
 
Chapter V. 165 
 
 gift of his Son to die for sinful man stood in any rela- 
 tion to his justice. Whatever else it may have been, 
 the apostle here simply declares that it was an act of 
 God's love, as Christ himself says in John iii. 16. But 
 neither love nor justice is any thing apart from God 
 who is justice and who is love. God as justice can 
 not do an}' thing which God as love forbids ; nor can 
 God as love do any thing which God as justice for- 
 bids. God is one Being, and there is no conflict in 
 his nature ; and he is subject to no law, or compul- 
 sion, or necessity, extraneous to himself. But truth 
 is many sided ; and in order to reveal its several as- 
 pects it may be necessar}- at one time to speak of it in 
 relation to God considered as one who loves, and at 
 another in relation to him considered as one who is 
 just. The human sense of justice with which God 
 himself has endowed us will not allow us to believe 
 that it would have been just in God to permit a cor- 
 rupt race of beings, without any concurrence of their 
 own wills, continuall}' to be born into the world, and 
 yet provide for them no w^a}' of salvation. And we 
 know that God did not do this. Had there been any 
 inscrutable reason why he could not provide salvation 
 for fallen man he would not have created him in the 
 first place, much less would he have permitted the 
 race to continue and multiph\ 
 
 Christ died for us. The w^ord here rendered 
 ** for," as in verse 7, means ni our behalf. Here again 
 the apostle presents one aspect of a truth so large 
 that it can not be expressed by one word ; Christ also 
 died " on account of us," " on account of our sins," 
 etc. And in a sense, he also died " in our stead," or 
 in our place. That is, he died that we might not die 
 eternally ; and whatever one does in behalf of, or for 
 
i66 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 the benefit of, another, he does vicariously, or in 
 other words, disinterestedly. But what one does 
 vicariously for another, is not necessarily done as a 
 substitute in such a sense that the other person can 
 not also do the same for himself, though instances are 
 quite conceivable in which such might be the case. 
 Christ suffered in order that I might not suffer the 
 eternal punishment of sin ; but to say this, does not 
 require us also to say that Christ himself suffered this 
 punishment. But if there had never been any sin 
 Christ would not have suffered, neither would I. 
 Christ suffered on account of sin as it existed in 
 others ; I, on account also of my own. Christ's suf- 
 ferings were unselfish, disinterested, which is to say^ 
 they were vicarious ; mine are not, only in so far as I 
 voluntarily suffer in order to prevent, or relieve, 
 another from suffering. So Christ suffered and died 
 for the ungodly : and this is what we mean when we 
 say that he died in their stead. The ungodly ones 
 who never by faith accept Christ, or identify them- 
 selves with Christ, will also suffer eternally in their 
 own place. But in the verse before us the apostle 
 makes no allusion to penalty, or to the nature of 
 Christ's death in any respect; his purpose here is 
 simply to say that it was purely a disinterested act, 
 being induced by no selfish consideration whatever. 
 
 God commendeth his love to us in that .... 
 Christ died for us. God regarded the sacrifice of 
 Christ as the sacrifice of himself. 
 
 V. 9. Much more then. These words refer back 
 to verse 6, the idea of vs^hich is restated in verse 7. 
 Being justi£ed by his blood. This is not a con- 
 tradiction of chapter iv. 25, wherein it is said that he 
 
Chapter V. 167 
 
 Y 10 : — For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled 
 to God by the death of his Son ; much more, being reconciled, 
 we shall be saved by his life. 
 
 was raised again for our justification. " His blood " 
 refers to the death of verse 8. " Being justified," or 
 being put into a state of justification, stands in con- 
 trast with being sinners of verse 8. If God could so 
 deal with us while we were yet sinners as to place us 
 in a justified state how much more reasonable is it to 
 believe that being in this justified state he will save 
 us in the great day of final judgment. The fact that 
 we are no longer under divine condemnation but are 
 in the justified state, objects of God's approbation, is 
 due on the one hand to Christ's blood and on the 
 other to our faith, but to faith Paul does not here 
 make any allusion because he is presenting the 
 divine and not the human side of the matter. The 
 subject of his thought is the certainty of the believer's 
 salvation at the last day, and the ground of this cer- 
 tainty is in God and not in the believer himself, 
 Christ still lives, and, as living, will carry forward 
 this salvation to its consummation. Gal. ii. 20, Heb. 
 vii. 25 ; John xiv. 19. 
 
 V. 10. -For ify etc. An emphatic restatement of 
 verses 6,8,9. Mnemies, Compare the terms ' ' with- 
 out strength," " ungodly," " sinners," in the verses 
 mentioned. We were neither just nor good (verse 7) 
 we were ungodly, sinners, even enemies. The being 
 " reconciled " in this verse corresponds to being 
 " justified " in verse 9. The sinner in his capacity of 
 one guilty and under condemnation is said to be justi- 
 fied—that is, the condemnation is removed and he be- 
 
i68 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 comes the object of God's favor or approbation. 
 When he is spoken of as " enemy " the natural term 
 to be used is " reconciliation." The sinner may be 
 truly spoken of in both capacities; for he who 
 violates God's law and thus comes under condemna- 
 tion is necessarily to be regarded as opposed to God's 
 law ; and he who is opposed to God's law is opposed 
 to God himself, for God and his law are one. Christ's 
 blood (verse 9), or his death (verse 10), is the ground 
 or means on God's part whereby both the justification 
 and the reconciliation are to be effected, if effected at 
 all. But if while we were yet guilty and condemned 
 and also at enmity with God, his love should make 
 such advances toward us as to render it possible for 
 us to be justified and reconciled, how much easier is 
 it, humanly speaking, for him to preserve us to the 
 end. The argument is from the greater to the less, 
 from the more difficult to the less difficult. 
 
 But while the unjustified and unreconciled sinner is 
 thus called an " enemy " of God, it must not be sup- 
 posed that the apostle means to teach that the 
 '* enmity" is all on one side. That God is " angry " 
 with the wicked every day, is stated in substance 
 everywhere in the Bible. He loves the sinner as a 
 man, as the father loves his wayward son as a son. 
 He does not love him as a drunkard, or as otherwise 
 disobedient. If God loved the sinner as a sinner he 
 would have arranged no way whereby the sinner 
 might be otherwise than a sinner. But in his 
 capacity as a sinner he can only be the object of God's 
 eternal disapprobation, or wrath; and these are the 
 reasons why God himself instituted a plan whereby, 
 continuing to be a man, he might cease to be a sinner 
 — in the sense of one guilty and unreconciled. 
 
Chapter V. 169 
 
 V. II : And not only so, but we also joy in God through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atone- 
 ment. 
 
 Saved by his life. Now God's love for the man 
 is unqualified by an}' counter feeling due to the man's 
 former character or status as one ungodl}' and at 
 enmity, for, "justified by the death of his Son," he is 
 "saved by his life" as freely as if he had never been 
 a sinner. The word "saved" here denotes "preser- 
 vation," or continuance in God's favor to the end. 
 Christ lives to be his continual helper, and the fact 
 that Christ lives is a pledge of the Christian's final 
 salvation. "Because I live ye shall live also." John 
 xiv. 19. 
 
 V. II. And not only so, etc. We not only live, 
 but we live rejoicingly. We not only have peace, we 
 rejoice in hope, we not only rejoice in tribulatioii, but 
 we also rejoice in God himself, in what he is in him- 
 self—a God of such love, mercy, wisdom, holiness, 
 and various infinite perfections. So the believer no 
 longer has any thing to fear from God. Through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice through Christ 
 because we owe all to Christ; it is he who enabled 
 and who ever enables us to rejoice. 
 
 By whom we have now received the atone- 
 ment Through whom, through whose agency or 
 work. Notice the word now; not an object of hope, 
 (verse 2), but a present possession and cause for pres- 
 ent joy. The word atonement is, in the Greek, the 
 same as reconciliation, and is so translated in verse 
 10. The Revised Version renders it " reconciliation" 
 here. It is not rendered "atonement" elsewhere in 
 
lyo The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 the King James Version, nor does the word atonement 
 as a rendering of any other word elsewhere occur. 
 "We have received the reconciliation" means that we 
 have been reconciled to God through the death of his 
 Son, as stated in verse lo. The " we " is not the human 
 race, but the believer. This whole section (verse 
 i-ii) is addressed to believers. The greater the num- 
 ber of those who become believers, the greater is the 
 number included in the "we." The Apostle simply 
 states the connection between the death of Christ on 
 the one hand, and the reconciliation and justification 
 on the other ; as one might say simply that the earth 
 is attracted by the sun, the weight is lifted by a lever, 
 etc. The verses contain no hint whatever as to the 
 nature of the connection; and so far as the great 
 practical question of being justified, reconciled, and 
 saved ever onward, even through the great Judgment 
 day, is concerned, it does not matter whether we know 
 the nature of the relation between the cause and the 
 effect or not. That is a question of what is called 
 speculative theology, as the nature of universal attrac- 
 tion is a question of speculative physics, which the 
 physicists long since ceased to discuss. 
 
 Third Proposition — The Universality op the 
 Provided Salvation. 
 
 (Chap, v., 1 1-2 1.) 
 Having in the preceding section fully set forth his 
 doctrine of justification by grace through faith, and 
 having concluded it in the first part of this chapter 
 with an argument for the preservation of the believer 
 through all the future, even in the great day of wrath, 
 the Apostle proceeds in this section to prove that sal- 
 vation is provided for all men, including the Gentiles, 
 
Chapter V. 171 
 
 V. 12 : — Wherefore^ as by one man sin entered mto the worlds 
 and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that 
 all have sinned. 
 
 and not merely for the Jews. He bases his argument 
 here on the universality of sin. The two terms of 
 comparison are Adam and Christ, and the connection 
 in which the Apostle places these is a logical one, and 
 not a mere juxtaposition. We may differ in opinion 
 as to how it became so, whether b}^ mere heredity or 
 otherwise, but Paul here states the fact, without ex- 
 planation, that sin is a racial matter. Whatever may 
 be affirmed of Adam may be affirmed of every man. 
 I am not guilty of Adam's sin. But Adam became 
 corrupt and guilty, and I have become corrupt and 
 guilty. If Adam had not become so, I might not 
 have become so. My corruption began in his, and 
 in this sense I sinned in him. So did every man. In 
 this respect the human race is a unit. So is the of- 
 fered salvation a racial matter. Every man needs 
 salvation, because every man is a member of the race. 
 Salvation is offered to every man because it is offered 
 to the race. The whole includes all the parts, and 
 not merely this or that nation, or this or that individ- 
 ual. The provision is as broad, as deep, as abundant 
 as the disease. The offer is made to the race, and to 
 each member of the race alike. The "atonement," 
 or provided salvation, is unlimited in its sufficiency. 
 Such in brief is the substance of this section. That 
 this provision is limited in its efficiency by man's 
 free will, and by that alone, is true; but on this point 
 the Apostle in this section does not touch. 
 
 V. 12. Wherefore. Or "therefore," as the Revised 
 Version has it. Literally, "on this account," or "for 
 
172 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 this reason." The Apostle introduces a logical infer- 
 ence, deduced from the foregoing exposition of the 
 efficacy of Christ's death and life. We may perhaps 
 best paraphrase his thought thus: "What I have said 
 in the foregoing exposition of the efficacy both of the 
 death and life of Christ is true; therefore it follows 
 that as sin and death came into the world through the 
 one man Adam, so do justification and life come 
 through the one man Christ Jesus." It would not 
 have been just on the part of God to permit the 
 human race to come into existence after Adam had 
 sinned, and be a unit in its experience of the sin and 
 death which flow from Adam's, had he not also re- 
 garded the race as a unit in Christ, and in the offisred 
 righteousness and life which come through him. 
 Hence, as by the one man Adam, etc. (verse 12), so 
 by the one man Jesus Christ, etc. (verses 15-18). 
 
 -By one man. Through the disobedience of the 
 one man Adam. Sin entered. The sin, the evil 
 something called sin — sin in its most general sense, 
 which includes all specific forms. Perhaps the best 
 name for it is spiritual or moral corruption. The first 
 man having thus by his own act become of a corrupt 
 nature, if he is permitted to have a posterity, it also 
 must have the same nature, for every thing, if it repro- 
 duce itself at all, must reproduce after its kind and in 
 its own image. Hence, there was but one of tvro 
 things which God, consistently with his holy perfec- 
 tions, could do. He must either cause Adam to be not 
 only the first man, but also the last one, or he must, 
 in making provision for the restoration of one mem- 
 ber of the race, therein make provision for the restora- 
 tion of every member. 
 
 Death by sin. As Adam was the cause or start- 
 
Chapter V. 173 
 
 ing point of sin as it exists in the human race, so sin, 
 as it exists in the human race is the cause of human 
 death. The death here meant is physical human 
 death. So it seems to me for the following briefly 
 stated reasons : 
 
 1. In its literal and usual import the word death 
 means physical death, though of course the word is 
 sometimes in the Bible used in a figurative sense, as 
 in the expression, "the second death." 
 
 2. " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," 
 was not written of the soul as distinguished from the 
 body. It is only another way of saying, '' Thou shalt 
 die," and to Adam it was a very clear way of saying 
 it, for he was doubtless more familiar with his phy- 
 sical origin than he was with what was now to be his 
 physical destination. Paul evidently had this passage 
 in Genesis in his mind. 
 
 3. " Spiritual death " is only another name for '' sin," 
 or moral corruption, as the word is used in this verse. 
 If "spiritual death" may be here substituted for 
 " death," we should have a tautology thus : Moral cor- 
 ruption entered into the world, and moral corruption 
 by moral corruption ; and so moral corruption passed 
 upon all, for that all became morally corrupt. The 
 only meaning, it seems, that we can attach to " spir- 
 itual death" is that of a state of moral corruption, 
 and this is at least only an aspect of sin. 
 
 4. Had Adam and the race continued in the sinless 
 state, the members of the ever-multiplying race might 
 have been transfigured and translated from earth, 
 through another way than that which we now call 
 death. The apostle, in this passage, has no necessary 
 reference to the death of brutes; nor is the view 
 which we have taken of his meaning at all opposed 
 
174 'i'HE KPISTI.K TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 to the doctrine that some brutes were created for the 
 purpose of being killed and eaten by sinless man. 
 The body of sinless man was not intrinsically immor- 
 tal or changeless, any more than was the body of the 
 sinless Christ, who needed and ate flesh and other 
 food. 
 
 For that all have sinned. Inasmuch as all 
 have sinned ; or better, inasmuch as all sinned. This 
 does not mean, however, that I am guilty of Adam's 
 sin, or that I committed Adam's sin. The Calvinist, 
 as such, does not necessarily believe this, whatever 
 may be the belief of any individual Calvinist. Nor 
 do the words necessarily mean that any given human 
 being has committed any sin at all. The infant and 
 born idiot have not. The passage simply means that 
 every human being, infants, idiots, and all others, are 
 included within the scope of the consequences of 
 Adam's sin. His own spiritual corruption and mor- 
 tality were forever entailed on his posterity. If there 
 is any human being, infant, idiot, or rational adult, of 
 whom this is not true, then there is one human being 
 for whom Christ did not die, and for whom Christ 
 does not live, and who has no part nor lot in Christ. 
 In this sense, and in this sense alone, so far as the 
 infant is concerned, may it be said that 
 
 " In Adam's fall 
 We sinned all," 
 
 just as the stream may have received its beginnings 
 of corruptions from its very fountain. But as a 
 rational adult, I may not only sin myself, but I may, 
 as it were, re-commit Adam's sin by identifying myself 
 with it, even as one may identify himself with a crim- 
 inal, making the criminal's guilt his guilt without 
 
Chapter V. 175 
 
 V. 13: — {For until the law sin was in the world : but sin is 
 not imputed when there is no law. 
 
 V. \/^\— Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, 
 £ven over them that had not si7ined after the similitude of 
 Adam's tra7isgression, who is the figure of him that was to 
 come. 
 
 having committed the criminal's very act. And hence 
 it may be said that in dealing with Adam God was 
 dealing with Adam's race. Only in this sense have 
 the obscure and hence the unfortunate terms "impu- 
 tation," "representative," "federal head," etc., as 
 applied to Adam, any proper meaning. 
 
 Vs. 13, 14. ^or until the laWy etc. The mean- 
 ing of these two verses can perhaps be best presented 
 in a paraphrase, thus : Death is caused by sin, I say, 
 even the death of those who lived before the law was 
 given through Moses, for sin was in the world during 
 all the centuries prior to this, although men did not 
 impute or reckon it against themselves as sin, and 
 although as a matter of fact they did not sin after the 
 similitude of Adam' s sin — that is, they did not violate the 
 direct and explicit command which Adam did. But 
 they all died, and that proves that they all sinned. 
 And the fact they all sinned was brought about by 
 the fact that Adam sinned. Adam, who, in thus em- 
 bodying, as it were, the whole race in himself, and 
 thus, as it were, acting for the whole race, is a figure 
 or type of Christ, the second Adam, who embodies the 
 whole race in himself, so that in providing pardon and 
 life for one he provides the same for all. As Adam 
 was the source of sin and death to all mankind, so is 
 Christ the only possible source to all mankind of right- 
 eousness and life. The unitv or solidarity of all man- 
 
176 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 15 : — But not as the offence, so also is the free gift : for 
 if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the 
 grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one maUy 
 Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 
 
 kind in the latter is based by Paul on the unity of the 
 race in the former. That is, in short, the universality 
 of what we call the " atonement " of the one — to wit, 
 Christ, is here based on the universality of the sin of 
 the one, to wit, Adam. And yet there is a difference 
 in the parallelism, as stated in the next verses. We 
 may say here, however, that while the human race, 
 including every individual member of it, must inev- 
 itably be, in the above sense, involved in Adam, any 
 individual member, if he so choose, may indorse in 
 his wicked heart Adam's sin, and thus, apart even 
 from any inherited sinfulness, make himself a party 
 to it, and thus sever himself from the scope of the uni- 
 versal provision made in Christ. 
 
 Who is the Ggure, etc. That is, Adam was the 
 figure or type of Christ. In what respect? This: 
 As Adam was the primal source of sin and death to 
 the whole human race, so is Christ the primal source 
 of righteousness and immortality to the whole race. 
 As Adam in this sense acted for the whole human 
 race so does Christ include within himself the whole 
 race ; what he did for one man he did for all. This is 
 the only extent to which the parallelism holds. 
 
 V. 15. But not as the offence. Not as Adam's 
 offence so the offered salvation in Christ. Of one. 
 The one — ^to wit, Adam. Many, The human race. 
 By one man. By the one man — to wit, Jesus Christ. 
 Unto many. Unto the many — to wit, the human 
 race. The grace of God here is that disposition of 
 
Chapter V. .^^ 
 
 177 
 
 V. i6 '.—And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift : 
 for the judgment was by 07ie to condemnation, but ike free 
 gift is of many offences unto justification. 
 
 love which caused God to offer to the human race the 
 gift of salvation through Christ. 
 
 It will be seen that the Apostle in this verse goes 
 beyond the parallelism of verses 12-14 between Adam 
 and Christ and proceeds to contrast them. But it is 
 difficult to see exactly in what respect the contrast 
 obtains, and a great variety of opinions has been held 
 by commentators in regard to this question. It is not 
 possible for us, however, to enter here upon a discus- 
 sion of these opinions. The contrast seems evidently 
 to be between the deadly influence which proceeds 
 upon the race from Adam, and the saving influence 
 which proceeds upon the race from God through 
 Christ. If the former was powerful enough to produce 
 universal sin and death, the latter is even more pow- 
 erful to produce universal righteousness and immor- 
 tality. It is a great deal more difficult to cure one man 
 or a thousand than it is to make one or a thousand 
 sick. It is a great deal more difficult to restore a fallen 
 man or a fallen race than it is to cause a man or a race 
 to fall. Through Adam was the latter done, through 
 Christ the former. Hence, grace more abounds. 
 
 V. 16. And not as it was. Another point of 
 contrast is here mentioned. The judgment of con- 
 demnation came upon the whole human race prima- 
 rily because of one transgression, that— to wit, of 
 Adam ; but the free gift unto justification is offered 
 to and made possible to the whole human race in the 
 face of, not only Adam's one trangression, but of each 
 rational adult's many transgressions. 
 12 
 
178 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 17: — For if by one mart's offence death reigned by one ; 
 fnuch more they which receive abundance of grace and of the 
 gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, fesus Christ.) 
 
 V. 18: — Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came 
 upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness 
 of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of 
 life. 
 
 V. 17. ^or iff etc. A third point of contrast be- 
 tween Adam and Christ, and of the superiority of the 
 latter over the former. All men have come to be 
 reigned over by Death as by a monarch because, 
 primarily, of the one man's (Adam's) offence ; but be- 
 cause of the free gift offered to all men through the 
 one man Christ all men may cease ultimately to be 
 reigned over by death and may themselves reign 
 in the glorious resurrection of the body; and those 
 who receive this " abundance of grace " which is 
 offered in Christ as a free gift to all, not only may 
 thus reign but actually will do so. 
 
 V. 18. Therefore as by the offence, etc. The 
 Apostle in this verse sums up the points of compar- 
 ison between Adam and Christ, verses 12-17, and at 
 the same time by means of the word " therefore " 
 makes this verse the conclusion of the argument for 
 the universality of the salvation provided in Christ, 
 as begun in verse 12; thus: As by one man sin 
 entered into the world, and death by sin, etc., even so 
 by the righteousness of one the free gift, etc. This 
 is the argument. The points of comparison are : (i) 
 The universality of the evil entailed on the race 
 through Adam ; the universality of the offer of salva- 
 tion through Christ ; (2) the superiority in respect to 
 the power of the salvation, or free gift, over the sin of 
 
Chapter V. 179 
 
 Adam ; (3) the evil through Adam came primarily of 
 Adam's one sin, the salvation is offered in the face 
 not only of Adam's one, but of each individual's 
 many sins (grace more abounds) ; (4) through Adam 
 Death was caused to reign over man, through Christ 
 Death is conquered and man is caused to reign (O 
 grave where is thy victory). No. i is the only point 
 of resemblance, Nos. 2, 3, 4 are points of contrast. 
 
 Free gift. The words "the free gift came" are 
 supplied from the sense of the passage, not being 
 contained in the Greek ; they are, however, in verse 
 16. The free gift of salvation is said to have come 
 upon all men because it is offered alike to all. Christ 
 is God's gift not to this or that man or nation but to 
 the whole race ; Adam's gift was sin and death. And 
 while any individual man may for himself accept or 
 reject God's gift, there is a sense in which it does 
 nevertheless accrue to the benefit of the whole race 
 and of every man whether he accepts it or rejects it. 
 If God had not offered the gift the race would either 
 have ended with Adam, or it would have continued 
 hopelessly in sin and misery. 
 
 The justiRcation of life, or the removal of God's 
 condemnation or disapprobation from all is said in 
 this verse to be the object of God's free gift to all; 
 and what is here attributed to the "righteousness" 
 of the one — to wit, Christ, is in verses 9, 10, attrib- 
 uted to his blood or death. There is no contradiction. 
 The word " righteousness " of Christ stands in anti- 
 thesis to, and is naturally suggested by, the offence or 
 unrighteousness of Adam; and as the unrighteous- 
 ness and divine condemnation which Adam commu- 
 nicated to his race began in his act of disobedience, 
 so did the righteousness and justification which Christ 
 
i8o The Epistle to the Romans, 
 
 V. 19 : — For as by one man's disobedience many were made 
 sinnerSy so by the obedience of one shall many be made right- 
 eous. 
 
 V. 20: — Moreover the law entered, that the offence might 
 abound. But where sin abou7ided, grace did much more 
 abound. 
 
 brings to the race consist in or proceed from his 
 obedience, the essential culminating point of which 
 was his death. This is the idea or meaning of the 
 Apostle in verse 19. 
 
 V. 19. By one man^s disobedience. See the 
 
 last note above. 
 
 Many. Literally, " the many " — that is, the race. 
 We know it means " the race " because it stands in 
 antithesis to "the one," Adam. Were made sin- 
 ners. Were set down as sinners in God's book, so to 
 speak. By the obedience of one. Of the one — 
 to wit, Christ. See the last note on verse 18. Shall 
 many, Literall}^ " the many," the whole human race, 
 standing in antithesis to " the one," Christ. Made 
 righteous. Set down as righteous in God's book. 
 Paul means to affirm here that the provision offered 
 through Christ is co-extensive with the evil wrought 
 through Adam. As by Adam's disobedience all men 
 are brought into a state of condemnation, so by 
 Christ's obedience all men shall have through all time 
 the means of securing the everlasting removal of that 
 condemnation. 
 
 V. 20. Moreover the law entered, etc. " As 
 the sin of Adam and the grace of Christ have been 
 presented as the main elements and moving powers 
 in man's history, the question naturally occurs — ^what 
 
Chapter V. i8i 
 
 V. 21 : — That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might 
 grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
 was the purpose of the law?" (Gifford.) This, in 
 the estimation of the Jew especially, whose religious 
 system placed such a large emphasis on the law, was 
 by no means an unimportant question. Paul answers 
 it here very briefly, reserving it for fuller discussion 
 further on. His meaning in this verse is : The law 
 came in along side of the economy of sin in order to 
 awaken in man the consciousness of sin and thereby 
 sharpen his longing for redemption. This is the 
 function of the law whether in its relation to the 
 Jewish people, the race as a whole, or to any indi- 
 vidual ; for while the Jewish reader would naturally 
 and correctly understand Paul as referring here to 
 the Mosaic law, the spirit of his teaching applies to 
 God's revealed law as such, whether in the Mosaic 
 form, or in some other form. To the Christian be- 
 liever the Sermon on the Mount is as truly " the law " 
 as the Mosaic statutes. 
 
 V. 21. That as sin hath reigned, etc. In order 
 that, etc. The law entered, as already explained, not 
 in order that sins might thereby be multiplied, but in 
 order that man might have a more vivid conscious- 
 ness of his sinfulness, in order that thus the reign of 
 sin might be displaced by the reign of grace. One, 
 in other words, must know himself as the slave of a 
 hard master before he will long for a better one. He 
 must know himself as sick before he will take medi- 
 cine. 
 
i82 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE IN ITS RELATION TO SANCTIFI- 
 CATION. 
 
 (Objections considered.) 
 First Objection. 
 The first objection which Paul represents as being 
 brought against his doctrine of justification by grace 
 through faith is, that it is promotive of bad morals, 
 wrong conduct, or unholiness of life. This he pro- 
 ceeds to answer. 
 
 Chap. VI., V. I :— What shall we say then ? Shall we continue 
 in sin, that grace may abound? 
 
 V. I. What shall we say? Paul represents him- 
 self as putting into words an objection which the 
 Jews might have to his doctrine of justification by 
 faith. What shall we say, in view of your doctrine 
 of justification, and of the certainty of final salvation 
 which it guarantees? What shall we say, especially 
 in view of your last words, that " where sin abounded, 
 grace did much more abound?" If God can thus 
 glorify himself through our sins, and, at the same 
 time, make certain our final salvation, should we not 
 rather continue in sin that his grace may abound? 
 
 V. 2 : — God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, 
 live any longer therein ? 
 
 V. 2-14. — (The answer.)— God forbid. Literally, 
 "Let it not be"— a strong way of saying, "By no 
 
Chapter VI. 183 
 
 V. 3 : — Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized 
 into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? 
 
 means." To suppose that my doctrine warrants any- 
 such conclusion is absurd. Is it possible for one who 
 has died to live in those things in respect to which he 
 died? Are dead to sin. Died to sin. Shall we, who 
 died to sin at the time we were reconciled to God and 
 justified, live any longer in sin ? In this case the words 
 reconciliation and justification would have no mean- 
 ing, for to say "reconciled" and "justified" is only 
 another way of saying " to die to sin." To continue 
 in sin is to contradict the fact of having died to sin. 
 This is the first stone in the foundation of Paul's doc- 
 trine of holy living. The justified one can no more 
 give his mental assent to any inward or outward act 
 of sin. 
 
 V. 3. Know ye not, — The argument in this and 
 the next two verses is simple, and may be briefly 
 stated thus: Or, if you do not understand what I 
 have just said — to wit, that there has been in the case 
 of you who are justified a death to sin — know ye not 
 then what was signified by the baptism which ye 
 received? If 3^ou understand that rite, you would 
 know that it implies a death and also a second birth, 
 a death to sin on the one hand, a birth on the other 
 hand to holiness, or newness of life, which removes 
 every possibility of a return to the old life of willful 
 and loved sin. 
 
 So many of us as were. This expression, as 
 here translated, and also as rendered in the Revised 
 Version, would seem to implv that there might be 
 some Christians who had not been baptized. Paul 
 
1 84 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 4: — Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into 
 death : that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
 glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness 
 of life. 
 
 never seems to have laid much stress on baptism as 
 an essential rite, (i Cor. i. 14.) And in the verse 
 before us baptism is not itself the death to sin, but is 
 mentioned by the Apostle as only its outward proof or 
 symbol, just as being buried physically is the usual 
 outward proof that one is dead physically. 
 
 Baptized into Jesus Christ. To be "baptized " 
 into Jesus Christ is to be brought into fellowship and 
 communion, or oneness of spirit with him ; and it is 
 here by figure of speech called a " baptism," because 
 by this outward rite it was symbolized. Had Paul 
 been speaking in the language of the Old Testament 
 he would have used the word "circumcised" instead 
 of "baptized," and in the same spiritual import. 
 
 Were baptized into his death. That is, as 
 Christ's death was the termination of and the com- 
 plete deliverance from the life with its various condi- 
 tions which our sins imposed upon him, so is our death 
 to sin, as explained above, the termination and com- 
 plete deliverance from our life of voluntary sin. 
 
 It may be observed that the name " Jesus Christ," 
 in this verse, is, in the best ancient manuscripts and 
 in the Revised Version, " Christ Jesus." Christ is the 
 official or mediatorial name ; Jesus is his name as a 
 person. In the one form of writing the two the offi- 
 cial character is emphasized ; in the other, the person. 
 
 V. 4. Therefore we are. Rather, "we have 
 been," or "we were." The tense is past; and 
 whereas we were buried, we are now risen. Buried 
 
Chapter VI. 185 
 
 with him. Had cremation been the usual popular 
 mode of disposing of dead bodies in Paul's day, he 
 might, without interfering in the least with the force 
 of his argument, have said " cremated " instead of 
 " buried," the material in the one case being fire and 
 in the other water. The argument does not depend 
 for its validity upon any one mode of baptism. All 
 that he means to say is that as Christ died, etc., so 
 have we died, etc., and as Christ's burial was a proof 
 of his death, so is our baptism a symbolical proof of 
 our death ; and furthermore, as Christ's death to all 
 the conditions of his former life, imposed upon him 
 by our sins, was followed by his resurrection to a life 
 of perfect freedom from all those conditions, so is our 
 death to sin followed by a new life of holiness or 
 right living on our part. 
 
 By the glory of the Father. The resurrection 
 of the Son of God was not the work of one single 
 attribute of the Father, as, for instance of his power ; 
 it was a glorification also of his mercj^ to mankind, 
 his righteousness, holiness, etc. In short, had the 
 Son not been raised the Father would so far have 
 failed to exhibit not only his power but also those 
 other attributes. In this sense the resurrection was 
 no less a moral necessity than the death. 
 
 Should walk. Having reference to our cojitinu- 
 ous moral conduct. In newness of life. Something 
 more is meant than a mere difference of our conduct 
 now as compared with what it was before we died to 
 sin. We do not merely live differently. The very 
 principle of life itself in us is something altogether 
 and absolutely different from what it once was. Our 
 daily stream of thoughts, words, deeds, feelings, flows 
 from another fountain. These, making up that which 
 
1 86 Ths Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 5 : — For if. we have been planted together in the likeness 
 of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrec- 
 tion: 
 
 we call life as lived day by day, are only the out- 
 flow of that invisible life, which, so to speak, is hid 
 with Christ in God. This is the " newness of life," 
 as contrasted with the life from which our thoughts, 
 deeds, etc., used to flow. 
 
 V. 5. V^or if we have been planted, etc. For 
 
 if we have become united with him. In the like- 
 ness of his death. As there was a dying on the 
 part of Christ, so must there have been a dying on 
 the part of the Christian — the one for sin, the other 
 to sin. They go down, as it were, into the grave 
 together, the believing sinner thus identifying him- 
 self with Christ. Thus are we planted or united with 
 him in the likeness of his death. In the likeness 
 of his resurrection. This does not refer, of course, 
 to the resurrection at the last day. But as he rose 
 from the grave, so shall we, by identifying ourselves 
 with him in his death, arise with him to the newness 
 of life, which we derive from him. But we should 
 notice that we can not become united with Christ in 
 his life, we can not become partakers of his life, unless 
 we have previously become identified with him in his 
 death. The Christ who died is the necessary prelude 
 of the Christ who is risen. This is true of every 
 human being, though in the case of the infant, the 
 irrational adult, and perhaps of some heathen, there 
 is of course no conscious union with Christ in his death. 
 
 V. 6. Knowing this. That is, we not only know 
 it as a fact, but we know it as one which we can not 
 
Chapter VL 187 
 
 V. 6 : — Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with 
 him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth 
 we should not serve sin. 
 
 V. 7 : — For he that is dead is freed from sin. 
 
 doubt, because of the evidence of our own experi- 
 ence. Of the two Greek words meaning "knowing," 
 the one here used is gnoskontes ; the other one (eidotes) 
 occurs in verse 9. 
 
 Our old man. Ourselves as we were before we 
 died to sin. (Col. iii. 10; 2 Cor. v. 17; Eph. iv. 22-24.) 
 Was cmci£ed with him. With Christ. Cruci- 
 fixion was the manner of Christ's death, and hence, 
 when our old or unrenewed selves died to sin they are 
 said to have been crucified. Being "crucified with 
 him" is not essentially a different idea from being 
 "planted in the likeness of his death," but the same 
 under a different figure. And it touches the same 
 doctrine — to wit, that if we would share the new life 
 of the risen Christ we must first be crucified with 
 him; we must, as it were, see ourselves crucified in 
 him. Or, if we refuse and leave Christ to share his 
 cross alone, he must also share alone his risen life. 
 
 The body of sin. The " old man " is, so to speak, 
 sin's body; through this body, or old man, or unre- 
 newed nature, sin tj^annizes over us, exacting from 
 us hard ser\ace. The old man being crucified, sin's 
 body is destro3^ed and he can no longer exact service 
 of us. The "new man" which we become on rising 
 with Christ is not sin's body, although, sin may make 
 fierce assaults upon it ; it is Christ's or the Holy Spir- 
 it's body. 
 
 V. 7. He that is dead is freed from sin. The 
 
 one dying with Christ is by the very act of dying freed 
 
i88 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 8 : — Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we 
 shall also live with him : 
 
 V. 9 : — Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead 
 dieth no m,ore ; death hath no m^ore dofuinion over him. 
 
 V. lo : — For in that he died, he died unto sin once : but in 
 that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 
 
 from sin, his master; for when he rises again with 
 Christ he is a "new man," a "new creature," into 
 whom sin no longer has access. He died a slave, he 
 arose a freeman; he died as sin's body, he arose as a 
 grafted member of Christ's body, from which hence- 
 forth he draws his vitality. 
 
 V. 8. If we be dead. Rather, if we died. We 
 shall also live. Not at the final resurrection, but 
 during this present life. If we participate in Christ's 
 death, we shall also rise with him and share with him 
 his resurrection life. 
 
 V. 9. Knowing that, etc. {eidotes). Our faith 
 that we shall share Christ's life rests on our knowl- 
 edge of the fact that he rose from the dead and is 
 alive for evermore. Other men, as I^azarus, were 
 raised from the dead, and after that were mortal as 
 they were before; they died again. Not so with 
 Christ ; death has dominion no more over him. 
 
 V. 10. I>ied unto sin once, Christ not only died 
 /or sin, but, as Paul here states, the death which he 
 died was also a death to sin, to all the sufferings and 
 other conditions which sin (our sins) imposed upon 
 him. And this death will be no more repeated by 
 him. The relation in which he stood to sin up to the 
 very moment of his death at that moment was severed 
 
Chapter VI. 189 
 
 V. 1 1 : — Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed 
 unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 V. 12 : — Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that 
 ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 
 
 V. 13 : — Neither yield ye your members as instruments of 
 unrighteousness unto sin : but yield yourselves unto God, as 
 those that are alive from the dead, and your members as 
 instruments of righteousness unto God. 
 
 forever. The life consequent upon his resurrection 
 was to be a forever unbroken life unto God. 
 
 He liveth unto God. The expressions "unto 
 sin " and " unto God " help to explain each other. As 
 "unto sin" means in relation to or in respect to sin, 
 so " unto God " means in relation to or in respect to 
 God. In djdng he fulfilled, once for all, his personal 
 and official relation to sin. In living, he lives in rela- 
 tion only to God, his personal life being wholly unfet- 
 tered by our sins, and his official life being devoted to 
 the work of bringing those for whom he died into the 
 same life, and preserving them in the same life with 
 himself. 
 
 V. II. I/ikewise, etc. In this verse the thought 
 of verse 10, in its application to believers, is brought 
 out. In the same manner as Christ died unto sin once, 
 and forever thereafter liveth unto God, so the believer 
 must regard himself as having died once for all unto 
 sin, and as living forever thereafter as a participant 
 of Christ's life unto God. If he so reckons or re- 
 gards himself, he can not for a moment suppose that 
 he should sin " in order that grace may abound." 
 
 Vs. 12, 13. I^et not sin there fore, etc. In view 
 of the facts stated in the preceding verses. Sin is said 
 
190 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 14: — For sifi shall not have dominion over you: for ye 
 are not under the law, but under grace. 
 
 to reign in us when we voluntarily live in sin — in the 
 indulgence or practice of evil thoughts, feelings, hab- 
 its, etc. It is said to reign in our " mortal bod}- " when 
 we 3'ield our bodies to be sin's servant and instrument. 
 The body of the believer is here called mortal in view 
 of the fact that a remnant of sin is still left in it, 
 against which the spirit must strive ; and also because 
 the body which he shall; have will not be mortal, but 
 immortal, itself having become a participant in the 
 redemption wrought by Christ. (See viii. 11-23.) 
 The lusts thereof. Any evil desires, appetites, or 
 passions, which attack us through the medium of our 
 bodies, or which we could not experience if we had 
 no bodies. As those that are alive from the 
 dead. As those that died once for all to sin and rose 
 again to newness of life. 
 
 V. 14. For sin shall not have, etc. This is a 
 sure and encouraging promise, justifying the exhor- 
 tation in verse 12. The reason assigned for the cer- 
 tainty that sin will no longer have dominion over the 
 believer is that he is not now under law but under 
 grace. By not being under law is meant that he does 
 not now live in respect to the law, with the view to work- 
 ing out his salvation thereby. He is now under grace, 
 and this grace communicates to him a power whereby 
 he is enabled to resist the efforts of sin to domineer over 
 him, whereby, indeed, he is enabled to conquer sin. 
 Law, under which he was before he came under grace, 
 communicated to him no such power, and hence the 
 tyrant sin had over him a scarcely contested reign. 
 Law takes but little interest in the welfare of a strug- 
 
Chapter VI. 19^ 
 
 gling soul; divine grace takes much. The language 
 of Paul in this verse is easily seen, therefore, not to 
 mean that the believer is no longer under obligation 
 to obey the law in the sense of right living, the object 
 of this whole section of the Epistle being to show 
 not only that he should, but that by the grace of God 
 he will live aright. 
 
 Second Objection. 
 After all, however, the statement that we are not 
 under law was liable to be misapprehended by some 
 of those to whom Paul was writing. We may assume 
 that he again represents himself as speaking in the 
 person of one whose objection to his doctrine of jus- 
 tification by grace is based on his misapprehension of 
 its practical outcome in his life, thus : I do not yet 
 see that your doctrine of justification makes any pro- 
 vision for right living. It rather seems to me to take 
 away all safeguards against wrong living, for you 
 have just said that we are not under law, but under 
 grace, and hence we may act with impunity without 
 any restrictions whatsoever on our conduct. What 
 Paul therefore assigned as the reason why we would 
 not sin, the objector strangely construes into reason 
 why we may. In answering the objection, and in fur- 
 ther illustrating the outworking of the principle of 
 the new life which is in us, Paul shows that the very 
 fact that we have been justified implies a transference 
 of our allegiance as servants from sin to righteousness, 
 and that although we are no longer under law in the old 
 sense, this very transference is itself of the nature of 
 a legal preventive of any further service of sin. And 
 to make still more impressive the sense of obligation 
 on the part of the justified one to serve his new mas- 
 
192 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 15: — What then? shall we sin^ because we are not under 
 the law^ but under grace ? God forbid. 
 
 ter, and of the personal interest involved in this serv- 
 ice, the Apostle reminds the objector that the wages 
 received in the one case is death, whereas in the other 
 it is life eternal. 
 
 V. 15. What then? Shall we si7if etc. That is, 
 does not this statement of yours that we are not under 
 law remove all legal restraints from our conduct, and 
 will this inner principle of holiness or newness of life 
 be, in the absence of law, a suflScient protection 
 against wrong living and a sufficient inducement and 
 help to right living? It seems to me, says the objector, 
 that it will not, but that on the other hand the very 
 fact that it is not law but grace to which we are now 
 amenable will, of itself, be a sort of inducement to 
 venture, as it were, upon the leniency of God, and 
 make it the ground or occasion of many an act of sin. 
 The grace is so easy that it will engender abuse of 
 itself and carelessness. 
 
 God forbid. By no means, says Paul in indig- 
 nant rejection of such a suggestion. And then he 
 proceeds in the following verses, not to repeat what 
 he said in the preceding verses on the inner principle 
 of right living, but to introduce a new argument, to 
 wit: We are bound by a law of service to another 
 master, and we can not stand in this relation to but 
 one at a time. We can not serve two masters; for 
 one who serves is a servant, and a servant {doiilos, 
 bond-servant) of a person is one who belongs wholly 
 to that person. Hence, in the case of the justified 
 one, in addition to the moral impossibility of serving 
 sin, there is another principle which prevents it. 
 
Chapter VI. 193 
 
 V. 16: — Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves 
 servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether 
 of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ? 
 
 V. 17 : Btit God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, 
 but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine 
 which was delivered you. 
 
 V. 16. Know ye not, etc. An appeal to a law 
 or principle which Paul regarded so plain as to cause 
 him to think it generally known, and of which those 
 to whom he wrote should need only to be reminded 
 This principle is : We are the bond-servants of him to 
 whom we present ourselves as such by acts of obe- 
 dience to him, and we come thus as it were to owe 
 him obedience ; we are bound to him as one becomes 
 bound to a habit often indulged. This one to whom 
 we thus become bound is either sin or obedience, by 
 which latter is meant " the obedience of faith " — that is, 
 the gospel (see ch. i. 5 ; xvi. 26 ; 2 Cor. x. 5). If it be 
 Sin, the wages or outcome is death eternal ; if it be 
 obedience or the gospel, the outcome is righteousness 
 and life eternal. In other words, in the one case there 
 is a constant increase of moral corruption which cul- 
 minates in eternal death, in the other a constant growth 
 in righteousness or grace which culminates in eternal 
 life. See verse 23. 
 
 V. 17. But God be thanked. The apostle 
 thanks God that whereas those to whom he wrote had 
 once been the bond-servants of sin, they had become 
 the bond-servants of the gospel ; the old allegiance 
 had been broken by a power stronger than sin, and 
 the new allegiance to the new Master had taken its 
 place and had been persevered in. There was no 
 occasion for Paul to say to the Roman Christians that 
 13 
 
194 "I^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. i8 : Being then tnade free front sin, ye became the serv- 
 ants of righteousness. 
 
 V. 19 : / speak after the manner of m,en because of the 
 infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members 
 servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even so 
 now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holi- 
 ness. 
 
 some of them had so far abused his doctrine of justi- 
 fication as to actually commit sins because they were 
 no longer under law but under grace. Their obedience 
 had been cordial. That form of doctrine. That 
 mold of doctrine. They had shaped or molded 
 their characters and lives according to the mold into 
 which they had been originally cast by their first 
 apostolic teacher, whoever he may have been. It is 
 probable that Paul himself had been the instructor of 
 many of them at Ephesus, or Corinth, or other places, 
 from which they had since moved to Rome. 
 
 V. 18. Being then made free. Or, and being 
 made free. The illustration is the same expressed in 
 other words, as in the preceding verse. The idea is, 
 not that they were made sinless, but that they as 
 slaves of sin were emancipated or freed from their 
 former master ; and being in this state of freedom, it 
 was absurd to suppose that they could return to their 
 former state of slavery. No Roman slave who had 
 been liberated would ever think of such a thing. 
 The word which Paul here uses to designate the liber- 
 ation of believers from sin, their master, was the one 
 that was technically employed by the Romans to de- 
 note the emancipation of a slave. 
 
 V. 19. I speak after the manner of men. I 
 draw an illustration from the common affairs of life, 
 
Chapter VI. 195 
 
 in order that you may clearly understand me. The 
 inability to clearly see into this subject was, however, 
 a moral rather than an intellectual one; for moral 
 truths are addressed to our moral natures no less than 
 to our intellectual. In other words, one way to know 
 God is to love God; " if any man will know of the 
 doctrine," let him obey it. Paul had called the habit- 
 ual doing of acts of uncleanness and iniquity the 
 service of sin, the outcome of which was an aggra- 
 vation of the hard slavery ; he calls the opposite life 
 the service of righteousness, the outcome of which 
 was increase in personal holiness. He calls this a 
 service or slavery by way of accommodating himself 
 to many of his readers who may not have been able 
 to view it from the stand-point of a matured personal 
 experience. He does not mean that it was an irksome 
 and hard bond-service to those who heartily engaged 
 in it. It was rather a service which love converted 
 into a glorious liberty. 
 
 Iniquity unto iniquity, Leading to yet greater 
 iniquity. The word rendered "iniquity" means law- 
 lessness, living in a manner regardless of God's law ; 
 the more one so lives, the more disposed is he to so 
 live. The uncleanness referred to is a corrupt and 
 degraded nature and life. 
 
 Yield your members. The word " yield" is in 
 ch. xii. I translated "present," and this is the better 
 word. The word " yield " implies a degree of reluct- 
 ance, whereas the believer is not called on to render a 
 reluctant service. 
 
 Vs. 20-23. ^^^ apostle here points out the fruits or 
 consequences of the service of sin and righteous- 
 ness respectively. He had stated in verse 19 that the 
 
196 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 20 : — For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free 
 from righteousness. 
 
 V. 21 : — What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye 
 are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 
 
 V. 22 : — But now being made free from sin, and become 
 servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the 
 end everlasting life. 
 
 V. 23 : — For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God 
 is eternal life through fesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 service of uncleanness and iniquity was unto, or led 
 to, yet greater iniquity, and now he adds by way of 
 confirming his words that they were while engaged in 
 that service free from righteousness ; they were not 
 troubled or hampered by any sense or feeling of want 
 of righteousness on their part. There was a time 
 when they did not stop to recognize that righteous- 
 ness had any claim on them whatever ; they sinned 
 with a high hand ; they drank iniquity as water. 
 
 V. 21. What fruit had ye, etc. He now appeals 
 to the memory of their experience. Had ye. Not 
 merely, what did you produce as the result of your 
 service, but what did you possess as your part ? The 
 slaves of a hard master may produce much good fruit 
 for the master and none for themselves. But the 
 Apostle leaves the question unanswered. The silent 
 memory of a blasted life, a field of death ; a life of 
 which they could only be bitterly ashamed was the 
 sufficient sad answer. The tendency or end of such 
 a life is death, or eternal separation from God. 
 
 V*. 22. But now being made free, etc. To be 
 free from righteousness is to be the slave of sin; to 
 be liberated from this slavery is to become the serv- 
 
Chapter VI. 197 
 
 ants of God or righteousness, the tendency or end 
 of which is higher attainments in holiness and eternal 
 life. 
 
 V. 23. The wages. The Apostle here presents 
 the same idea under another figure. Instead of 
 ** fruit" and "end," he employs a word which was 
 used to denote the food and pay which a soldier re- 
 ceived from the general under whose banner he 
 served. The commander, Sin, pays in a food and coin 
 the name of which is deaf A — eternal death. He is 
 represented as receiving this not from God, but from 
 sin. Viewed in other aspects it might be regarded as 
 the outworking of a law which God himself has 
 established. The servant of sin must look to sin for 
 his pay. 
 
 The gift of God. He does not say the wages. 
 While the believer has all along in these verses been 
 called the servant of God or of righteousness, in con- 
 trast to the servant of sin, yet he is not such a servant 
 as receives wages from God ; he receives free gifts. 
 The man who gets eternal death, or hell, always 
 merits or earns it; he who gets eternal life, or 
 heaven, does not earn it. Through Jesiis Christ 
 our Lord, In Christ Jesus our Lord. He who 
 has and lives the newness of life of which Paul has 
 been speaking, has it and lives it only as he is 171 
 Christ Jesus. Apart from Christ he has and can have 
 no life in him. 
 
 The True Function of the Law. 
 
 (Chap. VII.) 
 
 This chapter is regarded as one of the most difficult 
 of interpretation in the whole Bible. The precise 
 
198 The Kpistle to the Romans. 
 
 application of it has been the subject of dispute since 
 the earliest ages of the Christian Church, and a great 
 variet}^ of opinions has been held, by pious and learned 
 men, both in regard to the chapter as a whole and also 
 as to its details. It therefore becomes us here also to 
 express our views without dogmatism. It is probable 
 that every reader may easily find more than one state- 
 ment in the chapter to the truth of which he can 
 readily testify in the light of his own spiritual expe- 
 rience. 
 
 We should bear in mind, however, if we would 
 study the chapter aright, that it is not to be regarded 
 as an isolated scrap which the Apostle has thrown 
 into his letter, but that it is an essential part 
 of an epistolary doctrinal treatise. And in order that 
 we may more clearly see what part of the treatise 
 this chapter is, let us briefly review the steps by 
 which the Apostle has arrived at the present point in 
 his discussion : 
 
 1. The statement of his fundamental theme, to wit: 
 The gospel the power of God unto salvation to all 
 men — in which the term " salvation " denotes not 
 only justification but also sanctification, or the new- 
 ness of life which becomes the permanent possession 
 and characteristic of the believer. 
 
 2. The universal need on the part of mankind of 
 this salvation. 
 
 3. Justification is to be secured, not by " works of 
 the law," but only by grace through faith. 
 
 4. The permanent validity of this justification, and 
 hence the certainty of the believer's final salvation. 
 
 5. This justification and all that it implies is pos- 
 sible to all men ; the provided remedy is co-extensive 
 with the evil. 
 
Chapter VII. 199 
 
 6. Paul next shows that this justification by grace 
 through faith, rather than by legalistic works, instead 
 of laying down a gap for unholy living, is on the con- 
 trary a guaranty of permanent right or holy living 
 — sactification (not sinlessness). This part of the 
 discussion began with chapter vi. and continues 
 through chapter vii. and viii. In chapter vi. 14, the 
 Apostle, in the course of his argument, stated that 
 believers, or justified persons, are ''not under law," 
 and then he pauses in order to meet and sweep away 
 the anticipated objection that such persons might pre- 
 sume upon this freedom and this grace, so far as 
 to actually commit sin. This ends the chapter, which 
 of course Paul did not divide here. With chapter vii. 
 he resumes the thread of his thought as interrupted 
 
 at vi. 14. 
 
 The chapter seems to be naturally divided into 
 three parts, as follows : 
 
 1. Verses 1-6.— The Apostle continues the line of 
 thought interrupted at vi. 14. These verses then may 
 be regarded as a fragment of the section vi. 1-13, 
 devoted to the " first objection." (See page 182.) 
 
 2. Verses 7-13. — In which the Apostle sets forth 
 the true and proper relation of the law chiefly in rela- 
 tion to the unregenerate man, of whom he speaks of 
 himself as the representative. Here the function of 
 the law is to produce "conviction." 
 
 3. Verses 14-25. — In which the Apostle sets forth 
 the relation of the law chiefly to the regenerate man, 
 of whom he again speaks of himself as the represen- 
 tative. 
 
 Verses 7-25, as a whole, are his answer to the ques- 
 tion: If we, as you say, have misapprehended the 
 true function of law in relation to our salvation, what 
 
zoo The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. VII., V. I : — Know ye not, brethren, {/or I speak to 
 them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over 
 a man as long as he liveth f 
 
 then is its true function ? Is it sinful in its tendency? 
 This question constitues what we may call the " third 
 objection " to Paul's doctrine of salvation, and we see 
 that it bears directly on the specific doctrine of sanc- 
 tification (not sinlessness). We must notice, however, 
 that Paul does not reason merely negatively, but that 
 in meeting objections he presents his own positive 
 and inspired views. 
 
 V. I. Know ye not, brethren. The Revised 
 Version, following the Greek more exactly, begins 
 this sentence with "or," the force of which may be 
 indicated thus : Or, if you do not perceive and admit 
 the truth of my teaching, from what I have said, that 
 freedom from the bond-service of sin implies freedom 
 from legal bondage, let us consider it then from an- 
 other point of view. Do you not know, etc. Paul 
 employs a well-known legal principle to illustrate the 
 emancipation of the believer from the bondage of the 
 law. Hath dominion over a man. The term 
 man here denotes simply a human being, whether 
 man or woman. The law permitted a husband to 
 remarry in case of the death of his wife, or the wife 
 in case of the death of the husband. Paul selects the 
 latter as his illustration, because death alone could 
 free the woman from the law of her husband, whereas 
 the husband might free himself from his wife merely 
 by divorcement. We mav discover another reason in 
 the application which the Apostle makes of this in 
 verse 4 and following. 
 
Chapter VII. 201 
 
 V. 2 : — For the woman which hath a husband is bound by 
 the law to her husband so lo7ig as he liveth ; but if the htis- 
 band be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 
 
 V. 3 : — So then if, while her husba?id liveth, she be married 
 to another man, she shall be called an adulteress : but if her 
 htisba?td be dead, she is free from that law ; so that she is no 
 adulteress, though she be married to another man. 
 
 V. 4 :— Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to 
 the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to 
 another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that xve 
 should bring forth fruit unto God. 
 
 Vs. 2, 3. IB^or the woman, etc. That is, in con- 
 sequence of the legal principle quoted in verse i, 
 when the husband died, the woman in her capacity as 
 wife also died ; the marital bond is severed. 
 
 V. 4. Wherefore, my brethren, Paul tells his 
 readers, whom he affectionately calls his brethren, 
 that the same principle operates in the sphere of the 
 spiritual, in consequence of which the believer is made 
 dead to the law, which here corresponds to the dead 
 husband. The relation between the believing soul 
 and the law is severed. 
 
 By the body of Christ. The crucified body of 
 Christ is that by which Paul here represents the soul 
 as being itself put to death — that is, put to death in 
 respect to the former husband, the law. In chapter 
 vi. 6, this crucified body of Christ was that by which 
 the soul was made dead to sin, the master. He draws 
 all believers unto him into communion with him in 
 his death. As he was put to death, so they in him 
 and through him are put to death to sin and to the 
 law. But in what respect has the soul, identifying 
 itself by faith with Christ, been in him put to death 
 to the law? In the sense that it can no longer be 
 
ii02 The BPISTI.E to the Romans. 
 
 V. 5 : — For when we were in the fiesh, the motions of sins^ 
 which were by the law, did work in our members to bring 
 forth fruit unto death. 
 
 required to obey it as law. What the believing soul 
 does it does freely and not as one under law. It has 
 in itself a sense of release from law as such. That 
 which it formerly viewed as law it ceases to view as 
 law ; it acts henceforth with spontaneity, doing what 
 it pleases, because it can not please to do otherwise 
 than right. Christ died to the law also, in that he was 
 no longer subject to it after his death in the sense in 
 which he was subject to it before his death. Before 
 his death he was subject to it as a man, any man 
 whatsoever, having voluntarily, by his incarnation, 
 become so. After his death he was no longer subject 
 to it, only in so far as one may be said to be subject to 
 his own will or nature. 
 
 That ye should be married to another. The 
 object of severing the union with the former husband, 
 the law, was that there might be a union with another 
 husband, to wit, the risen Christ. In harmony with 
 this figure, which expresses a deep and essential spir- 
 itual fact, the union with Christ is often called a mar- 
 riage, Christ being the Bridegroom. Fruit unto 
 God, See John xv. i-6; Gal. v. 22, 23. Compare 
 with the fruits in verse 5, and Gal. v. 19-21. 
 
 V. 5. In the ftesh. This does not mean " in the 
 body." The expression is used in two senses: i. To 
 denote man before he has died to sin and risen with 
 and in Christ to newness of life— unregenerate man. 
 2. Regenerate man, considered as yet having in him 
 some elements of sin, or of the unregenerate nature, 
 
Chapter VII. 203 
 
 V. 6: — But now we are delivered from the law, that being 
 dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve in newness 
 of spirit^ a?id not in the oldness of the letter. 
 
 as in the expression, the spirit is willing, but " the 
 flesh" is weak. It is here used in the first of these 
 senses. 
 
 The motions of sin. The sinful affections and 
 passions of our unregenerate nature, which, however 
 dormant they may apparently lie, are so easily excited, 
 and when thus moved in our members as their instru- 
 ments, produce yet greater corruption and other sins, 
 which may be called '* fruit unto death." By the 
 law. The apparently dormant sinful affections and 
 passions are excited by the law. The law irritates 
 them, moves them to action. It is " human nature " to 
 wish most to do that which it is forbidden to do. 
 Such is sin. 
 
 V. 6. Delivered from the law. And hence re- 
 lieved of its irritation. (See notes on verses 2-4.) 
 That being dead, etc. That relation wherein we 
 were held to sin and law being dissolved, and hence 
 we ourselves being dead to sin and law. This death, 
 as we have seen, is followed by a resurrection to new- 
 ness of life, and hence we now serve God in " newness 
 of spirit," etc.; that is, our obedience or service of 
 God is no longer a mere mechanical and heartless serv- 
 ice, rendered merely " for conscience sake," but it is 
 engaged in heartily and enjoyed. 
 
 Paul, having now explained at sufficient length what 
 he meant by freedom from law (vi. 14), proceeds to 
 set forth ..the true spiritual function of law in the two 
 sections as indicated above. In doing this he answers 
 what we may regard as the 
 
:204 The; Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 7 : — H^/iai shall we say then f Is the law sin ? God for- 
 bid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law : for I had not 
 known lust, except the law had said, Thou shall not covet. 
 
 Third Objection 
 
 to his doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, as 
 against the doctrine of legalistic salvation. In doing 
 so he sets forth the true function of the law in its two- 
 fold relation. 
 
 I. In relation to the unre generate^ producing conviction. 
 
 V. 7. What shall we say then ? Notice the 
 repeated occurrence of this phrase in chapter iv. i ; 
 vi. I, 15, and in this verse. In the three last instances 
 it introduces an objection to his doctrine of sanctifi- 
 cation, which Paul may be supposed to put into the 
 mouth of an opponent. Here the objection is, Is law 
 then something in itself sinful, that you should so 
 closely identify it with sin as to make freedom from 
 sin involve also freedom from the law ? 
 
 (The Answer.) God forbid. " Let it not be so." 
 And then the Apostle proceeds to illustrate from his 
 own experience that instead of the law being sinful, 
 its true function in respect to sin is not to create sin, 
 but to expose sin in its true nature, to bring to our 
 conscious knowledge its exceeding sinfulness. Had 
 not known sin. Paul does not mean that had it 
 not been for the law, no such thing as sin could have 
 existed, and hence of course could not have been 
 known ; but he means that he could not have fully 
 known it as existing in himself. (See iii. 20J 
 
 I had not known Insty etc. The word " known ' 
 here is not the same in meaning as in the former 
 
Chapter VII. 205 
 
 V. 8: — But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, 
 wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without 
 the law sin was dead. 
 
 V. 9 : — For I was alive without the law once : but when the 
 com,mandment ca^ne, sin revived, and I died. 
 
 clause. Paul means that lie could not have had the 
 rational apprehension of sin, as existing in himself, 
 had it not been for the experiential knowledge which 
 he acquired of his heart b}- means of the light which 
 the incoming of the law shed upon it. We do not 
 know how corrupt and prone to evil we are until we 
 are placed under prohibition. 
 
 V. 8. But sin taking occasion^ etc. The law 
 did not create the sin or sinfulness that is in my heart, 
 but no sooner did the law say to me, " Thou shalt not 
 do so and so," than sin started into quick activity and 
 said, "Thou shalt." Immediatelj^ I knew how sinful 
 I was, for the sin w^hich said "Thou shalt" was my 
 own sinful nature. Prior to this, sin seemed to be 
 dead or dormant in me ; but it was only lying stealth- 
 ily in ambush, as a wild beast ready to leap upon its 
 prey so soon as the iprey seems about to escape it. 
 
 V. 9. For I was alive, etc. That is, I thought 
 I was alive, for the reason that, as I said, I did not 
 know sin was in me, even as a part of my very self. 
 
 The commandment came. A specific law bear- 
 ing upon a specific sin, as lust, theft, covetousness, 
 etc. Sin revived. It only seemed to be dead, and 
 the very moment the law addressed me and reminded 
 me of my danger, and bade me escape for my life, sin 
 made the fatal- leap and slew me. In verse 11 Paul 
 says he was slain; in this, however, he says simply 
 
2o6 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. lo : — And the comniandmenty whcih was ordained to life^ 
 I found to be unto death. 
 
 that he died. But the death of sin's victims is always 
 a violent one. Translating the figurative into plain 
 language, Paul means here by "dying" that he came 
 to the recognition of himself as a sinful man, and 
 that this recognition crushed all the sense of compla- 
 cency and self-righteousness out of him, as it does in 
 the case of all who see themselves vividly in the light 
 of the law. " Man's death is sin's life," says Calvin, 
 "and sin's death is man's life." Or, in other words, 
 if I am alive as a self-righteous man, I must be dead 
 as a conscious sinner, and if I am alive as a conscious 
 sinner, I must be dead as a self-righteous man. If I 
 am alive in the one respect I am dead in the other. 
 
 V. lo. The commandment which was or- 
 dained unto life. The divine intention of the law 
 was to guide to holiness, peace, life. (See Lev. xviii. 
 5 ; Deut. v. 29, 33 ; Ps. xix. 7-1 1 ; Ps. cxix. I found 
 to be unto death, Paul seems to intimate that such 
 an issue of the law in his own case was to him at the 
 time a matter of sad surprise. The reason why he 
 found it to be death to him was twofold : i . He sepa- 
 rated the law from God's grace, and sought by the 
 former alone to attain a self-righteousness of which he 
 might boast, and which he thought would make him 
 acceptable to God ; his heart, or inmost nature, was 
 not right. 2. Occupying this attitude toward the law, 
 it served only as a constant harassment and provoca- 
 tion to sin, and thus revealed to him his inmost and 
 exceeding sinfulness, and this recognition of himself 
 as he really was in God's sight was " conviction." So 
 
Chapter VII. 207 
 
 V. II : — For sin, taking occasion by the cointnandmeni^ de- 
 ceived me, and by it slew me. 
 
 V. 12: — Wherefore the law is holy, and the comtnandment 
 holy, and just, and good. 
 
 the law must, to a greater or less extent, serve every 
 unregenerate man. No man can ascend to the saving 
 recognition of God who does not first descend to the 
 penitential recognition of himself as a sinner. 
 
 V. II. F'or sin, etc. The same meaning as verse 
 8, expressed in slightly different form. Deceived 
 me. It was sin, his own sinful heart, that deceived 
 him. It was not the law's fault. He was not what 
 he thought he was, and so sin, by means of the law, 
 and in the manner already described, slew him. He 
 was no longer, even in his own estimation, a spiritu- 
 ally live man. See notes on verses 8-10. 
 
 V. 12. Wherefore. So that. It follows from all 
 this that instead of the law being sinful (verse 7), it is 
 holy; it is nothing but the expression to us of the 
 holy will or nature of God himself, forbidding all 
 impure and unholy feelings and desires. The word 
 **law" is a general term, including each of the sev- 
 eral commandments. Each commandment is "just," 
 because it makes no unfair demands on any one in 
 any respect, and if any man could and would render 
 to it a perfect obedience, it would certainly constitute 
 him really righteous. It is " good," because it is nei- 
 ther useless nor pernicious ; it is what may be called 
 " a good thing ; " it was intended to be a guide to life, 
 and it actually is the means whereby the unregener- 
 ate man is brought to a true knowledge of himself, or 
 is convicted of sin. 
 
2o8 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 13 : — IVas then that which is good made death unto me? 
 God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working 
 death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the command- 
 ment might become exceeding sinful. 
 
 V. 13. Was then that which is good made 
 death unto me? Was then the command, which I 
 have pronounced to be good, the cause of my sla)- ing, 
 or the cause of the death I have just described myself 
 as dying ? By no means, says Paul, but sin was the 
 cause of it. But the law was made sin's instrument 
 of death, in order that thereby the true nature of sin 
 as it exists in me might be made known to me ; or in 
 other words, in order that thereby I might see myself 
 as I really am, exceedingly sinful. To " become ex- 
 ceedingly sinful," in this verse, is not to be made sin- 
 ful, but to be revealed, or become known, to one's 
 self as already being so. 
 
 II. T/ie functio7i of the law in relatioji to the regener^ 
 ated man. 
 
 In this instance is produced a sense of a conflict 
 which proves that a remnant of the sinful principle 
 still dwells in him (which conflict, however, is to be 
 regarded as wholesome, this being the only way to 
 reach ultimate victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.) 
 We should notice that Paul here speaks of himself as 
 a sort of twofold or dual being. Himself considered 
 as carnal, or as having an element of the sinful prin- 
 ciple still in him, is one self, or " I." Himself consid- 
 ered as regenerate, or apart from this sinful element, 
 is his other self, or "I," and this he regards as his 
 real or veritable self. 
 
 V. 14. The law is spiritual. That is, holy, just, 
 
Chapter VII. 
 
 209 
 
 V. 14: — For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am 
 carnaly sold under sin, 
 
 V. 15 -.—For that which I do, I allow not : for what I 
 would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that do /. 
 
 and good. The word "spiritual" in some places in 
 the Bible, as i Cor. xv. 44, means not made of matter, 
 not ** material : " but here it means holy, pure, desti- 
 tute of carnality. I am carnal. By carnal is meant 
 not *' fleshly" in the literal sense, but the opposite of 
 spiritual — that is, not holy, not sinless. When Paul 
 says, *' I am carnal," he simply means that there is 
 yet in him, though regenerated, a remnant, only too 
 vigorous, of the " old man," the old sinful self or nat- 
 ure. This he here calls "I." This ''I" is sin's 
 bond-servant — "sold under sin." 
 
 V. 15. That which I do. The word "do" oc- 
 curs three times in this verse, for which, however, 
 Paul used three different words. Though they may 
 often be used interchangeably, they are not to be re- 
 garded as quite synon^^mous in this verse. The first 
 " do " (katergazomai) means to work out — that is, to per- 
 form an act, or several acts, regarded merely as a step 
 toward a result ; the doer may or may not know in ad- 
 vance what this result is to be. Here he does not 
 know. The second " do " (prassein) means to work 
 at — that is, it is an act, or series of acts, considered 
 not simply as such, but as rational steps to a recog- 
 nized end. Here the end which Paul wished to aim 
 at he did not aim at. The third " do " (poiein) means 
 to do in the sense, not of working blindly toward an 
 end, not of working intelligently at a thing, but in 
 the sense of finishing or accomplishing it ; as when 
 we say the work is done, the day is done, etc. 
 14 
 
2IO The EPISTI.E to the Romans. 
 
 Paul in this verse presents himself in a twofold as- 
 pect, (i) as a regenerate man, (2) as a regenerate man 
 who is worried and blinded by the remnant of the 
 sinful principle which is still in him. What he, in 
 the first aspect, wishes and aims to accomplish he does 
 not wish or aim at in the other aspect. His acts then 
 he represents as being performed blindly and in the 
 midst of entanglement ; he kaows not ; he works as 
 one who merely does the bidding of another; and 
 at last when he sees the result, his regenerate self 
 loathes it, hates with a moral reprobation. So it is, to a 
 greater or less extent, in the experience of every Chris- 
 tian. He seems sometimes to have two selves — an 
 ** I," and another "I." Chrysostom says in his Hom- 
 ily on this chapter, " I am blinded, feel carried away, 
 I find a violence done to me, I get tripped up without 
 knowing how." 
 
 Such, it seems to me, is the plain meaning of this 
 verse, in which the word rendered " to allow " is given 
 its usual meaning of "to know," as in the margin of 
 our Authorized Version. Such also substantially is 
 the interpretation of Calvin, Meyer, Godet, Gifibrd, 
 and a good many other commentators ; though it is 
 perhaps proper to say that others, as Grotius, Mac- 
 knight, and Hodge, think that the word may as well 
 be rendered here "to allow" in the sense of "to ap- 
 prove." But if Paul had meant this he might easily 
 have said it. Whether, however, he meant it or not 
 in this first clause of the verse, it is obviously true, as 
 a matter of fact, that as a regenerate man he did hate 
 or morally reprobate what he actually accomplished 
 in his capacity of one who still had some sin in him ; 
 and this fact he expressly states in the last clause of 
 the verse. Paul could not work out what lie wished 
 
Chapter VII. 211 
 
 V. 16: — If then I do that which I would not, I consent 
 ^nto the law that it is good. 
 
 V. 17 : — Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that 
 dwelleth in fne. 
 
 to because he could not work at what he wished to, 
 and the reason why he could not do this to the extent 
 to which he wished was because he was so blinded 
 and embarrassed by his sinful instincts and impulses. 
 He does not excuse himself, however, but accuses the 
 tyranny of the sin yet in him, and sadly deplores his 
 misery. He so loathes the actual result as compared 
 with what he wished to do. 
 
 V. 16. If then I dOy etc. This is good and plain 
 logic. Thus : 
 
 The law hates, or morally reprobates, the doing of 
 such and such things. 
 
 I also, as a regenerate man, hate, or morally repro- 
 bate, the same. 
 
 Therefore, I and the law agree, 
 
 Or, "I consent that the law is good." The word 
 "good "is also applied to the law in verse 12; but 
 there it was agathos, good in the sense of morally 
 useful ; here it is kalos, good in the sense of morally 
 beautiful or excellent, as when we speak of a " beau- 
 tiful character, considered merely as a character. The 
 law is good in both senses. Hence the law is not sin- 
 ful (verse 7). 
 
 V. 17. Now then. That is. The conclusion is, if I 
 " consent " to the laws, that it is the good, it is not I that 
 do these things which the holy law hates and forbids ; 
 it is not the true, real, regenerate " I ; " it is that other 
 ^' I," the " old man," the remnant of the sinful prin- 
 
212 The Bpistlk to the Romans. 
 
 V. i8 : — For I know that in me {that is, in my fleshy dwell- 
 eth no good thing : for to will is present with me ; but how 
 to perform, that which is good I find not. 
 
 V. 19 : — For the good that I would, I do not : but the evil 
 which I would not, that I do. 
 
 ciple that still dwells in me, and that struggles so hard 
 for life. 
 
 V. 18. I know that in me. Here he means again 
 that other ** me," the "flesh," himself considered as 
 yet having in him the sinful principle ; and this other 
 " me " is all bad. And then he proceeds to say that 
 it is easy enough for his regenerate self to wish to do 
 right, but that his other self interposes obstacles and 
 difficulties which embarrass him not a little. 
 
 Paul, as has been stated above, is in these verses 
 (14-25) describing himself as a converted man, en- 
 gaged in conflict with what I have figuratively called 
 his other self And in this he is the type of all Chris- 
 tians. But is it necessary for every man to be a 
 " Christian " before he can realize in himself this 
 duality of selves? Before he can experience to a 
 greater or less degree this inward struggle ? No, it is 
 not necessary ; for the great fulfilled promise, " I will 
 put enmity between thy seed and her seed," is the 
 primal historical fact that renders the salvation of any 
 man possible. Woe to him between whom and the 
 seed of the serpent there is no more, not even at long 
 intervals, any conflict. But the Christian realizes the 
 antagonism with exceeding sensitiveness. 
 
 V. 19. For the good that I would do. That 
 I wish to accomplish. The ideal Christian never, 
 reaches his ideal of Christian usefulness. The evil 
 
Chapter VII. 213 
 
 V. 20 '.—Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that 
 do it^ but sin that dwelleth in me. 
 
 V. 21 : — I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil 
 is present with me. 
 
 . . . that I do. This word "do" is not the same 
 as in the first clause. The apostle says in substance : 
 I do wish to accomplish good, but that sinful element 
 seems ever present in me to prevent me; I do not 
 wish to practice or follow after evil, but it seems to 
 me that I follow after it in spite of myself. So Paul 
 is not meaning to say that he tries to do good, and yet 
 at the same time to express a morbid depreciation of 
 the value of his Christian work. It is only a sad con- 
 fession that however nearly right he may do, or how- 
 ever much good, it is done in the face of an enemy 
 who opposes him in his very camp — and this enemy 
 is his own sinful nature. 
 
 V. 20. Now if I dOy etc. Paul concludes from 
 the foregoing that it is really not his true, responsible 
 self that does the evil which he so laments, but that 
 it is the alter ego, that other "I," which he here calls 
 sin, or the sinful principle which yet dwelt in him. 
 (But he who dwells in me is not "I," for I can not 
 dwell in myself). In verse 18 he calls it " my flesh," 
 in verse 24 he calls it '' the body of this death," in vi. 
 6 he calls it our " old man." If we will remember 
 that Paul is necessarily using words in a more or less 
 figurative sense, and instead of straining his figures, 
 rather observe his thought, there will be no difficulty 
 in following him. 
 
 V. 21. I £nd then a law. This inward spiritual 
 conflict, these daily battles, these fallings and risings 
 
214 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 22 : — For I delight in the law of God after the inward 
 man : 
 
 V. 23 : — But I see another law in my members, warring 
 against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity 
 to the law of sin which is in m,y m,em,bers. 
 
 again, which the apostle has been describing, are 
 neither accidental nor incidental, but are a character- 
 istic principle of his life, and of the life of every 
 Christian. And this characteristic and ever operating^ 
 principle Paul here calls a law. 
 
 V. 22. J delight in the law, etc. See verse 16. 
 An unregenerate man could scarcely be represented 
 as saying, " I delight in the law of God." After the 
 inward man. This expression qualifies the " I." 
 He means simply that I as a regenerate man delight, 
 etc. His use, however, of the word " inward man," 
 as descriptive of himself as a regenerate man, is very 
 natural; as he had figuratively, in verse 18, called his 
 other self, or himself in the other aspect, "the flesh," 
 which is outward, so here he speaks of the inward. 
 In 2 Cor. iv. 16, however, the expression " outward 
 man " denotes our physical life, or simply the " body," 
 while "inward man," in the same verse, is not the 
 soul as such, but the soul as regenerated and devoted 
 to Christ's service. It is only such a soul that is daily 
 renewed or refreshened. " Spiritual man," and " in- 
 ward man," are expressions standing opposed to " car- 
 nal man," or fleshly man, or "natural man," or man 
 as he is by nature. 
 
 V. 23. J see another law. This other law is the 
 same as "that mentioned in verse 21, on which see 
 the note. The law of my mind. This law is the 
 
Chapter VII. 
 
 215 
 
 V. 24 : — O wretched man than I am! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death ? 
 
 law or principle, according to which he delights in the 
 law of God. The law of sin. The law of sin is 
 that persistent and domineering dictation of the sinful 
 principle which Paul has so often said still dwells in 
 him. It is called^he "mind of the flesh " in Col. ii. 
 18. It is not the same as the law mentioned in 
 verse 21. 
 
 So we have in these three verses four different laws : 
 (i) The law that when I would do good, etc., verse 
 21 ; {2) The law of God, verse 22 ; (3) The law of my 
 mind (not the mind of the " flesh "), according to 
 which law I delight in No. 2 ; (4) The law of sin. All 
 these may be called laws, because they operate upon 
 us as forces in a uniform way. 
 
 V. 24. O wretched man. Not, O guilty man ! 
 This might have been the language of a convicted, 
 but unconverted man ; here, however, it is the " I " 
 of verse 22 who speaks in eager longing for a deliver- 
 er from the ever-wear^dng conflict. Instead, however, 
 of speaking of the enemy here as " our old man," or 
 "my flesh," etc., he speaks of it as the "body of this 
 death." This figure may have been suggested by 
 either one or all of the following circumstances : 
 
 (i) The use of the word captivity in the preceding 
 verse. He is led as a captive, and the body to which 
 he is captive is so loathsome to him that it may well 
 be called a dead body. He does not mean that he 
 longs for deliverance from his own body, but from 
 sin's body. Or, 
 
 (2) By the fact that sin and death may well be 
 
2i6 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 25 : — / thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So 
 then with the mind I myself serve the law of God ; but with 
 the flesh the law of sin. 
 
 called only two names for one and the same thing. 
 To be Sin's captive is to be Death's captive. Or sin 
 is Death's body ; or, death is Sin's fruit. They are 
 always associated together in some way. Death has 
 no sting, no victor}^ no loathsomeness, no any thing, 
 that is not obtained from sin. Or, 
 
 (3) By a recurrence in thought to the fact that sin 
 as to him (Paul) had been crucified (vi. 6), and that 
 still to its crucified and loathsome body (called the old 
 man) he is bound as a captive. 
 
 Paul's metaphors vary as he changes the point of 
 view from which he looks at his object. We must as 
 nearly as possible stand on his ground if we would 
 rightly appreciate his language. 
 
 V. 25. Thanks be to God, etc. This language 
 is also the outburst of the " I " of verse 21. It is not 
 an answer to the question of verse 24. Paul, how- 
 ever, knows that there is a way of deliverance ; he 
 knows that the conflict, the captivity, or under what- 
 ever aspect it may be viewed, will not end in sin's 
 favor ; and this thought is the ground of his thanks- 
 giving. But as he can not think of deliverance and 
 of the complete overthrow of sin without also think- 
 ing of Christ, so neither could he say " I thank God " 
 without also saying '' through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 So then. In view of what, or as follows from 
 what, has been said. With the mind I myself 
 serve. Rather, I myself with the mind serve. That 
 is my real, true self, as opposed to that other so-called 
 
Chapter VII. 21 
 
 self, which Paul again designates *'the flesh." The 
 one and the same man Paul felt the presence in him 
 of two principles, or elements, at one and the same 
 time — the renewed and the unrenewed, the spirit and 
 the flesh, etc. ; and with one of these he served God, 
 with the other he served sin. But as Paul had but 
 one personality, the one with which he served God was 
 his real self. 
 
 The life of the Christian in this world must always 
 be more or less one of spiritual conflict ; but it is also 
 true that the Christian may at all times say, ** I thank 
 God through our Lord Jesus Christ," and for the same 
 reason that Paul said it. 
 
 Dei<ivkrance and Security. 
 
 (Chap. VIII., 1-39.) 
 In further unfolding the doctrine of sanctification, 
 begun with chapter vi., Paul sets forth in this chapter 
 the nature of the deliverance wrought by the Holy 
 Spirit in the believer; which work, he has said, is 
 guaranteed by his doctrine of justification by faith. 
 The chapter is an enlargement upon the thought al- 
 ready sketched in chapter v. i-ii, to wit : The. securi- 
 ty of the believer, and hence the certainty of his final 
 salvation and glorification. In view of this security 
 the apostle breathes throughout the chapter a spirit 
 of joyous exultation, in which the following argu- 
 ments are apparent : 
 
 1. Condemnation removed and spiritual life secured, 
 verses i-ii, the review of a thought already pre- 
 sented. 
 
 2. Adoption as sons of God, etc., verses 12-17. 
 
 3. Hope of a yet greater deliverance, and strength, 
 in the midst of trials, 18-30. 
 
2i8 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. VIII., V. I : — There is therefore now no condemnation' 
 to them which are in Christ JesuSy 7vho walk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit. 
 
 The chapter closes with a grand hymn of assurance 
 of salvation — "the blessedness of God's child, who 
 lies in his bosom in full faith of eternal love." 
 
 The Christian state of deliverance and security,, 
 which Paul so feelingly describes in this chapter, is 
 not to be regarded as following chapter vii. 14-25, 
 chronologically; for the Christian may realize both his 
 freedom from condemnation, and also all else that is. 
 affirmed of him in this chapter as being the work of 
 the Spirit, and at the same time have in him the sense 
 of painful conflict between the " old man " and the 
 " new," as described in the last section of chapter vii. 
 It does not follow, however, that all Christians equal- 
 ly experience this conflict, or that the same Christian, 
 experiences it equally at all times. But, however va- 
 riable or intense the experience may be, it is the priv- 
 ilege of every Christian to join with Paul in the 
 triumphant hymn with which he closes the chapter. 
 
 V. I. There is therefore. The " therefore " con- 
 nects immediately with vii. 25, " With the mind I my- 
 self serve the law of God ; there is therefore now no 
 condemnation," etc. But Paul applies the conclusion 
 not only to himself, but to all who are in Christ Jesus. 
 It would amount to the same thing, however, if we 
 should say that the " therefore," with which this chap- 
 ter opens, introduces us to the grand conclusion which 
 follows from all that the apostle has said on the sub- 
 ject of the sanctification of the believer, his relation 
 to the law, etc., beginning as far back as chapter vi. ;. 
 
Chapter VIII. 
 
 219 
 
 or, in other words still, it introduces the conclusion 
 which results from Paul's answers to all the objections 
 which had been brought against his doctrine of salva- 
 tion, and which have been discussed in the notes on 
 the preceding chapters. These objections being an- 
 swered, and the doctrine of justification and sanctifi- 
 cation being thus established, it follows that there is 
 now no condemnation to any one to whom the Holy- 
 Spirit has applied this pkn of salvation. 
 
 The word now is inserted by the apostle simply to 
 remind the believer that in the state in which he was 
 formerly his condemnation was a dread fact, whereas, 
 in his present state there is none, and there can never 
 be any ; it was removed by justification, and is kept 
 away by sanctification — that is, by our being in Christ 
 Jesus ; it was removed by Christ as the one who died 
 and is kept away by Christ as the one who is risen and 
 lives. This is the distinction implied, or rather ex- 
 pressed in other words, in chapter v. 9. This Christ, 
 who by his death and life removes and ever afterward 
 withholds condemnation, will also remove it from our 
 l)odies, as Paul states in verses 1 1 and 24, on which 
 see notes. 
 
 Who are in Christ Jesus. Those who by faith 
 are in spiritual union with him, as the branch is with 
 the vine. This union began when they died with 
 him, and continues after they have risen with him. 
 See notes on vi. i-ii. Observe that Paul here places 
 the mediatorial name, Christ, first. 
 
 Who walk not after the ftesh, etc. These 
 words merely describe those who are in Christ Jesus. 
 Only the latter expression occurs in verse 4. To 
 *' walk after the flesh " in this and verse 4, means to 
 sin willfully ; it does not mean to sin in the sense in 
 
220 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 2: — For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ fesus hath 
 made me free from the law of sin and death. 
 
 which every Christian sins, or at least the " old man " 
 which still exists in a more or less vital and active 
 state in every Christian (vi. 14-25). To "walk after 
 the Spirit " is to live according to the spirit of Christ, 
 or the Holy Spirit. When Christ was on earth he 
 was with his disciples in the body ; now he is iyi them 
 in the person of the Spirit. In order that he may be 
 in them it is necessary that they should be in him. 
 The sap of the vine can not be in the branch unless 
 the branch is in the vine. 
 
 V. 2. The law of the Spirit, etc. Paul often 
 uses the word law. It always means a principle or 
 rule of action. Sometimes the rule of action referred 
 to is the Mosaic Moral I^aw ; sometimes the Mosaic 
 Ceremonial Law, or the Mosaic Law as a whole, or 
 the law which is written only on man's heart. Here 
 it means the invariable rule, according to which the 
 life-giving Spirit, which is in us by reason of our 
 union with Christ, must free us from that other law 
 called " the law of sin and death," and which has al- 
 ready been explained. See particularly chapter vii. 
 II, 23. We have ever to fight sin even in ourselves; 
 but we fight it as our enemy ; we do not serve it as 
 our master whose behests we willingly obey. We 
 have been liberated from the master whom we now 
 hate, though he endeavors to reduce us to servitude 
 again. But there is no more any condemnation to 
 them that are in Christ Jesus. 
 
 V. 3. F'or, What I have said in verse 2 is true, 
 /or what the law could not do, etc. Paul here uses 
 
Chapter VIIL 221 
 
 V. 3 : — For what the law could not do^ in that it was weak 
 through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh : 
 
 the word "law" in the sense of the Mosaic law con- 
 sidered as a rule of action whereby to obtain salva- 
 tion. This "law" was unable to free us from that 
 other law, called the "law" of sin and death. One 
 rule of action of course has no power to free us from 
 another rule of action to which we have become ac- 
 customed ; and in this case especially was the Mosaic 
 law, or the law written only on the heart, powerless 
 to accomplish our deliverance; for it was weak 
 through the flesh — that is, we naturally loved the old 
 law or rule of sin too well. This inability of the 
 Mosaic or any other divine law to accomplish our sal- 
 vation Paul has already discussed at length in chapter 
 vii. He mentions it again here in order to set forth 
 the more prominently the only way whereby it could 
 be accomplished. 
 
 What the law could not do. What was it 
 that the law could not do ? The answer is, It could 
 not condemn or crush sin in the flesh, and hence 
 effect our deliverance therefrom, in order that the 
 righteousness of God might be fulfilled in us, etc. 
 
 God sending his own Son, The word " send- 
 ing" is in the Greek an aorist participle, and denotes 
 that the act of sending and the act of condemning 
 were simultaneous — that is, so closely identified as to 
 be practically one and the same act. At the very 
 moment the Son of God took upon himself human 
 flesh and human nature was sin condemned. The 
 law had denounced, forbidden, fulminated against 
 sin ; had pronounced condemnation upon it again and 
 
^22 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 again ; but in vain. Sin held his ground. But in the 
 human flesh and human nature of the Son of God 
 there is one instance in which sin had no throne, no 
 dominion whatever. And this sinless Son of God in 
 human flesh and nature was an ever-living and effect- 
 ive rebuke of sin, and also an abiding illustration of 
 what the human would be if the sin were not in 
 it. The life of every pure and good man is, in its de- 
 g^ree, a more effective condemnation of sin than is the 
 law. The sinful can withstand the law, but it can not 
 withstand the sinless. Hence, those whose deeds are 
 evil love darkness rather than light. The demons 
 beseech Christ to leave them. ** What have we to do 
 with thee, thou Holy One?" They feel condemned 
 in his presence. " Depart from me, for I am a sinful 
 man, O Lord." 
 
 In the likeness of sinful Besb, Christ's hu- 
 man flesh and human nature were /ike man's, only his 
 had no sin in them, and nothing to which sin could 
 successfully address itself. " The Prince of this world 
 hath nothing in me." But man's nature is corrupt to 
 begin with, and his fleshly appetites and passions are 
 sin's best instruments. But were not the flesh and 
 nature of the first Adam sinless? Yes; and the first 
 Adam lacked no weapon in his combat with sin which 
 the second had. 
 
 F'or sin. This means that the sending of God's Son 
 was occasioned by sin. 
 
 In using the phrase " sinful flesh," we must hear in 
 mind that the flesh is intrinsically neither sinful nor 
 sinless. God made the flesh with all its original ap- 
 petites and passions, and apart from the personal soul 
 or spirit which operates through it, it can be neither 
 sinful nor sinless, or possess any moral character. 
 
Chapter VIII. 223 
 
 V. 4: — That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled 
 in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
 
 V. 4. That the righteousness of the law, 
 
 "That" here means "in order that," and not "so 
 that;" it denotes a purpose and not a mere result. 
 The " righteousness of the law " is that righteousness 
 which the law demands. It is a mistake to suppose 
 that the law of God requires one kind or degree of 
 righteousness and the gospel of God another. There 
 is no sort of antagonism between God's law and God's 
 gospel. The trouble with the law is that it can not 
 enforce in man its own demands — and the reason here 
 assigned is, that it is "weak through the flesh; " our 
 sinful nature is stronger in us than God's law. The 
 excellency of the gospel is, that it changes the evil 
 nature and makes it the law's ally. The excellency 
 of the law (the Mosaic moral law, or the Sermon on 
 the Mount, for instance) consists in the fact that it 
 makes known to us what sort of righteousness God 
 requires. The purpose which God had in view in 
 sending his Son and condemning sin in the flesh was 
 that the righteousness which God requires might be 
 accomplished in us. And it actually is. That was 
 the purpose of the plan of salvation as a whole, and 
 hence was the ultimate purpose or end to which every 
 detail of that plan looked. When it is accomplished 
 in the case of any individual man he is both saved 
 and safe; though he does not reach the consumma- 
 tion of his salvation until he attains to what Paul, in 
 verse 30, calls glorification, on which see note. Who 
 walk not, etc. See on verse i. 
 
 V. 5. For. What is the force here of this many- 
 
224 '^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 5 : — For they that are after the Jlesh do mind the things 
 of the flesh ; but they that are after the Spirit ^ the things of 
 the Spirit. 
 
 V. 6 : — For to be carnally minded is death ; but to be spirit- 
 ually minded is life and peace. 
 
 tongued little word " for ? " Does it mean that the 
 fact stated in this verse is the reason or ground of 
 that stated in the former— that is, that the former is 
 true ^^^a«^<? the latter is true? This seems to be its 
 force, and hence we may paraphrase thus : That the 
 righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who 
 walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ; and the 
 reason why we walk not after the flesh is, we are not 
 in the fleshly or natural state, and the reason why we 
 do walk after the Spirit is, we are in the spiritual 
 state ; for those who are " after the flesh " — that is, 
 who are in the fleshly or unregenerate state, do mind 
 or pursue those things which gratify such a state; 
 whereas those who are according to the Spirit, those 
 who are in the regenerate state, do pursue those 
 things which gratify such a state. This regenerate 
 state is the characteristic of those in whom has been 
 actually accomplished, or fulfilled, the *' righteousness 
 of the law." 
 
 V. 6. "For, This " for " also means because, as in 
 the last verse ; it is explanatory. Why do " they that 
 are after the flesh," or unregenerate, aspire after the 
 things of the flesh ? Because to be unregenerate, or 
 carnally minded, naturally tends to death — that is, 
 more and more to separation from God. The mind 
 of the flesh, or the unregenerate mind, is only follow- 
 ing the bent of its nature in seeking its gratification 
 along the path that leads farther and farther from 
 
Chapter VIII. 
 
 225 
 
 V. 7 : — Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for 
 it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 
 
 God. And that is the reason why it does so. The 
 compulsion is from within. 
 
 But why do " they that are after the Spirit " (the re- 
 generate) aspire after the things of the Spirit ? Because 
 those who are spiritually minded are only following the 
 bent of their regenerate nature in seeking gratification 
 along a path which leads to life and peace — nearer and 
 nearer to God. The compulsion is again from within. 
 What is meant here by peace? It does not mean 
 reconciliation with God, for that the regenerate one, 
 or spiritually minded, already has. It means the " in- 
 ward feeling of tranquillity," the "holy calm breathed 
 over the soul by the Holy Spirit pouring forth God's 
 love upon the heart." \ 
 
 V. 7. Because the carnal mind. The mind of 
 the flesh. The meaning is the same as in verses 5 and 
 6. Is enmity against God, The characteristic 
 and inalienable feature of the aspirations of the flesh 
 is hostility to God. The only thing that the ** flesh" 
 knows or regards is its own gratification, and in this 
 God opposes it; hence its necessary hostility to God. 
 Because of this it proceeds along its path to death, as 
 stated in verse 6. 
 
 For it is not subject y etc. This second clause 
 of the verse is the ground or reason of the statement 
 made in the first. What is called the mind of the 
 flesh, or the carnal mind, is hostile to God because 
 God, or God's law, is hostile to it ; and it can no more 
 change its nature than God can change his nature, or 
 his law. Hence, there is no possible way whereby it 
 15 
 
926 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 8 : — So then they that are in the flesh can not please God. 
 
 can ever become subject to, or in harmony with, God's 
 law. When the person becomes regenerated his 
 "carnal mind" becomes separated from himself, and 
 we have the duality, the two " I's," the " I," and the 
 "yet not I " of chapter vii. 14-25; one of these, the 
 "carnal mind," maintains its hostility inevitably and 
 persistently so long as it has any existence. 
 
 V. 8. So then. From the preceding statement it 
 follows that, etc. The word which Paul wrote, and 
 which is here rendered "so then," is the little particle 
 de which ordinarily means but. If it be so rendered 
 here the meaning becomes : For it is not subject to the 
 law of God, neither indeed can be ; but (on the con- 
 trary) it can not please God. The Revised Version, 
 Godet, Gifford, Ellicott, Bengel, Wicliff, Tyndale, 
 etc., prefer to render it "and:" The carnal mind is 
 not subject to the law of God . . . and they that 
 are in the flesh can not please God. This is the sim- 
 plest view to take of the word, but the sense conveyed 
 is not materially difi"erent from that of the rendering 
 of the Authorized Version, with which rendering 
 agree Beza, Calvin, Flatt, Koppe, and the Geneva 
 Version of 1557. 
 
 Can not please God. Because the controlling 
 motive or principle of the unrenewed mind is the de- 
 sire to please itself and not God ; and as it is the mo- 
 tive or principle from which our actions proceed that 
 gives them moral character, of course those which 
 proceed from a wrong principle, or character in our- 
 selves can not render us pleasing to God. They may 
 be right in themselves, but they are not done as right. 
 
Chapter VIII. 227 
 
 V. 9 '.—But ye are not in the Jiesh, but in the Spirit, if so 
 be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 
 
 It is easy to see that nothing that one does to me in 
 his relation of enemy to me can render him pleasing 
 to me ; and those who are in the flesh, as already ex- 
 plained, stand, and can stand, only in a relation of 
 enmity to God. The moment this relation ceases, 
 that moment they cease to be '' in the flesh." 
 
 V. 9. 'But ye. The ye is emphatic. But as for 
 you, ye are not in the flesh. But in the Spirit. 
 Renewed, regenerated. The ruling principle of life 
 is essentially different from that of those who are in 
 the flesh, or unrenewed, if so be, provided that, the 
 Spirit of God dwell in you. The indwelling must be 
 a permanent fact, and not a mere spasmodic and oc- 
 casional outburst of enthusiasm. It is characteristic 
 of St. Paul that he first expresses his strong and lov- 
 ing confidence in his readers in the absolute assertion,'' 
 Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, 
 " and then remembering [as it were] that so unqualified 
 a statement could not be safely applied to all, he adds 
 by way of caution, and stimulus to self-examination, 
 the condition upon which his statement concerning 
 them necessarily depends." (Giffbrd.) And this con- 
 dition here is, If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in 
 you. 
 
 Have not the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit 
 of God is in this clause called the Spirit of Christ, 
 which is a proof of the divinity of Christ. The Spirit 
 of God, or the spirit of Christ, dwells in the renewed 
 heart as the Holy Spirit. In this indwelling consists 
 
228 The Epistlk to the Romans. 
 
 V. lo '.—And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because 
 of sin ; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 
 
 the believer's vital union with Christ, without which 
 he is but a dead branch. 
 
 V. lo. And if Christ he in you. He who im 
 
 verse 9 was called "the Spirit of God" and "the 
 spirit of Christ," is here called Christ himself. Com- 
 pare Eph. iii. 16, 17. Christ, in speaking to his dis- 
 ciples, said: "And if I go . . . I will come again." 
 See John xiv. 3, 16, 17, 18. He dwells in the believer 
 in the person of the Spirit, who is that other Para- 
 clete. 
 
 The body is dead. Physical death. The idea 
 is: If Christ be in you in the manner described, 
 though the body is still subject to physical death, and 
 will actually die, because of sin, yet the Spirit is life, 
 etc. The effect upon the human race of Christ's death 
 and resurrection was not intended to be the abolition 
 of physical death as a racial fact, though it did render 
 possible the translation of an Enoch or an Elijah (for 
 his death and resurrection were already certainties in 
 the mind of God, even from the beginning). Death, 
 as a racial fact, will continue until the final consum- 
 mation of Christ's work, when death itself shall be 
 abolished, i Cor. xv. 26. 
 
 Because of sin. Physical death as a racial fact 
 exists as a fact because of sin, the first sinner's sin 
 being the starting point and cause of all. Apart from 
 sin, or prior to the first sin, the human body was ca- 
 pable of dying, and in this sense we may say it was 
 mortal ; it was also capable of not dying, and in this 
 sense we may say it was immortal. Sin caused it to 
 
Chapter VIII. 229 
 
 lose the capability of not dying, except where the 
 omnipotent God intervenes to prevent, as in the case 
 of Enoch and Elijah. And hence it amounts to noth- 
 ing to say that, If I should violate no physical law I 
 would not die ; for, aside from any other considera- 
 tion, the fact of sin makes it certain that I will violate 
 physical laws. I was born with the seeds of death in 
 me, for my parents and remoter ancestors violated 
 them before me. I may or may not be able to name 
 any specific sin that caused this or that man's blind- 
 ness or death ; there may be none to name ; and yet 
 sin, the great fact of sin, is the cause of both blind- 
 ness and death, whether it be my sin, in the sense of 
 my act or not. The sins of others caused the sinless 
 Christ to suffer unto death, for if there had been no 
 sin he would not and could not have suffered. 
 
 The spirit is life. The word Spirit is here 
 printed in the present copies of the Authorized Ver- 
 sion, with a capital S, indicating that the Spirit of 
 Christ is the Holy Spirit. Originally, however, it was 
 not so printed in the Authorized Version. The Re- 
 vised Version and the Greek printed editions have a 
 small letter. The meaning is that although the body 
 is dead, or doomed to die, because of sin, the spirit, 
 or soul, or that part which constitutes one a responsi- 
 ble moral agent, is alive. Christ says " I am the life," 
 and his life comes into the soul of the believer and 
 becomes its very life, or rather causing it to become 
 life itself, whereas it was once dead in sin. 
 
 Because of righteousness. What does the 
 word righteousness here mean ? Does it mean ri^/i^~ 
 ness, or the state of being rightened, or holiness ? It 
 is the same word which is often elsewhere rendered 
 justification ; and this meaning is the preferable one 
 
230 The Bpistlk to the Romans. 
 
 V. II -.—But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from 
 the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead 
 shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwell- 
 eth in you. 
 
 here, for we can hardly say that the spirit is life 
 because of its holiness or righteousness. Its life con- 
 sists in its righteousness, and is not because of it. The 
 spirit is life because of its righteousness in the sense 
 of justification— God's plan of justification, which in 
 i. 17 is called "God's righteousness." It is through 
 this plan that life is communicated to the soul, and 
 quickens man from his spiritual death. If it had not 
 been for this plan the soul could not have been so 
 quickened. 
 
 V. II. But if, Paul here informs his readers that 
 the body also, though now " dead," shall also share in 
 this quickening work of the spirit. The spirit of 
 him that raised, etc. Why does he not say the 
 Spirit of God ? Because he wishes to revert to the 
 resurrection of Jesus and thus furnish a basis for the 
 faith of his readers in the quickening of their mortal 
 bodies. The same spirit that did the one shall do the 
 other provided that spirit also dwell in us. 
 
 Why does Paul in the first clause say raised up 
 Jesus and in the next raised up Christ f Answer : 
 Jesus was his name, as a mere person ; Christ was his 
 official name, his name as denoting that he stands in 
 a certain relation to us ; and this relation is such as 
 to make his resurrection a pledge of our resurrection, 
 whereas the resurrection oi Jesus considered merely 
 as a person was not. The resurrection of Jesus 
 proves only that God can raise us up, the resurrection 
 of Christ proves that he will do it. I can do a certain 
 
Chapter VIII. 231 
 
 thing for a given person, but if that given person is 
 my son or my brother I not only can but will. 
 Shall quicken your mortal bodies. He 
 
 "raised" the body of Jesus; he shall "quicken" 
 ours. There is no difference in the sense; he uses 
 the word quicken because it is suggested by and corre- 
 sponds to the word " dead " as applied to the body in 
 verse 10 and to the word "mortal" here. Even the 
 bodies of those human beings who shall be alive at 
 the end of the world, and which therefore shall never 
 actually die, and hence can not be raised, even they 
 shall be quicke7ied—'C^^\. is, they shall be deprived of 
 that mortality, that something which dooms them to 
 die ; and thus the power and benefit on the body, of 
 the indwelling Spirit of God is not restricted to those 
 who shall actually die. The very principle itself of 
 death is removed, (i Cor. xv. 43, 44.) 
 
 By bis spirit. Through his spirit— that is, the 
 spirit dwelling in the believer is the cause or agent 
 that accomplishes the quickening. The indwelling 
 of the Spirit is also the condition of the quickening, 
 though according to the best Greek text that thought is 
 not here expressed. The quickening of the " mortal 
 body " is regarded by Calvin and others as denoting 
 its deliverance from sin and misery, the ennobling of 
 the whole sensuous nature and so perfecting it even 
 before the believer dies. While the believer's body 
 is undoubtedly affected thus, more or less, I do not con- 
 ceive this to be the main thought of this verse. The 
 best commentators, however, are divided. Macknight 
 says : " Will make even your mortal bodies to perform 
 works of righteousness." Barnes says : " The entire 
 man, including the corrupt body, shall be made alive 
 in the service of God." Hodge disagrees with Calvin 
 
232 The EpistIvIC to the Romans. 
 
 V. 12 : — Therefore^ brethren^ we are debtor s^ not to the Jieshy 
 to live after the flesh. 
 
 V. 13 : — For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if 
 ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye 
 shall live. 
 
 and refers to 2 Cor. iv. 14, as teaching what he con- 
 ceives to be the doctrine of this passage. Stuart and 
 Philippi agree with Calvin, as does also Abbott. 
 Meyer, Godet, Lange, and others take the other view. 
 The passage seems to teach that the fact that the be- 
 liever's body as the vessel of the Holy Spirit is the 
 earnest of the resurrection of the believer's body. 
 (2 Cor. V. 5.) 
 
 Paul does not tell us any thing here, or in Corin- 
 thians, of what shall be the future of the bodies of 
 unbelievers ; his object here is simply to trace the 
 process of that salvation, on soul and body, which he 
 is expounding. He therefore here restricts himself to 
 the future of the believer's body, having already 
 shown what are the legitimate effects of this salvation 
 on the present of the believer's body. See chapter 
 vi. II, 12, etc., a subject to which he reverts again in 
 verse 12, 13. 
 
 V. 12. Therefore, brethren. Such honor being 
 put upon us, and such help being vouchsafed to us, 
 by the indwelling of the Spirit, it devolves upon us 
 to live how? According to the inclination of the 
 corrupt nature? No, for (v. 13). 
 
 V. 13. For if ye live after the ftesh ye shall 
 die. This is the reason for the foregoing statement. 
 Not merely he shall, but he must die. If a man (the 
 unregenerate man) thinks he is under a sort of obli- 
 
Chapter VIII. 233 
 
 gation to gratify what is here called " the flesh " — a 
 term which we have already repeatedly explained — 
 the only future which can possibly await him is not 
 one of a quickened mortal body such as was men- 
 tioned in verse 11, but of the very opposite. And if 
 it were possible for the regenerate to place the 
 emphasis of his life on eating and drinking and other- 
 wise gratifying his lower and corrupt nature, neither 
 could he escape the same future. But he, however, 
 does not recognize himself as under any sort of obli- 
 gation to thus gratify the flesh, but he does recognize 
 himself as under a debt or obligation to the Spirit 
 to live according to the Spirit. And by thus living 
 he mortifies, or causes death, not to himself, but to 
 the flesh; he himself shall live, and his body also 
 shall be quickened. 
 
 The deeds of the body; or works of the body. 
 But what is the difference between the deeds of the 
 body (soma) and the deeds of the flesh (sarx) which 
 Paul has also mentioned. (Gal. v. 19 and, in sub- 
 stance, often elsewhere.) The deeds of the body are 
 those which are regarded simply as originating in the 
 body ; as, the body hungers, the body thirsts, has vari- 
 ous appetites, passions, etc., with which it is endowed 
 by the Creator, and which are therefore not in them- 
 selves sinful. If the soul, however, should co-operate 
 with these, and yield them up to their full gratifica- 
 tion, they would cease to be mere deeds of the body 
 and become deeds or works of the flesh ; and the per- 
 son who does this is said to walk or live after the flesh. 
 To mortify these "deeds" of the body is to bring 
 them within the control of our regenerate nature by 
 means of the Spirit dwelling in us. By so doing the 
 "flesh," or corrupt nature, is more and more driven 
 
234 I'he Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 14: — For as many as are led by tke Spirit of God, they 
 are the sons of God. 
 
 out, or restricted in its territor}^, so to speak; and 
 thus the body instead of becoming with increasing 
 intensity the slave of the "flesh" becomes increas- 
 ingly the slave of the renewed spirit. Its appetites or 
 lusts are suppressed or crushed before they develop 
 into sinfulness. And this person goes on to that 
 **life" which the Apostle has already described as 
 being the destiny of the one "who lives after the 
 Spirit." 
 
 V. 14. JF^or. Paul here assigns the reason why 
 those who, through the Spirit mortify the deeds of 
 the body, shall live. Those who do this are, in doing 
 it, moved and guided by the Spirit, and those who are 
 thus moved and guided are the sons of God, otherwise 
 they would not thus yield themselves to his Spirit. 
 But it is impossible to conceive of a son of God, one 
 who is dear to God, as not living. They derive their 
 life from him. While, as a matter of fact, the being 
 "led by the Spirit," is both a cause of sonship and a 
 proof of sonship. If, however, the idea of sonship 
 as here presented is that of adoption into the family 
 of God, as distinguished from our justification as 
 guilty and condemned sinners, it would seem that the 
 Apostle refers to the leading of the Spirit as the proof 
 rather than as the cmise of sonship. So far, therefore, 
 as this verse is concerned, instead of saying: Why 
 does God lead us by his Spirit? Answer: Because we 
 are his sons — we should rather say : How do we know,, 
 or what proof have we that we are the sons of God? 
 Answer : The fact that we are led by his Spirit is the 
 
Chapter VIII. 235 
 
 V. 15 : — For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again 
 to fear ; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby 
 we cry J Abba, Father. 
 
 V. 16: — The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit^ 
 that we are the children of God: 
 
 proof. Where this proof is wanting the essential proof 
 is wanting. The subject of sonship, or adoption, is 
 presented in various aspects in the New Testament. 
 
 V. 15. ¥or ye have not received the spirit 
 of bondage , etc. The "spirit of bondage" means 
 the low, cringing, fearing spirit that characterizes 
 bondmen. The motive or spirit which causes them 
 to serve is fear of the master, and nothing higher or 
 purer or more joyous. But this was not the kind of 
 spirit which "ye received" when ^^e were freed from 
 condemnation as sinners, regenerated, and adopted 
 into the family of God. But the spirit which ye 
 received was t/ie Spirit of adoption — the spirit or dis- 
 position which characterizes sons and not bondmen, 
 and who address God as a loving Father, and not as a 
 tyrannical Master. The ^ox^l abba is the Jewish or 
 Aramaic word meaning father. Paul translated it 
 into Greek (pater) for his Greek readers, and from 
 this we have it translated into English. 
 
 V. 16. The Spirit itself. The Spirit of God, or 
 Holy Spirit. The word Spirit in the Greek {p7ieumd) 
 is in the neuter gender, and hence the neuter pronoun 
 itself is here used. Using the word otherwise than 
 from the stand-point of the Greek gender, we should 
 say " the Spirit Himself." The testimony of the Holy 
 Spirit concurs with that of our own consciousness 
 that we are the children of God. The heart in filial 
 
236 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. IT'.— And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint 
 heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we 
 may be also glorified together. 
 
 love cries, Father, thou art my Father, and the Father 
 responds, My child, yes, thou art my child. This is 
 the Spirit bearing testimony with spirit. Observe the 
 three proofs of sonship : i. Led by the Spirit (verse 
 14). 2. The disposition or feeling of filial love, called 
 *' the spirit of adoption" (verse 15). 3. The testimony 
 of the Holy Spirit (verse 16), which comes to us in 
 the form of the inward comfort w^hich we experience, 
 the incitements to prayer which he awakens within 
 us, the promptings to works of love, the repugnance 
 to sin, which the Christian has, etc. 
 
 The Apostle, in verse 14, uses the expression ''sons 
 of God; " here he says " children of God." The for- 
 mer, among the Jews, was a title of honor and privi- 
 lege, the latter an expression of endearment, denoting 
 that the "sons" were not only "sons," but that they 
 were natural or dear sons. 
 
 V. 17. If children, then heirs. Were all chil- 
 dren heirs according to the Roman law? Yes, sons 
 and daughters, and even adopted children, shared 
 equally in the inheritance. But not so in the Jewish 
 law, daughters being excluded except in the event 
 there were no sons. Paul here announces the law of 
 God's Fatherhood and of Christ's Brotherhood. All 
 the children share alike in the inheritance which 
 Christ has reclaimed. In what does this inheritance 
 consist? The only one word that can express it is 
 "Himself" — God himself (i Cor. xv. 28). How then 
 can we speak of this inheritance as being reclaimed 
 
Chapter VIII. 237 
 
 V. 18:— For I reckon that the sufferings of this present 
 time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall 
 be revealed in us. 
 
 or procured by Christ for all believers? Because of 
 the fact that by reason of what Christ is, what he did, 
 what he still does — in short, through Christ and 
 through him alone, can God ever impart himself to 
 the believer. 
 
 If so be that we suffer with him. With Christ. 
 Joint suffering with Christ is the condition of joint 
 heirship with Christ. Paul often speaks of the fellow- 
 ship of believers with Christ in his sufferings. (See 
 I Thes. iii. 3; 2 Cor. i. 5; Col. i. 24; 2 Tim. i. 8, etc. 
 See also i Peter iv. 13, and other references.) Nothing 
 so unites two or more persons as a common suffering 
 in a common cause. But whether or not any given 
 person be called in reality to suffer for Christ's sake, 
 or in Christ's cause, he must share ideally those suffer- 
 ings which Christ bore for his sake, if he would share 
 with Christ the inheritance of glory. As he bore our 
 cross, so we must bear his; if we would share his 
 crown of glory we must share his crown of thorns. 
 And it is possible to do this without being called to 
 actual objective or outside suffering for the sake of 
 Christ's cause. Unless the suffering of one soul be- 
 comes in a certain true sense the suffering of the 
 other, the two souls are not truly united. 
 
 V. 18. For I reckon, I calculate, I conclude, 
 after thinking about it. By the mention of suffering, 
 of which he had had the severest experiences because 
 of his union with Christ, Paul is reminded of the 
 future, and of what is meant by being glorified with 
 
238 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V, 19 : — For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth 
 for the manifestation of the S07is of God. 
 
 Christ. As compared with the glories which shall be 
 revealed, or made manifest in us and unto us in that 
 day of glorification, he says that the present suffer- 
 ings are not worth thinking of, and Paul knew what 
 it was to suffer. (2 Cor. iv. 17.) He bore in his body 
 the marks of the Lord Jesus, and they were marks of 
 suffering. (Gal. vi. 17.) 
 
 V. 19. jPor. What has the statement in this verse 
 to do with that in the preceding, that it should be 
 linked to it by a "for," or because? The question 
 has been variously answered : (i) According to Godet 
 the connection is : That this present age is one of 
 suffering is evident for the whole creation, etc. (2) 
 The reference according to this and the following 
 opinions is to the revelation of glory in and unto us, 
 "the sons of God." This revelation is certain, for, or 
 as is evident from the fact that, the whole creation 
 waits for it ; this is the view of Meyer and many 
 others. (3) That this revelation will be grand and 
 glorious is evident for the whole creation, etc. Other 
 views have been held by various commentators, but 
 the third, which is the view of Hodge, Alford, and 
 others, seems to me to be the most natural. It was 
 the grandeur of the glorious revelation which the 
 Apostle emphasized in the preceding verse, and not its 
 certainty, futuritj^ or reality, though all these ele- 
 ments are as a matter of fact present in the statement 
 in that verse. 
 
 ]^arnest expectation. This is one word in the 
 Greek (apokaradokia). It denotes an attitude of up- 
 
Chapter VIII. 239 
 
 lifted head, and eye intently gazing in the direction 
 from which the thing expected is to come. The word 
 waiteth for implies an extension of the hand as if in 
 the act of receiving that which is not as yet within 
 reach. 
 
 The creature. Does this mean the rational 
 creature, man? Or simply Christians? Or are those 
 who are not Christians also included? Or does it 
 mean things created in general, including the irra- 
 tional as well as the rational ? Or does it mean the 
 irrational creature exclusively? All of these and 
 several other questions have been answered in the 
 afi&rmative. It is best, however, to take the word as 
 denoting, not the rational, but the whole irrational 
 creation animate and inanimate. This is the view of 
 Chrysostom, Calvin, Grotius, Bloomfield, Meyer, 
 Godet, Hodge, and most commentators. The reasons 
 for preferring this view will appear as we observe the 
 use of the words "creature" and " creation " in the 
 following verses. Meanwhile it may be noticed that 
 Christians, or the *' sons of God," can not be included 
 here within the scope of the meaning of the word 
 "■ creature," for they are the ones for whose manifes- 
 tation or complete redemption and glorification '' the 
 creature " is represented as longing. All nature, 
 animate and inanimate, is represented by a figure of 
 speech as being on the outlook and waiting with out- 
 stretched hands for man's complete redemption, and 
 all nature will share with man in this redemption. 
 
 V. 20. 'For the creature. The same as in pre- 
 ceding verse — the whole irrational creation animate 
 and inanimate. Was made subject. Was sub- 
 jected. Xo vanity. This word here denotes the 
 
240 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 20 : — For the creature was 'made subject to vanity, not 
 willingly ^ but by reason of him who hath subjected the same 
 in hope. 
 
 frailty, and abnormal condition generally, which is 
 due to corruption. Nature shares the ills which came 
 of human sin. All things were cursed on man's 
 account, even the very ground, whether the curse be- 
 gan to operate, in the first place, through " natural 
 law " or through supernatural. Had it not been for 
 human negligence and other sins, even the roses and 
 other flowers of Eden would never have degenerated 
 into wild weeds, and briers, and thorns. When the 
 race on earth shall itself become reclaimed so will it 
 reclaim nature's wastes and wild growths. If the 
 human race on earth shall ever again be wholly sub- 
 jected to God, nature again will be wholly subjected 
 to it, and no longer to *' vanity." There shall be a 
 new earth. 
 
 Not willingly. Nature is personified in these 
 verses and is here represented as being subjected not, 
 voluntarily, or of its own will, but by a will or power 
 outside of itself. This is a proof that the " creature," 
 or " creation," does not mean mankind, for man be- 
 came subject to " vanity " of his own will. But as 
 man was not made so at the outset, so neither was 
 nature. Both became so; the one voluntarily, and 
 the other because fallen man can live only in a fallen 
 world. As the former will rise, so will the latter. 
 
 But by reason of him. Of whom ? Some say 
 Adam ; others, man ; others, the tempter — that is, the 
 devil. The majority, though not all, of the best 
 commentators, rightly it seems to me, make the 
 words refer to God. Nature was subjected to 
 
Chapter VIII. 241 
 
 V. 21 -.—Because the creature itself also shall be delivered 
 from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of 
 the children of God. 
 
 "vanity" by God as the moving cause, though of 
 course man's sin or corruption may be regarded as 
 the moral cause. (The usual meaning of the Greek 
 preposition dia with the accusative is on account of, 
 but according to Winer and other New Testament 
 Greek authorities, it may also be rendered by, and 
 this is cited as one instance among the number. It 
 makes a better sense.) 
 
 Who subjected the same in hope. Literally, 
 on the hope. The subjection of nature was based, or 
 conditioned on a hope of future redemption. But who 
 was it that entertained the hope? Was it God, or 
 " the creature " (nature) ? Evidently nature, creation, 
 *'the creature." But how can nature be said to have 
 a hope ? By the same figure of speech by which in 
 the first part it is said to be in an attitude of expecta- 
 tion and waiting. But for what does it hope? It 
 hopes for deliverance, as stated in next verse. 
 
 V. 21. Because. Or simply t/zat. While the 
 creature was by the will of God subjected to frailty, 
 decay, barrenness, degradation, it was subjected on 
 the condition of the hope that it should share with 
 the "sons of God" deliverance from the bondage of 
 corruption at the time of the restitution of all things. 
 God did not form the earth to be a waste, and it shall 
 not continue to be so. (See Isaiah xi. ; Ixvi. 22; 
 Psalm cii. 26, 27; 2 Peter iii. 13; Rev. xxi. i., etc.) 
 
 Nature, or creation, is represented as being 
 '* bound " to corruption, as man himself became the 
 16 
 
342 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 22 : — For we know that the whole creation groaneth and 
 travaileth in pain together until now. 
 
 bond-servant of sin. When the latter is freed so shall 
 the former be. The curse, or in other words, all the 
 inconveniences, decays, deaths, discords, etc., entailed 
 by sin and corruption upon man and nature, shall be 
 removed from the one as it is from the other ; and re- 
 newed man shall live in a renewed world. How 
 unlike this one we are not told ; it may be as unlike it 
 as the " old man " is unlike the " new; " as our pres- 
 ent " corruptible " body shall be unlike our ** incor- 
 ruptible." We need not raise the question whether 
 nature shall be thus changed absolutely or only rela- 
 tively — that is, only seeming to be changed because of 
 the changed attitude of him who shall inhabit it. In 
 either case the time will come when " December shall 
 be as pleasant as May," and there shall be no more 
 sickness and sorrow produced either by physical or 
 moral causes. 
 
 V. 22. IB^or we know. This verse is the proof of 
 the hoping for deliverance on the part of the creature 
 as stated in the . preceding verse. Paul says " we 
 know." We know whatf TY^^ fact that nature or 
 creation groans and travails, so great is its pain. 
 Creation here is the same Greek word as creature in 
 the former verses. We know by experience and ob- 
 servation the/a^/ that it groans. Pain, discord, death, 
 etc., are as marked a characteristic of the irrational 
 creature as of the rational ; and the correspondences 
 of these features, by whatever name they may be 
 called are as visible in inanimate nature as they are 
 in the animate. The fact is obvious even to the most 
 
Chapter VIII. 243 
 
 V. 23 : — And not only they, but ourselves also, which have 
 the firstfruits of the Spirit, even zue ourselves groan within 
 ourselves, waiting for th^ adoption, to wit, the redemption of 
 our body. 
 
 unlettered. He who does nothing but sow and reap 
 and till the soil often says that the seasons seem to be 
 awry ; and earth, air, and water are said to abound in 
 death-producing germs. Creature destroys creature. 
 Nature has become unnatural ; but it is orderly in its 
 disorder. But in the day of deliverance nature will 
 again become natural. 
 
 Together. Together with what? Each part 
 "groans and travails" together with other parts. 
 Until now, Paul means that it has been doing so 
 ever since sin and corruption were introduced into 
 the world. Had he been writing in our day he would 
 still have said " until now." 
 
 V. 23. And not only they. Not only the various 
 created things, which we call nature or the creation. 
 Paul here expressly distinguishes between what he 
 has called "the creature," or "creation," and "we 
 ourselves" or Christians, the sons of God. Which 
 have the £rst- fruits of the spirit. This clause 
 defines who is meant by the " we ourselves." The 
 Christian has only a partial deliverance from sin and 
 its awful consequences in this world as it is. He can 
 not know all that is comprehended in the words 
 complete redemption, including the redemption 
 of the body. Now we have only the first-fruits; 
 after a while we shall have the full harvest. Now we 
 have the Spirit himself, who is the first-fruits ; then 
 we shall have this and more. Waiting for the 
 
244 ^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 24 : — For we are saved by hope : but hope that is seen is 
 not hope: for what a man seeth^ why doth he yet hope for? 
 
 adoption. Not for our adoption as sons of God, for 
 that has already taken place (verse 15), but that pub- 
 lic adoption of us which shall take place at the re- 
 demption of our bodies, when all angels and men 
 shall know that we are the sons of God, and we shall 
 come into the full possession and enjoyment of our 
 inheritance. The redemption of our body. The 
 body itself shall be redeemed. It is material, corrupt- 
 ible, mortal, now ; then it shall be spiritual, incorrupt- 
 ible, immortal — a glorified body, (i Cor. xv.; 2 Cor. v. 
 4.) The " child of God " now is also a " child of the 
 dust," but then he shall no longer be a child of the dust. 
 
 V. 24. Por, This word refers to the groaning and 
 waiting of verse 23. We groan . . . waiting. 
 Why? For or because we are saved by hope. 
 The Revised Version reads : Bj/ hope were we saved. 
 This expression does not mean that hoping on our 
 part is the instrument whereby we are saved, but 
 that it is rather the manner. We were saved in 
 hope. We were saved so far by being placed in 
 such relation to God as to impel us to hope; and 
 when this something more is realized, our salvation 
 will be fully accomplished. This something more is, 
 in part, the redemption of our body. The very fact 
 that we hope implies that our redemption is not yet 
 completed ; all that salvation means even to the body 
 is not yet realized ; else why should we be impelled 
 to hope. And the Apostle has abundantly shown that 
 it is a hope which shall not be disappointed, or make 
 US ashamed. (See verse 5, etc.) 
 
Chapter VIII. 245 
 
 V. 25 : — But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with 
 patience wait for it. 
 
 V. 26 : — Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : 
 for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but 
 the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings 
 which can not be uttered. 
 
 V. 27 : — And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is 
 the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the 
 saints according to the will of God. 
 
 V. 25. This verse continues the thought of the pre- 
 ceding. The word patience here, as in verse 5 and 
 elsewhere, implies a large element of perseverance, 
 continued endurance. He who continues to hope 
 continues to endure whatever suffering lies between 
 him and that which he hopes for. He who despairs 
 will not push on through suffering. 
 
 Vs. 26, 27. Lfikewise, In verse 22 Paul spoke of 
 the groaning of the whole creation ; in verse 23, the 
 groaning of ourselves ; while in this verse he speaks 
 of the groaning of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Helpeth our inHrmities. By helping us to 
 pray. Besides the natural " groanings " and " long- 
 ings" of the regenerate heart, the Holy Spirit him- 
 self inspires other mute and wordless prayers, which 
 God, however, can hear and interpret. Sometimes 
 the soul may experience moments of fainting under 
 its burden of suffering and longing. The Holy Spirit 
 prays, groans, maketh intercession in that soul, though 
 all that human ear may hear is, " O Lord, I need 
 something, but I know not what I need." God hears 
 and knows the rest, for he searches the heart and sees 
 what it needs, what the voiceless groaning means. 
 
 According to the will of God, All the 
 
246 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 28: — And we know that all things work together for 
 good to them that love God, to them who are the called accord- 
 ing to his purpose. 
 
 prayers, longings, groanings, which the Holy Spirit 
 inspires in the soul and in behalf of the soul are ac- 
 cording to or in harmony with the will of God. He 
 dictates them, so to speak, to the Holy Spirit, and the 
 Holy Spirit to the human spirit ; but as the human 
 spirit knows not the language of God, they reach it 
 and go back to God only as unutterable groans. 
 
 V. 28. And we know, etc. Paul here states ad- 
 ditional encouragement to the Christian in the midst 
 of his trials. All things work together. Work 
 together with one another and with the believers; 
 they all work to the same end. Not only God and 
 the Spirit, but all that happens or falls out to believers 
 in this life. All things are so adjusted to them and 
 they are so adjusted to all things, that the outworking 
 of it all is the believer's good. To them that love 
 God. Believers are here so called because only those 
 who love God so fall in with the current of ** all 
 things," all his inruling and overruling providences, 
 as to cause that which God meant for good actually to 
 produce good. Joseph and David, for example, so 
 fell in with the divine current, and hence their severe 
 afflictions resulted in their good. Pharaoh did not, 
 and he was " ground to powder." 
 
 To those who are called according to his 
 purpose. The word purpose here means something 
 fixed beforehand. Those who love God, and those 
 who are called according to God's pre-established de- 
 sign, are the same persons. Paul has no thought 
 
Chapter VIII. 247 
 
 V. 29: — For whom he did foreknow^ he also did predestinate 
 to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the 
 firstborn among many brethren. 
 
 whatever of saying that only those who are thus 
 called love God. But those who love God are always 
 the called according to his purpose. And the fact 
 that they are thus called is what makes all things work 
 together for their good ; for if the lovers of God had 
 been called to a life and destiny out of harmony with 
 God's pre-established design and order of all things, 
 how then could all things have worked together with 
 them for their good. The very words work together 
 imply harmony between "all things" and the pur- 
 pose of the believer's call; for if there is no harmony 
 they do not work together. The last clause of the 
 verse is a blessed addition to the foregoing part. God 
 has no purpose in regard to any thing whatsoever 
 that is not in harmony with the good of those who 
 love him, and that does not have that good in view. 
 
 V. 29. Paul in this and the following verse states 
 plainly his reason for sajdng that all things — the 
 "groanings" of the human spirit, the " groanings " 
 of the Holy Spirit in the human spirit, all things 
 whatsoever, work together for the good of them that 
 love God. 'Bor whom he did foreknow. Those 
 whom God foreknew would love him ; or, in other 
 words, fulfill the condition of salvation — that is, have 
 faith. God evidently knew from eternity that some 
 human beings would be saved, and that in order to be 
 saved they would comply with the condition of sal- 
 vation. He foreknew that some would resist his 
 Spirit, and that others would not. It is his knowl- 
 
248 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 edge of those who would not resist his Spirit that is 
 here spoken of. Nothing is said in regard to those 
 who would resist him, for the passage is written sim- 
 ply for the comfort and encouragement of Christians ; 
 it is a sure ground for the hope of their future glori- 
 fication. 
 
 He did also predestinate. Those whom God 
 saw from eternity would have faith, he predestinated, 
 or solemnly and irrevocably determined should be 
 conformed to the image of his Son. His word is 
 pledged ; his decree has gone forth ; it shall be done ; 
 and this is the immovable basis of our belief in, not 
 only the preservation of the believer, but also his glo- 
 rification. What God predestinates is, not that any 
 man shall believe or not believe ; but that having be- 
 lieved, he shall be conformed, etc. That this is the 
 teaching of the passage is plain and obvious enough 
 apart even from intricate discussion, and it is substan- 
 tially the interpretation of a great many commenta- 
 tors of various schools. God may predestinate, or 
 foreordain, or eternally decree, one thing or another. 
 Here the thing predestinated is, as we have seen, the 
 conformity of believers to the image of his Son, while 
 in Eph. i. 5 it is their adoption as children ; i Cor. ii. 
 7, it is the " hidden wisdom," or wise plan of salvation 
 which God foreordained ; in Acts iv. 28, it is simply 
 "whatsoever." The doctrine of " predestination " is 
 of course scriptural, and it is very comforting to the 
 Christian. But there are some interpretations of 
 the doctrine which are not only not scriptural, but are 
 positively anti-scrv^XMraX. As it is true (and comfort- 
 ing) that God foreordained that believers should at 
 last reach the state of heavenly glorification, so is it 
 true that he foreordained that unbelievers should not. 
 
Chapter VIII. 249 
 
 It was never his intention that the righteous and the 
 wicked should go to the same place, but it has always 
 been his intention that they should not ; and what are 
 called God's decrees are only the temporal expression 
 of God's eternal intentions — and we can know his in- 
 tentions from what is revealed of his character in the 
 Bible and in nature. 
 
 It is not difficult to see, therefore, that even the 
 Jews and Romans (Acts iv. 28) did whatsoever God 
 determined before should come to pass ; for if God 
 foreordained a plan of salvation, as he surely did, he 
 must have foreordained that even every wicked act of 
 man should fit in with that plan, otherwise the plan 
 might prove to be a failure. But what God foreordains 
 in regard to wickedness is the opposite, or negative, of 
 what he foreordains in regard to righteousness ; for it 
 is just as trul}^ the expression of God's eternal decree 
 or eternal nature that the outflow of a wicked char- 
 acter should be wicked acts, as that the outflow of a 
 righteous character should be righteous acts. If there 
 is to be any order at all in the universe a fruit tree can 
 not be allowed to bring forth thistles, nor a thistle 
 tree any thing but thistles. So that, strictly speaking, 
 a man (Judas, for example) is not condemned for his 
 wicked acts chiefly, but for having such a character 
 as can manifest itself only in wicked acts. And for 
 the kind of character he has every human being is 
 responsible. 
 
 Conformed to the image of his Son, This 
 does not mean likeness to Christ in respect to suffer- 
 ing (verse 17), he being in this our pattern — that is, as 
 Christ was made perfect as a Mediator, through suf- 
 fering, so must we be made perfect. This is true, but 
 it does not seem to be what Paul is teaching here. 
 
250 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 30 : — Moreover^ whom he did predestinate, them he also 
 called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom, 
 he justified, them he also glorified. 
 
 Such, however, is the view of Calvin, Grotius, and some 
 others. It is better to regard conformity to Christ's 
 image as meaning likeness to his image, not in the out- 
 ward circumstance of suffering, but in our nature— or 
 in what shall more and more become our nature, to 
 wit, our character, including at last, however, the out- 
 ward circumstances of that character : the glorified be- 
 liever and the glorified surroundings of the believer 
 shall be like unto Christ and unto Christ's. This 
 seems to be substantially the view of most commenta- 
 tors. And this, so far as the believer is concerned, is 
 the end to which the predestination looks. 
 
 That he might be the first horn among 
 many brethren. This is the end, so far as it has 
 reference to Christ, to which the predestination looks 
 — that he might be leader and head of a glorified host, 
 all of whose luster is, after all, but his own. They 
 shine only in his splendor, and not in an angel's, for 
 they are his brethren. 
 
 V. 30. Them he also called, God foreknew 
 and predestinated in eternity, and what he thus 
 resolved upon in eternity he takes the necessary 
 steps, so to speak, to have accomplished in time — that 
 is, in the first place, by the influence of the Holy 
 Spirit, or by the formal or informal preaching of the 
 gospel, he called. Whom did he call? The predesti- 
 nated — that is, believers. Were not others called? 
 Yes, for he " came to call sinners to repentance; " but 
 Paul does not here say this. He restricts his thought 
 
Chapter VIII. 251 
 
 here to the predestinated, as if he had said, Whatever 
 may be said in regard to others, one thing is certain : 
 he did not omit to call, to extend all needed means of 
 grace to, the predestinated — that is, to those whom he 
 foreknew would believe if they had the opportunity. 
 Hence, no one need have any fears on that point. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the means of grace are equally 
 offered to those who never believe, but it does not 
 here concern Paul's line of thought to look upon that 
 side of the subject. Indeed, the call with him is gen- 
 erally, if not invariably, effectual, because he speaks 
 of believers. Our Savior, however, in the Gospels, 
 speaks of the call as being in many instances ineffect- 
 ual. " Many are called, but few chosen " (Matt. xx. 
 16) ; which is the same as saying. All are called, but 
 only many are chosen — few in comparison with all, 
 Paul contemplates the future only of these " few." 
 Whatever may be said of the eternal destiny of the 
 others, they never become God's choice, his chosen 
 ones ; but it is not because they were not called in the 
 same sense as were those who do. The rain of his 
 grace falls alike upon the *' just and the unjust." 
 
 Them, he also justified. Justification is here 
 what we have seen it to be elsewhere in this epistle, to 
 wit : the removal from one, on account of his faith, 
 of the condemnation which he is already under who 
 believes not — a ceasing to be the object of God's dis- 
 approbation and becoming the object of his approba- 
 tion. Of course, this relation of God and the believer 
 is a legal relation — that is, it is one in which the atti- 
 tude of the party to the divine will or nature, consid- 
 ered as law, is the thing involved (John iii. 18). 
 
 If the reader has kept in mind Paul's line of 
 thought, as we have endeavored to trace it, he remem- 
 
252 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 bers that since we entered chap, vi., the central theme 
 has been sanctification, or the holy life which must be 
 the outflow of the renewed heart. The renewed heart 
 is the guaranty of the renewed life, and the renewed 
 life implies the renewed heart, and the two together 
 constitute sanctification. But why, then, did not Paul 
 proceed to say, "Whom he justified he also sancti- 
 fied?" The reason why he omits to mention sancti- 
 fication here is, because, as he has sought to show his 
 readers, justification would not be justification as he 
 conceives it unless it be understood to imply sanctifi- 
 cation. It does not imply it, however, simply in the 
 sense in which the predestination implies the call, for 
 between these two there is no essential relation, but 
 only an arbitrary one, or one depending solely on the 
 will of God. There is nothing in the nature of pre- 
 destination that causes it to be followed by the call. 
 But justification not onl}' docs, but must, imply sancti- 
 fication ; it would not be Pauline justification if it 
 did not. Hence, there was no need of saying, Whom 
 he justified, them he also sanctified. 
 
 ^hotn he justMed, them he also gloriRed, 
 Justification does not in itself imply glorification; 
 hence, the Apostle must explicitly state that the for- 
 mer will be followed by the latter because of the 
 nature of God and not because of the nature of justi- 
 fication. But what is meant here b}^ being glorified ? 
 It has reference to the final glorious consummation 
 of our salvation as already explained; see note on 
 preceding verse. 
 
 The past tense of the verbs is used throughout this 
 verse— " called," "justified," "glorified." This does 
 not imply, of course, that none would be called, justi- 
 fied, and glorified, after Paul's day. The Apostle 
 
Chapter VIII. 253 
 
 V. 31 : — Whai shall we then say to these things f If God be 
 for uSf who can be against us ? 
 
 looks upon these facts as so certain to be accom- 
 plished that he may truly speak of them as already 
 accomplished even in the case of the future believer. 
 
 The reader should observe the steps in the divini 
 process of salvation as here stated by Paul — 
 
 1. Foreknowledge. 
 
 2. Predestination. 
 
 3. The call. 
 
 4. Justification, implying sanctification. 
 
 5. Glorification. 
 
 It is the Apostle's purpose in this passage to 
 encourage Christians ; hence, it is not his purpose to 
 speak of the human side of salvation; and hence, 
 again, he makes no mention of repentance, faith, etc. 
 He is writing to believers of believers, and, therefore, 
 takes repentance and faith for granted. In his 
 preaching to the jailer, however, and other uncon- 
 verted persons, as reported in the Acts, he was accus- 
 tomed to say, Repent, and " Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." 
 
 V. 31. What shall we say? In view of the 
 foreknowledge, and the predestination, and the call, 
 the justification, the glorification, all of which God is 
 pledged by his very nature to accomplish, what shall 
 we say? If God be for us, what matters it who may 
 be against us? The Arch Enemy himself can not 
 triumph over us. 
 
 V. 32. He that spared not his own Son, This 
 
254 '^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 32 : — 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? 
 
 V. 33:— JFy^f? shall lay any thing to the charge of God's 
 elect ? It is God that justifieth. 
 
 is "the climax" of proofs that God is for us. The 
 very reference to it here by Paul implies something 
 which we can express in human language only by 
 saying that it caused the Father-heart of God the 
 intensest pang to " spare not his own Son." If not 
 so, how could the Apostle here mention it as a proof 
 that he will freely give us all things ? The fact that 
 one has given a small gift is no proof that he will 
 give a large one. But if he give a large one, how 
 much easier is it to give a small one ! But the great- 
 ness of a gift depends upon its dearness to him who 
 gives it. If to give his Son had not cost God a most 
 intense pang (humanly speaking), it might to us still 
 have been a great gift, but it would not have been so 
 to God. We may reverently say that the only good 
 thing that it was ever hard for God to do was to give 
 up to humiliation, suffering, and death, his own Son, 
 and this is the only fact that gives Paul's words here 
 any force. But he who could do that loves us well 
 enough to freely give us any thing — all things — and 
 in giving us all things he glorifies us, makes us sharers 
 in all the glory of his own Son. It is not according 
 to the nature of a man to so treat adopted children, 
 especially when he has an " own son." 
 
 V. 33. Who shall lay, etc. The question antici- 
 pates a negative answer. Surely no one ; neither 
 conscience, nor law, nor any man, nor Satan himself. 
 
Chapter VIII. 255 
 
 V. 34 :— JVho is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, 
 yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand 
 of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 
 
 If any one does, it will make no difference. God has 
 justified us, and will ever justify us against tHe con- 
 demnations of all accusers ; if he justifies, he will 
 also glorify, causing our righteousness to shine forth 
 as the noonday, as he did Job's, notwithstanding 
 the accusations even of his friends and of Satan (Ps. 
 xxxvii. 6). 
 
 God^S elect, God's chosen ones. Who are they? 
 They are those to whom and of whom Paul has been 
 writing in all these verses. They are believers — those 
 who have accepted Christ. Or, speaking of others, 
 whether yet born or unborn, they are those whom 
 God foreknows as those who will accept Christ; 
 when they have once come upon the stage of human 
 action as believers and justified ones, they are God's 
 elect, and he will vindicate them against every ac- 
 cuser. 
 
 V. 34. Who is be that condemneth ? Liter- 
 ally, " Who is the one condemning? " As there might 
 be many accusers, so there can be but one Judge. 
 Who is that one who will pronounce the final sen- 
 tence of condemnation on the believer ? Christ is the 
 only judge of the living and dead ; but it can not be 
 he, for he died in order to prevent that very thing ; 
 and in order that his death might not be unavailing 
 he is also risen and still lives, and by the Holy Spirit 
 communicates to believers his own life. At the 
 right hand of God, The position of highest influ- 
 ence and exaltation, giving the greatest degree of 
 
256 The BPIST1.E TO THE Romans. 
 
 V. 35 : — IV/ia shall separate us from the love of Christ ? 
 shall tribulation^ or distress, or persecution^ or famine^ or 
 nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
 
 V. 36 •: — As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the 
 day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
 
 potency to his intercessions in the Christian's behalf. 
 The believer's friend at court is the one who is the 
 nearest to the throne. It is this communication of 
 his own spiritual life to the believer, these interces- 
 sions which he makes for him in every moment of 
 spiritual weakness or lapse, that Paul refers to in the 
 last clause of chap. v. 10. And the Psalmist said, 
 " He restoreth my soul " — and this he does as the one 
 who himself still lives as the source of life. 
 
 V. 35. Who shall separate us from the love 
 of Christ ? A triumphant question. The " love of 
 Christ " is evidently not our love for him, but his love 
 for us. This is what the apostle has been speaking 
 of. Who, in the very face of all the proofs just men- 
 tioned of his omnipotent love for us (believers), can 
 cause him to become our enemy ? Who can tear us 
 from him, and put a distance between us and him ? 
 Christ will permit no tribulation, however severe, to 
 come between him and the object of his love. If the 
 object of his love suffers, however disgracefully in the 
 world's estimation, or however loathsomely, Christ is 
 by his side, and loves him still, and abides with him 
 with as much self-forgetting alacrity of love in a dun- 
 geon as in a palace. Where he is whom Christ loves 
 there will Christ be also. 
 
 V. 36. As it is written, etc. The mention of 
 persecution and reward in the last verse reminds Paul 
 
Chapter VIII. 257 
 
 V. 37 : — Nay^ in all these things we are more than conquer- 
 ors through him that loved us. 
 
 of a passage in Ps. xliv. 22, which he quotes as being 
 only too applicable to the Christians of his day and 
 subsequently, and which is hardly less applicable to 
 Christians in some parts of the world to-day. But he 
 who suflfers for Christ in any form Christ will never 
 forsake. 
 
 V. 37. Nayj in all these things we are more 
 than conquerors. In our very tribulations, dis- 
 tresses, persecutions, etc., we are more than conquer- 
 ors. Our very defeats are our victories ; even more 
 than bare victories, for instead of merely conquering 
 our enemies we win them over to our side. John 
 Bunyan's twelve years of darkest defeat proved to be 
 the twelve years of his most brilliant triumph. And 
 was not Luther most mighty in behalf of the German 
 Reformation while he was in prison at Wartburg? 
 The fact that Paul was a prisoner gave him oppor- 
 tunity to preach the gospel to Caesar's household 
 and to write epistles which he might not otherwise 
 have written. Christianity was spread abroad rapidly 
 because the Christians were persecuted at Jerusalem. 
 The more we are " killed all the day long," the more 
 may we be "more than conquerors." 
 
 Through him that loved us. Not through 
 his love, but through himself as the one who loved 
 us. It is Christ in us who gains these victories. 
 But why did Paul say loved, using the past tense, 
 instead of loves f Simply because he had in mind 
 the one greatest proof of Christ's love for us which 
 lie gave in dying for us. But he still loves us with 
 17 
 
258 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 38 : — For I a7n persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor 
 angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 7ior things present, nor 
 things to come, 
 
 V. 39 : — Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
 Christ fesus our Lord, 
 
 the same love, as Paul has abundantly stated, verses 
 
 34, 35- 
 
 V. 38. JPor 1 am. persuaded. Paul confirms the 
 statement made in verse 37 by an enthusiastic affirma- 
 tion of his own conviction that nothing whatever can 
 separate us, etc. He does not speak merel}- of him- 
 self, but of us, all believers, all who love God, all who 
 are called according to his purpose (verse 28). Paul's 
 evident purpose here is to declare the impossibility of 
 any thing w^hatsover separating the believer from the 
 love of God. Nothing that can be named or con- 
 ceived of can do it. We may proceed in our enumer- 
 ation of things all the way from death to life, the two 
 extremes, and we can find nothing that can do it; 
 no good or hostile angel, no principality, no power, 
 nothing in the past, or present, or future, nothing in 
 the deepest depth, nothing in the highest height, no 
 any thing whatsoever. 
 
 V. 39. Shall be able to separate. See on verse 
 
 35. Prom the love of God. God's love for us; 
 called in verse 35 the love of Christ, or Christ's love 
 for us. The two loves are the same love. As God 
 was incarnated in Christ, so was God's love incarnated 
 in Christ's love. God and Christ are one also in their 
 relation to the believer. He who has Christ on his 
 side has God on his side : and if any one can possibly 
 
Chapter VIII. 259 
 
 conceive that any thing created in the past, or that 
 may be created in the eternities to come, could be 
 more powerful than Christ, nothing that is, or ever 
 will be, can be more powerful than God. Who, then, 
 or what, shall ever be able to separate us from God's 
 love toward us as manifest in Christ? 
 
26o The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 
 THE DOCTRINE IN ITS HISTORICAL ASPECTS. 
 
 (Another principal objection and the answer.) 
 
 Chapters ix.-xi. 
 
 Paul having stated and expounded his doctrine of 
 justification by grace through faith, and having estab- 
 lished the fact that the natural tendency of the doc- 
 trine is to promote holiness, or right living, rather 
 than disregard for the law of God, proceeds in these 
 three chapters to set forth his subject in its historical 
 aspects — that is, in its bearings upon the Jews in their 
 relation to God as his covenant, or elect, people. The 
 Apostle rightly anticipated that the Jew would object 
 to his doctrine of a salvation offered to Gentiles as 
 well as Jews simply as a matter of free grace. That 
 seemed to be placing the outlying Gentile nations on 
 precisely the same plane as the Jewish nation ; and 
 this in turn seemed very much like saying that the 
 election of Israel amounted to nothing. What is the 
 use in our being members of the Church if the out- 
 sider is, after all, going to stand as well in God's sight 
 as we do? Not only so. The Jew rightly understood 
 Paul's doctrine as implying that the Jew might even 
 be rejected, ceasing to be the Church ; and that the 
 Gentiles might be incorporated into the kingdom in 
 Israel's place ; or, to use Paul's own figure, that the 
 Gentiles might be grafted into the stock composed of 
 
Chapter IX. 261 
 
 a few believing Jews, and themselves constitute the 
 Church, or chosen people of God. Paul not only 
 admits the implication, but actually affirms the rejec- 
 tion of Israel. But was not this an infringement of 
 the covenant with Israel, and of the long established 
 doctrine of the divine faithfulness? To the Jew it 
 was, and hence in his estimation it was a formidable 
 objection to Paul's doctrine of salvation. This, then, 
 is the question to which the Apostle in these three 
 chapters addresses himself. In each chapter a dis- 
 tinct phase of the subject is presented. 
 
 1. In chap, ix., the true doctrine of the divine Sov- 
 ereignty, which it is necessary to set forth in order 
 that the Jews might see that God had never forfeited 
 his absolute right to do as might please him in regard 
 to both Jews and Gentiles. 
 
 2. In chapter x. he shows that his doctrine by no 
 means implied that God had exercised his absolute 
 sovereignty in a way wrongful to the Jews, but that 
 their rejection was due, in the first place, solely to 
 their abuse of the covenant privileges. 
 
 3. In chapter xi. he looks to the future, and tells of 
 the glorious restoration of the Jews, which is to be 
 the outcome of the rejection spoken of in chapter x., 
 and which is to take place at the time of the fullness 
 of the Gentiles. 
 
 The Divine Sovereignty. 
 
 (Chap. IX.) 
 
 Paul treats this subject here only in its historical 
 relations to his doctrine of salvation by grace through 
 faith — that is, only in so far as that doctrine was erro- 
 neously supposed by the Jews to aflfect God's sover- 
 
262 The BPISTI.E to the Romans. 
 
 eign relation to Israel as his chosen people, and to 
 whom he was pledged to be faithful. He argues that 
 this covenant with Israel should not be so understood 
 as to place restrictions upon God's absolute sover- 
 eignty and liberty. God had placed no limitation 
 upon himself, forever and inexorably binding himself 
 to save Israel, regardless of Israel's own character and 
 conduct. He quotes from the Jews' own scripture to 
 the effect that God's sovereignty and liberty would 
 not indeed be absolute if he has not the right to have 
 mercy on whom he will have mercy, even though that 
 person be a believing Gentile ; and if he has not the 
 right to reject whomsoever he will, be he even an 
 unbelieving and unfaithful Jew. 
 
 The Apostle, before proceeding to show that the 
 rejection of the Jews lies not in God, but in their own 
 unfaithfulness expresses the keen grief which the 
 contemplation of the subject awakens with him. To 
 think that his own people and God's own adopted peo- 
 ple should be rejected on account of their own unbe- 
 lief and persistent perversion of the teachings even of 
 their own Scriptures in regard to the true way to be 
 saved, caused him great heaviness and continual sor- 
 row of heart (vs. 1-5). The remainder of the chapter 
 is devoted to the vindication of : 
 
 1. God's faithfulness (vs. 6-13). 
 
 2. God's absolute power and liberty (vs. 14-21). 
 
 3. God's justice and mercy (vs. 22-24). 
 
 And then he shows that God's conduct in rejecting 
 the Jews and calling the Gentiles, instead of being a 
 matter to occasion surprise and yet greater hardness, 
 was even foretold in ancient Jewish prophecy (vs. 
 25-33)- 
 
Chapter IX. 263 
 
 Chap. IX., V. I : — I say the truth in Christy I lie not, my con- 
 science also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 
 
 V. 2 : — That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in 
 my heart. 
 
 V. I. J say the truth in Christ. It was possi- 
 ble for the unbelieving Jew to entertain the blasphe- 
 mous thought that Christ might speak falsehood ; but 
 Paul could affirm the truth of any thing in no stronger 
 way than to say it in Christ. He lived and acted in 
 Christ, and in his pure and holy atmosphere no un- 
 truth, no exaggeration even, was possible. (Eph. iv. 
 15, 17.) I lie not. This is the negative way of say- 
 ing what he had affirmed in the first clause — a mode 
 of expression not uncommon in Scripture. (See Isa. 
 xxxviii. i; John i. 20.) It strengthens the affirmation, 
 for it means that Paul not only told the truth, but 
 that he told it without mixture of falsehood. My 
 conscience . . . in the Holy Spirit. His con- 
 science, sanctified and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, 
 bore testimony to Paul that he was telling the trutb, 
 and it bore testimony wit/i Paul to the Jewish people. 
 Paul was accused by his fellow Jews — the unbelieving 
 part — of being a renegade from the old faith, hostile 
 to his own people, and of exalting the Gentiles at 
 their expense. Hence the strong assertion to the 
 contrary which he here makes. 
 
 V. 2. Great heaviness. A great grief. Contin- 
 ual sorrow. Unceasing pain of heart, caused by 
 Israel's rejection, Israel's attitude toward the gospel. 
 And yet on other accounts Paul "rejoiced alway." 
 
 V. 3. I could wish. The Apostle does not say, 
 *' I do wish," for the wish was never really formed in 
 
264 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 3 : — For I could wish that tnyself were accursed from 
 Christ for my brethren^ my kinsmen according to the flesh : 
 
 his heart. His meaning is, I could wish if it were 
 possible to entertain such a wish, or if it were pos- 
 sible for such a wish to be realized. If he had, how- 
 ever, nothing to consult in making such a wish but 
 his burning love for his people, and his desire for his 
 people, it seemed to him that he could make such a 
 wish. 
 
 Accursed from Christ, If it were right or pos- 
 sible, or if it would avail in their behalf, I could wish 
 that myself were regarded and treated as anathema — 
 a thing accursed — for the sake of m}^ brethren, the 
 Jews. It is simply a strong way of expressing his 
 longing for the salvation of his people. These words 
 have been interpreted in several other ways by expos- 
 itors, but I have given what seems to me to be the 
 plainest and most natural view. It is hardly conceiv- 
 able that Paul meant that "he would consent, if it 
 were possible, to fall back again forever into the state 
 of condemnation in which he lived before his conver- 
 sion, if by the sacrifice of his salvation he could bring 
 about the conversion of his people Israel," though 
 this is what Godet says Paul did mean. No man has 
 the right to be in such a state of longing as could 
 prompt him to entertain such a wish. A man can 
 say, I could wish to be disgraced in the estimation of 
 all men for the sake of one whom he loves, or I could 
 wish to lay down my very life, if it would do any 
 good; but no Christian can say, under any circum- 
 stances, I could wish to be God's eternal enemy, and 
 have him as my eternal enemy. 
 
Chapter IX. 265 
 
 V. 4: — Who are Israelites ; to whom pertaineth the adop- 
 iiotiy and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the 
 laWy and the service of God, and the promises ; 
 
 V. 5 : — Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning 
 the flesh Christ came, who is over ally God blessed for ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 V. 4. Who are Israelites. That is, my kinsmen, 
 who are Israelites to whom pertainethy etc. To whom 
 belongs the high honor of being God's adopted peo- 
 ple. Israel was called God's first-born son. God had 
 entered into formal covenant relation with the Israel- 
 itish people at Sinai, as he had done before with the 
 patriarchs and afterward with David, and they had 
 received from him many tokens of his visible pres- 
 ence or glory, and the written law, and an elaborate 
 tabernacle and temple service, and many promises 
 concerning Christ and his kingdom. No other nation 
 had been so highly favored. 
 
 V. 5. Whose are the fathers. In particular, 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; the great heroes of Israel- 
 itish history may be included, as Moses, Joshua, Da- 
 vid, etc. To have such an ancestry was a matter of 
 greatest national pride. And of whom as con- 
 cerning the Eesh Christ came, Paul does not say 
 whose, or to whom, is Christ as he had said "Whose 
 are the fathers." The fathers were the property, so to 
 speak, of the Jews alone, but Christ, while he came of 
 the Jews, in respect to the flesh belonged alike to all 
 men. He is over all; he is God; he is blessed for- 
 ever. Paul undoubtedly means to affirm here the su- 
 preme deity of Christ, notwithstanding the fact that 
 as to the flesh he was born a Jew. This was the 
 j^eatest of the honors conferred upon the Jews — and 
 
266 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 6 : — Not as though the word of God hath taken none ef- 
 fect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel : 
 
 yet they were unbelieving and would be rejected as a. 
 people ! It only makes Paul's grief the greater. 
 
 It is proper to say that several other interpretations 
 of this verse have been advocated by different schol- 
 ars, all of which, however, are founded upon a punc- 
 tuation of the Greek text different from that indicated 
 in our Authorized and Revised English Versions, and 
 also different from that of the principal printed Greek 
 editions. Some would place a period after came, and 
 make the following part of the verse read : " May God, 
 who is over all, be blessed forever." Others would 
 place the period after all, and read: "May God be 
 blessed forever." It is sufficient to say here that the 
 vast majority both of ancient and modern authorities 
 favor the punctuation as it stands in the received text ; 
 nor is there anj^ thing in the text as it stands that is 
 contrary to Pauline usage or teaching. Even Socinus, 
 the father of Unitarianism, admits that the words of 
 the clause are meant by Paul to be applied to Christ, 
 though, in this case the}^ plainly teach the doctrine of 
 his divine Majesty. 
 
 V. 6. Not RS thoiigbf etc. Paul means to say that 
 although he is thus greatly grieved at heart on account 
 of the imminent rejection of his brethren the Jews, 
 he does not wish to be understood as implying there- 
 by that "the word of God hath taken none ef- 
 fect ; " or, in other words, that God would not fulfill 
 his promise to Israel. On the contrary the promise 
 would be fully realized. Paul proceeds in the follow- 
 ing words to show how Israel may be rejected as God's 
 
Chapter IX. 267 
 
 V^ 7 '.—Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are 
 they all children : but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 
 
 V. 8: — That is, They which are the children of the Jlesh, 
 these are not the children of God: but the children of the 
 promise are counted for the seed. 
 
 chosen people, and yet God be true to the promises 
 made to Israel. JPor they are not all Israel 
 which are of Israel, This was the solution of the 
 matter. The Jew was misapprehending the true and 
 profounder meaning of ** Israel." When God made a 
 promise to Israel he meant Israel in the true sense. 
 By fleshly descent they might be members of the Is- 
 raelitish nation and yet not be members of the holy 
 remnant to w^hom alone the promises were really made. 
 See Jer. xxiii. 3 ; Amos v. 15, and various other pas- 
 sages. 
 
 V. 7. Neither, because they are the seed of 
 Abraham. To be " the seed of Abraham " is the same 
 as to be "of Israel;" and to be the "children" of 
 Abraham is the same as to be " Israel." They alone 
 are children of Abraham who are like Abraham in re- 
 spect to his most distinguishing characteristic— faith. 
 Paul illustrates by reference to Isaac and Ishmael, 
 both of whom were the seed of Abraham, and yet ev- 
 idently these two did not stand in the same relation 
 either to God or to Abraham as the father of the faith- 
 ful, or the true seed. As it is evident, therefore, that 
 all who are " of Abraham " are not Abraham's, so is it 
 true that all who are " of Israel " are not Israel. 
 
 V. 8. That iSy they which are the children 
 of the flesh. This verse is explanatory of the pre- 
 ceding. Ishmael was the seed of Abraham b^^ nature 
 
268 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 merely. Isaac was his seed by miracle and faith. If 
 Abraham had been without faith there would have 
 been no miracle and hence no Isaac. If God then 
 based his choice or election of a people on faith in the 
 first palce, so is this faith ever necessary as an actual 
 characteristic of those who would be regarded as 
 God's children. If any of the Jews have it not they 
 are not God's children ; if any of the Gentiles have it, 
 they are. He can not be a child of Abraham, or of 
 God, who lacks that very characteristic which consti- 
 tutes one a child. If God had the sovereign right 
 then, in the first place, not to choose or elect Ishmael's 
 descendants as his peculiar people, so has he the same 
 sovereign right now to reject those who are Israelites 
 merely according to the flesh. And as faith in the 
 promise was the basis of his choice of Abraham's de- 
 scendants through Isaac, so may faith be the basis of 
 his call of the Gentiles. It is not in any case " Abra- 
 ham's fatherhood that determines the true seed, but 
 that promise which was the expression of God's free 
 electing grace." 
 
 Are counted for the seed. Of course there were 
 qualities in Ishmael and Isaac, and their descendants 
 respectively, which rendered the one more available 
 or suitable than the other as the constituted people of 
 God, and these qualities, summed up in the word 
 faith, must have constituted the basis of the divine 
 choice, or election. But the particular side of the 
 truth which Paul wishes here to emphasize is that, 
 whichever one became the "seed" in the true sense, 
 became so only because and only in so far as God chose 
 to " count " him so ; for he had the sovereign right to 
 choose neither. 
 
Chapter IX. 269 
 
 V. 9 : — For this is the word of promise^ At this time will I 
 comey and Sarah shall have a son. 
 
 V. 10 : — And not only this ; but when Rebecca also had con- 
 ceived by one, even by our father IsaaCy 
 
 V. II : — {For the children being not yet born, neither hav- 
 ing done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according 
 to election tnight stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ;) 
 
 V. 12 : — It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the 
 younger. 
 
 V. 13 : — As it is written, facob have I loved, but Esau have 
 I hated. 
 
 V. 9. ^or this is the word of promise. Here 
 follows the Old Testament proof of the statement in 
 the preceding verse, as if he had written : I said, chil- 
 dren of the promise are counted the seed, and I 
 rightly used the words * children of the promise,' for 
 this is a word of promise simply, implying no right 
 whatever on Abraham's, or Isaac's, or any human be- 
 ing's, part, to wit, '* About this time next year I will 
 come, and Sarah shall have a son." Gen. xviii. 10-14. 
 
 V. 10-13. And not only this. Why does the 
 Apostle adduce yet further proof? Perhaps because he 
 anticipated that the Jew might say that the proof 
 drawn from the case of Ishmael and Isaac was not 
 conclusive, as they were the children of two different 
 mothers, only one of whom was the real wife. But 
 here the mother of the two children is one and the 
 same woman, and they are also twins, Rebecca having 
 conceived dy one, to wit, Isaac ; and more than that 
 still, the election of Jacob and the rejection of Esau, 
 was indicated to Rebecca even before the children 
 were born, when of course neither one had done any 
 thing to influence the divine choice. The circum- 
 
:27o The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 stances of these two are therefore as nearly identical 
 as possible. Why then did God choose the one and 
 not the other, and that one, too, the younger ? What- 
 ever may be truly said of God's foresight of certain 
 moral qualities on Jacob's part and the absence of 
 them on Esau's part, Paul does not here direct atten- 
 tion to them ; he wishes the Jew simply to understand 
 that God did as he did merely as one who has the 
 sovereign right to do as he pleases. God has a plan 
 before him ; both of the two sons were not needed ; 
 and hence in this sense he could not choose both. In 
 choosing Jacob his sovereignty was under no re- 
 straint ; he was bound by no extraneous obligations 
 arising from Jacob's merits ; he did it in the exercise 
 of his absolute liberty. This is what Paul wishes the 
 Jew to recognize ; and if he only would recognize it> 
 if he would only see that God had never in any way 
 forfeited his unlimited right to do as he pleases, then 
 the Jew could no longer accuse God of faithlessness 
 if he should reject him. The qualities, whether moral 
 or other kinds, which God surely did foresee in Jacob 
 did determine the direction of the divine choice, for 
 God does not choose recklessly, regardlessly, irration- 
 ally (if we may so speak). But no foreseen qualities 
 on Jacob's part originated the divine choice, and they 
 were not a meritorious ground of it ; for in this case 
 also we may say that his moral integrity would have 
 remained intact had he chose neither. What he did 
 he did in the exercise of his sovereign liberty, and no 
 one should dare call him to account for it. 
 
 V. 12. It was said unto her. Gen. xxv. 23. Esau 
 shall serve Jacob. That is, the people descended from 
 Esau, the Edomites, were alwaj^s inferior to the Israel- 
 
Chapter IX. 271 
 
 V. 14 : — IVhat shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness 
 with God ? God forbid. 
 
 V. 15 : — For he saith to Moses ^ I will have mercy on whom 
 
 1 will have mercy ^ and I will have compassion on whom I 
 will have compassion. 
 
 V. 16 : — So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him 
 that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 
 
 V. 17 : — For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for 
 this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I m,ight shew 
 my power in thee, and that m,y name 7night be declared 
 throughout all the earth. 
 
 V. 18: — Therefore hath he m,ercy on whom, he will have 
 ■mercy, and whom, he will he hardeneth. 
 
 ites or descendants of Jacob, and were actually re- 
 duced to servitude by the latter, i Chron. xviii. 13; 
 
 2 Chron. xxi. 8. B. 
 
 V. 13. As it is written, Malachi, i. 2, 3. Both 
 Paul and the prophet simply mean by these words 
 that God chose Jacob and his descendants to be his 
 officially, his Church, his people, the depository of his 
 revelation and Messianic promises, and that in this ca- 
 pacity he rejected Ksau. They do not mean that God 
 positively hated Bsau, nor do they have any reference 
 whatever to the eternal salvation of either. What- 
 ever the word here translated hated may mean, it is not 
 here used in the sense in which we ordinarily use the 
 word to hate nor in the sense in which the Greeks or- 
 dinarily used the word misein, and the Hebrews the 
 corresponding word sano\ All peoples use most 
 words in a more or less figurative sense, and such is 
 doubtless the case here, the word to hate being em- 
 ployed to denote that God, for reasons which he does 
 not state, had a strong preference for Jacob over Esau 
 rSO far as acting in any official or theocratic capacity 
 
27^ The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 19: — Thou wilt say then unto nie^ Why doth he yet find 
 fault? For who hath resisted his will? 
 
 V. 20/ — Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against 
 God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why 
 hast thou made me thus ? 
 
 V. 21: — Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the 
 same lump to inake one vessel utito honour and another unto 
 dishonour ? 
 
 V. 22 : — What if God, willing to shew his Tvrath, and to 
 make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the 
 vessels of wrath fitted to destruction : 
 
 V. 23 : — And that he might make known the riches of his 
 glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared 
 unto glory, 
 
 V. 24: — Even us, whom he hath called, not of the fews 
 only, but also of the Gentiles ? 
 
 was concerned. God chooses, or elects, David to be 
 king, but he loves the souls of David's brothers or of 
 his friend Jonathan none the less. God elected Paul 
 to be the great apostle to the Gentiles and the writer 
 of a great part of the New Testament, but this does 
 not imply any antipathy on God's part toward Barna- 
 bas or Silas, individually. The prophets were di- 
 vinely inspired men but they employed the language 
 to which the warm tempered Orientals were accus- 
 tomed, and hence they often use stronger figures than 
 we cooler tempered Occidental people would use. 
 That our Savior should say, " he that kuteth not his 
 father and mother is not worthy of me," did not 
 sound strangely to those to whom he was speaking, 
 nor would it sound so to us if we would understand 
 the word in the sense in which they understood it and 
 in which they used it. 
 
 V. 19-24. The question which Paul proceeds to an- 
 
Chapter IX. 273. 
 
 swer in these verses is this : He had affirmed God's ab- 
 solute sovereignty — his perfect liberty in executing his 
 plan for the world's redemption to elect or reject 
 whomsoever he would as an official factor in that plan ;, 
 what he had said and done to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
 the whole of Israel, being a matter of mere voluntary 
 and conditional promise on his part. The question, 
 then, is, Is not the present exercise of this absolute lib- 
 erty in the rejection of the Jews an act of injustice on 
 the part of God ? The answer which Paul makes to the 
 question is not a philosophical one, but scriptural. It 
 is based solely on the Old Testament Scriptures, the 
 authority of which no Jew could be supposed to 
 doubt. 
 
 V. 14. What shall we say then ? Paul's usual 
 mode of introducing the Jew's objection to his doc- 
 trine. See iv. i ; vi. i ; vii. 7 ; viii. 31. 
 
 Is there unrighteousness with God ? Is God 
 
 unjust? All that the Jew knew was the law; this 
 was the beginning and the end of his ethical training ; 
 his conscience had been developed under the law ; he 
 had no conscience apart from his relation to the law ; 
 he supposed the conduct of God toward man to be 
 regulated exclusively by man's works, by his merits 
 or demerits, by his outward attitude toward the I^aw. 
 If God then rejects the Jews independently of any 
 consideration of their attitude toward the Law, is he 
 not unjust? 
 
 God forbid. By no means ; let no one think so for 
 a moment. Paul then appeals to the Jews' own Scrip- 
 ture. The argumentative force of these quotations 
 may be briefly exhibited as follows : 
 
 I. Your own Scriptures affirm of God the same sov- 
 18 
 
/ 
 
 274 "^^^ KPISTI.E TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 ereign action independently of any merit or demerit 
 on man's part as its basis. 
 
 2. You can not believe that your own Scriptures 
 teach that God is unjust in so acting. 
 
 3. Therefore you can not believe that I teach it. 
 
 V. 15. Mesaitbto Moses. This passage is quoted 
 from Ex. xxxiii. 19. I will have mercy on whom 
 I will have mercy. That is, on whomsoever I 
 please. Paul adds inverse 18, "And whom he will he 
 hardeneth." The words teach the absolute freedom of 
 the divine action in choosing one and rejecting an- 
 other. The grou7id or basis of this divine action lies 
 wholly in the will or nature of God, and not in the 
 merit or dejnerit of the man. If it lay in the man's 
 merit, then God would be placed under compulsion. 
 A man's character or conduct may have a determining 
 influence on the direction of the divine action, but not 
 in originating it. God's " hardening " proceeds from 
 God's nature, just as his having mercy proceeds from 
 the same source. Essentially the same familiar dis- 
 tinction between determining the direction of God^s 
 action, and originating or being the ground of his ac- 
 tion, is made when we say that a man's faith is the 
 "instrumental cause" of his salvation but not the 
 ground, or meritorious or moving cause of it. And it 
 is this last thought, to wit, the ground or originating 
 cause, which Paul wishes here to emphasize. Why? 
 Because the Jews had utterly neglected, and placed 
 the whole emphasis of their thoughts on their out- 
 ward attitude toward the law, regarding this not only 
 as the ground, but as the sole ground, on which God 
 bestows his favors. Hence, we see that the passages 
 which Paul here quotes from the Old Testament were 
 
Chapter IX. 
 
 275 
 
 by no means meant to teach that God is arbitrary in 
 his bestowments, and that he is just as likely to choose 
 one man as another to be a vessel of wrath or of 
 mercy. They simply teach that God's action is abso- 
 lutely free, and in no case under the compulsion of 
 any influence or force outside of himself, and that 
 hence he is responsible to no one whatsoever for what 
 he does or does not. 
 
 V. 16. So then, etc. The ground, or originating 
 cause, of God's conduct to man is himself alone, and 
 not outside of himself; it is not in the will of any 
 man, but in his own. Many may run in a race, but 
 God gives the prize to whomsoever he pleases, i Cor. 
 ix. 24-26. 
 
 V. 17. For the Scripture saith. See Ex. ix. 16. 
 
 These words are quoted as an example of how, or in 
 what sense, God hardens. Do the words mean that 
 God aroused or excited Pharaoh to resist the Israel- 
 ites? Yes, say Augustine, DeWette, Reuss, and oth- 
 ers. Meyer's words are : " Thy whole historical ap- 
 pearance has been brought about by me in order that 
 I might show my power in thee." So in substance 
 Beza, Calvin, Bengel. Hodge says that " Pharaoh was 
 no worse than many other men who have obtained 
 mercy ; yet God for wise and benevolent reasons with- 
 held from him the saving influences of his grace, and 
 gave him up to his own wicked heart, so that he be- 
 came more and more hardened until he was finally 
 destroyed. God did nothing to Pharaoh beyond his 
 strict deserts ; he did not make him wicked ; he only 
 forebore to make him good, by the exertion of special 
 and unmerited grace." Macknight, who belonged to 
 
276 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 the same school of interpreters with Calvin, thinks 
 that by ** Pharaoh " God meant not Pharaoh individual- 
 ly, but Pharaoh as representing the kingdom over 
 which he ruled, or Pharaoh in his official capacity. 
 
 Various other shades of opinion have been held in 
 regard to the meaning of the words. One thing may 
 be regarded as certain : They do not teach that God 
 made Pharaoh wicked, nor do they teach that by any 
 sort of influence on Pharaoh's heart God impelled him 
 to evil. Pharaoh never did manifest the slightest in- 
 clination to justice and righteousness. His only mo- 
 mentary relenting was caused by fear, and if under 
 the influence of this fear he had let the Israelites go 
 away he would still have been a wicked man. He was 
 hardened against his fear. He would have been a 
 wicked man even had he never been king or stood in 
 any relation to the Israelites. Had God raised up a 
 good man to be king, one who would have permitted 
 the Israelites to go away unmolested, there never 
 could have been the great display of divine power in 
 Israel's behalf at the Red Sea passage. But as such a 
 display of power would be of immense advantage to 
 Israel, instead of raising up a good man to be king at 
 this time, God chose to exalt to this dignity one who 
 was wicked and relentless. If a man will be wicked 
 and relentless anyway, and an occasion arises in which 
 by exalting such a man, God can make a great use of 
 him, has he not the sovereign right to do so ? May 
 not God even cause the proud heart of such a man to 
 be hardened against all fear ? For what good would 
 it do such a man to relent from mere fright? He 
 would be as wicked at heart as he was before. No 
 one has any right whatever to call in question God's 
 sovereign right to choose as his instrument any one 
 
Chapter IX. 7,^^ 
 
 whom it may please him to choose, even though that 
 chosen instrument be a very bad man. And this is 
 all that Paul means to teach by this quotation. It has 
 no bearing at all on the question as to how Pharaoh 
 originally came to be wicked ; nor does it follow in 
 the remotest degree that a sovereign who " suspends " 
 the exercise of his sovereignty on conditions which 
 depend upon the acts or character of others is no sov- 
 ereign. It only implies that the sovereign God is a 
 rational sovereign ; one with whom there is neither 
 variableness nor shadow of turning, but who always 
 acts in accordance with principles fixed eternally in 
 his own nature. 
 
 V. 1 8. Therefore, Introducing the general con- 
 clusion from verses 15, 16, 17. This verse has been 
 sufficiently explained in the notes on the three preced- 
 ing verses, which see. 
 
 V. 19. Thou wilt say. The Jewish objector is 
 here represented as asking, Suppose we grant that 
 God has the right to harden us, what right then has he 
 to find fault with us ? His will was to harden us, and 
 we are hardened, and so we have not resisted his will : 
 what right then has he to blame and punish us for be- 
 ing what he himself has made us ? 
 
 V. 20. Nay, but O man. The question of the 
 Jew implies a disposition on his part to keep up a de- 
 bate with God, whereas he should have been satisfied 
 with the statement already made of God's sovereign 
 and indisputable right, taking men as he found them, 
 to use them as he pleased. Paul's reply, therefore, is 
 of the nature of a rebuke to this spirit of the Jew 
 
278 The Epistle to the Romaics. 
 
 which persists in calling God to account for his do- 
 ings. The answer, couched in the language of the 
 Old Testament prophet (Isa. xlv. 9 ; Ixiv. 8) is one that 
 becomes a sovereign. The Nay, but O man, etc., has 
 in it a touch of irony ; man on the one hand, God on 
 the other, and yet the former daring to call to account 
 the latter ! 
 
 But the answer is not merely a rebuke ; for it should 
 be observed that " the thing formed "—that is, " the 
 clay" — does not say to the potter: Why didst thou 
 create me a bad quality of clay, out of which only a 
 vessel of dishonor could be molded ? The potter had 
 not created the clay bad to begin with, and neither the 
 prophet nor the Apostle had said that he had. Paul 
 therefore replies by asking a question shaped in view 
 of the fact as he stated it ; Shall the clay say to the 
 potter. Why hast thou formed me into a vessel of dis- 
 honor ? The question obviously admitted of two an- 
 swers, depending entirely upon the point of view: i. 
 Because thou art bad clay, and not suitable for any 
 other kind of vessel. But this answer would have had 
 no bearing upon the aspect of the subject which Paul 
 was discussing. 2. Because it is my sovereign pleasure 
 so to do. Now it was God's absolute right to make such 
 use, or disposition, of such human material as he had, 
 as in his sovereig-n pleasure he saw fit. that Paul is 
 seeking to establish. He does not once raise the 
 question as to how the human material became sfood 
 or bad in the first place ; but hein^ .o-ood or bad. he in 
 the exercise of his absohite libertv determines what 
 he will do with it. Nor is it a valid obiection to this 
 view of these verse.*? to sav that it is the same htmpof 
 clay that is made into vf^s«;f^1s of honor and dishonor. 
 Both vessels were made of clay, that is true ; but Paul 
 
Chapter IX. 279 
 
 does not mean that both were made of identically the 
 same particles of clay ; nor does he say any thing 
 about a difference of quality in the two parts of the 
 same lump which were formed into the two vessels 
 respectively— and for the obvious reason, as we have 
 seen, that he was not discussing that aspect of the 
 subject. Pharaoh and Moses were both human ma- 
 terial ; one was good material, the other was bad ; such 
 as they were God used them as he pleased, and he 
 used both wisely and in perfect harmony with the 
 eternal principles of his own nature. And in like 
 manner will he use the Jews and the Gentiles. 
 
 Paul nowhere raises the question of the metaphys- 
 ical origin of sin in human character; he nowhere 
 asks how did any given human material, as Pharaoh 
 or Moses, come to be good or bad material. And his 
 only contention here is, not to make or create material 
 of such and such quality, but, finding it good or bad, 
 to use it as he will. 
 
 V. 22-27. In the preceding verses Paul vindicated 
 God's absolute right to use good and bad men in what- 
 ever way might be pleasing to him. In these verses 
 he shows that although God has this absolute right, 
 his actual exercise of it had not been such as could be 
 called unduly rigorous even by the Jews. The reader 
 in applying these words may easily pass from the 
 Jews, with whom Paul is reasoning, to the case of any 
 sinner. God exercises great long-suffering toward all 
 sinners, whom he has the unquestionable right, how- 
 ever, to cut off at any moment, for they are vessels of 
 •wrath suited for destruction. 
 
 V. 22. What if God, etc. It is necessary for the 
 
28o The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 reader to observe that the sentence, which ends with 
 the close of verse 24, is really incomplete. The idea 
 is this. But (or now) if God, although willing to show 
 his wrath, and to make his power known, endured 
 with much long-suffering the obstinacy and disobe- 
 dience of the wicked men who were so worthy of de- 
 struction, would you, in this case make any further 
 charge against his justice? And if you were told that 
 he had thus borne with these vessels of wrath in order 
 that he might make known the riches of his glory on 
 the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared 
 unto glory, would you make any further objection 
 against his justice ? 
 
 The vessels of wrath. Simply "vessels of 
 wrath;" Pharaoh, the rebellious people of Israel, im- 
 penitent sinners generally. 
 
 Pitted for destruction. Observe that Paul nei- 
 ther says nor intimates by whom they 'were fitted. 
 That question did not concern his argument, and 
 hence he does not raise it. Obviously, however, the 
 human vessel's own perverse will, obstinately resist- 
 ing God's judgments and mercies, fits him, or more 
 and more makes him the prepared object of destruc- 
 tive wrath. 
 
 Vessels of mercy. The opposite of vessels of 
 wrath ; Moses, for example, the remnant of Jews who 
 continued faithful to Jehovah, any penitent and be- 
 lieving sinners. 
 
 Which he had afore prepared unto glory. 
 Not the final glorification of ch. viii. 30 ; but the glo- 
 rious manifestations of divine love which God makes 
 to the vessels of mercy — his Church ; and while the 
 Apostle does not say nor intimate that it is God who 
 fits the vessels of wrath for destruction, he explicitly 
 
Chapter IX. 381 
 
 says that it is God who prepares the vessels of mercy. 
 He prepares them by his grace and various provi- 
 dences. Hence there is no thought of desert or merit 
 on the part of these vessels of mercy, whereas the word 
 " fitted" does, as we have seen, imply desert on the 
 part of the vessels of wrath. The one experiences 
 " destruction " on account of his merits, the other glo- 
 rification in spite of his demerits. 
 
 V. 24. Mven us. This verse defines who are meant 
 by the vessels of mercy of the preceding verse ; us, 
 to wit, those whom he hath called, whether Jewish 
 believers or Gentile. The call of which the Apostle 
 speaks is presented as subsequent to the preparation 
 spoken of in verse 23. I can see no ground, however, 
 for the view that Paul here in speaking of a previous 
 preparation refers even remotely to the foreknowledge 
 and predestination of ch. viii. 29. The kingdom was 
 prepared for the believer from the foundation of the 
 world (Matt. xxv. 34) ; but Paul does not mean here 
 that the believer was in the divine purpose prepared 
 for the kingdom from the foundation of the world, 
 although this as a matter of fact is true. What he re- 
 fers to here is an historical preparation, one that occurs 
 in time and which consists in divine providences, in- 
 struction — whatever, in short, directs and influences 
 the mind toward that destination which God has in 
 view for him whom he is preparing. And God never 
 calls one who has had no previous preparation there- 
 for. The preparation enables him to understand the 
 language or import of the call. God does not call 
 Jew or Gentile from his old faith or his no faith into 
 Christianity without a previous course of preparation 
 which enables them to apprehend and appreciate the 
 
282 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 25 : — As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my peoplCy 
 which were not my people ; and her beloved^ which was not 
 beloved. 
 
 V. 26 : — And it shall come to pass, that in the place where 
 it was said unto than, Ye are not my people ; there shall they 
 be called the children of the living God. 
 
 V. 27 : — Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the 
 number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a 
 remnant shall be saved : 
 
 V. 28: — For he will finish the work, and cut it short in 
 righteousness : because a short work will the Lord m.ake upon 
 the earth. 
 
 V. 29 : — And as Esaias said before. Except the Lord of Sa- 
 baoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been 
 ■made like unto Gomorrah. 
 
 call ; and this preparation continued onward becomes 
 also a preparation for glorification. Thej^ are pre- 
 pared, and then they are called out, and then they 
 constitute his Church, or ecclesia. 
 
 Vs. 25-29. In these five verses Paul quotes the 
 testimonj^ of Old Testament prophecy in regard to 
 the call of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews. 
 The Jews must have been, of course, well acquainted 
 with these sayings of their ancient prophets, but as 
 was true in regard to many other parts of the Old 
 Testament, they had read them only through the 
 colored lens of their national prejudice and self-right- 
 eous pride. Paul quotes them according to their true 
 significance. , 
 
 Vs. 25, 26. Osee, The Greek mode of spelling 
 Hosea; see Hos. ii. 23. Although the words here 
 quoted were originally addressed to apostate Israel, 
 the inspired Apostle applies the principle which they 
 
Chapter IX. 283 
 
 involve to the Gentiles. This principle is that while 
 Israel was in this condition of aUenation, or of not 
 being God's people, they were practically the same as 
 Gentiles ; they stood on precisely the same level in 
 God's sight, so that whatever might be said to 
 Israel while in this state of absolute divorcement 
 from Jehovah might just as truly be said to the Gen- 
 tiles. Hence, the not my people, or the not beloved, are 
 regarded by Paul as Gentiles. The words, therefore, 
 easily mean that the Church shall be enlarged and 
 extended by bringing within its pale a hitherto outly- 
 ing and unrecognized material. 
 
 V. 27. Bsaias, The Greek mode of spelling 
 Isaiah; see Isa. x. 22, 23. In these words Paul 
 '• passes over from prophecies applicable to the call- 
 ing of the Gentiles to others concerning the exclusion 
 of all but a believing remnant of the Jews." (Gifford.) 
 The word " remnant " has the definite article in the 
 Greek. The meaning is. Though the number of the 
 children of Israel be as the sands of the sea, only the 
 small part of them— the holy or believing remnant- 
 shall be saved ; the rest shall be rejected. The words 
 s/iall be saved do not refer primarily to the eternal des- 
 tiny of individual Israelites, but to the destiny of the 
 great mass of the Israelitish people in respect to their 
 covenant relation with Jehovah; they shall be re- 
 jected ; they shall no longer constitute his Church. 
 
 V. 28. For. The reason is here assigned why only 
 the faithful remnant shall be saved, " For the Lord 
 will execute his word upon the earth, finishing and 
 cutting it short," and he will do it righteously, inflict- 
 
284 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 30 :— ]Vhat shall we say then ? That the Gentiles, which 
 Jollowed not after righteousness^ have attained to righteous- 
 ness , even the righteousness which is of faith. 
 
 V. 31 -.—But Israel, which followed after the law of right- 
 eousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 
 
 V. 32 :— Wherefore ? Because they sought it not by faith, 
 but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at 
 the stumblingstone ; 
 
 V. 33 \—As it is written. Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling- 
 stone and a rock of offence : and whosoever believeth on him 
 shall not be ashamed. 
 
 ing injustice on no one. But lie would be unjust if 
 he did not do it. 
 
 V. 29. As Msaias (Isaiah) said before. See Isa. 
 i. 9. The Lord of Sabaoth. The Lord of hosts. 
 The word seed here denotes the same persons as tAe 
 remnant in verse 27, but it is a different word in the 
 Greek and also in the original of Isaiah. The 
 prophet used the word saridh, which denotes, not 
 merely a small part, but a remnant which has escaped 
 slaughter or destruction. The Apostle looks upon 
 this saridh, or these few survivors, as a sperma, or 
 seed, from which shall spring up another multitude. 
 Hence, the word "seed" is suggestive of the glorious 
 future which awaits the Church, composed though it 
 was of only a few who had escaped rejection and 
 destruction. In the overthrow of Sodom and Gomor- 
 rah none escaped destruction, and the cities of the 
 plain never sprung up again from their desolation. 
 
 Vs. 30-33. In these verses Paul states the true con- 
 clusion and explanation of the whole matter: If 
 Israel's rejection is not due to the faithlessness or 
 
Chapter IX. 285 
 
 injustice of God to what shall we say, then, it is due? 
 It is due to this : It is due to Israel's own fault. The 
 Jews have not attained to righteousness in God's 
 sight because, although they followed or sought after 
 righteousness, it was only a self-righteousness, a 
 righteousness which related only to outward works 
 of the law, and which based its claims upon God only 
 on personal merit. Paul prefaces this summary state- 
 ment of the true explanation of the matter with a 
 hasty reference to the Gentiles who, on the contrary, 
 had attained to righteousness, though they sought it 
 not (as the Jews had done). The latter missed what 
 they sought, the former obtained what they sought 
 not — "the most poignant irony," Godet calls it, "in 
 the whole of history." 
 
 V. 30. Which followed not after righteous- 
 ness. The righteousness necessary to salvation ; the 
 Gentiles had not made a study and special pursuit of 
 righteousness in the sense of justification as the Jews 
 had. Have attained to righteousness. Because 
 hearing the gospel, and having no false pride or prej- 
 udices against the doctrine of justification by grace 
 through faith, they readily accepted it. 
 
 V. 31. But Israel, which followed after the 
 law of righteousness. The Jews made it a mat- 
 ter of special effort and pride to attain to righteous- 
 ness before God solely by a formal obedience of the 
 law. The Jew failed ; the Gentile did not. 
 
 V. 32. Wherefore? Why did the Jews fail? In 
 verse 31 Paul states the fact simply. In this verse he 
 states the reason. It was because they sought right- 
 
286 ThK BPISTI.E TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 eousness, not by faith, but by works, as if righteous- 
 ness could be attained in that way ; and the further 
 fact that they were so prejudiced in favor of this way 
 of seeking righteousness, so blinded, as to cause them 
 to stumble over Him who is called the stone of stum- 
 bling—" the very Messiah whom they had so long in- 
 voked in all their prayers"— the very Messiah whom 
 even their own prophet had foretold as one over whom 
 they would stumble. 
 
 V. 33. As it is written. See Isa. viii. 14 ; xxvii. 
 16. See also the same application to Christ in I^uke 
 ii. 34; XX. 17, 18 ; I Peter ii. 4-8. Stumblingstone. 
 He who strikes against or opposes the Christ breaks 
 himself and not this Stone. Rock of offence. 
 Rock of falling. The Jews stumbled against or 
 struck the Stone, and fell, and hence it was not only 
 a stone of stumbling, but also one of offence or fall- 
 ing. Shall not be ashamed. Shall not fail to 
 obtain the salvation which Christ brings. 
 
 Was it quite just in Paul to thus charge the Jews 
 with want of faith ? Had they not sought righteous- 
 ness in the only way they knew? In answer, it is 
 only necessary to say that it required no divinely in- 
 spired reader of the Jewish Scriptures to see that the 
 way of salvation as made known in the Old Testa- 
 ment was in all essential respects precisely the same 
 as the way which Paul had expounded in his preach- 
 ing, and was now expounding in this epistle. They 
 might have known this as well as Paul and the other 
 Jewish apostles, for these apostles were no more in- 
 spired previous to their conversion to Christianity 
 than were the other Jews. Hence, the Jews were 
 without excuse. And hence, although Paul has so 
 
Chapter X. 287 
 
 strenuously advocated the absolute sovereignty of 
 Jehovah in this chapter, particularly in verses 15-21, 
 this can by no means be so construed as to teach that 
 man is only a passive and irresponsible instrument in 
 God's hands; for we see that in these last verses 
 (30-33) the very point which Paul wishes to make is 
 that all might have been well with these rejected 
 Jews had it not been for themselves. They were the 
 party on whom all the blame must rest. If this is not 
 true his words are utterly devoid of meaning. The 
 sin of the Jews was the want of what Paul calls faith, 
 and for this lack of faith they themselves were 
 responsible. If they were not, these apparently most 
 serious words of the Apostle are nothing but idle 
 vaporing. 
 
 Israel's Unbelief; the Gentiles' Belief. 
 
 (Chap. X.) 
 
 Or the rejection of Israel and the calling of the 
 Gentiles explained, not in its relation to God's sover- 
 eignty, but in its relation to the faith and want of 
 faith on the part of the Gentiles and Israelites respect- 
 ively. There is no fatalistic decree. The gospel is 
 intended equally for all; for salvation in its very 
 nature depends, on its human side, not on outward 
 condition or circumstance, but on the faith, the char- 
 acter, the inward attitude, the condition of heart, of 
 him to whom it is offered. Hence, in the very nature 
 of the case, it is to be preached alike to ,Gentiles 
 and Jews— a fact to which, even the Jews' greatest 
 prophets plainly testify. The Church, having itself 
 learned the truth, must be either a missionary Church, 
 or cease to be the Church. 
 
288 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. X., V. I : — Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer ia 
 God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 
 
 In this chapter Paul presents more fully the expla- 
 nation of the rejection of the Jews and the calling of 
 the Gentiles already briefly stated, ix. 30-33. The 
 chapter maj^ be divided into three principal sections — 
 
 1. Vs. 1-12. Salvation conditioned on the ** right- 
 eousness of God," and not on self-righteousness. 
 Hence, 
 
 2. Vs. 13-18. Jews and Gentiles have equal claims 
 to it, and it should be preached alike to all. 
 
 3. Vs. 19-21. The attitude of Jews and Gentiles 
 respectively toward the gospel, predicted by Old Test- 
 ament prophets. 
 
 V. I. brethren. Read what Paul had just said 
 of the Jews in verses 30-33 of last chapter. He here 
 enters more at length upon the cause of their fall, but 
 again prefaces what he has to say on this painful sub- 
 ject with an expression of his earnest longing for 
 their salvation. He calls them his "brethren," re- 
 minding them that he still regarded himself as a true 
 Jew, and not as one who had become alienated from 
 them, and as one addressing them coldly and from 
 afar off. As was his custom, he tempers rebuke with 
 tenderness. His language throughout plainly shows 
 that rejection of the Jews, neither as individuals nor 
 as a people, was not due to an irrevocable divine 
 decree, and he does not write in this chapter as if he 
 thought that any thing which he said in chapter ix. 
 might be so construed by them as to cause them to 
 think that they were to any extent irresponsible in the 
 matter. 
 
Chapter X. 289 
 
 V. 2: — For I bear them record that they have a zeal of 
 Gody but 7iot according to knowledge. 
 
 ^.y.—For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness^ 
 and going about to establish their own righteousness , have 
 not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 
 
 Hearths desire. This " heart's desire " of Paul 
 might be addressed to either God or man, but being 
 addressed to God it becomes a *' prayer." Might he 
 saved. Might as individuals and as a people accept 
 Christ as the Messiah and the plan of salvation pre- 
 sented by Paul in this epistle. 
 
 V. 2. I hear them record, or witness. Paul, 
 before his conversion, had had an intense zeal of the 
 same kind. See Acts xxii. 3. Not according to 
 knowledge. The Jews were a very religious peo- 
 ple, but blinded by ignorance and prejudice ; thus 
 blinded, they manifested their religious zeal in oppos- 
 ing the gospel and in persecuting the Christians. 
 But religious zeal is in itself a good quality, and it is 
 characteristic of Paul not to overlook whatever is 
 praiseworthy in those with whom he is obliged to be 
 at issue on other points. 
 
 V. 3. For they being ignorant, etc. Being 
 ignorant of God's righteousness, they went about to 
 establish their own righteousness, and in doing this 
 they also opposed God's righteousness; and hence 
 the zeal which they did have was not according to 
 knowledge. Ignorant zeal is generally accompanied 
 by prejudice and self-conceit, and hence with what- 
 ever of good it may work it also works evil. But 
 this " ignorance " on the part of the Jews was in 
 itself a criminal ignorance for a careful study of their 
 19 
 
290 The EPIST1.K TO THE Romans. 
 
 V. 4 : — For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness 
 to every one that believeth. 
 
 own Scriptures would have informed them that what 
 is here called God's righteousness was the only kind 
 that is acceptable to God. 
 
 God^s righteousness. The same as that men- 
 tioned in chapter iii. 24-26 and iv. 5. Their own 
 righteousness. The righteousness which consisted 
 in their strict observance of the law, and which they 
 thought rendered them acceptable to God. See 
 Phil. iii. 9. 
 
 V. 4. J^or Christ is the end of the law for 
 righteousness to every one that believeth. 
 
 That is, where faith in Christ begins there depend- 
 ence upon the law as a means of salvation ceases. 
 There are always two systems or plans of salvation — 
 a faith system and a law system. The Jews, like all 
 sinners, preferred the law system. Christ, or the 
 faith system, is never the one accepted, only as a last 
 resort. The law first ; Christ afterward, the law hav- 
 ing failed. " Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to 
 thy cross I cling," is the song of the soul only after 
 it has found every thing else worthless. Christ is 
 never fotind at the outset because it is not he who is 
 sought. But he who finds Christ, or accepts Christ, 
 or has faith in him, does as a matter of fact, in so 
 doing, meet all the requirements of the law in so far 
 as attaining to a righteousness which is valid with 
 God is concerned. The fact that the Jews did not 
 recognize the truth of what Paul here says, but on 
 the contrary endeavored to establish their own right- 
 eousness by a strict obedience particularly to the 
 
Chapter X. 291 
 
 V. 5 : — For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of 
 the law. That the man which doeth those things shall live by 
 them. 
 
 V. 6: — But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on 
 this wise. Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into 
 heaven? {that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 
 
 V. 7 : — Or, who shall descend into the deep ? {that is, to 
 bring up Christ again from the dead.) 
 
 ceremonial law, is a proof that their "zeal for God" 
 was not ** according to knowledge." 
 
 This verse therefore does not mean, ist, That 
 whereas the Mosaic legal system was once the true 
 means of salvation, Christ now is the true means; 
 for the observance of the Mosaic system had never 
 been the true means of salvation in any sense differ- 
 ent from what the I^ord's-supper, or the rite of bap- 
 tism, now is. Nor does it mean, 2d, That Christ is 
 the aim of the law, in the sense of being the destina- 
 tion to which the law would lead the sinner — though 
 this is the meaning of Gal. iii. 23-25. Nor does it 
 mean, 3d, That Christ is the completion or fulfillment 
 of the law, either in the sense of being the One to 
 whom the whole Mosaic system looked, or in the 
 sense that the law exhausted all its demands upon 
 Christ and therefore can not any longer make any 
 demands upon me. But it does mean that the accept- 
 ance of Christ by the believer puts an end to all his 
 legalistic works, or efforts to obtain salvation. 
 
 Vs. 5, 6, 7. In these verses we have a comparison 
 of the righteousness which is of the law and Christ 
 or the righteousness which is of faith (the righteous- 
 ness of God). The latter puts an end to the former. 
 But we should bear in mind that Paul here speaks of 
 
292 The Episti^e to the Romans. 
 
 the legal righteousness in the sense in which the 
 Pharisees and other Jews in his day understood it ; in 
 the sense in which he himself understood it before 
 his conversion. It was a righteousness which con- 
 sisted merely in outward obedience to legal require- 
 ments, unaccompanied by any recognition of divine 
 grace, or by any real penitence or contrition of spirit, 
 and which claimed the divine favor on the ground 
 simply of personal merit. 
 
 It was the righteousness which is of the law, but 
 not this Pharisaical conception of it, which Moses 
 had described (Lev. xviii. 5) when he said that "the 
 man which doeth those things [which the law com- 
 mands] shall live." (Lev. xviii. 5-) Bzekiel and 
 other prophets had also spoken in like manner. 
 (Hzek. XX. II, 13, 21; Neh. ix. 13-29.) Paul himself 
 had insisted upon the same truth in the first part of 
 this epistle; chapter ii. 6-13. 
 
 The legal righteousness in the Pharisaical sense 
 was indeed worthless and offensive in God's sight; 
 but the legal righteousness in the sense of Moses and 
 the prophets was not, because it implied a humble 
 and contrite spirit, a recognition of the divine grace 
 and of constant dependence upon God's Spirit. 
 (Psalms li. 10, 11.) He who thus lived always had 
 been and always would be justified in God's sight ; 
 and it was not this conception of justification which 
 Paul was seeking to displace from the Jewish mind. 
 He was seeking to remove that erroneous Pharisaical 
 conception above mentioned, which rendered the law 
 a burden which no man could bear, and which made 
 righteousness a thing far beyond the attainment of 
 any man ; and this Pharisaical conception of right- 
 eousness was the prevalent one among the Jews. 
 
Chapter X. 293 
 
 V. 8 : — But what saith it ? The word is nigh thee^ even in 
 thy mouthy and in thy heart : that is, the word of faith, which 
 we preach ; 
 
 But Christ, who is God's righteousness, is not an 
 impracticabiUty ; he is not unattainable ; he is not far 
 away ; no one has to ascend into heaven or descend 
 into the deep in order to find him; he is near at 
 hand; it is easy to be saved through Christ. Paul 
 himself had experienced both the hard failure of the 
 Pharisaical legal process and the easy reality of Christ, 
 the righteousness of God. 
 
 V. 6. The righteousness which is of faith 
 Speaketh, This righteousness is here personified 
 and represented as speaking. The words are quoted 
 from Deut. xxx. 12-14. The very essence of the right- 
 eousness of faith is in him who loves God and turns 
 to him with all his heart and soul. Deut. xxx. 
 6-10. He who thus loves and turns to God abandons 
 self and all self-righteous claims ; and though he may 
 not know the historical Christ or his relation to the 
 salvation of sinners, yet his heart is not such as would 
 reject him. He has in him indeed this righteousness 
 of God without knowing him by his historical name 
 of Christ. 
 
 V. 8. The word is nigh thee. Notwithstanding 
 the nearness, the easy practicability of the true 
 Mosaic idea of the righteousness which is pleasing to 
 God, the Jews in perverting it had made it a thing 
 afar off.. The Mosaic word was the same in its 
 essence as " the word of faith" which Paul preached, 
 and which constitutes the doctrinal substance of this 
 Epistle to the Romans. 
 
294 "^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 9: — That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
 JesuSy and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised 
 him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 
 
 V. 9. That if thou shalt confess, etc. The 
 language of this verse is the translation into the lan- 
 guage of the New Testament of the way of salvation 
 as described by Moses in Deuteronomy. In both 
 there is to be a confession^ an outward expression, or 
 doing ; and in both this outward confession or doing 
 must proceed from a corresponding inward condition 
 or state of heart or character ; in both Christ was 
 present, though in the Mosaic time he was known as 
 Jehovah, and in the New Testament as the Lord 
 Jesus. In both ^^ was the Savior ; in both the inward 
 condition of heart is the same, though called in the 
 one the resurrection unto newness of life and the 
 other the circumcision of heart. Dent. xxx. 6. 
 
 Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Or, 
 as the Revised Version has it, confess with thy mouth 
 fesus as Lord. In either case Jesus can not be one's 
 actual Savior unless he be also recognized as one's 
 Lord ; but this confession with the mouth amounts to 
 nothing, of course, unless it be the confession of the 
 heart— that is, of ourselves. As it was supremely 
 essential under the Mosaic and Old Testament dis- 
 pensation to acknowledge Jehovah as God, and as the 
 true God and only God, so is it essential for the same 
 reason under the New Testament dispensation to 
 acknowledge Jesus as Lord. The latter is only the 
 New Testament aspect of the same truth. 
 
 Believe in thine heart. To believe in the heart 
 h to so believe any thing as to cause the belief to be 
 the supreme motive power of our lives. One may 
 
Chapter X. 295 
 
 believe a thing and yet his life, himself, be in no way 
 affected by the belief; but not so if he believes it " in 
 his heart." 
 
 That God hath raised him from the dead. 
 
 Why did not Paul say that we must believe that Jesus 
 died for us, or for our sins ? Was it because this is 
 not a necessary belief? No, of course not. So far as 
 Paul teaches any thing on the subject, the life and 
 death of Jesus on earth might have been of infinite 
 value in God's sight, even though his human body 
 had never been raised from the dead. But neither 
 Jew nor any other man could have deemed his life or 
 death of any divine value unless he believed in the 
 first place that God did actually raise him from 
 the dead. As a man may really be the authorized 
 representative of his government at a foreign court, 
 and yet have no credentials in his possession as proof 
 of the fact ; so Jesus would really have been all that 
 he actually was and still is even though his human 
 body had never been raised as it was from the dead. 
 But neither Jew nor Gentile would ever have believed 
 it, and hence they never would have acknowledged 
 him as their divine Lord; and hence they never 
 would have accepted his teachings as authoritative; 
 and hence, again, they never would have accepted 
 him as Savior ; and hence, again, he and all that he 
 had said and done, would soon have passed out of the 
 memory of men, and the *' righteousness which is of 
 faith " would have been no more accessible to man 
 than it had been at any time before Jesus was born, 
 and " life and immortality " would have been just as 
 much in the dark. But to believe with the heart that 
 God had raised him from the dead implied the belief 
 of every thing else concerning him that was essential. 
 
296 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 10 : —For with the heaj't man believeth unto righteous- 
 ness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 
 
 V. II : — For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on 
 him, shall not be ashamed. 
 
 V. 10. jPor with the hearty etc. This is the 
 reason or ground of the statement in verse 9 that he 
 who thus believed and confessed should be saved. 
 To believe "unto righteousness" was to have such 
 faith as constituted one righteous in God's sight, 
 though ic did not make him sinless. Confession is 
 made unto salvation. Salvation in this verse 
 differs from righteousness or justification in that it 
 comprehends also perseverance in the Christian life 
 and the final glorification. To " confess unto salva- 
 tion" is to publicly acknowledge Christ as our 
 divine Lord and Savior. The importance of doing 
 this is often urged in the Scriptures. Matt. x. 32 ; 
 Luke xii. 8; i John iv. 15; Psalm li. 14, 15, To 
 avow one's faith strengthens one in his faith, and 
 places all his influence on the side of Christ. The 
 confession should be continuous, day by day, and not 
 spasmodic or merely occasional, and Paul's statement 
 here implies that it is a continuous confession. 
 
 V. II. F'or the Scripture saith. This quotation 
 from the Old Testament, from which Paul so often 
 quotes, is the proof that the faith and confession of 
 verse 10 proceed onward unto salvation. See Isaiah 
 xxviii. 16. Shall not be ashamed. Disappointed. 
 But this quotation is not a proof merely of the cer- 
 tainty of the righteousness and final salvation of 
 those who have this faith ; it is a proof also of its 
 universality ; it belongs to all who believe. 
 
Chaptkr X. 297 
 
 V. 12 : — For there is no difference between the Jew and the 
 Greek : for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call 
 upon him. 
 
 V. 12. For there is no difference, Paul's atten- 
 tion also fell upon the word whosoever. Why " who- 
 soever? " Because there is no difference, so far as the 
 offer of this salvation is concerned, between men ; it 
 is provided for all alike ; all men have the same Lord, 
 whether they be Jews or heathens, or whatever their 
 condition, and he would as willingly bestow his spir- 
 itual gifts upon one as upon another. All that 
 any one has to do is to call upon him. To all such 
 he is rich in his bestowments. He who is here called 
 lyord of all is Christ. See Romans xiv. 9 ; Phil. ii. 
 1 1 ; Acts X. 36. In chapter iii. 30 the doctrine of the 
 universal offer of salvation was proved on the ground 
 that the God of one man is the God of all men. 
 Here it is the same Christ or Lord. As there are not 
 two Gods and two Christs or Lords, so there are not 
 two modes of dealing with men. Salvation by grace 
 through faith is the salvation which may be any 
 man's as truly as it may be any other man's. In 
 chapter V. 12-21 the same doctrine is proved on the 
 ground of the oneness, or solidarity, of man ; or, in 
 other words, on the ground of the universality of sin. 
 That which constitutes one man a 7naii constitutes 
 every one a man; and as sin may be affirmed of one, 
 it ma}^ be affirmed of all ; and that which can save 
 one, or is offered to one, is in the same sense offered 
 to the whole race and can save the whole race. 
 
 V. 13. For whosoever. To prove that the same 
 Lord of all is rich unto all who call upon him the 
 
298 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 13: — For whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
 Lord shall be saved. 
 
 V. 14 : — How then shall they call on him in whom they have 
 not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom 
 they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a 
 preacher ? 
 
 V. 15 : — And how shall they preach except they be sent? as 
 it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach 
 the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things ! 
 
 Apostle again quotes from the Jewish Scriptures. See 
 Joel ii. 32. It should be observed that Paul does not 
 make these " whosoevers " of the Old Testament 
 mean "whosoever of the Jews," or "whosoever of 
 the elect people," for in that case they would have 
 been no proof at all of the proposition which he has 
 in mind. The prophet means and the apostle means 
 whosoever of all vien ; for the very thing which he is 
 here aiming to do is to show to the Jews that they 
 ought not to feel aggrieved because the doctrine of 
 salvation which he preaches includes all men, Gen- 
 tiles as well as Jews, for this is quite in harmony with 
 the utterances of their own prophets long ago ; and 
 if he was thus in accord with the teachings of their 
 Scriptures why should they censure him for proclaim- 
 ing this salvation to the Gentiles? Should not they, 
 the Jews themselves, rather encourage him heartily 
 in his work ? For how shall the}^ the Gentiles, call 
 on him in whom, etc. See next verses. 
 
 Vs. 14, 15. There are in this verse and the first of 
 the next four questions, the implied answer to each 
 of which is, " They can not do it." And the conclu- 
 sion of the whole is, Therefore they should be sent, 
 in order that they may preach, in order that those ta 
 
Chapter X. 299 
 
 V. 16: — But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For 
 Esaias saith^ Lord, who hath believed our report f 
 
 whom they are sent may hear, in order that they may 
 believe, in order that they may call upon or pray to 
 him. Or thus, Prayer is the result of faith, faith of 
 hearing, hearing of preaching, preaching of send- 
 ing. Therefore preachers should be sent ; which con- 
 clusion is confirmed by another quotation from the 
 Old Testament which commends with joyful gladness 
 the messengers of the gospel. See Isaiah lii. 7. The 
 one who does the sending here spoken of is God, not 
 the Church. 
 
 The two expressions to "preach the gospel" and 
 to " bring glad tidings " are the same words both in 
 the Hebrew and Greek— to bring glad tidings of 
 peace, to bring glad tidings of good things. See also 
 Nahum i. 15. The Jews should have been able to see, 
 as Paul did, the complete and higher fulfillment of 
 these Old Testament prophecies, not in the return of 
 Israel from exile, but in the proclamation of the 
 gospel among all nations ; and instead of finding fault 
 with Paul, they themselves should have been a mis- 
 sionary people. But they were so blinded by self- 
 righteousness that they could not see. They had un- 
 derstandings, but they perceived not. 
 
 V. 16. But they have not all obeyed. In 
 
 strong contrast with what should have been true in 
 regard to the Jews as a people, Paul states what act- 
 ually is true. More had heard the gospel than had 
 accepted it; and the Jewish people, the ones who 
 should have accepted it most gladly, were the very 
 ones who did not. Many individual Jews did, but 
 
300 The BPISTI.E to thb Romans. 
 
 V. 17 : — So then faith cometh by hearings and hearing by 
 the word of God. 
 
 Paul is here speaking of them as a nation. He does 
 not mention the Jews by name, but they knew well 
 that they were not excluded from his thought. They 
 knew that the words of the prophets quoted were 
 spoken primarily of their own nation. Isaiah liii. i. 
 
 The fact that the apostle quotes this testimony of 
 the prophet shows that the rejection of the gospel by 
 the Jewish people was foreknown of course. He was 
 not surprised at the antagonism of the Jews who 
 lived in Gentile countries to his preaching. But as 
 God's foreknowledge did not destroy God's sover- 
 eignty, neither did his foreknowledge destroy human 
 liberty and responsibility. If it destroyed the latter 
 it must necessarily destroy the ability of God to pre- 
 vent the foreknown event from occurring. Strictly 
 speaking these various time-words, foreknowledge, 
 fore-ordination, etc., are not applicable to God ; and 
 when the Scriptures use them of God they speak 
 " after the manner of men," on account of our human 
 weakness and limitations. God does not think his 
 thoughts, or perform his mental acts, one at a time, 
 but all at once. They become consecutive only when 
 they come out of his eternity into our time. 
 
 V. 17. So then, etc. The Apostle reverts to v. 14. 
 And hearing by the word of God, Faith pro- 
 ceeds out of hearing, is born of hearing ; hearing is 
 produced by means of the word preached. But he had 
 said that all did not have faith (v. 16) ; and in the next 
 verse he asks why, or rather he states what was ru)t 
 the reason. 
 
Chapte:r X. 301 
 
 V. i^:—But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their 
 sound went into all the earth, and, their words into the ends 
 of the world. 
 
 V. \K^\—But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses 
 saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no peo- 
 ple, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. 
 
 V. 18. But I say, have they not heard? Did 
 
 they not hear ? Yes, verily. The fact that they did 
 not accept the gospel is not due to the fact that it was 
 not preached to them, for it was preached to them ; 
 and it was preached to them not only in Judea, but in 
 all parts of the world whither they (the Jews) have 
 been scattered ; and to such an extent, indeed, as to 
 justify applying to this fact the words of the Psalm- 
 ist. The words of the preached gospel have been 
 sounded in all the earth, even unto the end of the 
 world. (Ps. xix. 4.) 
 
 V. 19. But I say, Did not Israel know? The 
 
 Apostle anticipates another excuse which the Jews 
 might make for not having accepted the gospel. Yes, 
 say they, we have heard the gospel, and so have the 
 Gentiles. But we did not know that the glad tidings 
 of which the prophets speak were to be proclaimed 
 throughout the world to the Gentiles also ; and the 
 very fact that such has been done has caused us to 
 judge the gospel adversely. But Paul answers. You 
 surely should have known that the glad tidings of the 
 same salvation were to be preached not only to the 
 Jews but to the Gentiles also, for there is explicit 
 testimony on this very point by two of the greatest 
 prophets : First, Moses : Did not he say, " I will pro- 
 voke you to jealousy by them that are no people?" 
 Deut. xxxii. 21. Does not this language plainly 
 
302 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 20: — But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of 
 them that sought me not ; I was m,ade m^anifest unto them 
 that asked not after me. 
 
 imply that a message of grace should be proclaimed 
 to the Gentiles, and that Israel would be affected by- 
 it precisely as you are now ? If God should have so 
 moved ancient Israel by his graciousness at any time 
 toward other nations, why should you be surprised by 
 his graciousness to them now? Isaiah, however, 
 speaks even more plainly, words which should have 
 abundantly prepared you for what is just now occur- 
 ring in regard to the proclamation of the gospel to 
 Jews and Gentiles respectively. 
 
 F'oolisb nation. Devoid of spiritual understand- 
 ing. The Jews did not so regard themselves. 
 
 V. 20. But Bsaias, See Isa. Ixv. i. Is very 
 bold. Is very plain and explicit. It required much 
 boldness, however, in Isaiah's day to enable him to 
 speak very plainly on a subject in regard to which 
 the kings and people of Israel were so sensitive. I 
 was found of them. The Gentiles. They had 
 not sought the gospel, but when the gospel was pre- 
 sented to them many of them accepted it even more 
 readily than the Jews to whom it was first preached, 
 and who were a people of such avowed and strict 
 religious pretensions; they as a people had even 
 rejected the gospel. The prophet foresees this atti- 
 tude of the Gentiles to the glad tidings of salvation 
 which was preached unto them, and he speaks of it 
 as a fact already accomplished. 
 
 V. 21. But to Israel he saith. Isa. Ixv. 2. But 
 as to Israel, or concerning Israel ; in contrast 
 
Chapter X. 303 
 
 V. 21: — But to Israel he saith. All day long I have 
 stretched forth 7ny hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying 
 people. 
 
 with what was said of the Gentiles in the preceding 
 verse. What unwearied love, what patience, what 
 long-suiFering, God had ever exercised toward the 
 Jews, his chosen people ! And they were still unbe- 
 lieving, disobedient, gainsaying, ever calling his words 
 and doings into question. Could they blame him if 
 he should choose another people in their stead ? Is it 
 true that those with whom God pleads most are the 
 ones who most resist him, thus making his very love 
 to be the cause of a greater wrath? (Matt. xi. 
 20-24.) 
 
 Thk Future: The Enigma Soi^ved. 
 
 (Chap. XI.) 
 In setting forth the historical aspects of his doctrine 
 of salvation Paul had shown in chap. ix. that the ab- 
 solute sovereignty and freedom of God had not been 
 placed under any irrevocable restrictions by the cov- 
 enant relation into which he had entered with Israel ; 
 but that God retained the inalienable right to deprive 
 the Jews of their exclusive privileges and to choose 
 for himself a people from among those who had not 
 hitherto been recognized as his people ; and that no 
 man should dare call God to account for his sovereign 
 exercise of this right. But while the source of all 
 God's actions thus lay in his own nature or sovereign 
 will (which is but the expression of his nature), Paul 
 shows in chap. x. that the particular direction which 
 the exercise of the divine sovereignty had taken in 
 regard to the Jews and Gentiles respectively was due 
 
304 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 or was determined on their part by the unbelief of the- 
 one and the faith of the other. 
 
 In the chapter now before us the Apostle looks to 
 the future and sees the solution of that which to the 
 Jew was so great an enigma. Some of the Jews 
 should not be cast away. A believing remnant 
 should be spared, into which as a still vital stock, 
 should be graffed the Gentile wild olive branch. But 
 it had never been God's intention to cast away Israel 
 forever. He does intend, however, to so overrule 
 their unbelief as to facilitate the extension of the 
 gospel among the Gentiles, and ultimately to make 
 the conversion of the latter the means of converting 
 the Jews. This fact should lead the Gentiles to exer- 
 cise humility and fear rather than boasting or exult- 
 ation, lest they themselves should be cast away. The 
 Apostle concludes his sketch of these historical 
 aspects of his subject with an expression of adoration 
 to Him whose wisdom in the plan and conduct of the 
 work of redemption is unsearchable, of whom, and 
 through whom, and to whom, are all things, and to 
 whom be glory forever. 
 
 This chapter may be divided into the following 
 parts : 
 
 1. Vs. i-io. Israel not totally rejected, a remnant 
 — " the election " — shall be saved, the hardness of the 
 " rest," a means for the conversion of the Gentiles. 
 
 2. Vs. 11-32. The rejection of the Jews is not 
 final, or irrevocable. They did not stumble in order 
 that they might fall forever. As through the stum- 
 bling of the Jews the Gentiles were saved, so through 
 the conversion of the Gentiles shall the Jews be ulti^ 
 mately saved. 
 
Chapter XI. 305 
 
 Chap. XI., V. I : — I say then, Hath God cast away his people? 
 God forbid. For I also am an Israelite^ of the seed of Abra- 
 ham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 
 
 3. Vs. 33-36. Praise offered to God for his plan of 
 salvation. 
 
 V. I. J say then. In view of what has been said 
 in chaps, ix. and x., and of the prophecies quoted 
 from the Old Testament at the close of the last chap- 
 ter, is it to be inferred that God has cast off his peo- 
 ple totally and forever ? God forbid. By no means. 
 The very form of the question in the original Greek 
 implies a negative answer, but to make the negative 
 doubly strong, Paul does not leave it with a mere im- 
 plication, but expresses it plainly and strongly. Sis 
 people. The Jewish people as a whole, and not 
 merely the believing remnant. God had not utterly 
 cast away his people either as a whole or in part, for 
 as the Apostle shows in this chapter even the unbe- 
 lieving majority shall ultimately be saved through 
 the ministry of the Gentiles. The Apostle, however, 
 speaks first 01 the remnant who are saved at the out- 
 set, and instances himself who is an Israelite of gen- 
 uine descent. He was not cast away; and so will 
 God not cast away any who, like him, believe. 
 
 The word also which Paul here uses seems to 
 imply that he meant to remind his readers that there 
 were other believing Jews besides himself, and that he 
 and they constitute the remnant which he mentions 
 directly. Recognizing, as he did, the existence of 
 this remnant, of which he himself was one, nothing 
 that he had hitherto said should be so construed by 
 his Jewish opponent as to make him teach that God 
 was casting away the Jews totally. While he was an 
 20 
 
3o6 The Epistle to the R'omans. 
 
 V. 2: — God hath not cast away his people which he fore- 
 knew. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias? how 
 he maketh intercession to God against Israel^ sayings 
 
 Apostle chiefly to the Gentiles, he would nevertheless 
 neither say nor imply any thing that might diminish 
 the number of his own people who might be con- 
 verted by his ministry. Such in substance is the 
 more generally received view of Paul's reference to 
 himself in this verse, and it seems to me to be correct. 
 Hence, I do not believe, as do Meyer and some others, 
 that the Apostle merely meant that he was altogether 
 too good a Jew to believe that God had cast away his 
 people, for if it had been true he surely would not 
 have been too good a Jew to believe it. 
 
 V. 2. Which he foreknew. Was all Israel fore- 
 known, or only the remnant ? If by the foreknown 
 all Israel is meant, does the Apostle refer to the lit- 
 eral or to the spiritual Israel ? Hodge, following Cal- 
 vin, Luther, and others, thinks that the people who 
 are here spoken of as foreknown are the spiritual 
 Israel. Stuart, Meyer, and others, however, think 
 that the literal Israel, or Jewish nation is meant, and 
 this view is undoubtedly more in harmony with w^hat 
 to me seems to be the whole line of thought of the 
 Apostle, not only in this chapter but from the begin- 
 ning of chap. ix. He is speaking throughout of the 
 Jews as a people or nation, on the one hand, and of 
 the Gentiles as a people, on the other hand. In chap, 
 viii. 29 the foreknown are believers, of whatever 
 nationality ; but here the foreknown are the Jews as a 
 people, and they are the only nation whom God ever 
 did foreknow and elect to be the one through which 
 be would realize his purpose of salvation. " The 
 
Chapter XI. 307 
 
 V. 3 : — Lordy they have killed thy prophets, and digged 
 down- thine altars ; and I am left alone, and they seek my 
 life. 
 
 V. 4 : — But what saith the answer of God unto him ? I 
 have reserved to ynyself seven thousand men, who have not 
 bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 
 
 V. 5: — Even so then at this present time also there is a 
 refnnafit according to the election of grace. 
 
 Israelites contemporary with Jesus might reject him; 
 an indefinite series of generations may for ages perpet- 
 uate this fact of national unbelief. God is under no 
 pressure ; time can stretch out as long as he pleases. 
 He will add, if need be, ages to ages, until there come 
 at length the generation disposed to open their eyes 
 and freely welcome their Messiah. God foreknew 
 this nation as believing and saved, and sooner or later 
 they can not fail to be both." (Godet.) This, to say 
 the very least, is the hope which Paul's words war- 
 rant, and which hope shall be more and more nearly 
 realized as the Gentiles more and more nearly do their 
 whole duty toward the long neglected and despised 
 Jews. 
 
 Wot ye not, etc. This sentence, in the Revised 
 Version, and also in the Greek, begins with an " or." 
 Or wot ye not, etc. The meaning is : Or, if j^ou are 
 not yet willing to accept the truth of my statement, 
 do you not know what the Scripture saith, etc. ? See 
 I Kings xix. 10-18. Elias, The Greek form of the 
 Hebrew name Elijah. 
 
 V. 5. A remnant according to the election 
 of grace. The words, " election of grace," do not 
 refer to the election of the believing individuals who 
 make up the remnant. Israel as a nation was by 
 
3o8 The BPISTI.E to the Romans. 
 
 V. 6 : — And if by grace, then is it no more of works : oth- 
 erwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of workSy then is. 
 it no more grace : otherwise work is no more work. 
 
 God's gracious act elected or chosen to be his people, 
 his Church, the recipient of his revelations, through 
 whom he would instruct and save the world ; and in 
 accordance with this fact there had ever been in the 
 nation a number of individuals making in the aggre- 
 gate several thousands who were true and faithful to 
 Jehovah. It was so in the dark days of Elijah, and 
 of Paul ; it would ever be so, and the Apostle argues 
 from the abiding existence in the nation of such a 
 remnant that God has not irrevocably rejected the 
 nation, but that at some future day, in God's own 
 good time, the whole mass of the people should be 
 brought to the saving recognition of Jesus as their 
 true Messiah. And it is this ever-existing believing 
 remnant which is here spoken of as ''according to 
 the election of grace." 
 
 V. 6. And if by grace, then it is no more 
 of works. If the election of Israel, or the conse- 
 quent preservation of the faithful remnant was an act 
 of God's free grace it could not have proceeded 
 from their merits, for grace and merits exclude 
 each the other. The election begun in grace and 
 continued in grace, never at any time becoming a 
 matter of works or merit. Grace can not gradually 
 cease to be grace and become works. 
 
 But why should the second half of the verse have 
 been added by the Apostle ? It is easy to see why if 
 he was aiming to show simply that the election must 
 be a matter of grace alone or of works alone, and not 
 a matter of both. But this is not what he is aiming^ 
 
Chaptkr XL 309 
 
 V. 7 :— What then f Israel hath not obtained that which he 
 seeketh for ; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest 
 were blinded 
 
 to show ; it is rather a premise of another argument 
 which Paul makes against the Jews' favorite doctrine 
 of merit as the ground of their claim upon the divine 
 favor. To say that works or merit is the ground of it 
 and yet call it grace or favor is a contradiction of 
 terms, for if one bestows upon me only what I have 
 earned it can not be said to be an act of grace. The 
 thought is associated in the Apostle's mind with the 
 word election, and his argument briefly stated is this : 
 
 The election is obliged to be a matter either of 
 grace or merit ; it can not be a matter of both. 
 
 It is not a matter of merit or works, for in this case 
 the thing called divine grace or favor becomes a non- 
 entity. 
 
 Conclusion: Therefore, it is a matter of grace 
 alone. 
 
 It is proper to observe, however, that the clause of 
 the verse referring to works is omitted by some of the 
 best ancient manuscripts and versions, by the Revised 
 English Version, and by the most eminent recent 
 critical commentators. Fritzsche and Reiche defend 
 its genuineness. But the sense of the verse is essen- 
 tially the same in either case. 
 
 V. 7. What then ? What conclusion follows, as 
 to the present state of the Jews, from the truths just 
 stated ? This follows : *' Israel hath not obtained that 
 which he seeketh for," etc. What was it that Israel 
 sought? Not righteousness, or justification, by 
 works, for neither the election or chosen believing 
 remnant obtained this. Nor was it the honor of being 
 
3IO The Kpistlk to the Romans. 
 
 V. 8: — {According as it is written^ God hath given them 
 the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears 
 that they should not hear ;) unto this day. 
 
 the Church (as Macknight says) after having been 
 once rejected on account of their unbelief. But what 
 Israel as a people or nation sought was simply right- 
 eousness or justification, and the reason why it did 
 not obtain it was, Israel sought it by works. The 
 election or believing remnant did obtain it because it 
 sought it by faith. The rest were blinded, or, as the 
 word more exactly means, hardened. By whom were 
 they hardened? God. In what sense and to what 
 extent had God hardened them ? See the next three 
 verses. 
 
 V. 8. According as it is written. Deut. 
 xxix. 4; Isa. xxix. 9-1 1. God hath given them. 
 That is, Israel. The spirit of slumber. Of deep 
 sleep, or, as others prefer to render it, torpor, or stu- 
 pefaction. God destroyed their spiritual sensibility, 
 their power of spiritual discernment. The eye of the 
 soul was paralyzed so that it could no longer see. 
 God does this, not vindictively, not arbitrarily, but 
 wisely and in mercy, " when he wills for a time to 
 give over a man who perseveres in resisting him to a 
 blindness such that he punishes himself, as it were, 
 with his own hand," and is thus, it may be, brought 
 to repentance. See Matt. xiii. 14, 15 ; John xii. 40. 
 From him that hath the power of discerning the 
 truth and does not use it shall be taken away even 
 that which he hath, until excess of sin becomes 
 excess of misery, and the sinner is caused, peradvent- 
 ure, to turn about. 
 
Chapter XI. 311 
 
 V. 9 :—And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, 
 and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto 
 them : 
 
 V. 9. And David saith, Ps. Ixix. 22, 23. Let 
 their table he made a snare, etc. As, for in- 
 stance, let them think that they are drinking choice 
 wine, whereas they are swallowing a drug that strikes 
 them with stupefaction. In offering this prayer 
 the Psalmist had in mind the enemies of God's Church 
 and cause, of which he himself was the represent- 
 ative. We can not pray for the prosperity of this 
 cause without praying for the adversity of its enemies 
 — the crushing of the serpent's head and all the sei- 
 pent's seed. In the Psalmist's day these enemies 
 were regarded as those who were arrayed against 
 the theocracy or Church in David's time. In the 
 Apostle's time these enemies included even the mass 
 of the Jewish people themselves, who had set them- 
 selves in array against the gospel. Hence, the Apos- 
 tle does no violence to the spirit or intent of the 
 Psalmist's prayer when he applies it to the Jews, they 
 being no less truly enemies than were those whom the 
 Psalmist had immediately in mind. 
 
 A trap. " A wild beast grasps at food and falls in- 
 to a trap." So may the enemies of Thee, in careless 
 ease and prosperity, be ensnared as to their hearts. 
 
 A stumblingblock. Let their material prosper- 
 ity be that over which they stumble and hurt them- 
 selves. A recompense. A punishment. Is it not 
 true that one's greatest prosperity and apparent peace 
 may become in God's hands the means of severest 
 punishment, and thus of bringing the sinner to re- 
 pentance? 
 
312 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. lo : — Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see^ 
 and bow down their back alway. 
 
 V. II : — I say then, Have they stumbled that they should 
 fall? God forbid : but rather through their fall salvation 
 is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them, to jealousy. 
 
 V. lo. Let their eyes he darkened, Ps. Ixix. 
 23. Bow down their hack alway. As if in deep 
 dejection. The spirit or sense of this verse is the 
 same as the preceding. The words have been fulfilled 
 in the case of the Jews as a people, for their backs 
 have long been bowed down in deep dejection. 
 
 The Apostle makes the quotations from the Old 
 Testament not word for word, but giving simply the 
 sense of the Hebrew. In some instances he quotes 
 not the Hebrew but the Greek version, as in this 
 verse. 
 
 V. 11-15. Having shown the fulfillment of the Old 
 Testament prophecy in the hardening of the mass of the 
 Jewish people ; and having also shown that although 
 God did the hardening, he did it because of their per- 
 sistent unbelief; the Apostle now proceeds to show 
 that the purpose which God has in view in this pun- 
 ishment is, not the irrevocable rejection of the Jews, 
 but the salvation of the Gentiles and ultimately of the 
 Jews also. 
 
 V. II. I say then, have they stumhled that 
 they should fall? Have the Jews stumbled at 
 Christ, and is it the divine purpose in their stumbling 
 that they should fall forever under the condemnation 
 of God? " By no means," answers the Apostle, " is 
 this the purpose or end which God has in view in their 
 stumbling." And then he proceeds in this and the 
 
Chapter XL 313 
 
 following three verses to point out the two ends which 
 God does have in view ; i. The salvation of the Gen- 
 tiles, 2. The final restoration of the Jews themselves. 
 Through their fall salvation is come to the 
 Gentiles, The word "fall" here is not the same 
 Greek word as in the first part of the verse, and does 
 not express quite the same idea. The Apostle does 
 not of course mean to deny that the Jews fell, and 
 then immediately to affirm it. The word in the sec- 
 ond clause means a trespass or offense, such as the 
 Jews were guilty of in stumbling at Christ, the Stone 
 of stumbling and the Rock of offense. Chapter ix. 32, 
 33. The word " fall " in the first part of the verse de- 
 notes the fall which follows when one stumbles or 
 strikes his foot against an obstacle, and carries with 
 it here the idea of permanent prostration. The Jews 
 did indeed not only stumble, they also fell — that is, 
 they were rejected as God's chosen nation. But it was 
 not God's purpose that they should fall in such way 
 as to remain prostrate forever. 
 
 Nor does the Apostle mean that God in any way 
 forced Israel either to stumble or to fall. The well- 
 known historical facts, and tlie character of God as 
 recognized both by Paul and the Jews, were obviously 
 against any such meaning. God may have a purpose 
 in view in regard to any event without himself being 
 the morally responsible cause of that event. He did 
 not cause Israel to reject Christ, but he had one or 
 more purposes in view which he would accomplish by 
 this act of Israel. Had the Jews laid aside their prej- 
 udices, and their self-righteousness, and accepted the 
 righteousness of God which is by faith, they would 
 have become the willing instruments in the spread of 
 the de-Judaized gospel among all nations, and all na- 
 
314 The Epistlk to thk Romans. 
 
 V. 12 : — Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world,, 
 and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles ; how 
 much more their fulness ? 
 
 tions, including the Jews, would have become one na- 
 tion in Christ — God's one people. But as the Jews 
 would not do this, and as the gospel must spread 
 abroad whether or not, the honor of being any longer 
 God's chosen people must pass from them, and even 
 their hostility to the gospel is divinely utilized to the 
 more rapid progress of the gospel among the nations. 
 The more the Jews oppose it the more rapidly and ex- 
 tensively did it scatter abroad from Jerusalem, and the 
 more it was divested of the Jewish element the more 
 acceptable would it be to the Jew-hating Gentile. 
 While, therefore, God did not cause the Jews' unbelief, 
 thus did he in the first place purpose to overrule that 
 unbelief. 
 
 To provoke them to jealousy. God's purpose 
 was, in the second place, to provoke the Jews to jeal- 
 ousy, to awaken their ancient love, and thus recover 
 them to himself. He was acting toward them in love 
 and mercy, and not with a view to their final ruin. 
 
 V. 12. The fall of them. The trespass, or of- 
 fense, of Israel as a nation. The riches of the 
 world, " The state of grace into which the Gentiles 
 are introduced by faith in a free salvation." The 
 diminution of them. The true Israel was greatly 
 reduced in number by the rejection of the mass of the 
 Jewish nation on account of unbelief. The riches 
 of the Gentiles. Though the Jewish nation was 
 greatly diminished by the casting away of the unbe- 
 lieving portion, this nation, regarded as the Churchy 
 
Chapter XI. 315 
 
 V. 13 : — For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the 
 apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office : 
 
 V. 14 : — If by any means I may provoke to emulation them 
 which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 
 
 was greatly increased by the incorporation into it of 
 many believing Gentile peoples who were thereby en- 
 riched with the riches of grace. Their fullness. 
 The whole body of Jewish people. If God could so 
 overrule the unbelief of the many Jews and the faith 
 of the few for the good of the other nations, how much 
 more rapidly and widely shall the gospel extend its 
 dominion over the hearts and lives of men every- 
 where as the number of believing Israel is increased. 
 
 V. 13. I speak to you Gentiles, Paul was writ- 
 ing in large part to Gentile readers, and he writes in 
 this chapter on the future restoration of the Jews — a 
 subject which should still be one of very great in- 
 terest to the Gentiles, for to the Jews they owe an 
 evangelical debt which they can never fully repay. 
 
 I magnify mine oiBce, Paul's office was that 
 of the apostle of the Gentiles, but in writing about 
 and laboring for the salvation of the Jews, he was 
 magnifying his office, he was true to its proper func- 
 tions; for in laboring for the salvation of the Jews 
 he was also therein laboring for the welfare of the 
 Gentiles, for he had just said that great good would 
 accrue to all Gentiles from the conversion of the 
 Jews. Hence, he could not be accused of departing 
 from his duties as an apostle to the Gentiles in labor- 
 ing also for the conversion of Israel. 
 
 V. 14. If by any means. That is, I speak to 
 you Gentiles, if by any means I may . provoke or 
 
3i6 The Episti^e to the Romans. 
 
 V. 15 : — For if the casting away of them be the reconciling 
 of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life 
 from the dead f 
 
 Stimulate to emulation, etc. Emulation. The same 
 word translated "jealousy" in verse 11; also ren- 
 dered jealousy in this verse by the Revised Version. 
 The Greek word means both, jealousy being rather 
 the inward feeling of which emulation is the outward 
 expression. My flesh. My fellow Jews. What Paul 
 as a Jew wished to do was to stimulate his fellow 
 countrymen to accept the gospel by making them see 
 that the Gentiles, the outsiders, would come in and 
 get all the divine blessing and they themselves none 
 unless they bestirred themselves. What he as an 
 apostle of the Gentiles wished to do was to make the 
 conversion of the Jews the means of a yet more 
 world-wide blessing to the Gentile. In his twofold 
 capacity, therefore, of Jew and apostle his large heart 
 and large effort sought the salvation of all men. So 
 with the minister of the gospel to-day, so with every 
 Christian ; he may be an American, but he is also an 
 apostle, and whether in the one capacity or the other 
 his longing and his effort must embrace also the 
 nations afar off. 
 
 Some of tbem. Sad words. Even Paul, the 
 man of limitless heart, could hope for the salvation 
 of only a comparatively small part of his fellow Jews, 
 the most favored of people. 
 
 V. 15. The casting away of them. The cessa- 
 tion, or refusal, on God's part, any longer to recognize 
 the Jewish nation as his people. The receiving 
 of them. The acceptance of them again by God as 
 
Chapter XL 317 
 
 his people on account of their acceptance of the 
 gospel which they once and so long rejected. I/ife 
 from the dead. Not the resurrection of the body, 
 as some eminent commentators strangely think ; but, 
 simply a wonderful and glorious event, and of great 
 and world-wide benefit to the Gentiles. Such, in 
 substance, the majority of commentators. If the re- 
 jection of the Jewish people on account of their 
 unbelief and rejection of Christ should be so over- 
 ruled as to be a great blessing to the Gentiles, how 
 much greater blessing may be looked for when this 
 long unbelieving people shall accept Christ? If a 
 people's curse can be so great a blessing, what will 
 the same people blessed be ? Such will be the uni- 
 versal spiritual quickening that it can be compared to 
 nothing but a life from the dead, and hence it is here 
 figuratively so called. The apostle now goes on to 
 show, 
 
 (i) That this future glorious restoration of the Jews 
 is in itself very probable because it is in accordance 
 with their original consecration or sacred (not sinless) 
 character as a people. (Verse 16.) 
 
 (2) That this fact should awaken in the Gentiles " a 
 feeling of profound regard for Israel" — (Vs. 17, 18), a 
 caution of which Gentile Christendom has ever been, 
 and is yet, only too unmindful. 
 
 (3) That the same fact should also inspire the Gen- 
 tiles with a feeling of humility and watchfulness lest 
 God who spared not Israel on account of unbelief 
 might also reject them— the Gentiles— on account of 
 proud boasting. (Vs. 19-21.) 
 
 V. 16. If the £rst'frait A figurative expression 
 denoting the Israelitish nation in its very beginning 
 
3i8 The Episti^k to the Romans. 
 
 V. i6 '.—For if the Jirstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy : 
 und if the root be holy, so are the branches. 
 
 V. 17 -.—And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, 
 being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with 
 them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree ; 
 
 in Abraham and the patriarchs. In the consecration 
 to God of the first-fruit of the harvest the whole har- 
 vest was consecrated. In the consecration of the first- 
 born all subsequent offsprings were consecrated. 
 Whatever may be afiirmed of the root may also be 
 afiSrmed of the branches, for from the former the lat- 
 ter derive their quality. So the fact that Israel in its 
 origin was sacred to God renders it only the more 
 probable in itself that it will be so in its future gen- 
 erations. No people has ever stood in such a relation 
 to God as the Jews even still sustain toward him. 
 
 V. 17. And thovL. The individual Gentile reader. 
 A wild olive tree. The Gentile world is the wild 
 olive tree ; the individual Gentile believer is the graft 
 which the Gentile wild olive tree furnishes to the true 
 Church which is here also personified as a tree of 
 which Abraham and the other patriarchs are the roots. 
 The dead or fruitless branches broken off from this 
 tree are the individual unbelieving Jews who consti- 
 tuted the mass of the nation. Among them. Lit- 
 erally, in them. The Gentile branches were graffed 
 either in the stumps left from the broken-off Jewish 
 branches, or among the Jewish branches which were 
 left on the tree. In either case the graffed branches 
 of the wild olive became partakers of the fruit-pro- 
 ducing sap of the true olive tree — the true Church. 
 Paul's reasoning here plainly implies the essential 
 
Chaptkr XI. 319 
 
 V. 18 : — Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast ^ 
 thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 
 
 V. i^: — Thou Witt say then, The branches were broken off, 
 that I might be graffed in. 
 
 V. 20: — Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, 
 and thou standest by faith. Be not high^nifided, but fear. 
 
 identity of the Church of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments ; and hence it proves plainly that Paul's concep- 
 tion of the Church was not that of something distinct 
 from and antagonistic to Israel. He was nearer to Is- 
 rael than the Jews themselves were. 
 
 V. 18. Boast not against the branches. Glory 
 not over, despise not, the cast-off Jews. If Gentile 
 Christendom, however, has not for centuries gloried 
 over the cast off Jew, it has nevertheless sadly neg- 
 lected and ill-treated him. But if thou boast. If 
 thou gloriest, it is nevertheless true that you Gentiles 
 owe your salvation to the Jews, and not conversely. 
 If there had not been a Jewish stock, a true Church 
 in Jewish germ, into which you could be graffed, it 
 would have been sad for you. If you glory over the 
 Jews you glory in the face of this fact. 
 
 V. 19. Thou wilt say then. Thou Gentile wilt 
 say then, that is in view of the statement (verse 17), 
 that the Jewish branches were broken off, that it was 
 done solely in order that we Gentiles might be graffed 
 in. In saying " I," in this verse, the Gentile speaker 
 represents not only himself but all other Gentile 
 graffs. 
 
 V. 20. Well, Well ; suppose they were broken off 
 in order that you Gentiles might be graffed in ; sup- 
 
320 The Episti^e to the Romans. 
 
 V. 21 -.—For if God spared not the natural branches^ take 
 heed lest he also spare not thee. 
 
 V. 22 '.—Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: 
 on them which fell, severity ; but toward thee, goodness, if 
 thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shall be 
 cut off. 
 
 pose that was a purpose which God had in view ; it is 
 nevertheless true that they would not have been 
 broken off had it not been for their unbelief; and it is 
 also true that you do not remain in as graffs because 
 of any unconditional favoritism toward you on the 
 part of God ; you stand by your faith, just as they 
 fell by their want of it. Be not high minded. 
 Do not exalt yourselves, but rather fear, take heed^ 
 lest you yourselves fall even as did the unbelieving 
 Jews. Some of the Gentile Churches of Asia Minor 
 were rejected of God in a sense no less true than were 
 the Jews themselves. (Rev. ii. iii.) 
 
 V. 2 J. F'or, The reason for the caution at the close 
 of verse 20. I^est he also spare not thee. Nei- 
 ther will he spare thee. The Revised Version, and 
 the now generally accepted Greek text adopts the 
 reading " neither " instead of " lest," ** not." In either 
 case a real danger is pointed to that the Gentiles in 
 the future might experience the same awful rejection 
 which the Jews had brought upon themselves. 
 
 V. 22. Behold, Paul is still addressing the Gen- 
 tile reader. Goodness and severity of God. 
 
 Goodness toward the believing Gentiles, severity to- 
 ward the unbelieving Jews. " The Apostle with mas- 
 terly skill sets both sides of the case at once before 
 his readers, that goodness and severity, seen side by 
 
Chapter XI. 321 
 
 V. 23 \—And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief 
 shall be graffed in : for God is able to graff them in again. 
 
 side, may stir both love and fear. ' ' (Gifford) Which 
 fell. The Jewish nation which by unbelief stumbled 
 over Christ and fell. Toward thee. The Gentile 
 Christians. If thou continue. They might for- 
 feit God's goodness, causing it to cease toward them, 
 turning it into severity, by abandoning their faith, by 
 being high-minded, by not taking heed. To continue 
 in the faith, to be humble-minded, to be watchful, is to 
 continue in God's goodness. Paul is not speaking 
 here of the cutting off and final rejection of individ- 
 uals, but of the Gentile portion of the Church on con- 
 dition of their failure to observe the warning which 
 he here solemnly administers to them. The warning 
 is as pertinent to-day as it was in Paul's time. Is it 
 being heeded ? Or is it indeed true that our Gentile 
 Christendom is fast reaching the time here foreseen 
 by Paul when it too should be cut off because of its 
 ceasing to " continue in his goodness." No statute of 
 limitation can ever release it from that old, old debt 
 which it owes to the Jews, and if it pay it not — then 
 the cutting off! 
 
 V. 23. They also. The rejected Jewish people. 
 // they abide not still in unbelief. The salva- 
 tion of the Jewish people at some future period of 
 the world's history is here asserted by Paul as an hy- 
 pothesis ; in verses 26, 27, he asserts it as a certainty. 
 But why does Paul here say, God is able to graff them 
 in f Does he mean that God is able to restore them 
 if they abandon their unbelief and have faith? 
 Or, that he is able to remove their unbelief itself and 
 
 21 
 
322 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 24 : — For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is 
 wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a 
 ^ood olive tree ; how much more shall these, which be the 
 natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree f 
 
 thus restore them? These questions have been vari- 
 ously answered by commentators. The simple mean- 
 ing seems to be that there is no obstacle on God's side 
 that can hinder him ; it will be a great, a stupendous 
 work, this restoration of the long alienated and un- 
 believing Jewish people ; but God's power is adequate 
 to any work which he wills to perform ; and so far as 
 God's own attitude toward the Jews is concerned, it is 
 a good deal more probable, humanly speaking, that he 
 should in the course of his providence restore his an- 
 cient and long-loved people, than that he should ever 
 have graffed in the Gentiles. The thought of its re- 
 quiring an exercise of divine power to graff the Jews, 
 the broken-off branch, again after so long a time, may 
 have been suggested to Paul by his use here of what 
 most scholars regard as an unnatural botanical figure. 
 It is not true to nature that when a lifeless branch is 
 cut from its stock that it is ever graffed again on that 
 stock. For the accomplishment of such work a pow- 
 er above nature is necessary ; it is as " life from the 
 dead" (verse 15), a power of God alone that can do it, 
 by whatever process that power may be exerted. 
 
 V. 24. Graffed contrary to nature into a good 
 olive tree. The Gentiles had no afl&nity to begin 
 with for the religion or gospel which Paul preached ; 
 it was to them " foolishness." But the Jews had been 
 brought up from of old in the true religion as Jeho- 
 vah's own people, and hence this true religion as 
 
Chapter XI. 323 
 
 V. 25 : — For I would not, brethren, that ye should be igno- 
 rant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own con- 
 ceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the 
 fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 
 
 preached by the Apostle was, so to speak, their own 
 olive tree ; and hence, although they had been cast off 
 as dead and fruitless branches, it was antecedently 
 more probable, so far as God was concerned, that in 
 his almighty power he should graff them back than 
 that he should ever have graffed in the wild olive. 
 " As men look upon the children of their early friends 
 with kinder feelings than the children of strangers," 
 says Dr. Hodge, " so God refers to this fact to make 
 us sensible that he still retains purposes of peculiar 
 mercy toward his ancient people. The restoration of 
 this people, therefore, to the blessings of the Church 
 of God is far from being an improbable event." 
 
 V. 25. IB'or I would not, brethren, that yon 
 should he ignorant. But the restoration of Israel 
 at some future time not mentioned, is not only possible 
 2,M^ probable, but it is also certain, a fact of which the 
 Apostle proceeds to inform his Gentile brethren. The 
 formal manner, "I would not have you ignorant, 
 brethren," in which he introduces his statement, 
 shows that he regarded it as an important fact. 
 
 This mystery. The restoration of Israel to the 
 divine favor referred to in the latter part of the verse, 
 and explicitly stated in the next verse. The word 
 " mystery " in the writings of Paul denotes, not some- 
 thing incomprehensible, but a truth unknown and un- 
 knowable until God revealed it. See i Cor. ii. 7, 10 ; 
 iv. I ; xiii. 2 ; Eph. i. 9 ; iii. 4, etc. 
 
324 Thi: EPISTI.E to the Romans. 
 
 Blindness, The same Greek word is, in the King 
 James' Version, in Mark iii. 5, rendered " hardness ;" it 
 is also so rendered here in the Revised Version. The 
 word properly means the covering with a callous — a 
 hard substance which forms on the hands or feet as an 
 effect of friction or pressure. It destroys the sensibil- 
 ity of the part. Thus the heart of Israel was hard- 
 ened by unbelief so that it was not sensible to spiritual 
 impressions. The word blindness, though not so ac- 
 curate as a rendering, conveys a good meaning if we 
 should conceive of the heart as that faculty whereby 
 moral or spiritual truth is perceived. But the real 
 thought here is that Israel was callous hearted. 
 
 In part. This does not mean that the heart of Is- 
 rael was only partially hardened, or blinded (Calvin), 
 but that there were some Jews of whom this hardness 
 could not be afiirmed. It implies also that there al- 
 ways would be some believers among that people — an 
 abiding remnant. 
 
 l/cst ye be wise in your own conceit. Lest 
 they, the Gentiles, should boast over the Jews that 
 they were wise in accepting the gospel whereas the 
 latter were foolish in rejecting it. There was nothing 
 in the salvation of the Gentiles or rejection of the 
 Jews, that should cause the former to glory at the ex- 
 pense of the latter, for after all, Israel was rejected 
 only partially and temporarily. 
 
 The fullness of the Gentiles, All the Gentile 
 nations. Be come in. The Gentile nations, but 
 not necessarily every individual Gentile, shall succes- 
 sively be converted to the gospel, until finally all shall 
 be Christian nations ; the time when this shall be is 
 not definitely stated. It depends upon the wisdom 
 and energy with which the Church carries on its mis- 
 
Ghaptkr XI. 335 
 
 V. 26: — And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written^ 
 There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn 
 away ungodliness front facob : 
 
 sion work. But then shall be the '* fullness" of Israel 
 also (verse 12) * And so the first people called shall 
 be the last to come in. 
 
 V. 26. And so. Referring to the coming in of the 
 Gentiles as the condition upon which will follow the 
 salvation of Israel. All Israel shall be saved. 
 
 An explicit and important prophecy. Some commen- 
 tators, as Bengel, Olshausen, and others, limit the 
 words " all Israel " to the totality of the believing rem- 
 nant. Of every generation of Jewish history there 
 
 *"It is almost incredible," says Godet, "that our Reform- 
 ers should have held out obstinately, as they have done, against 
 a thought so clearly expressed "—the future salvation of the 
 Jewish people as predicted in the above passage ; though it is 
 not necessary to understand the Apostle Paul here as commit- 
 ting himself to any view concerning the " millennium." Ols- 
 hausen on this verse quotes some remarkable words of Lu- 
 ther, as follows : " A Jewish heart is so stock-stone-devil-iron- 
 hard, that in no wise can it be moved; they are young devils; 
 damned to hell ; to convert these devil's brats (as some fondly 
 ween out of the Epistle to the Romans) is impossible." And 
 adds : " From this, as from other expressions, it is manifest 
 that the knowledge of the last events of the world's history 
 was a province closed against the great Reformer " — as it was 
 indeed against all the Reformers, as they devoted but little 
 attention to the study of eschatology. The Gentile Church, 
 however, is more and more clearly recognizing its indebted- 
 ness to the Jews, and is more and more earnestly repaying it. 
 lyuther and the other Reformers, if they were living now, would 
 write and act in a very different manner in respect to this cast 
 off people. 
 
326 The Episti^e to the Romans. 
 
 V. 27 : — For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall 
 take away their sins. 
 
 will be some who accept Christ as the true Messiah 
 and Savior, and all these shall be saved. Others, as 
 Luther, Calvin, and Grotius, limit the words to the 
 spiritual Israel, whether composed of Jews or Gen- 
 tiles or both. Others, as Fritzsche and Tholuck, 
 make the words, " all Israel," mean comparatively all, 
 the greater number. None of these views, however,, 
 meets the requirements of the context or the demands 
 of the explicit form of the statement which Paul here 
 makes. The words mean the whole nation of Israel ; 
 there shall come a time when there shall no longer be 
 a rejected, unbelieving portion, but the entire Israel 
 shall accept Christ. This is, in substance, the view of 
 Stuart, Hodge, Meyer, Godet, and many others. It is 
 hardly to be supposed, however, that the Apostle 
 means that in that day of future restoration not a 
 single Jew shall be left out ; but if there be any un- 
 believing Jews the number will be so small as not to 
 come into the reckoning. There shall no longer be 
 any distinction recognized between saved and unsaved 
 Israel ; no longer any such thing as Judaism in the 
 present sense of the term, but only a Christianity ; 
 there shall be neither Gentile nor Jew, but only Chris- 
 tians, The crumbling wall of partition shall be ut- 
 terly obliterated. 
 
 As it is written, Isaiah lix. 20, Jer. xxxi. 33.. 
 The same Spirit who revealed to Paul the above 
 *' mystery " (verse 25), also enabled him to see in it the 
 fulfillment of the words of the ancient prophets. 
 
 V. 27. This is my covenant. The promised 
 
Chapter XI. 
 
 327 
 
 V. 28 :—As concerning the gosptl, they are enemies for 
 your sakes : but as touching the election^ they are beloved for 
 the fathers' sakes. 
 
 V. 29 '.—For the gifts and calling of God are without re- 
 pentance. 
 
 restoration, or the turning away of ungodliness from 
 Jacob. In that day when Israel's unbelief shall be 
 removed God will renew his ancient covenant in all 
 its spiritual import. Isaiah lix. 21, xxvii. 9. While 
 Paul was inspired as to the facts to which he refers in 
 these verses, he was not inspired as to the time ^hen 
 the events should transpire. Hence, the definite time 
 is not stated, and no one knows when it will be. 
 
 V. 28. Enemies for your sakes. The sake of 
 the Gentiles. This verse simply means that whereas 
 God has rejected the Jews, has treated them as if he 
 were their enemy, for the sake of the Gentiles over- 
 ruling their unbelief and hostility to Christ in such 
 way as to work out thereby the salvation of the Gen- 
 tiles, he nevertheless in view of his ancient choice of 
 Israel to be his people, greatly loves the Jews for the 
 sake of their fathers. He can not, humanly speaking, 
 think of the ancient relation between himself and his 
 " friend " Abraham, and the other patriarchs, without 
 feeling tenderly toward the wayward children — the 
 undutiful and prodigal sons. 
 
 V. 29. For the gifts and calling of God are 
 without repentance. He does not regret that he 
 bestowed gifts upon Israel, he does not regret that he 
 called Israel. The love that has ever throbbed in his 
 divine heart for those who have been from of old " the 
 
328 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 30 : — For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet 
 have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
 
 V. 31 : — Even so have these also now not believed^ that 
 through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
 
 V. 32 : — For God hath concluded them, all in unbelief that 
 he might have m.ercy upofi all. 
 
 sheep of his pasture," will pursue them through the 
 ages until they are gathered back in his fold. 
 
 Vs. 30, 31. For as ye in times pasty etc. Ye Gen- 
 tile Christians. The meaning of these verses, which 
 make but one sentence, is : For as God so overruled 
 the unbelief and disobedience of the Jews as to cause 
 the Gentiles thereby to obtain mercy, or to be incor- 
 porated into his Church, so will he also overrule this 
 salvation of the Gentiles, or this mercy to the Gen- 
 tiles, so as to bring about thereby a bestowal of mercy 
 upon the Jews. He will make the rejection of the 
 Jews contribute to the bringing in of the Gentiles, 
 and this in turn to the bringing in again of the now 
 rejected Jews. For, etc. 
 
 V. 32. For God hath concluded them all in 
 unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. 
 
 This verse is to be taken in close connection with 
 verses 30, 31. Together they constitute an epitome of 
 God's plan of salvation in its historical aspects. Them 
 all, means, not all Israel exclusively, not all Gentiles 
 exclusively, but all both Jews and Gentiles. The 
 word concluded means shut up to one course, or in one 
 place, to be left without alternative. From what we 
 have already learned of Paul's teaching we know that 
 he does not mean that God in any way forced either 
 Jews or Gentiles to disobey him in order that he might 
 
Chapter XI. 329 
 
 V. 33 : — O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
 knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments^ 
 and his ways past finding out ! 
 
 play off, as it were, Jew and Gentile, the one against 
 the other, for the purpose of displaying his wisdom 
 and mercy in saving both. Nor do the Apostle's 
 words in this verse teach any such doctrine. What- 
 ever may be said of God's sovereignty his evident de- 
 sire was to have mercy upon all. The Apostle has 
 already informed us, however, that the cause of God's 
 action toward men, whether Jews or Gentiles, is two- 
 fold: First, on man's part, it was man's own unbelief; 
 second, on God's part the cause lay in his own nature. 
 While God, therefore, did not decree the unbelief or 
 disobedience, he did decree to so use it as to make it 
 subservient to human salvation. He would make this 
 enemy of human welfare slay itself. The meaning of 
 this verse then, as it seem to me, is the same as that 
 of verse 31, expressed in other words. That is, in the 
 working out historically of his plan of human salva- 
 tion, God so wrought as to omit none; Israel as a 
 whole and the Gentiles as a whole are both included, 
 or shut up within the scope of the working of that 
 plan. And a circumstance that makes the divine 
 working only the more wonderful is, that he so deter- 
 , mines, or so overrules, or uses the wandering of each 
 as to make it the means of the in-bringing of all the 
 others. In this view of the matter it does not seem 
 at all strange that the Apostle should exclaim in the 
 next verse. 
 
 Vs. 33, 34. O the depth of the wisdom and 
 knowledge of God! This is the doxology with 
 
330 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 34: — For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or 
 who hath been his counsellor ? 
 
 V. 35: — Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be 
 recompensed unto him again ? 
 
 V. 36 : — For of him,, and through him,, and to him,, are all 
 things : to whom be glory for ever. Amen. 
 
 which the Apostle concludes his great argument. A 
 Being who can so plan and work for another being 
 who is himself a free being, and who, alas, is also 
 prone to sin as the sparks fly upward, must indeed be 
 a Being of inexhaustible resources, infinite in wisdom 
 and knowledge, and unsearchable in his production 
 and use of expedients whereby to accomplish the sal- 
 vation of a fallen world. Who could have anticipated 
 him ? Who could have forecast that he would do thus 
 and so? Who could have advised him? And is it 
 possible that he can ever be repaid for what he has 
 done? See Isa. xl. 13; Job xli. 11. 
 
 V. 36. For of him . . . through him , . . to 
 him are all things. And that is the reason why 
 the above questions must be answered in the negative. 
 God is absolutely independent. All things are 0/ him, 
 he being their Creator ; all things are through him, he 
 being their upholder and governor ; all things are ta 
 him, he being the One to whom all things point and to 
 whose will they are subject, and to whose glory they 
 tend. 
 
Chapter XII. 331 
 
 VI. 
 THE DOCTRINE IN ITS ETHICAL ASPECTS. 
 
 (Application to Christian life.) 
 
 Chapters xii.-xiv. 
 
 Why should the Apostle so exhort his readers to 
 live as enjoined in these chapters since he has already- 
 abundantly shown that his doctrine of justification 
 must in the very nature of the case be productive of 
 such a life ? 
 
 " As blossom and fruit," says Olshausen, " grow only 
 from a sound root, so too it is only from faith in 
 Christ, and in the redemption wrought by him, that 
 true moral life proceeds." The right faith naturally 
 produces the right life, and the right life springs of 
 necessity out of the right faith. But whence then the 
 need of any ethical, or practical, discussion and ex- 
 hortation ? Why should light be exhorted to shine or 
 fire to warm, or faith to manifest itself in such sort of 
 life as it is by its very nature bound to do ? And thus 
 is raised an important practical question. The an-^ 
 swer is, 
 
 I. The life of faith, the moral life, the life which is 
 in a true sense the outflow of that inner principle 
 which constitutes the man a Christian at heart, is reg- 
 ulated by laws different from those which govern 
 physical life, in so far as in the domain of physical 
 nature there is no such thing as freedom ; whereas, in 
 
332 ThK BPISTI.E TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 the sphere of the moral, human liberty is an ever- 
 present factor which may influence favorably or un- 
 favorably the outward manifestation of the inner 
 principle of faith. The light must shine, but there is 
 no physical law which can make it shine outwardly 
 when placed under a bushel. The tree when planted 
 must produce its fruit, but not unless it be protected 
 from frost and other injurious influences which do not 
 lie in the nature of the planted tree. But the candle 
 can not remove the bushel, the tree can not protect it- 
 self, whereas man, by reason of the fact that he is man, 
 and not a tree, can himself contribute to his own de- 
 velopment. There is nothing wrong with the faith, 
 provided it be such a faith as Paul has described in the 
 preceding part of this epistle. By the exercise of 
 faith we are justified, we are sanctified, we are finally 
 glorified, it is the nature of faith to do just what the 
 Apostle says it will do, and when this principle is once 
 in the heart it is there abidingly. But its develop- 
 ment and manifestation outwardly are affected largely 
 by influences which are extraneous to itself, and to the 
 partial or total destruction of which the man may 
 himself contribute. This seems to me to be the doc- 
 trine of not only Paul but also of our Lord. While 
 therefore we can not admonish the candle to shine or 
 the planted tree to produce its fruit, it is logically le- 
 gitimate to admonish the believer to manifest his 
 faith, or to produce certain fruits in his life, notwith- 
 standing it is the very nature of faith to do this. 
 
 2. But another fact that renders the admonitions of 
 this part of his epistle logically pertinent in the face 
 of what he has said of the nature of faith, is the cir- 
 cumstance that the quality or character of the tree can 
 oftentimes be determined only from the character of 
 
Chapter XII. 333 
 
 the fruit which it produces. If I desire to know 
 whether the faith which is in me is the faith of which 
 Paul writes, it may be very helpful in seeking an an- 
 swer to this question for me to compare the known 
 fruits of my faith with the fruits as herein described 
 by Paul. I do not think, however, that this is the 
 chief value which Paul himself meant to attach to this 
 part of his epistle. 
 
 3. At the time when Paul wrote, the religion of 
 Christ, whether regarded as an inner principle or as 
 an outward manner of life, was far from being well 
 understood by either Jews or Gentiles. And the 
 Apostle knew that although Christians are not of the 
 world they are nevertheless in the world ; that no 
 man can live to himself alone, that there is obliged to 
 be social organization and order, and hence compro- 
 mises ; every Christian must necessarily stand in cer- 
 tain relations to every other Christian, and to the 
 Church, the civil government, and to other men gen- 
 erally. And hence the question would naturally arise, 
 how shall this doctrine of justification and santifica- 
 tion by faith be applied to these various relations of 
 the Christian's constant life ? The Christian conscience 
 would not spring up suddenly and spontaneously from 
 the doctrine, but could be best formed and enlight- 
 ened by a process of instruction specially directed 
 thereto ; and hence Paul begins by bringing into the 
 consciousness of the Christians several lines along 
 which their faith or religious character should mani- 
 fest itself. 
 
 (i) First of all there must be thorough consecration. 
 to God as a basis of Christian conduct. 
 
 (2) Certain duties in relation to the Church. 
 ■ (3) In relation to the civil government. 
 
334 "^H^ Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. XII., V: i : — / beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the 
 mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice^ 
 holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
 
 (4) In relation to certain matters in themselves in- 
 different. 
 
 Hence, it seems to me that in following up his doc- 
 trinal discussion with these earnest exhortations as to 
 how the Christian ought to live the Apostle betrays no 
 apprehension that his teaching concerning the way of 
 salvation might indeed so far open the way for sin- 
 ning in order that grace might abound, as to render it 
 necessary for him to lay down a special set of pre- 
 cepts as a safeguard. It is not to be construed as in 
 any sense a withdrawing or softening of his positive 
 teachings in regard to the justifying and sanctifying 
 efficacy of faith. 
 
 Consecration. 
 
 (Chap. XII.) 
 
 V. I. J beseech you, therefore. The word 
 
 "therefore " connects this second or practical part of 
 the epistle with the first or doctrinal part. The holy 
 life which the Christians are here earnestly exhorted 
 to live in their various relations, to one another, the 
 Church, the State, the world, is the natural sequel to 
 the doctrinal discussion. Such a way of salvation 
 logically implies such a way of living. By the mer- 
 cies of God. The word "mercies" here is in the 
 Greek oiktermos ; in chap. xi. 30-32, and elsewhere it is 
 eleas. The latter word denotes rather the act of be- 
 stowing mercy ; the former, that infinite compassion 
 of God's heart which causes him to bestow mercy. 
 By reminding his readers, whether Gentile or Jewish, 
 
Chapter XII. 
 
 335 
 
 of this infinite divine compassion, the outcome of 
 which is the wondrous plan of salvation which he has 
 just sketched, would the Apostle persuade them to 
 present their bodies, etc. Paul says mercies, that is he 
 uses the plural form of the word, by way of emphasis, 
 the divine compassion being presented to the contem- 
 plation of his readers in all the details of the plan of 
 salvation, every one of which was the outflow of this 
 fountain of infinite pity. It is the love wherewith 
 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
 Son, etc. And because Paul thinks of the world as 
 suffering and miserable that which is elsewhere called 
 love is here called compassion. 
 
 That ye present your bodies, Paul thus re- 
 minds his readers that such compassion, manifested in 
 such a sacrifice, on God's part, would naturally be 
 supposed to demand and to be followed by a sacrifice 
 of thanksgiving on their part. He speaks in the fa- 
 miliar language of the Mosaic service, according to 
 which the " sin-offering " was followed by the " peace- 
 offering " as an expression of gratitude. As Christ's 
 body has been presented as a sin-offering for you, so 
 present yours as a thank-offering. 
 
 Your bodies. Which hitherto had been the in- 
 struments of unrighteousness ; chap. vi. 12, 13, 19. 
 The word " body " is also naturally suggested by the 
 word " sacrifice." It was the body of the sacrificial 
 victim that was presented as a whole burnt-off"ering. It 
 was consecrated or formally set apiart to this purpose. 
 So should be the body of the believer. Paul of course 
 does not mean the body apart from the mind or spirit, 
 but he especially mentions the body because it is the 
 instrument through which the mind acts : and it is of 
 the believer's conduct that he is to speak in the re- 
 
336 The Episti^e to the Romans. 
 
 maining part of the epistle. And besides it was conceiv- 
 able that one might be consecrated in spirit, as indeed 
 all true Christians must be, without being consecrated 
 as to the body — that is, in outward act and conduct. 
 
 A living sacriRce, Here again the Apostle's 
 language is in harmony with the well known Mosaic 
 requirement that the body of the animal was to be 
 consecrated while it was alive ; and he means that the 
 body of the true Christian must be the ever active in- 
 strument of God's will. 
 
 Holy, Not, of course, in the sense of real moral 
 purity, for holiness in this sense can not be predicated 
 of the body. But as the body while it was the instru- 
 ment of unrighteousness, devoted to the service of 
 sin, is said to be impure or unholy, so when conse- 
 crated to and actively engaged in the service of God, 
 it is called pure or holy. It is holy in that it is actively 
 consecrated. Such a body is acceptable or well-pleas- 
 ing, as the ancient sacrifice rightly offered was called 
 a sweet-smelling savor. 
 
 Which is your reasonable service. Paul does 
 not, it seems to me, mean " your spiritual service," in 
 contrast with their (the Jews') ritual or ceremonial 
 service, though Meyer, Gifford, and others think that 
 he does mean this. But is it not more in harmony 
 with the connection of this ethical or practical part of 
 the epistle as compared with the doctrinal part, to sup- 
 pose that Paul here means that the presentation of 
 their bodies as a living sacrifice to God is a " logical " 
 service — that is, just such a service as those who have 
 in them that principle of faith which he has described, 
 would naturally or reasonably be expected to render ? 
 So it seems to me, though most commentators are 
 against this view. 
 
Chapter XII. 337 
 
 Reasonable Service. — "Spiritual service," as con- 
 trasted with the material or ritual service of the Jews. 
 Or, "rational service," as contrasted with irrational 
 animal victims. Most commentators hold one or the 
 other of these interpretations. It seems to me best, 
 however, to take the word "reasonable," or its Greek 
 equivalent, in a sense which is also a very common 
 one, "agreeable to reason," "logical:" in which case 
 the Apostle means that the presentation of their bodies 
 as a living sacrifice is just such a service as those, etc. 
 I prefer this interpretation for the following reasons : 
 
 1. It seems to me to be in harmony with the connec- 
 tion between this practical part of the epistle and the 
 doctrinal part as explained above. 
 
 2. The Apostle is not contrasting one kind of serv- 
 ice with another, but is answering an implied inquiry 
 on the part of Christians as to what kind of service 
 theirs should be. If it had been a contrast with the 
 old Jewish or with heathen worship he would rather 
 have said a reasonable service, instead of your reason- 
 able service. 
 
 3. But the old Jewish service was after all, in so far 
 as it was service at all, no less spiritual than the 
 Christian. It was so understood and intended to be 
 by Moses and the prophets. The fact that it was 
 elaborate in outward form was not intended to make 
 it less spiritual, otherwise it would so far have des- 
 troyed its character as worship. 
 
 The word rendered service means worship. We 
 often use the two words interchangeably, as in the 
 phrases ** divine service " and " divine worship." Paul 
 does not mean that the worship of God in the sanc- 
 tuary is not reasonable, but he does mean that the 
 presentation of the body as here directed is rea- 
 22 
 
338 Thk BPISTI.E TO THE Romans. 
 
 V. 2 : — And be not cofiformed to this world : but be ye 
 transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may 
 prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of 
 God. 
 
 sonable worship. To use the two words "service" 
 and "worship" in the usual senses in which, unfor- 
 tunately, they are not synonymous, we may well say 
 that the truest and best service of God is the truest 
 and best worship of God. 
 
 V. 2. Be not conformed. Be not fashioned ; be 
 not molded in your conduct in the immoral or unholy 
 mold of this world. By "this world" the Apostle 
 does not mean this world as contrasted with heaven, 
 but this world in the sense of these corrupt times, as 
 we might say. Your righteousness, your conduct in 
 all the relations of life, should exceed the righteous- 
 ness of the " Scribes and Pharisees " and unconverted 
 Gentiles about you. But as our Savior said exceed, 
 so Paul said let your righteousness be, as it were, 
 formed in a diflferent mold. 
 
 Be ye transformed. Be altogether diflferent in 
 your righteousness, in the use of your bodies, from 
 what you once were. Let the new principle of faith 
 which is in you have its natural and legitimate eflfect. 
 Let it change, metamorphose, your whole lives. By 
 the renewing of your mind. The transforma- 
 tion or change of the whole life, which Paul here 
 speaks of as the use of the body, is to be brought 
 about, not by the mechanical imitation of some good 
 lives which we may see around us, but by the natural 
 working outward of the inward principle. It is our- 
 selves, as intelligent moral beings, that act ; and only 
 by having ourselves, as such renewed in the manner 
 
Chapter XII. 339 
 
 in which Paul has already set forth, can our acts, our 
 conduct, our lives; our righteousness, be transformed. 
 Only as the fountain changes can the stream which 
 flows from it be changed. At least such is the trans- 
 formation of which the Apostle here speaks. 
 
 That ye ihay prove. That ye may appreciate 
 or discern. We should notice that Paul does not say 
 here : Be renewed as to your mind in order that ye 
 may discern, etc.; though of course the renewal of the 
 mind is necessary to the right discernment of God's 
 will. What he says here is : Be transformed . . . that 
 ye may discern, etc. In order to the right discern- 
 ment and appreciation of God's will it is no less truly 
 necessary to have our bodies transformed, our old 
 righteousness or conduct changed into a new, than it 
 is to have our mind renewed. The way to know the 
 will of God is to do the will of God so far as already 
 known. But the transformation of the life can be ef- 
 fected, to begin with, only by the renewal of the mind. 
 
 Good. The will of God is called good, because 
 God never either wills or approves any thing that is 
 evil. Acceptable. The will of God is called ac- 
 ceptable, not because it is acceptable or pleasing to 
 himself, as some commentators have strangely held. 
 It is so called because it is acceptable or pleasing to 
 those who do it. By such it is always approved. 
 And the will of God when done by the Christian <5ften 
 produces a very pleasing impression on those who 
 witness it, even though they be not Christians them- 
 selves. Perfect. Wanting nothing necessary to its 
 completeness ; in no way defective ; it is good, it is 
 acceptable ; hence it is perfect. Paul, therefore, re- 
 ally teaches here that the way to know or discern the 
 will of God as to its content, and also as to its quality, 
 
340 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. y.—For I say, through the grace given unto me, ta 
 every man that is among you, not to think of himself more 
 highly than he ought to think ; but to think soberly, accord- 
 ing as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 
 
 is to do it — present the body a living sacrifice to God 
 — thorough, continuous, consecration. The will of 
 God, as manifested in his word and in his providence, 
 will be agreeable, a source of positive pleasure to 
 Christians, in proportion as they obey this wise pre- 
 cept of the Apostle. A consecrated Christian is not 
 one who complains and lives in dark doubts as to 
 what the will of God is concerning him. 
 
 Duties in Relation to the Church and to One 
 Another. 
 
 V. 3. Por, The first duty which the Apostle men- 
 tions is the exercise of humility ; and the word for^ 
 with which he begins the verse, indicates that the ex- 
 ercise of this gift or grace is the natural and immediate 
 effect of the consecration to which the Christian has 
 just been earnestly exhorted. No one can be thor- 
 oughly and truly consecrated to God without being 
 truly humble. 
 
 I say, Paul does not say here " I beseech," but 
 " I enjoin," or, " I command." Through the grace 
 given unto me. By virtue of the authority given 
 me as an apostle. To every man that is among 
 you. These words are addressed not merely to the 
 Christian community, but to every individual of that 
 community. Not to think of himself y etc. 'Not 
 to be high-minded above what is right-minded, but to 
 be so minded as to be sober-minded or sound-minded.^ 
 According as God hath dealt, etc. The Apostle 
 
Chapter XII. 341 
 
 V. 4 ; For as we have many members in one body^ and all 
 
 members have not the same ojfice : 
 
 V. 5 : So we, being maiiy, are one body in Christy and 
 
 every one members one of another. 
 
 fixes the standard of our thought or opinion of our- 
 selves. It is the measure of faith which God has 
 dealt to us; and by "the measure of faith" is meant 
 the capacity, the ability, the power, which God has 
 given to each man as a Christian. Some have more 
 than others; some have few "talents," others many. 
 One person is peculiarly fitted to one service, another 
 to another. Let every man estimate himself accord- 
 ingly. According to the rule which Paul here lays 
 down true humility consists in estimating one's self 
 aright, neither too highly nor too lowly. 
 
 Vs. 4, 5. ¥or as we have. The Apostle proceeds 
 to illustrate his own meaning : *' For just as in one 
 human body there are many members, and the mem- 
 bers have not the same ofl&ce, so are we Christians, 
 though many in number, one body in Christ. The 
 Church is the body of Christ, and as such it is a unit ; 
 members are the individual Christians, to each of 
 whom is assigned his ofiice, or " measure of faith," or 
 talent, whatever its form may be. One Christian may 
 have more of the divine life in him, more of the 
 Spirit, more aptitude for service in a particular sphere 
 than another. It does not belong to the line of the 
 Apostle's thought to ask or answer the question, why. 
 Nor does he suggest that in distributing his gifts so 
 differently God has bestowed more honor in this world 
 upon one Christian than upon another. The distinc- 
 tion, as to honor, in the forms of service, whether 
 these differing forms be due to the differing gifts or to 
 
342 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 6 : — Having then gifts differing according to the grace 
 that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy accord- 
 ing to the proportion of faith ; 
 
 the very nature of an organized body, is altogether 
 human and artificial. God has bestowed no more 
 honor upon the hand than he has upon the foot. And 
 hence in this sense, Olshausen's remark that "in 
 God's creation there is no such thing as absolute 
 equality," is not true. Though it is true that the hand 
 does often succeed in asserting itself at the foot's ex- 
 pense. But by God they are equally honored. The 
 Christian of only two gifts or talents that fills well a 
 place that requires only two talents ranks just as high 
 in God's estimation as the man of five gifts who fills 
 well a place which requires five. 
 
 V. 6. Having then gifts differing, etc. These 
 differing gifts, of prophecy, of ministering, of teach- 
 ing, and so on, which the Apostle mentions, God be- 
 *stowed on the individual believers respectively, accord- 
 ing to the measure of faith, the capacity to receive, or 
 the ability to use wisely whatever God might give. 
 The true humility enjoined in verse 3 is necessary to 
 the right use of the special gifts, some of which are 
 here named. 
 
 Prophecy. ''Prophecy in the Christian Church 
 was a gift whereby the mind, enlightened and exalted 
 by the spirit of revelation, was able to declare the 
 purposes of God, and to foretell future events (Acts xi. 
 28; XX. 23; xxi. 4, 11), as well as to unfold the deep 
 mysteries of the Christian faith, and clothe its moral 
 precepts in words of wisdom and power not of man's 
 teaching." (Gifford.) The predictive element of proph- 
 ecy has long since been withdrawn from the Church. 
 
Chapter XII. 343 
 
 V. 7 : — Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering ; or he 
 that teacheth, on teaching ; 
 
 The apostleship was the first office in rank in the 
 New Testament times. But Paul, himself an apostle, 
 is not addressing apostles, and probably no grace or 
 authority was given unto him to either command or 
 exhort them. Hence he does not here mention that 
 office. 
 
 A c cording to the proportion of faith . A good 
 many commentators think that this expression means 
 the same as " the measure of faith " in verse 3 ; others 
 think that it means the analogy or general trend of 
 revealed truth as it had been thus far communicated to 
 the Church. The Roman Catholic Church gives to 
 the expression a kind of technical sense, making it de- 
 note the system of theology of the Church and for- 
 bidding us to interpret the Bible contrary to that sys- 
 tem. It is unnecessary to say that the Apostle had no 
 such thought in his mind. It seems to me that his 
 meaning is that the prophet should prophesy accord- 
 ing to the nature and extent of his gift, which is sub- 
 stantially the same sense as that of " the measure of 
 faith " in verse 3. As one should estimate himself ac- 
 cording to the nature and extent of his gifts, so should 
 he use his gifts according to the same rule. This cau- 
 tion of the Apostle was especially necessary in the 
 case of the prophet, as that office seems to have been 
 peculiarly liable to abuse in the Apostolic Churches. 
 I Cor. xiv. 29-38. 
 
 V. 7. Ministry, The diaconate, or office of dea- 
 con, to which was assigned the duty of looking after 
 the poor and sick of the Church, and other temporal 
 
344 ^^^ Bpisti<e to the; Romans. 
 
 V. 8: — Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that 
 givethy let him do it with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with 
 diligence ; he that sheweth fnercy, with cheerfulness. 
 
 and external matters. As the Apostle is specifying 
 the different classes of officers it is probable that he 
 here uses the word in this restricted sense — that is, not 
 including the preaching function. It is used in a much 
 more general sense, including all classes of ecclesias- 
 tical officers, in i Cor. iii. 5 ; 2 Cor. vi. 4 ; Kph. iii. 7 ; 
 vi. 21 ; Col. i. 7, 23 ; i Tim. iv. 6, etc. The word is 
 used in the limited sense in Acts vi. 1-3 ; Phil. i. i ; i 
 Tim. iii. 8-13, etc. 
 
 l/et us wait on our ministering. Give our un- 
 divided attention to it, not attempting to discharge the 
 duties also of another office, i Tim. iv. 15. 
 
 He that teacheth, i Cor. xii. 28, 29. The 
 prophet and the teacher both taught ; but the prophet 
 received and communicated to the Church new rev- 
 elations, while the teacher, or preacher, confined him- 
 self to the orderly and clear exposition of the truths 
 already revealed, i Cor. xii. 8; Eph. iv. 11. The of- 
 fices of pastor and teacher soon came to be united, the 
 same person being endowed with both gifts. Titus i. 
 9; I Tim. V. 17. 
 
 V. 8. He that exhorteth. The gift of exhorta- 
 tion was often distinct from that of prophecy or teach- 
 ing. The Apostle means that whichever of the sev- 
 eral gifts here named one may have, let him restrict 
 himself to its proper use, and not attempt to exercise 
 the functions of an office for which he has no fitness. 
 
 He that giveth. Almsgiving, or other forms of 
 beneficence. Kph. iv. 28. With simplicity. The 
 
Chapter XII. 345 
 
 V. 9 : — Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that 
 which is evil ; cleave to that which is good. 
 
 word may mean either, without assuming to one's self 
 any air of vain-glory, or with a generous, liberal mind. 
 In either case the act of giving is to be prompted by no 
 self-seeking. A gift of the Spirit is needed to enable 
 one to do this kind of giving. Matt. vi. 3 ; xix. 21. 
 
 jffe that ruletb. The word thus rendered denotes 
 a person who holds any office of rule over others, as a 
 presbyter, a president of an assembly, a pastor, etc. 
 The specific reference here seems to be to those per- 
 sons whose duty it was to preside over the work of 
 collecting and distributing funds and other forms of 
 help for the suffering and needy. With diligence. 
 With earnest attention to the fulfillment of duty. 
 This kind of work is very liable to be neglected. It is 
 done for others than ourselves, and usually without 
 compensation. 
 
 He that showeth mercy. As in visiting the sick 
 or those suffering otherwise. With cheerfulness. 
 Not merely with inward cheerfulness of spirit, but 
 with an outward expression of cheerfulness. It is 
 possible to " show mercy " with inward cheerfulness 
 and yet do it in a very gloomy way. This is not the 
 Apostle's meaning. The word here rendered " cheer- 
 fulness " is the one from which we obtain our word 
 hilarity — affableness of manner. 
 
 V. 9. IfCt love be without dissimulation. 
 
 This does not mean that we must reveal all the 
 love which our hearts feel, but that we must feel 
 all that we reveal. Love without a " mask," as the 
 word " dissimulation " here means, is love which is 
 
346 Thk Epistle to the: Romans. 
 
 V. 10 : — Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly 
 love ; in honor preferring one another ; 
 
 real, or genuine. Abhor . . . cleave. These two 
 words are, as Paul wrote them, participles and not 
 verbs. The two clauses which they introduce are in- 
 tended to further describe the love which characterizes 
 Christians. The idea may be brought out thus : I,et 
 the love by which you are to be characterized be with- 
 out hypocrisy, pure, genuine love, abhorring the evil, 
 cleaving to the good, even though the evil be seen in 
 the person whom we love. Our love for one should 
 not be such as to cause us to approve the evil in him 
 or which he may do. 
 
 V. 10. Be kindly affectioned one to another 
 with brotherly love. In love of the brethren be 
 tenderly affectioned one to another. The love which 
 members of the Church should cherish and exercise 
 toward one another should be characterized by the 
 tenderness and delicacy of attention which character- 
 izes the mutual love of members of the same family. 
 The word "tenderly affectioned" is the word used 
 chiefly to denote the reciprocal tenderness of parents 
 and children. The word occurs in classical Greek and 
 in the Apocrypha, but not elsewhere in the New 
 Testament. In honor preferring one another. 
 These words are usually regarded as being an exhor- 
 tation to humility ; decline to be honored yourself in 
 order that some one else may be honored. But while 
 Paul does in this chapter inculcate humility, he does 
 not do so in these words. If this were the meaning 
 here the word " one another " would, as the Greek 
 reader knows, require to be in the genitive instead of 
 
Chapter XII. 347 
 
 V. II : — Not slothful in business ; fervent in spirit; serving 
 the Lord; 
 
 V. 12 : — Rejoicing in hope ; patient in tribulation ; contin- 
 uing ifistant in prayer ; 
 
 the dative; and besides, the word "preferring" here 
 means to "go before," " to lead the way ; " it does not 
 mean "to place another before you." The Apostle 
 here teaches that each Christian should lead the way, 
 or set an example, to all others, in pa3dng respect or 
 deference to others. If he will do this he will not 
 be likely to be overquick in putting himself for- 
 ward. 
 
 V. II. Not slothful in business. In diligence 
 not slothful ; in zeal, or activity, as a Christian, be un- 
 flagging ; let not your zeal become cold, in serving the 
 Lord be ever warm, fervent in spirit. It will be seen 
 that the Apostle is not speaking here of secular mat- 
 ters, only in so far as in secular matters we are con- 
 sciously serving the Lord. 
 
 V. 12. Rejoicing in hope. In the hope which is 
 the Christian's ; the hope of one day realizing, shar- 
 ing, or possessing, the glory of God. Having such an 
 object of hope ever set before him the Christian 
 may well rejoice in the hardest service or the severest 
 suffering. Many a soldier fighting for victory has 
 been unmindful of his wounds ; the athlete running 
 for the prize thinks not of his bleeding feet. If the 
 Christian only endured, lived, fought, run, as seeing 
 " that which is invisible," he too might rejoice by rea- 
 son of his hope even in tribulation. Rom. v. 2, 3 ; 
 Eph. iv. 4. Continuing instant in prayer. Ever 
 persevering in prayer ; thus alone can our hope be 
 
348 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 13: — Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to 
 hospitality. 
 
 made a source of continual joy to us ; thus alone may 
 we patiently endure tribulation. 
 
 V. 13. Distributing to the necessity of saints. 
 
 The word " distributing " in its noun form is rendered 
 "partakers" in ch. xv. 27; i Peter iv. 13; i Tim. v. 
 22. As a verb it means to partake, to share with ; or 
 in a causative sense, to cause others to share with us. 
 The Christian who has enough and to spare should 
 make the needy Christian a partaker of his abundance. 
 The word " saint " is used simply for " Christian," the 
 latter term not having come into common use when 
 the epistle was written. Given to hospitality. 
 The Apostle does not say simply, " Be hospitable," 
 but " Pursue hospitality ; " do not wait for occasions 
 but seek them. Hospitality was regarded as a virtue 
 of very high value by the early Church. Paul men- 
 tions it as one of the requisite qualifications of a 
 bishop. Titus i. 8. Particularly was this virtue nec- 
 essary in ancient times when there were but few 
 houses of entertainment, and Christians were general- 
 ly despised and persecuted, and Christian teachers 
 had no salaries or regular support, and when the mis- 
 sionaries of the Cross, whether as apostles or in other 
 capacities, were laboring to extend the gospel. The 
 duty of hospitality is still regarded in the East as one 
 of the most sacred character. It should still especially 
 characterize Christians everywhere. 
 
 V. 14. Bless them that persecute you. The 
 
 exercise of love must extend beyond the circle of the 
 saints, or our Christian friends, and include even those 
 
Chapter XII. 349 
 
 V. 14 : — Bless them which persecute you : bless, and curse 
 not. 
 
 V. 15 : — Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with 
 them that weep. 
 
 V. 16 : — Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind 
 not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not 
 wise in your own conceits. 
 
 V. 17 : — Recompense to no m.an evil for evil. Provide 
 things honest in the sight of all men. 
 
 who treat us wrongfully. Instead of invoking evil 
 upon them or in any way seeking to injure them, we 
 must pray for their good. Matt. v. 44 ; I^uke vi. 28. 
 
 V. 15. Rejoice . . . weep. The duty of sympa- 
 thy, not only toward members of the Church, but 
 toward all; sympathy both in joy and in sorrow, as 
 occasion may arise. These verses setting forth the 
 duties of God's people utterly forbid the Christian 
 shutting himself up within himself, or within small 
 coteries of exclusive friendships. 
 
 V. 16. Mind not high things, etc. Set not your 
 mind on high circles, high association, to the exclu- 
 sion of the lowly and humble. There can be no such 
 thing in the Church as a ''spiritual aristocracy," or 
 " caste distinctions." Be not wise in your own 
 conceits. For this feeling of self-importance and 
 superior wisdom is too often the cause of the forma- 
 tion in the Church of the above mentioned coteries, 
 which may become so harmful as to be worthy of no 
 higher name than cliques. Prov. iii. 7. 
 
 V. 17. Recompense to no man evil for evil. 
 
 Render to no man, etc. The word " recompense " is 
 as Paul wrote it, a participle and not a verb. In the 
 
350 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. i8: — If it be possible, as fnuch as lieth in you, live peace- 
 ably with all men. 
 
 preceding verse he said, Be not wise in your own con- 
 ceits ; be not self-important ; be not vain in your es- 
 timate of your wisdom. And he adds : " Rendering to 
 no man evil for evil." It is as if Paul would remind 
 us that our self-conceit, or vanity, is the cause of most 
 of the wounds which we receive or inflict — and this is 
 true. The vainest are the most sensitive, and the 
 most easily hurt, and hence are oftenest provoked to 
 render evil for evil. 
 
 Provide things bonest, etc. Take thought for 
 things honorable, or good, and not so much thought 
 of yourself — look away from yourself; be pre-occu- 
 pied with good in the sight of all men. He who has 
 his time and his thoughts thus engaged is not so likely 
 to be very sensitive, and hence not so liable to be 
 wounded, and hence again, not so liable to be tempted 
 to render evil for evil. But the precept requires the 
 Christian to so act in all respects as to give rise to no 
 suspicion on the part of any one that he possesses a 
 disposition that would prompt him to render to any 
 man evil for evil, or to otherwise give cause of 
 offence. 
 
 V. 1 8. Live peaceably with all men. This is 
 an absolute duty in so far as it depends on ourselves. 
 The words '' if it be possible," imply, however, that 
 I am not absolute master of my neighbor's feelings 
 and conduct, and that if peace is absent between me 
 and him, it must be due to him and not to me. My 
 disposition should always be toward peace, and to this 
 my conduct should always testify. 
 
Chapter XII. 351 
 
 V. 19 -.—Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather 
 give place unto wrath : for it is written, Vengeance is mine ; 
 I will repay, saith the Lord. 
 
 V. 2.0 -.—Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he 
 thirst, give him drink : for in so doing thou shall heap coals 
 of fire on his head. 
 
 V. 21 '.—Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with 
 good. 
 
 V. 19. Avenge not yourselves. The precept in 
 the preceding verse suggests t/iis question : But sup- 
 pose I do all that I can in the interest of peace, and 
 my neighbor nevertheless treats me unjustly : what 
 then? The answer is, Dearly beloved, avenge not 
 yourselves. Do not retaliate ; it is hard not to do it. 
 Justice ought to be respected, that is true ; evil ought 
 to be punished. But take not the right into your 
 own hands to punish it, for it is written (Deut. xxxii. 
 35), Vengeayice is mine, etc. God is the just Judge. 
 Give place unto wrath. Refrain from avenging 
 yourself. Give place unto God's wrath, he will 
 avenge all your injuries. Let his wrath take the 
 place of your wrath. 
 
 V. 20. Therefore, The Revised Version has but, 
 and this seems to be the better reading. Instead of 
 inflicting vengeance on your enemy, do the very 
 opposite ; avail yourself of every opportunity of doing 
 him good. This kind of vengeance is lawful to you. 
 Prov. XXV. 21. 
 
 V. 21. Be not overcome of evil, but over- 
 come evil with good. Where our Savior says, 
 '' Resist not evil," he means resist it not with evil. 
 The weapon with which we should resist our enemies 
 is the weapon of love, goodness toward them. 
 
352 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Every man, woman, and child, may help every 
 other to observe these precepts of peace. One 
 reason why it is so difficult for any given Christian to 
 observe them is that so few do observe them, but seek 
 rather to explain them away. In this chapter Paul 
 has described the ideal Christian — perfect in all the 
 relations of life herein touched upon. 
 
 Duties Civil and Social. 
 
 (Chap. XIII.) 
 
 In the first part of this chapter (verse 1-7), the 
 Apostle earnestly enjoins upon his readers the duty 
 of obedience to the civil power. He bases this duty 
 on the fact, first, that civil government is ordained of 
 God, second, that the aim of civil government is the 
 suppression of evil, and not for the purpose of being 
 a terror to those who live a blameless life. He 
 teaches that it should be obeyed not through fear but 
 because it is right to obey it. 
 
 In verses 8-14 Paul speaks of various social duties 
 — especially that debt of love which Christians owe to 
 all men. He here founds his appeal to his readers on 
 the darkness of the night in the midst of which they 
 were living, and the nearness of the dawn, earnestly 
 exhorting them to live as becomes those who walk 
 not in the night but in the day. 
 
 The teaching of Paul in regard to the relation of 
 the Christian to the civil government, as briefly pre- 
 sented in this chapter, was particularly pertinent in 
 his own day. The dominant government of the 
 world, when not positively hostile to Christianity, was 
 positively indifferent to it, which indifference might 
 on slight provocation be awakened into violent per- 
 secution. The Jewish element of the Church was 
 
Chapter XIII. 353 
 
 also naturally hostile to Gentile government simply 
 because it was Gentile and pagan. No Jew, who re- 
 spected the good opinion of his countrymen and the 
 traditions of his race, could without reluctance pay 
 tribute to Caesar, or hold him otherwise than in lowest 
 esteem who so far forgot himself as a Jew as to 
 become the tool of Caesar in collecting the taxes. 
 And besides, was not the Church itself to become a 
 kingdom — the kingdom of God as distinguished from 
 the kingdom of Caesar, and was not Christ called 
 L<ord, and was he not expected to come soon and 
 establish himself visibly as the sovereign of that 
 kingdom ? The times were sensitive ; and the appli- 
 cations of Christianity to the various relations of life 
 were as yet far from being clearly and thoroughly 
 apprehended by the average Christian. Hence, the 
 Apostle tells them in substance to be good, law-abid- 
 ing citizens, basing his instruction not on considera- 
 tions of policy, not on the importance of being on 
 good terms with the government police merely as a 
 matter of prudence or worldly wisdom. Be good, 
 law-abiding citizens because it is right to be so. Paul 
 does not mean that God has ordained bad govern- 
 ments, or that a ruler has a "divine right" to rule 
 wickedly ; but he does mean that God ordained gov- 
 ernment, and that even a bad government is better for 
 the time being than no government, anarchy, nihilism, 
 sedition. These teachings of the Apostle are not 
 obsolete. Christianity is now, and has long been, the 
 strongest bulwark of the State, and it is due in part 
 to the fact that Paul wrote this thirteenth chapter to 
 the Romans, in which, however, he only voiced again 
 the teachings of his great Master, Christ. God is a 
 God, not of lawlessness but of social order. Chris- 
 23 
 
354 'I^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. XIII.,. V. I : — Let every soul be subject unto the higher 
 powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that 
 be are ordained of God. 
 
 tianity needs the State, and so the State was 
 ^' ordained." 
 
 V. I. Mvery souL Every person. Be subject 
 unto the higher powers. Be obedient to the 
 State, law-abiding, having respect both for the civil 
 offices and the office-bearers. The contrary of this is 
 social disorder and disintegration. But suppose the 
 State, or the civil law, requires me to do that which is 
 morally wrong ? In this case I must still submit to it — 
 that is, I must submit quietly to the punishment. I 
 must obey God rather than the law of the civil gov- 
 ernment when it bids me to do what is morally 
 wrong ; but when the State sends its officers to punish 
 me for disobeying it, I must not resist the officers by 
 violence. The conduct of Paul himself, and of the 
 many martyrs who suffered for righteousness sake, 
 illustrates this. They were never the leaders of a 
 mob ; they were never in any sense seditious. When 
 the State commanded them to worship idols, or to 
 abandon their religion, they did not do it, nor did 
 they resist the authorities; they submitted to what- 
 ever punishment was imposed. After a while the 
 laws were changed. 
 
 The powers that he are ordained of God. 
 God did not cause Nero to be a wicked and cruel 
 emperor ; but Paul does teach here that, civil govern- 
 ment, as such, exists by a divine right. He did not 
 intend that mankind should live in this world in a 
 state of absolute individualism in which no man 
 
Chapter XIII. 355 
 
 V. 2 : — Whosoever therefore resisteth the power ^ resisteth 
 the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to 
 themselves damnation. 
 
 recognizes any magistrate but himself, and no law 
 but his own will. Such a doctrine of individualism 
 is not compatible with the existence of either Church 
 or State, or with the welfare of man in any respect. 
 If the government requires the Christian citizen to do 
 what is morally wrong, the Christian must disobey, 
 of course, but still respect the government by sub- 
 mitting to the penalty. Paul here, however, does not 
 discuss the divine origin of government, but simply 
 makes his statement as fact, and as the basis of his 
 doctrine of obedience. 
 
 V. 2. Resisteth the ordinance of God. When- 
 ever a man, or a set of men, does that which is calcu- 
 lated to cap the foundation of government, and to 
 throw the social fabric into ruin, bringing about a 
 reign of lawlessness, he is resisting an ordinance of 
 God, an institution, which God has ordained. And 
 they that resist shall receive to themselves 
 damnation, or judgment. The condemnation of 
 God for striking at one of the institutions of God, 
 to wit, government. Matt. xxvi. 52. 'It is not nec- 
 essary for us to suppose that Paul refers here to 
 eternal damnation. He means that those who thus 
 resist government will be punished in this world by 
 the rulers as God's ministers w^hose duty it is to see 
 that law and order are preserved. Government re- 
 sides, under God, primarily in the people, whether 
 the /arm be monarchical or republican, and the 
 Apostle does not mean that a people may not change 
 
356 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 3 : — For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the 
 evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that 
 which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same : 
 
 V. 4 : — For he is the tninister of God to thee for good. But 
 if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the 
 sword in vain : for he is the minister of God, a revenger to 
 execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 
 
 its form of government or its rulers, to suit itself. 
 He is writing in the interest of social order and 
 against anarchy and lawlessness. The Christian in 
 his relation to this matter should be a true citizen, 
 suffering patiently when necessary, rather than be 
 seditious. 
 
 V. 3. 'For rulers are not a terror to good 
 works. The power of the civil government extends 
 only to men's actions, having nothing to do with their 
 motives; hence "good works," instead of good men. 
 It is the function of government, not to be a terror to 
 law-abiding citizens, but to administer justice, to pre- 
 vent injustice, to insure domestic tranquillity, to pro- 
 mote the general welfare of the people, etc. This is 
 what government was ordained for. It is therefore a 
 noble and beneficent institution, although in many in- 
 stances it may fulfill its functions very imperfectly. 
 Nevertheless, Christianity can not and does not array 
 itself against the civil government, nor does it 
 espouse the cause of wicked individual rulers. It 
 says to the Christian, Be a virtuous and peaceable 
 citizen, even though a Nero should be the ruler — and 
 it says this not in the interest of Nero, but of govern- 
 ment — that is, in the interest of the Church and of 
 mankind generally. If all citizens would only do as 
 they are here bidden there would be fewer bad gov- 
 
Chapter XIII. 357 
 
 V. 5: — Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for 
 wrath, but also for conscience's sake. 
 
 V. 6 : — For, for this cause pay ye tribute also : for they are 
 Gocfs ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 
 
 ernments and magistrates for the citizens or subjects 
 to complain of. 
 
 V. 4. F^or he is the minister of God, etc. A 
 continuation of verse 3. ''An unjust law or a tyran- 
 nical power may make the act of a good man appear 
 falsely as an evil act and inflict suffering upon him 
 accordingly — a fact which the Apostle's teaching in 
 this verse does not contradict, but the result of this 
 suffering unjustly inflicted will certainly be, sooner or 
 later, the reform of the law and the fall of the power. 
 Any government may err in its application of the 
 principle that it is its especial duty to assert justice ; 
 but no government has ever laid down as a principle 
 the punishment of good and the reward of evil, for 
 thereby it would be its own destroyer." (Godet). 
 Beareth not the sword in vain. An allusion to 
 the sword carried by Roman provincial magistrates as 
 a symbol of the fact that they had the power of life and 
 death. Msmy commentators have thought that the 
 words of Paul here teach that the State has the right 
 to inflict capital punishment ; whether this be true or 
 not, he does teach that it has the right to punish. 
 
 V. 5. Wherefore. In view of what is said in 
 verses 1-4. Not only for wrath. Not only from 
 fear of punishment. But also for conscience's 
 sake. Because it is right, as an obligation we owe 
 to God. Obedience to the civil authorities is not only 
 a political, but also a religious duty. 
 
358 Thk BPISTI.E TO THK Romans. 
 
 V. 7 : — Render therefore to all their dues : tribute to whom 
 tribute is due ; custom to whom custom. ; fear to whom, fear ; 
 honour to whom honour. 
 
 V. 8 : — Owe no man any thing, but to love one another : for 
 he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 
 
 V. 6. V^orj for this cause. To what does Paul 
 refer as the cause of our paying tribute, or tax? 
 Answer : The fact that government is a divine insti- 
 tution ordained for the purpose of asserting justice, 
 protecting the good, and punishing the evil-doers. 
 The word " pay " is not in the imperative mood. F'or 
 they. The civil magistrates, as representing the 
 government. For this very thing. Protecting 
 the good and punishing evil ; performing the public 
 service generally. 
 
 V. 7. Render therefore to all. In view of the 
 nature and function of the civil government as just 
 defined, render to all its officers their dues. Tribute. 
 Poll-tax and tax on real estate are especially denoted 
 by this word. Custom. Tax on merchandise. The 
 agents of the Roman government who collected the 
 taxes were to the Jews both in Judea and Rome ob- 
 jects of hatred and contempt. They were the 
 despised publicans mentioned in the Gospels. 
 "When, therefore, St. Paul exhorts his readers at 
 Rome not only to submit to taxation, but to regard 
 their rulers, even the tax-gatherers, with due respect 
 and honor, his counsel is in strong contrast with that 
 of the political seducers and deceivers who at this 
 very period were exciting the fierce fanaticism of 
 their countrymen in Judea." (Gifford.) Fear. Rev- 
 erence, or respect. The teachings of Christianity, as 
 
Chapter XIII. 359 
 
 V. 9 : — For this, Thou shall not commil adullery. Thou shall 
 nol kill, Thou shall not steal, Thou shall not bear false zvit- 
 ness, Thou shall not covet ; and if there be any other com- 
 mandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, 
 Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself 
 
 instilled into the character of the citizen are the best 
 safeguard of the civil government. 
 
 V. 8. Oyve no man any thing, but to love one 
 another, Paul does not mean by this that it is 
 wrong for Christians to contract pecuniary debts ; he 
 does mean, however, that these pecuniary debts must 
 be scrupulously discharged, but that there is one 
 debt which we owe one another which we can never 
 discharge — the "immortal debt" of love. We can 
 never be relieved of the obligation to love one anoth- 
 er; and we should always consider ourselves as owing 
 this debt. For be that loveth another hath 
 fal£lled the law, in respect to his relation to that 
 other. The Apostle had stated in the preceding 
 verses the duty of obedience to the civil government, 
 and that it is the office of the government to enforce 
 justice ; now he mentions love as the " solid support " 
 of justice, the very basis of a law-abiding life. If all 
 would love one another as Paul here means there 
 would never be any occasion for the hand of the State 
 to be severely felt by any one. He illustrates in the 
 next verse. 
 
 V. 9. For this, etc. It is perfectly obvious that 
 if every one loved his fellow man as he should he 
 would never commit any of the crimes against his 
 neighbor which the law names, of which some are 
 mentioned in this verse ; and if none of these crimes 
 
360 ' The BPIST1.K TO THE Romans. 
 
 V. 10 : — Love worketh no ill lo his neighbour : therefore 
 love is the fulfilling of the law. 
 
 V. 1 1 : — And that, knowing the time, that now it is high 
 time to awake out of sleep : for now is our salvation nearer 
 than when we believed. 
 
 V. 12 : — The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us 
 therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the 
 armour of light. 
 
 are ever committed it is implied, of course, that the 
 law forbidding them has been fulfilled. To say then, 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery, murder, steal, etc., is 
 only another way of saying. Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as th3^self. And this commandment, or 
 debt, abides upon us. Our neighbor, be he one near 
 or one afar off, can never so mistreat us as to relieve 
 us of the duty of loving him. 
 
 V. 10. l,ove worketb no ill, etc. He who loves 
 his neighbor does not wish in any way, or to any 
 extent, to injure his neighbor, and hence he does not 
 do it, and hence he therein fulfills the law ; and hence 
 again, "To love is liberty," he who loves hardly 
 knowing from actual experience that there is such a 
 thing as law or government. 
 
 Vs. II, 12. And that, knowing the time. Ob- 
 serve that which I have been exhorting you to do, 
 knowing as you do the time — that is, knowing that 
 the night is far gone — it is now time for us to awaken 
 to a full sense of the obligations that are upon us as 
 Christians, in the various relations of life, and to 
 arise to their fulfillment. It is a solemn appeal which 
 the Apostle addresses to his readers with a view to 
 quickening their Christian life and activity. "Awake, 
 awake, put on thy strength O Zion!" Isa. lii. i. 
 
•Chapter XIII. 361 
 
 V. 13 : — Let us walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting 
 and dru7iken7iess, not in chambering and wantonness^ not in 
 strife aud envying : 
 
 V. 14: — But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christy and make not 
 provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. 
 
 The appeal is addressed to every Christian. Bpli. v. 
 
 14; vi. II. 
 
 ¥or now is our salvation nearer. A good 
 many commentators, as Tholuck, Meyer, Godet, 
 Abbott, and others, think that Paul here refers to the 
 second advent of Christ, supposing it to be near at 
 hand, and that the attitude of the Church in regard to 
 this glorious event should ever be one of expectancy 
 and readiness. Certainly the Church should ever be 
 in this attitude. But although the Apostle was in- 
 spired as to the fact that Christ would come, it is not 
 necessary for us to suppose that he was inspired as to 
 the exact time, or that he had any definite opinion in 
 regard to the date of that great event. It is probable 
 that he here means by salvation the consummation 
 of the work of Christ in their deliverance from this 
 present evil world, and their introduction into the 
 purity and blessedness of heaven. We are hastening 
 to the world of glory ; eternity is just at hand ; we 
 have no time to waste in sluggish idleness. Such is 
 the solemn consideration which Paul urges on his 
 readers as a motive for devotion and diligence. This 
 is the view of Hodge, Prof. Stuart, Barnes, and some 
 other commentators ancient and modern. 
 
 Vs. 13, 14. J^et us walk honestly. The word 
 honestly is here used in its old sense of " becoming- 
 ly," or in a seemly manner. Let us walk as becomes 
 
362 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 those already living in the day-dawn of a full salva- 
 tion. To these two verses the great Augustine attrib- 
 utes his conversion. Having read them, he says, " No 
 further would I read, nor did I need ; for instantly, as 
 the sentence ended, by a light, as it were, of security 
 infused into my heart, all the gloom of doubt van- 
 ished awa3\" {Confessions, Bk. VIII., ch. xii. 29.) 
 
 Fnt ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, Be and do 
 like Christ. Be intimately united to him, and let the 
 fact of this union appear in your daily lives. Make 
 no provision for the ftesh. Let not the gratifica- 
 tion of the flesh be the end you aim at. Live for 
 something higher than the indulgence of the desires 
 of your corrupt natures. 
 
 In Relation to Things Indifferent. 
 
 (Chap. XIV.) 
 
 The great law of love which the Apostle has so 
 earnestly commended to his readers in the two pre- 
 ceding chapters is here applied to enforce the duty of 
 mutual forbearance in respect to things morally indif- 
 ferent. The immediate occasion of this part of the 
 epistle is that two tendencies, or parties, had already 
 risen in the Apostolic Church in regard to certain 
 practices, in themselves neither right nor wrong, and 
 which were only too rapidly dividing the Christians 
 into two mutually antagonistic parties. Some laid 
 great stress on the duty, or supposed duty, of observ- 
 ing certain holy days and abstinence from meat and 
 wine, probably that which had been consecrated to 
 heathen idols. While others were not at all sensitive 
 in regard to the matter, but were, on the contrary, 
 proud of their Christian freedom. The one party was 
 
Chapter XIV. 363 
 
 disposed to criticise and take offense ; while the other 
 was no less disposed to despise their brethren of the 
 weaker conscience and thus give offense. The chap- 
 ter seems to be directed chiefly to the stronger, from 
 which some commentators have inferred that they 
 were the majority. 
 
 The subject of the chapter is one of perennial inter- 
 est, for although the question as to the Christian's 
 moral right to eat swine meat, or meat offered to 
 heathen idols, etc., has long since ceased to be one of 
 any ethical importance, there are other subjects ever 
 ready to take the place of these, as the dance, the 
 theater, the card table, etc. How lax is it lawful for 
 me to be in my Christian life ? or, How strict must I 
 be ? are the two questions, or the two forms of one 
 and the same question, which young converts espe- 
 cially are ever prone to ask. To the latter form 
 chiefly the Apostle addresses himself in this chapter, 
 and his words can not be resolved into a direct yes or 
 no. There is neither in this chapter, nor elsewhere, 
 a direct prohibition of engaging in dancing, theatrical 
 amusements, and the like. " This is," says Olshausen, 
 " doubtless, in part to be explained by the circum- 
 stance that, in the apostolic age, the severe tone 
 tended much rather to exaggerated strictness than to 
 laxity " of morals ; though it can not be said that 
 there is a like tendency among Christians at the pres- 
 ent day to exaggerated strictness. But the same 
 writer justl}^ remarks that the stress of Scripture is 
 alwaj^s laid, in the first place, on the renewal of the 
 heart, convinced that with this inward change a cor- 
 responding change of outward life will be spontane- 
 ously produced. While no heart is ever renewed by 
 forsaking dances, plays, and other such things, yet 
 
364 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. XIV., V. I : — Him that is weak in the faith receive 
 ye, but 7wt to doubtful disputations. 
 
 the heart if renewed will of itself lose its relish for 
 such matters. 
 
 There is a sense, indeed, in which it is true that 
 there is nothing morally indifferent, and that the most 
 trivial thing may be good or evil, according to the 
 circumstances under which, the manner in which, or 
 the motive from which, it is done; and thus Paul 
 teaches in the present chapter. And because the 
 moral character of these so-called matters of indiffer- 
 ence — adiaphora, as the old writers called them — is to 
 be determined by the accompanying circumstances, 
 manner, motive, spirit, etc., is it impossible in any 
 given instance to say yes or no to the question. Is it 
 right or wrong to do so and so ? But no one can read 
 this chapter of the Epistle to the Romans without 
 seeing that Paul's advice is. Always decide the ques- 
 tion in favor of your doubt, and in your judgment of 
 those who differ with you, be charitable, especially if 
 you belong to the stronger party. The pious but 
 uninspired Spener said that a Christian should do 
 nothing which he can not do to the glory of God, in 
 the name of Christ, and for the benefit of his fellow 
 Christian, i Cor. x. 31. 
 
 V. I. Him that is weak in the faith. Weak 
 in the faith does not mean having little faith, or to be 
 disposed to doubt in regard to the Christian religion. 
 It means the Christian's own faith in regard to the 
 true extent of Christian liberty, or, in regard to mat- 
 ters of conscience. Receive ye. Admit to your 
 fellowship. This implies that the "weak" were in 
 
Chapter XIV. 365 
 
 V. 2 : — For one believeth that he may eat all things : anoth- 
 er y who is weak, eateth herbs. 
 
 V. 3 : — Let not him that eateth despise him, that eateth not ; 
 and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth : for 
 God hath received him. 
 
 the minority at Rome. But not to doubtful 
 disputations. Do not pass judgments upon their 
 conscientious scruples, and thus treat them unkindly. 
 
 V. 2. For one believeth, etc. This verse in its 
 two clauses defines the ** strong" and the "weak" 
 respectively. The strength of the one consisted in 
 the fact that their faith in regard to Christian liberty 
 was such that they could eat all things, and do other 
 such matters, with a good conscience ; the weakness 
 of the other consisted in the fact that their faith in 
 regard to Christian liberty would permit them to eat 
 only vegetables. It seems from the Apostle's lan- 
 guage here that the conscience of the weak prohibited 
 them from eating not onl}^ the flesh of unclean ani- 
 mals, and that which had been consecrated to idols, 
 but all flesh whatsoever. They were vegetarians. 
 
 V. 3. I/et not him that eateth, Paul does not 
 decide this question of conscience, by saying that it is 
 right or that it is wrong to eat. He evidently regards 
 it as a matter of indifference in itself; but he does for- 
 bid those who have the greater liberty of conscience 
 from condemning those who have the less liberty as 
 narrow minded and overscrupulous. More than one 
 local Church in our day has been ruinously divided by 
 the failure on the part of the " strong," or liberal, to 
 respect the consciences of the more punctilious. But 
 these latter should be no less charitable in their feel- 
 
366 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 4: — Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? 
 to his own master he standeth or falleth ; yea, he shall be 
 holden up : for God is able to m,ake him stand. 
 
 ings and conduct toward the strong; and neither 
 party should wait for the other to make the first ad- 
 vance in charity. 
 
 ¥or God hath received him. That is, both the 
 strong and the weak into his Church, without making 
 either eating or abstinence from eating a condition of 
 admission, and for this reason neither party should 
 uncharitably condemn the other. 
 
 V. 4. Who art thou that judgest another 
 man^s servant ? Or simply, another's servant — the 
 other in this case being God or Christ. IVAo art thou, 
 what right hast thou ? There is no need of suppos- 
 ing, as some do, that this question is addressed to the 
 weak, and not also to the strong, for neither one is re- 
 sponsible to the other, and neither has the right to ex- 
 ercise severity of judgment toward the other. For 
 God is able to acquit and save him, however thou may- 
 est condemn him. 
 
 " It can not fail to be remarked," says Dr. Hodge on 
 this verse, " how differently the Apostle speaks of the 
 same things under different circumstances. He who 
 circumcised Timothy, who conformed in many things 
 to the law of Moses, and to the Jews became a Jew, 
 and who here exhorts Christians to regard their ex- 
 ternal observances as matters of indifference, resisted 
 to the uttermost as soon as these things were urged 
 as matters of importance, or were insisted upon as 
 necessary to acceptance with God. He would not 
 allow Titus to be circumcised, nor give place even for 
 
Chapter XIV. 367 
 
 V. y.—One man esteemeth one day above another: another 
 esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded 
 in his own mind. 
 
 V. e.—He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the 
 Lord ; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth 
 not regard it. He that eatcth, eateth to the Lord, for he 
 giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he 
 eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 
 
 an hour to false brethren, who had come in privily to 
 spy out our liberty. Gal. ii. 3-5. What might be 
 safely granted, if asked and given as a matter of in- 
 difference, became a fatal apostacy when demanded as 
 a matter of necessity or a condition of salvation." 
 
 V. 5. One man esteemeth one day above an- 
 other. The Jews regarded their various festival and 
 fast days, as well as their Sabbaths, as more sacred 
 than other days, and on becoming converted to Chris- 
 tianity retained, to a great extent, their former scru- 
 ples on this subject; whereas, the Gentile converts 
 naturally would not be so disposed to regard the va- 
 rious festival and fast days as specially sacred. I^et 
 every man he fully persuaded in his own 
 mind, in regard to his view of this matter; and let 
 no one base his conviction of the right or wrong in- 
 volved in the observance or non-observ-ance of these 
 days on mere opinion or prejudice. This should be 
 the attitude also of Christians of the present day in 
 regard to such matters. 
 
 V. 6. He that regardeth the day. The Apostle 
 in this verse tells us why regarding the day on the 
 part of the "weak" and not regarding it on the part 
 of the "strong" are equally admissible. It is be- 
 cause they both proceed from a desire to honor and 
 
368 The EPIST1.E TO THE Romans. 
 
 serve the Lord. So with eating or not eating meats. 
 It is equally true that if any one at the present day 
 should be assured in his own mind that he could bet- 
 ter honor and serve the I^ord by attending the theater 
 or by indulging in the dance, and in other such ways, 
 than he could by refraining from these things, it 
 would be quite admissible for him to do so, so far as 
 his being accepted of the Lord is concerned. But it 
 is certain that no one in doing these things is ever 
 actuated by any such consideration ; not even is the 
 member of the Church. On the contrary they often 
 do them, having at the same time a strong suspicion 
 that they are dishonoring the Lord. 
 
 Some commentators have thought that Paul meant 
 to include Sunday, or the Lord's day, in what he here 
 says in regard to the observance of holy days. On 
 the contrary, that he does not teach in what he here 
 says (or elsewhere) that it is a matter of intrinsic in- 
 difference whether we observe a Sunday, or Lord's 
 day, and that all days may be devoted alike to ordi- 
 nary business or amusements, is evident from the fol- 
 lowing reasons : 
 
 I. It is obvious from the context that the Apostle 
 has reference to certain customs peculiar to the Jews 
 as such, and which the Jewish converts thought ought 
 still to be observed by Christians whether Jewish or 
 Gentile. He makes no allusion to any recently in- 
 stituted and distinctly Christian custom. We might 
 as well suppose that he means to include the Christian 
 rites of baptism and the Lord's-supper, as to suppose 
 that he had reference to the Christian Sunday or 
 Lord's day. But no one ever supposed that he meant 
 to teach any thing here in regard to these Christian 
 institutions. 
 
Chapter XIV. 369 
 
 2. There does not seem to have been any debate 
 whatever among the early Christians as to whether 
 one day should be sacredly distinguished from the 
 other days of the week ; but this day was not known 
 among them as the Sabbath, or as a Sabbath — the name 
 by which the Jews designated not only the seventh 
 day of the week, but also several other days which 
 were regarded by them as holy. The Christians, 
 whether Jewish or Gentile, observed the first day of 
 the week, which was called the Lord's day, and by 
 these two names alone was it known, i Cor. xvi. 2 ; 
 Acts XX. 7; Rev. i. 10. Compare also Col. ii. 16, and 
 Gal. iv. 10, in which the Apostle is evidently speaking 
 of the Jewish sacred days. 
 
 3. The reader should also notice that it is explicitly 
 said here that he who regards the day regards it unto 
 the Lord, and he who regards it not is moved or in- 
 spired by a like desire to honor and serve the Lord. 
 But is it at all probable that there were any Christians 
 at Rome who wished to disregard the Lord's day with 
 a view to honoring and serving the Lord ? Is it prob- 
 able that any Christian in disregarding it has ever 
 been actuated by such a motive ? 
 
 It is true that all days are in some sense holy, and 
 are to be devoted to honoring and serving the Lord, 
 whether in the discharge of our usual duties, or now 
 and then in some form of special service. But the 
 keeping of Sunday (or a seventh of the time), not 
 merely as a day of physical rest, but as a day holy 
 unto the Lord, is not incompatible with this idea of 
 Christian spirituality, and it certainly was not so re- 
 garded by Paul. 
 
 It was, on the contrary, calculated to keep ever 
 present in the Christian's consciousness this idea of 
 24 
 
370 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Christian spirituality, reminding him, as it did that 
 not only did a seventh of his time belong to the Lord, 
 being therefore holy time, but that in reality all his 
 time belonged to the Lord and was therefore holy. 
 So far, therefore, as the matter of Christian spiritually 
 is concerned, the Christian Sabbath, or Sunday, 
 served the same purpose to the Christian that the 
 Jewish Sabbath served to the Jew. As one purpose 
 of the ancient law requiring the land to be left fallow 
 every seventh year was to remind the people that the 
 land belonged to the Lord every year, so one purpose 
 of the law requiring one seventh of the time to be 
 observed as hol}'^ unto the Lord was to remind the 
 people that all their time was really holy time. And 
 the same import belongs to the Christian Sabbath, 
 ivhether it be one day of the week or another. It 
 seems to me, therefore, unnecessary for Godet, and 
 some other commentators, in order to avoid weaken- 
 ing the idea of Christian spirituality, or of dividing 
 the Christian's time into two distinct parts, the holy 
 and the secular, to make the distinction between the 
 Christian Sabbath and other days consist chiefly in 
 the fact that the former is a rest day. It is chiefly a 
 holy day, a day hallowed, the rest element being in the 
 case of many, as for instance pastors, reduced to a 
 minimum. In so far as the idea of rest is present in 
 our idea of the day, it must be the idea of a holy rest. 
 Apart from this it is the Sabbath neither of the Old 
 nor of the New Testament, but only of the business 
 corporation which rest one seventh of the time 
 merely as a matter of self-interest, and not because it 
 regards one seventh of the time as holy and the re- 
 maining six sevenths as secular. The Christian 
 Church in insisting upon the observance of Sunday 
 
Chapter XIV. 371 
 
 V. 7 : — For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth 
 to hunself. 
 
 V. 8: — For whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and 
 whether we die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live there- 
 fore, or die, we are the Lord 's. 
 
 V. 9 : — For to this end Christ both diedy and rose^ and re- 
 vived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. 
 
 as a day of rest renders a good service to the corpora- 
 tion ; to the Christian himself the holy Sabbath 
 should be an ever observed memorial that all his time 
 is holy. 
 
 Vs. 7, 8. V^or no one liveth to himself, etc. 
 This is the universal principle on which rests the 
 statement in verse 6. No Christian, who is ''fully 
 persuaded in his own mind," who has an abiding 
 desire to attain to the standard of ideal Christian 
 character and life — and every Christian is supposed 
 to have such desire — no Christian, the apostle means, 
 can have his own will and pleasure as the conscious 
 aim of his existence. His aim will ever be to glorify 
 God by living according to his will. No man dieth 
 to himself. No Christian. As he has lived so does 
 he die — unto the Lord — trustfully acquiescing in his 
 will. The art of dying well is to be learned by living 
 well. 
 
 V. 9. For to this end Christ both died and 
 rose .... that he might be Lord both of the 
 dead and the living, Christ is Lord of all Chris- 
 tians, not only of those who are living on earth, but 
 of those who having died are now living in the other 
 world. To Christ the Christian owes submissive and 
 loving allegiance and service, while in this life, and 
 
372 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. lo : — But why dost thou judge thy brother ? or why dost 
 thou set at nought thy brother ? for we shall all stand before 
 the judgment seat of Christ. 
 
 in respect to the manner and time of his death, and 
 during his life after death; and Christ secured this 
 right and this actual lordship over the Christian by- 
 dying and rising again for him. So far as the Chris- 
 tian is concerned this was the object of Christ's death 
 and resurrection. He did not die and rise again in 
 order that we might be the property, so to speak, oi 
 any other Lord than himself; and when the Christian 
 calls Christ Lord, he does not do so in the general 
 sense in which any man might do so, but in a special 
 and peculiar sense. He is the Lord of all men and all 
 things by right of creation; he is Lord of the 
 Christian by the additional right of his death and 
 resurrection. The only difference, however, in this 
 respect between the believer and the unbeliever is, 
 that the former recognizes and lovingly acquiesces in 
 this right of Christ over him, while the latter does not. 
 
 V. lo. Bnt why dost thou judge thy broth- 
 er? The word "thou" is emphatic, as Paul here 
 uses it. But thou, why dost thou judge, etc. It is 
 not the province of the "weak" to condemn the 
 " strong," nor of the strong to set at naught or despise 
 the weak. All shall appear before the judgment-seat 
 of Christ, whose province alone it is to judge. The 
 first clause of the verse relates to the weak or Jewish 
 Christians, the second to the Gentile converts, and 
 the last clause to both. The Revised Version reads, 
 " the judgment-seat of God." See, however, 2 Cor. 
 V. 10. 
 
Chapter XIV. 
 
 373 
 
 V. II : — For it is written. As / live, saith the Lord, every 
 knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 
 
 V. 12: — So then every one of us shall give account of 
 himself to God. 
 
 We know not when the day will come when Chris- 
 tians will wholly cease to disagree among themselves 
 in regard to matters both of doctrine and duty. But 
 Christian controversy may be and should be carried 
 on without acrimony and mutual alienation. " Owing 
 to ignorance, early prejudice, weakness of faith, and 
 other causes, there may and must exist a diversity of 
 opinion and practice on minor points of duty. But 
 this diversity is no sufficient reason for rejecting from 
 Christian fellowship any member of the family of 
 Christ. It is, however, one thing to recognize a man 
 as a Christian, and another to recognize him as a suit- 
 able minister of a Church, organized on a particular 
 form or system of doctrine." Paul in this verse 
 speaks of these differing Christians as brethren to 
 one another, in view of which fact they should act 
 and feel in respect to ohe other. 
 
 V. II. For it is written. Isaiah xlv. 23. The 
 Apostle gives merely the sense, and not the exact 
 words, of the passage quoted. The idea is that every 
 one shall recognize the authority of God as the Su- 
 preme Ruler and Judge. 
 
 V. 12. So then every one of ns shall give ac- 
 count of himself The fact stated in the preced- 
 ing verse on the authority of an Old Testament 
 prophet implies that each one without exception shall 
 give account of himself to God. * The " every knee," 
 or "every tongue," of the prophet, does not distin- 
 
374 '^HE Bpisti^e to the Romans. 
 
 V. 13 : — Let us not therefore judge one another any more : 
 but judge this rather ^ that no man put a stumblingblock or 
 an occasion to fall in his brother's way. 
 
 guish between the believer and the unbeliever, the 
 proclamation being addressed to " the ends of the 
 earth " (Isaiah xlv. 22), but " the every one of us," of 
 the Apostle, has reference particularly to believers, 
 including both the "weak," or overscrupulous Chris- 
 tians, and the " strong," or more liberal Gentile 
 Christians. Since every one of both these classes 
 should have to give an account of himself, how could 
 one dare presume to pronounce judgment upon 
 another. 
 
 In John iii. 18 (King James version), " He that 
 believeth on him is not condemned." The word 
 "condemned" is the same Greek word that is here 
 rendered judge (verse 13). The Revised Version 
 reads, " He that believeth on him is not judged," 
 which is a more strictly accurate rendering, though 
 the King James version does no violence to the sense. 
 It is implied that the judgment on the unbeliever is 
 an unfavorable one, and hence one of condemnation. 
 Paul says that even believers shall appear before the 
 judgment seat, but as condemnation is not pro- 
 nounced upon them this very negative fact passes as 
 an act of judgment. There is therefore no contradic- 
 tion between the words of Paul and those of his 
 Master as recorded by John. 
 
 V. 13. Itet us not therefore. In view of the 
 fact that each believer is himself to be judged by the 
 all-wise Judge, it ill becomes him to judge another 
 believer. He should rather see to it that he in no 
 
Chapter XIV. 375 
 
 V. 14 : — / know, a?td am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that 
 there is nothing unclea^i of itself: but to him that esteemeth 
 any thing to be unclean, to him, it is unclean. 
 
 way furnish an occasion to his brother Christian to 
 sin by causing him to act in opposition to the dictates 
 of his conscience, whether by persuading him, or 
 " despising," or ridiculing him, or by setting him a 
 bad example, or by otherwise tempting him. 
 
 V. 14. 1 know. This word denotes such a knowl- 
 edge as any one might obtain by a study of the spirit- 
 ual import of the teachings of the Old Testament. 
 The spiritual import, however, the Jews and Jewish 
 Christians had to a great extent overlooked. Am per- 
 suaded. He had reached a definite conviction in 
 regard to the matter in dispute between the ** weak " 
 and the " strong," and his conscience was no longer 
 disturbed by such questions. By the Lord Jesus. 
 Rather, In the Lord Jesus. Paul not only knows the 
 truth of what he here affirms as any one might reach 
 a conclusion by his own investigation, but he is " per- 
 suaded" of its truth by the fact that he is an apostle* 
 in union with Christ, and inspired to utter his truth. 
 
 That there is nothing unclean of itself. 
 The word " unclean " is the same as the word " com- 
 mon " in Acts X. 14-28 ; xi. 8, and is used in the same 
 sense. It is no more a sin to eat one kind of meat 
 than another, or to eat meat than it is to eat vegeta- 
 bles, so far as the thing eaten is in itself concerned. 
 But to him that esteemeth, etc. The interest of 
 truth, and hence the interest of his readers, requires 
 Paul to express his conviction on the side of the 
 ** strong," but at the same time with such qualification 
 
376 The BPIST1.E TO THE Romans. 
 
 V. 15 : — But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat^ now 
 walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, 
 for whom, Christ died. 
 
 as to place the strong under certain limits in the ex- 
 ercise of his liberty. Whether it is a sin for one to 
 eat meat, or to do any other such matter, depends on 
 the attitude of his conscience toward it ; if he does 
 it, believing it to be a sin, then he is just as guilty as 
 if it were really a sin in itself. Hence, those whose 
 consciences, or sense of duty, permitted them to eat 
 meat should not in any way induce others to violate 
 their consciences. 
 
 The question as to the right translation of the word 
 rendered "but," in this verse, as in the case of almost 
 every other word in the epistle, has given rise to a 
 difference of opinion. The word means " except," or- 
 dinarily ; but to so render it here would make Paul 
 say, " Nothing is unclean of itself except to him that 
 esteemeth it to be unclean." But the apostle does not 
 mean to say that for one to esteem a thing to be unclean 
 or wrong makes it unclean or wrong, of itself or in 
 itself; though this does make it wrong for him to do 
 the thing. The Revisers have attempted an unnec- 
 essary compromise between lexical exactness and the 
 plain meaning of the Apostle as given in the King 
 James version by rendering the word " save that." 
 If, however, we ignore the presence of the phrase, 
 " of itself," we are at liberty to give to the word its 
 usual meaning ** except." 
 
 V. 15. Bnt if thy brother he grieved. The 
 
 act, whatever it may be, may be a matter of indiffer- 
 ence in itself, and my conscience may allow me the 
 
Chapter XIV. 377 
 
 V. i6 '.—Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 
 V, i'j',—For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; 
 but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 liberty of doing it, but if in exercising this liberty I 
 grieve my weaker brother or cause him to sin, I am 
 violating the law of love, and am therein sinning my- 
 self. I am destroying one for whom Christ 
 died— that is, I am doing him such an injury as 
 tends to his destruction. If Christ could die for him, 
 it is saying very little for my supposed Christlike 
 spirit if I can not deny myself somewhat for him. 
 
 V. 16. Xet not then your good be evil spoken 
 
 of. In view of these considerations let no unchar- 
 itable use of your liberty of conscience give occasion 
 to your more scrupulous brethren to condemn and 
 speak evil of the liberty which to you is a real good. 
 While these words are addressed primarily to the 
 "strong," the "weak" should also remember that 
 they too may injure the cause of Christ by insisting 
 too strenuously upon matters which are to others 
 matters of indifference. Both parties are supposed 
 to be " persuaded," each " in his own mind," both are 
 supposed to be trying to do right, and each should be 
 willing to admit this. For, after all, the kingdom of 
 God is not meat and drink, etc. 
 
 V. 17. For the kingdom of God is not meat 
 and drink. True religion does not consist in the 
 external observances, or in being able to do with a 
 clear conscience that which our neighbor's conscience 
 will not allow him to do. It consists in the right- 
 eousness, joy, and peace, of which the Holy Spirit is 
 the author. Righteousness here means moral excel- 
 
378 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. i8 : — For he that in these things serveth Christ is accept^ 
 able to God, and approved of men. 
 
 V. 19: — Let us therefore follow after the things which 
 make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify an- 
 other, 
 
 lence, or rectitude, as manifested particularly in re- 
 spect for our neighbor's convictions. By peace is 
 meant harmony with our brethren, including also 
 peace of conscience and with God. Joy is the holy 
 gladness which the Spirit of God breathes around 
 those who live in the Spirit, and which makes its 
 sweetness felt among believers in their associations 
 with one another. Gal. v. 22-25 ; i Thess. i. 6. The 
 expression, " in the Holy Ghost," is to be connected 
 not only with joy, but also with righteousness and 
 peace. 
 
 V. 18. In these things. Righteousness, peace, 
 and joy. He who serves Christ in the exercise of 
 these graces is well pleasing to God, and this is proof 
 that true religion, or the kingdom of God within us, 
 consists in their possession and exercise by us, rather 
 than in the observance of such external matters as 
 the Apostle is here discussing. 
 
 V. 19. I/et us therefore. In view of what has 
 been said in the preceding verses of the chapter, and 
 particularly in verses 17 and 18. Let us follow 
 after the things which make for peace and tend to 
 build up one another in our most holy faith, i Cor. 
 iii. 9, 
 
 Vs. 20, 21. For meat destroy not the work of 
 God, The work of God here meant is, most proba- 
 bly, true religion as illustrated, or as it should be 
 
Chapter XIV. 379 
 
 V. 20 : — For meat destroy not the work of God. All things 
 indeed axQ pure ; but itis evil for that man who eateth with 
 offence. 
 
 V. 21 : — It is good neither to eat fiesh, nor to drink wine^ 
 nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended^ 
 or is made weak. 
 
 V. 22 : — Hast thou faith ? have it to thyself before God. 
 Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which 
 he alloweth. 
 
 illustrated, in the hearts and lives of believers. Do 
 not for the sake of the indulgence of an appetite in 
 itself innocent pull down or injure the cause of true 
 religion as represented either in the Church or the 
 individual Christian. 
 
 All things. Not all things absolutely, but all 
 such things as the Apostle has been speaking of in 
 this chapter. The particular thing to which he refers 
 because it was at the time in dispute among the 
 Christians, is the article of food. All kinds of meat 
 or food are pure. There is really no distinction mor- 
 ally between one kind and another; but it is evil, 
 or sin, for any one to exercise his liberty in regard to 
 these matters when by so doing he causes another to 
 violate his conscience and commit what to him is 
 a sin. 
 
 V. 22. Hast thou faith ? It is not an uncommon 
 thing for some members of the Church to say, "Well, 
 I do not believe that it is wrong to do such and such 
 things ; my faith is of such strength as to allow me 
 to do them with a good conscience," and they too 
 often add, **and I mean to do them." To these the 
 Apostle replies in substance : Hast thou such faith ? 
 Very well ; have it to thyself before God, and do not 
 
380 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 23 : — And he that doubteth is damned if he eat^ because 
 he eateth not 0/ faith : for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 
 
 parade it by boasting of it, or insisting upon it. He 
 who is so fully convinced that he entertains no doubt 
 about the rectitude of his conduct in doing such and 
 such things, is therein a happy enough man to thank- 
 fully consent to restrain his freedom for his brother's 
 sake who has not such liberty and strength of con- 
 science. And if he does not so restrain it, he can not 
 be regarded as being as. good a Christian as he would 
 seem to be. 
 
 V. 23. He that doubteth. He that "eats" with 
 a disapproving conscience. Is damned. Is con- 
 demned. " He who has overcome by debate with 
 himself his own scruples against an act which he 
 thinks doubtful, is by that very fact condemned, 
 though the act may be entirely innocent in itself" 
 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatever 
 act does not proceed from a right motive and a good 
 conscience is a sin. But the proposition, " Whatso- 
 ever is not of faith is sin," does not imply that whatso- 
 ever is of faith is right. The words of the Apostle in 
 this converse form are to be applied only to such mat- 
 ters as he is speaking of in this chapter, and not to 
 all cases. But in respect to a great many acts, of 
 course, the mere fact that I can perform them with a 
 good conscience does not make it right for me to per- 
 form them. One's morality, however, depends to a 
 great extent upon one's beliefs, and hence, sound doc- 
 trinal teaching is of great practical importance. 
 
 The following is a brief recapitulation of the prin- 
 cipal teachings of this chapter of inspired casuistry, 
 
Chapter XIV. 381 
 
 given partly in the words of the Rev. Lyman Ab- 
 bott: 
 
 1. Paul lays down the general principle that moral 
 character belongs to the agent doing, not to the thing 
 done — a principle, however, which must be applied 
 under the limitations as stated in our last note above. 
 There are some acts which even faith, or a good char- 
 acter, can not make right or sanctify, as, for instance, 
 to steal, lie, and other things unqualifiedly and specif- 
 ically forbidden — if we may regard it as supposable 
 that a good character could perform such acts. 
 
 2. The Church should not attempt to lay down one 
 absolute standard of conduct in regard to certain 
 debatable questions and attempt to bring all to con- 
 form to it. In regard to these questions the more 
 scrupulous and the less so are not to sit in judgment 
 on each other. 
 
 3. Since moral character resides in the spirit of the 
 agent, not in the act itself, the actor must be clear in 
 his own mind before he acts. If he is not clear he 
 must decide in favor of his doubt. 
 
 4. Therefore the man of liberal faith and conscience 
 must not endeavor to persuade the scrupulous man to 
 disregard his scruples. His scruples are his law so 
 long as they remain in him. They are his interpreta- 
 tion of the Bible. 
 
 5. For the same reason we are to consider the efiect 
 of our example on those more scrupulous than our- 
 selves. If by exercising our greater liberty of con- 
 science we are likely to lead them into sin, it is neces- 
 sary for us to consider whether the benefit will justify 
 the risk. Paul certainly did not mean by his famous 
 declaration, ** If meat make my brother to offend I 
 will eat no flesh while the world standeth," that the 
 
382 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 weaknesses of the weak are to be an absolute law to 
 the strong. That would be to forbid all progress, and 
 even all reformation. It would have kept the Chris- 
 tian Church always a mere Jewish sect. 
 
 6. Even the feelings of the weak should be regarded 
 with love. One should not for the mere sake of other- 
 wise innocent self-indulgence grieve a brother who is 
 pained by a course of conduct which he can not un- 
 derstand or approve. See i Cor. vi. 12, 13; x. 23. 
 
Chapter XV. 383 
 
 VII. 
 CONCLUSION AND GREETINGS. 
 
 Chapters xv., xvi. 
 
 Chapter xv. is divided into two sections. In the 
 £rst the Apostle enforces the duty of mutual love and 
 forbearance on the part of Christians by an appeal 
 chiefly to the example of Christ. This passage is 
 closely connected in thought with chap, xiv., its sep- 
 aration therefrom by a new chapter division is unnec- 
 essary. 
 
 The Kxampi^e op Christ. 
 
 (Chap. XV.) 
 
 Chap. XV., V. i: — We then that are strong ought to bear 
 the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 
 
 V. I. We then that are strong. '' Now we that 
 are strong." By the " strong " the Apostle here, as in 
 the preceding chapter, refers particularly to those 
 whose faith was such as to allow them to eat with a 
 clear conscience all kinds of food. But the example 
 of Christ, as Paul proceeds to show, as well as the 
 considerations already stated in the preceding chapter, 
 requires that those who are fully persuaded of the 
 moral indifference of those things about which others 
 are so scrupulous, should be willing to accommodate 
 themselves to the latter, and not act with a view sim- 
 
384 ^HE Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 2 : — Let every one of us please his neighbour for his 
 good to edification. 
 
 V. 3 : — For even Christ pleased not himself ; but, as it is 
 written^ The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on 
 
 vte. 
 
 pi}' to their own gratification. He who pla3's a " social 
 game of cards/' for instance, in the presence of one 
 whose conscience it wounds, does not observe this law 
 of love. Infirmities. Conscientious scruples. 
 
 V. 2. For his good to edi£cation. With a 
 view to his good so that he may be built up in the 
 Christian life rather than pulled down or " destroyed," 
 as the word is rendered in xiv. 20. See 2 Cor. x. 8 ; 
 Eph. iv. 12, 29. Paul does not mean here that we are 
 to make another person's conscience our rule of 
 action ; but he does mean that we are to have regard 
 for another's conscience, exercising at all times an 
 unselfish and enlightened benevolence. 
 
 V. 3. For even Christ, Notice the emphasis, 
 Eve7i Christ pleased not himself, evoi Christ, though 
 infinitely exalted above all Christians; his personal 
 pleasure was not his rule of action ; how much less 
 have we the right to make our personal pleasure our 
 rule of action ! He who is not willing to den}' him- 
 self is not Christlike. He who is not Christlike, how 
 can he call himself Christ's? Let this mind be in 
 you which was in Christ Jesus. Phil. ii. 5. In what 
 Christ suffered he was disinterested ; he suffered not 
 for himself. Th^ passage in Ps. Ixix. 9 is quoted 
 simply for the purpose of expressing the fact that the 
 suffering, the great personal inconvenience, the bitter 
 reproaches, which Christ endured, were not endured 
 
Chapter XV. 385 
 
 V. 4 : For whatsoever things were written aforetime were 
 
 written for our learning, that we through patience and com- 
 fort of the Scriptures might have hope. 
 
 V. y.—Now the God of patience and consolation grant you 
 to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ 
 fesus : 
 
 for his own sake, but for others. It is not necessary 
 for us to suppose, however, that Paul means to imply 
 that the original Psalmist in writing these words had 
 Christ consciously in view; but he does mean that 
 what the Psalmist said was true in its highest sense 
 of Christ. He was the Ideal Israelite, and, hence, the 
 Ideal Man, in this respect as in all others — the Man 
 like unto whom all men ought to be. 
 
 V. 4. For whatsoever things were written 
 aforetime were written for our learning— that 
 
 is, our teaching, or instruction. For this purpose was 
 the whole Old Testament written, and no one should 
 read of an instance of noble, unselfish suffering, like 
 that described in the Psalm quoted, without being 
 encouraged by the patience and comfort which such 
 an example can not fail to afford. To witness exam- 
 ples of patient and unselfish suffering is also calcu- 
 lated to induce in us a like patient and unselfish dis- 
 position. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 V. 5. The God of patience. The God who is 
 
 the source of patience; who is able to make you 
 patient under your sufferings, but also patient with 
 one another's weaknesses and faults. And of con- 
 solation; the same word rendered "comfort" in 
 verse 4, and the same, in another form as that ren- 
 dered '-comforter" in John xiv. 16. The God of 
 25 
 
386 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 6 : — That ye may with 07ie mind and one tnouth glorify 
 God, even the Father of our Lord fesus Christ. 
 
 V. 7 : — Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also re- 
 ceived us, to the glory of God. 
 
 comfort is the God who is the source of comfort. 
 Ifike minded one toward another. Each to- 
 ward all the others. See chapter xii. i6. The Apos- 
 tle does not pray that all Christians may have the 
 same opinions, but that they may hold such opinions as 
 they may have in perfect harmony of feeling. Ac- 
 cording to Christ Jesus, That is, Christ being 
 the rule, or exemplar. If all Christians had the mind 
 or disposition that was in Christ, they would then 
 know from their own experience and observation ex- 
 actly what Paul meant by, " Be like-minded one 
 toward another." The great Apostle was a great 
 warrior, a true soldier of the Cross, ever ready to do 
 battle in its behalf; but he was as tender as he was 
 great, and his constant longing was that his fellow 
 Christians might be at peace one with another. 
 
 V. 6. Wherefore receive ye one another. 
 
 Take one another into fellowship and affection. In 
 verse i only the "strong" were addressed, here also 
 the " weak." As the strong are to bear with the " in- 
 firmities " of the weak, so are the weak to bear with 
 the "strength " of the strong. It is never probable 
 that either party is wholly faultless. 
 
 V. 7. Glorify God, even the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, More recent authorities trans- 
 late this clause thus: "Glorify the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is better, and also 
 agrees with Eph. i. 17; John xx. 17. God is called 
 
Chapter XV. 387 
 
 V. 8 '.—Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the 
 circumcision for the truth of God, to cofifirm the promises 
 made unto the fathers : 
 
 V. 9 : — And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his 
 mercy ; as it is written. For this cause I will confess to thee 
 among the Gentiles, and sing anto thy name. 
 
 the God of Jesus Christ, not because Christ himself 
 was not God, for essentially he was God, but because 
 as mediator he was dependent upon God. Christ 
 himself said, '* My God, my God," etc.. Matt, xxvii. 
 46, and also, " Father, forgive them," etc. God is 
 called the Father of Jesus Christ because of the rela- 
 tion of perfect and peculiar intimacy. If he is such 
 a God and such a Father as to be the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should willingly glorify 
 him by laying aside all contentions and by being 
 united in the bonds of a perfect Christian love. 
 
 V. 8. Now I saXf etc. This together with the 
 following verses illustrates how Christ received us (or 
 you, as the Revised Version has it) to the glory of 
 God. He was (or has become) a minister of the 
 circumcision — that is, he came in the first place to 
 the Jews, being himself a Jew according to the flesh, 
 for the purpose of making known to them the truth 
 of God and of confirming the promises made to the 
 patriarchs. This was how he received the Jews. In 
 the next verse we are told how he received the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 V. 9. And that the Gentiles^ etc. The ministry 
 of Jesus Christ, while it begun with the Jews, was in- 
 tended also for the benefit of the Gentiles. They 
 were the sheep which " are not of this fold " of which 
 
388 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. lo : — And again he saith, Rejoice^ ye Gentiles^ with his 
 people. 
 
 V, II : — And again^ Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles ; and 
 laud him, all ye people. 
 
 Y j2 : — And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of 
 Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles ; in 
 him shall the Gentiles trust. 
 
 V. 13 : — Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and 
 peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope^ through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Christ spoke. And through the Jews would he con- 
 vey his mercy to these sheep of the other fold that 
 they too might glorify God — all of which was accord- 
 ing to the words of the ancient prophets. 
 
 Vs. 10-12. And again he saitb. That is, Christ 
 or the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophet. 
 These several citations are from Psalm xviii. 49; 
 Deut. xxxii. 43 ; Psalm cxvii. i ; Isaiah xi. 10. The 
 Apostle quotes these passages as an illustration of 
 how Christ received the Gentiles into his kingdom, 
 but incidentally they would also have a tendency to 
 justify his own ministry among the Gentiles in the 
 estimation of the prejudiced Jews and thus carry 
 their minds back to his missionary argument in chap- 
 ter X. and to the Old Testament passages there 
 quoted. 
 
 V. 13. Now the God of bope^ etc. At the close 
 of the last verse it was said that on Him should the 
 Gentiles base their hope. Here God is called the 
 God of hope, because he is the source of hope, as in 
 verse 5 he is the God of patience and comfort. He 
 gives us this hope by filling us with the joy and peace 
 which come of believing, not only at the time of our 
 
Chapter XV. 389 
 
 V. 14:— And I myself also am persuaded of you, my breth- 
 ren, that ye also are full of goodness, filed with all knowl- 
 edge, able also to admonish one another. 
 
 conversion, but day by day ever onward through our 
 lives. Doubting never produces either joy or peace, 
 and hence it can not produce hope. 
 
 Through the power of the Holy Ghost, It 
 is the Holy Spirit who enables us to believe at the 
 time of our conversion and as the ever renewed act, 
 or the abiding state of our hearts, and hence it is 
 through him also that we are filled with joy, and 
 peace, thus causing us to abound in hope. Chapter 
 v. I, 2. 
 
 With this verse the didactic part of the epistle 
 ends, the Apostle having no more to say by way of for- 
 mal instruction. The remainder of this chapter and 
 the whole of the next, and last, are devoted to con- 
 cluding remarks, mostly of a personal character, and 
 to various salutations and messages to friends whonn 
 he seems to have known elsewhere, but who were 
 now living in Rome. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 V. 14. And I myself am persuaded of yon, 
 
 I myself, even I, who have so exhorted and reproved 
 you, though you might infer from this that I am not 
 persuaded, etc. That ye also. That ye yourselves, 
 ye whom I have been so exhorting. F'ull of good- 
 ness. Kind and conciliatory disposition. " Paul 
 with his wonted modesty and tenderness, apologies, 
 as It were, for the plainness and ardor of his exhorta- 
 tions. They were given from no want of confidence 
 in the Roman Christians. What Paul says in this 
 
390 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 15: — Nevertheless^ brethren^ I have written the more 
 boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because 
 of the grace that is given to me of God, 
 
 verse might be strictly true of the Christians as a 
 whole at Rome, and yet not be true of many individ- 
 uals among them. 
 
 V. 15. The more boldly, in some sort, as 
 putting you in mind. The phrase 'in some 
 sort" (apo merous) literally means "in part" or "in 
 some measure." Commentators are not agreed as to 
 whether it should be construed with the preceding or 
 with the following clause. In the one case the mean- 
 ing is : "1 have written the more boldly unto you in 
 some measure," etc., referring either to some partic- 
 ular parts of the epistle or to the degree of boldness 
 which characterizes the epistle as a whole. In the 
 other case the meaning is: I have written the more 
 boldly unto you, so as in some measure to put you in 
 remembrance," etc., referring to the fact that so much 
 of boldness as he had employed was for the purpose 
 of reminding rather than of instructing them. This 
 latter is the more probable meaning. 
 
 Because of the grace that is given to me of 
 God. The sentence continues into the next verse. 
 Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles appointed by 
 Christ himself, and hence in all that he had written 
 them he had acted authoritatively. He makes this 
 statement that he may remind them that in nothing 
 that he had said was there any unwarrantable assump- 
 tion of authority on his part. The word rendered 
 minister in this verse is not the same as the one occur- 
 ring in xii. 7; there the word so rendered denotes 
 
Chapter XV. 391 
 
 V. 16 : — That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the 
 Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up 
 of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 V. 17 : — / have therefore whereof I may glory through 
 Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. 
 
 rather a humbler class of Church servant, as also in 
 xvi. I, whose duty it was to go about and minister 
 chiefly in temporal matters to the needy and suffer- 
 ing ; the word here used denotes a public officer or 
 servant, being sometimes applied to the civil magis- 
 trate, as in xiii. 6, and sometimes to the priest, as in 
 Heb. X. II. But Paul does not mean that he was 
 either a civil magistrate or a priest, and his readers 
 knew very well that he was neither ; he means simply 
 that he was a sacred officer of Jesus Christ, having 
 authority to write as he had written — a priest only in 
 a figurative sense, his offering to God being as many 
 Gentiles and Jews as he could be instrumental in con- 
 verting. 
 
 V. 16. That the offering of the Gentiles 
 might be acceptable. Not the offering which the 
 Gentiles offered, but the offering which the Gentiles 
 were. Paul offered them, they having become, by the 
 power of the Holy Spirit, set apart through his minis- 
 try from the rest of the Gentile world. 
 
 V. 17. I have therefore. In view of my Christ- 
 appointed ministry to the Gentiles (v. 16) I have a 
 right to glory, through Jesus Christ, in respect to my 
 success in things pertaining to God — that is, in bring- 
 ing the Gentiles as an acceptable offering to God. 
 
392 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 1 8 : — For I will not dare to speak of any of those things 
 which Christ hath not wrought by me^ to make the Gentiles 
 obedient^ by word and deed, 
 
 V. 19: — Through mighty signs and wonders^ by the power 
 of the Spirit of God; so that from ferusalem^ and round 
 about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of 
 Christ. 
 
 V. 18. V^or I will not dare to speak, etc. In 
 reading this verse we may place the emphasis either 
 on ** Christ" or on "by me." In the one case Paul 
 means that he would dare to glory only in so far as Christ 
 had wrought through him ; in other words, only in 
 being Christ's instrument in winning the Gentiles. 
 In the other case he means that he would dare to 
 glory only on account of those things which Christ 
 had wrought through him personally, claiming no 
 credit for what his disciples, Timothy, Titus, and 
 others, had done ; he would claim nothing as the fruit 
 of his ministry and the proof of his Christ-appointed 
 apostleship to the Gentiles, that could be at all 
 claimed as belonging to another man. This is the 
 more obvious sense. 
 
 V. 19. Through mighty signs and wonders. 
 
 The Apostle here mentions in general terms the 
 proofs of his ministry among the Gentiles as wrought 
 by Christ through him. Paul attributes the success 
 of his ministry to Christ, working through the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 Prom Jerusalem, and round about unto 
 Illyricum, In Damascus and Arabia, in Syria, Asia 
 Minor, Greece, the Grecian Islands, Thessaly, Mace- 
 donia, and Illyricum. Illyricum corresponds to the 
 modern Croatia and Dalmatia. Paul had already 
 
Chapter XV. 393 
 
 V. 20: — Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not 
 where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another 
 man's foundation : 
 
 V. 21 -.—But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, 
 they shall see: and they that have not heard shall under- 
 stand. 
 
 preached the gospel in the chief cities of all these 
 countries, laying foundations upon which others 
 might build, i Cor. iii. 10. He continued to preach 
 some ten years or more after this Epistle to the 
 Romans was written ; three years thereafter he was a 
 ** prisoner of Christ at Rome." 
 
 V. 20. This verse is a close continuation of the pre- 
 ceding, which should not end with a period, but rather 
 with a semicolon, the better reading making the word 
 rendered "I have strived" a participle, thus: "Yea, 
 striving [or making it my aim] to preach the gospel 
 not where men had already been taught to believe in 
 Christ, and call upon his name in public confession 
 and adoration." Paul does not mean, of course, that 
 it is wrong to build on another man's foundation, or 
 tha't every minister ought to desire to follow his 
 example in this respect. Paul's ambition was in har- 
 mony with his mission, and his mission was to fulfill 
 the words of the prophet quoted in the next verse — 
 that is, to preach Christ to those to whom he had not 
 hitherto been preached, leaving to the pastors for the 
 most part the work of training, under his direction, 
 the Churches which he established. 
 
 V. 21. Bnty as it is written, Isa. Iii. 15. To 
 whom he was not spoken of. To whom Christ 
 was not spoken of. The words of the prophet in Isa. 
 
394 'I'he Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 22 : — For zvhich cause also I have been much hindered 
 from coming to you. 
 
 V. 23 : — But now havifig 710 more place in these parts, and 
 having a great desire these maiiy years to come unto you ; 
 
 lii., liii., find their highest fulfillment in the Messiah. 
 The gospel of Christ is a missionary gospel, or it is 
 nothing, something which in its very nature is meant 
 to be proclaimed to all who know it not ; it is good 
 news. But Paul does not mean that he believed that 
 the prophet had his (Paul's) ministry consciously in 
 mind, as at least one learned commentator (Fritzsch) 
 strangely affirms ; he means that the prophet's words 
 were fulfilled in his ministry. The fact predicted was 
 that the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles, 
 and not that Paul should preach it ; though in Paul's 
 preaching the words of the prophet were fulfilled. 
 
 V. 22. For which cause. That is, In preaching 
 the gospel to those who had not heard it at so many 
 and widely distant places, I have been much hindered 
 from coming to Rome. The gospel had already been 
 preached to those at Rome, though it is probable that 
 at this time no apostle had ever visited Rome. 
 
 V. 23. But now having no more room in 
 these parts. When Paul wrote this epistle he was 
 in Corinth in Greece; but by "these parts" he refers 
 to the other countries in which the gospel had already 
 been so far established as to no longer need his espe- 
 cial service ^s an Apostle to the Gentiles ; he hopes, 
 therefore, to soon extend his labors still farther west- 
 ward into countries which no apostle had as yet vis- 
 ited. 
 
Chapter XV. 395 
 
 V. 24 : — Whensoever I take my journey into Spain^ I will 
 come to you : for I trust to see you in my journey^ and to be 
 brought on my way thitherward by yoUy if first I be some- 
 what filled with your company. 
 
 V. 2^:— But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the 
 saints. 
 
 V. 24. Whensoever I take my journey into 
 Spain I will come to you. Rome was about six 
 hundred miles west of Corinth, and Spain was about 
 the same distance west of Rome, to which — that is, to 
 Spain — it seems he had for some time been contem- 
 plating a missionary journey. It is not likely, how- 
 ever, that Paul's missionary plans and ambition had 
 any limits, except the limit of his life, and that having 
 established Churches in Spain, he would have turned 
 his face toward Gaul and Britain. But it is thought 
 by many scholars that he suffered martyrdom at 
 Rome, and that he never reached Spain. 
 
 And to be brought on my way thitherward 
 by you. To Spain. Paul received no pecuniary 
 help from the mother Churches in Jerusalem or other 
 parts of the East, but on the contrary, carried help to 
 them. He was dependent upon the Gentile Churches 
 which he himself established for the means w4th 
 which to defray his traveling expenses, in so far as he 
 did not earn it by making tents. He hoped to be 
 thus generously received and helped onward by the 
 Christians at Rome, after having for a short season 
 enjoyed their company. 
 
 V. 25. But now I go to Jerusalem to minis- 
 ter unto the saints. Shortly after writing this 
 Paul started on the long journey eastw^ard to take the 
 money which he had raised among the Gentiles for 
 
396 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 26 : — For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia 
 to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are 
 at Jerusalem. 
 
 ■ — ■ 
 
 the needy Christians in Jerusalem and Judea. Reach- 
 ing Jerusalem he was arrested by the Jewish author- 
 ities, imprisoned two years at Cesarea, from which 
 place he was sent a prisoner in bonds to Rome. . See 
 
 1 Cor. xvi. 4, 6, 15 ; 2 Cor. i. 16; ix. i. See also Acts 
 xviii. i8-xxviii. for an account of the incidents of 
 these journeys. 
 
 V. 26. It hath pleased them . ... to make a 
 contribution. The idea expressed by the word is, 
 not only that they made the contribution, but that to 
 make it pleased them. Paul commends this liberality 
 of the Macedonians in his letter to the Corinthians. 
 
 2 Cor. viii. 9. Achaia was the country of which Cor- 
 inth was the capital. These Churches of which the 
 Apostle speaks had acted according to the admonition 
 in xii. 13. 
 
 The word rendered " contribution " means fellow- 
 ship, communion, or joint participation, and rightly 
 suggests that he does not contribute in the best sense 
 who does not by the act of contributing enter into fel- 
 lowship or communion with the one to whom he con- 
 tributes. The true giver shares in spirit the necessi- 
 ties of the recipient, while the recipient shares the 
 abundance of the giver ; thus it becomes a joint par- 
 ticipation or contribution — a giving together. 
 
 V. 27. And their debtors they are. The Gen- 
 tile givers are the debtors of the Jewish Christian 
 receivers at Jerusalem. The reason why they are 
 
Chapter XV. 397 
 
 V. 27 \—It hath pleased them verily ; and their debtors they 
 are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their 
 spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in 
 carnal things. 
 
 V. 28 :— When therefore I have performed this, and have 
 sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. 
 
 V. 2^:— And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall 
 come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 debtors is stated in the next clause. It is true that 
 the gospel with all its spiritual blessings had, in a 
 sense, come to the Gentiles from the mother Church 
 in Jerusalem, but, after all, the Gentiles owed much 
 more to Paul than they did to the mother Church, and 
 when he arrived at Jerusalem as the bearer of these 
 gifts the Jewish Christians there, with the exception 
 of some of the chief brethren, did not receive him 
 with much cordiality. They were suspicious of his 
 teachings to the Gentiles. Actsxxi. 15-40. But Paul 
 generously ignores himself, saying nothing of the in- 
 debtedness of the Gentiles to him. He regarded him- 
 self rather as their debtor. Chapter i. 14. 
 
 V. 28. I have performed this. This journey to 
 Jerusalem. And have sealed to them this 
 fruit. Have safely delivered to the saints at Jerusa- 
 lem the contributions referred to in verse 26. Will 
 come by you, Rome was a little north of the 
 direct route from either Jerusalem or Corinth to 
 Spain. 
 
 V. 29. And I am sure, etc. Paul was permitted 
 by the Holy Spirit to write this verse, but he did not 
 when writing it have inspired knowledge of the 
 circumstances under which he would actually go to 
 
398 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 30 : — Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus 
 Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit^ that ye strive to- 
 gether with me in your prayers to God for me ; 
 
 V. 31: — That I may be delivered from, them, that do not 
 believe in Judea ; and that my service which I have for Jeru- 
 salem, may be accepted of the saints ; 
 
 V. 32 : — That I may come unto you with Joy by the will of 
 God, and may with you be refreshed. 
 
 Rome when he did go to thither some three years 
 later, he went in bonds ; and yet, though a prisoner, 
 he preached there an abundant gospel. Acts xxviii. 
 30, 31. It is better for us to do good, to be a blessing 
 to others, in God's way than in our own way, unless 
 our way be his way, as indeed it should. 
 
 V. 30. ¥or our I^ord Jesus ChrisVs sake. I 
 
 beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ — in 
 view of all that he hath done for you — and in view of 
 the love which the Holy Spirit hath showed to you, 
 in giving you his manifold gifts, that ye agonize, pray 
 most earnestly, with me in your prayers to God, for me. 
 
 Vs. 31, 32. These two verses state the subject of 
 the prayer which Paul had so earnestly requested the 
 Roman Christians to make in his behalf. H-e was 
 carrying pecuniary assistance to the saints at Jerusa- 
 lem ; but he does not seem to have anticipated a 
 warm welcome, and on the part of the unbelieving 
 Jews he expected to be met with positive hostility. 
 If we should follow him on this journey to Jerusalem 
 as described in the Acts xviii. 18 to xxi. 15, we 
 should find that he ever looked thither with forebod- 
 ings of evil. Acts XX. 22, 23; xxi. 10, 11. The event 
 shows how well founded were his forebodings. 
 
Chapter XVI. 399 
 
 V. 33 : — Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. 
 
 V. 33. Now the God of peace be with you all. 
 
 The God of peace because he is the source of peace, 
 as in verse 5 he is the God of patience and comfort, 
 and in verse 13 the God of hope. In memory of con- 
 stant struggles and afflictions, and in view of others 
 soon to befall him, how natural it is for the Apostle 
 to think of peace, the peace which comes from God. 
 " In the world ye shall have tribulation." " In me ye 
 shall have peace.'' Paul was a great warrior, a true 
 soldier of the Cross, never shrinking from any hard- 
 ship or danger ; but it is the true soldier who knows 
 best how to appreciate peace. Paul was indeed one 
 of the Tenth I^egion, scarred and battered, out on the 
 far-off frontier ; but he was fighting a good fight, and 
 was destined erelong to be victorious. There is 
 something tender and touching in these closing words 
 to the Romans. Peace. ** May the God of peace be 
 with you all." And after all it is not a prayer for 
 himself. 
 
 Commendations, Greetings, Warnings. 
 
 (Chap. XVI.) 
 
 The Apostle concludes his epistle with various com- 
 mendations, affectionate greetings, and solemn warn- 
 ings. The warnings are directed chiefly to those who 
 give offence and make divisions among the brethren. 
 The personal salutations seems to be numerous, con- 
 sidering the fact that Paul had never visited Rome, 
 and hence could not be expected to have there so 
 many intimate friends. Some writers, Farrar among 
 the numher, place quite too much stress on this as a 
 
400 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 Chap. XVI., V. I : — / commend unto you Phebe our sisteVy 
 which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea : 
 
 reason for believing that this last chapter was not 
 originally addressed to the Romans, but to some other 
 Church. But, on the contrary, in view of the fact 
 that Rome in those days was the center of the world's 
 travel, it is very easy to suppose that the persons here 
 named had only recently gone to Rome and that Paul 
 had often met them elsewhere. And even if he had 
 never met them or known them face to face, the 
 affectionate salutations would still be justifiable on 
 the ground of the fact that they were closely united 
 to Paul in the bonds of a like active devotion to the 
 same cause of Christ. 
 
 V. I. Phebe^ or Phoebe. The word is the feminine 
 form of Phoebus, and means bright, or radiant. Phebe 
 was doubtless a recent convert from heathenism, her 
 name having been bestowed upon her perhaps in honor 
 of the heathen sun-god. But becoming a Christian 
 she also becomes ''radiant" in a diviner sense, the 
 bearer of this true light, Paul's Epistle to the Romans. 
 Her name is not mentioned elsewhere; and what is 
 here said of her is important because of its bearing 
 on the office of deaconess in the apostolic Church. 
 The word here rendered servant is the one from 
 which we get our word deacon. It can not be in- 
 ferred, from this word, however, that Phebe either 
 was or was not a preacher. 
 
 Cenchrea was the eastern sea-port of Corinth and 
 about eight miles distant therefrom. Paul was at 
 Corinth when he wrote this epistle. He commends 
 Phebe to the Romans. on the twofold ground that she 
 
Chapter XVI. 401 
 
 V. 2 : — That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints^ 
 and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of 
 you : for she hath been a succor er of many, and of myself 
 also. 
 
 V. 3 : — Greet Priscilla and Aguila, my helpers in Christ 
 Jesus : 
 
 was his sister in Christ and a servant or deaconess of 
 the Church at Cenchrea. It is generally admitted by 
 New Testament scholars that the female diaconate 
 was one of the recognized offices of the apostolic 
 Church. 
 
 V. 2. In the IfOrd, In a religious manner and 
 from religious motives, as one saint, or Christian, 
 should receive another. A succorer of many, A 
 benefactor. Renan speaks of this " poor woman " 
 as making a " wild winter journey " to Rome, or as he 
 thinks, to Ephesus; but there is no conclusive evi- 
 dence that the journey was made in the " wild win- 
 ter," or that she was very poor, or that the assistance 
 which Paul bespeaks for her was of the nature of 
 alms. 
 
 V. 3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, Some time 
 before writing this epistle Paul had met Priscilla or 
 Prisca, and Aquila at Corinth (Acts xviii. 2), and 
 somewhat more recently at Ephesus, from which place 
 Paul wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians (i Cor. 
 xvi. 8). But since those meetings they had returned 
 to Rome, from which place they, with the other Jews, 
 had been expelled by the Emperor Claudius (A.D. 52) ; 
 and now Paul, at Corinth again, in writing to the 
 Romans, sends to them his greetings. Aquila was 
 by trade -a tent-maker ; though his chief occupation 
 26 
 
402 Thk Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 4 : — Who have for my life laid down their own necks : 
 unto whom not only I give thanks^ but also all the churches 
 of the Gentiles. 
 
 V. 5 : — Likewise greet the church that is in their house. 
 Salute my well beloved Epenetus^ who is the firstfruits of 
 Achaia unto Christ. 
 
 was that of a missionary, and so Paul calls him and 
 Priscilla his helpers, or fellow workers in Christ. 
 
 V. 4. l,aid down their own necks. A figura- 
 tive expression, perhaps, denoting that they had 
 risked their lives for him. When, we are not in- 
 formed. But Paul had had many a narrow escape 
 from death, and in some one or more of these Aquila 
 and Priscilla had with great personal risk befriended 
 him. They were with him, it seems, when he was 
 assaulted at Corinth (Acts xviii. 6-18), and also in the 
 tumult at Ephesus (Acts xix.). In thus being the 
 means of saving Paul's life they had made all the 
 Churches of the Gentiles their debtors, and all the 
 Churches of subsequent ages. 
 
 V. 5. Greet the Church that is in their 
 house. Not merely their Christian household, but 
 the believers who were in the habit of meeting in 
 their house for the purpose of worshiping, i Cor. 
 xvi. 19. It is not probable that the Christians at 
 Rome were at this time organized into one Church, 
 or that they all worshiped in the same house, but 
 that they met in several small assemblies. Col. iv. 15. 
 
 Mpsenetus. Unknown except as here mentioned. 
 The £rst fruits. The first convert or offering, 
 chapter xv. 16. Of Achai, The Revised Version 
 here reads *' of Asia," by Asia being here meant the 
 
Chapter XVI. 403 
 
 V. 6 : — Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us. 
 
 V. 7 : — Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmeny and my 
 fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who 
 also were in Christ before me. 
 
 province on the western coast of which Ephesus was 
 the capital. "Asia " must be regarded as the correct 
 reading here, the other being the " typographical 
 error" of some copyist. Paul says, in i Cor. xvi. 15, 
 that the " house of Stephanus " was the first fruits of 
 Achaia. Achaia was the country of which Corinth 
 was the capital. 
 
 V. 6. Greet Mary, The words translated ** sa- 
 lute" and "greet " are the same word in the Greek 
 throughout the chapter. On us. The Revised Ver- 
 sion, following the majority of ancient manuscripts, 
 reads on you. The great Apostle makes pleasing 
 mention of the fact which had come to his knowledge 
 that this obscure Christian woman, of whom nothing 
 is known but what is here stated, had in some way 
 made herself particularly useful to the Christians at 
 Rome. Nothwithstanding his disadvantages, Paul 
 seems to have kept himself well posted in regard to 
 what was going on in the different parts of the great 
 Gentile Christian world. 
 
 Vs. 7-15. Nothing whatever is known of the per- 
 sons mentioned in these verses ; their names do not 
 occur elsewhere. 
 
 V. 7. My kinsmen. Here and in verses 11 and 
 21 the word " kinsmen " most probably means kins- 
 men in the sense of fellow-countrymen. It literally 
 denotes " bom-together," whether of the same family 
 
404 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 8 : — Greet Amp lias, my beloved in the Lord. 
 N.^:— Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys 
 my beloved. 
 
 or the same country. The names in this and verse 
 21 are not Jewish. My fellow prisoners. We 
 
 are nowhere informed when or where these persons 
 were imprisoned with Paul. He alludes, in 2 Cor. 
 vi. 5, to man}^ sufferings and imprisonments of 
 which nothing is anywhere said in detail so far as 
 we know. The name Junia is most probably more 
 correctly spelled Juntas, and it is also most prob- 
 able that the person named was a man, being of note 
 among the apostles ; by which it is meant that they, 
 the persons so described, were eminent as evan- 
 gelists. The word apostles is here used in the same 
 sense as in Acts xiv. 4, 14, where Barnabas is called 
 an apostle, although he was not one in the more 
 special sense in which Paul was. Some commen- 
 tators, however, think that the expression means 
 merely that the two persons were well-known to the 
 apostles, though it does not seem that Paul would 
 mention this as one of the reasons why he sent them 
 his personal greeting. In Christ before me. 
 Were converted before Paul himself was. They had 
 been Christians therefore more than twenty years, 
 it having been about this length of time since Paul's 
 conversion. 
 
 V. 8. Salute Amplias, Or Ampliatus. My be- 
 loved in the J^ord, In relation to the I^ord. This 
 relation in the Lord in which he stood to Paul was a 
 sufficient claim to the respect of the Roman Chris- 
 tians. 
 
Chapter XVI. 405 
 
 V. 10: — Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute them 
 which are of Aristobulus' household. 
 
 V. 1 1 : — Salute Herodion my kinsm,an. Greet them, that be 
 of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. 
 
 V. 9. Urbane. Or, Urbanus. The name signifies 
 a citizen. Stachys, Signifying an ear of corn. 
 Paul calls Urbanus our helper, and Stachys my be- 
 loved. The latter expression refers to personal 
 friendship, the former to the fact that he who helped 
 Paul in his work helped all who were engaged in the 
 same work. 
 
 V. 10. Apelles approved in Christ, The 
 
 word "approved" comes from the same root as that 
 rendered " experience " in chapter v. 4. It is the ap- 
 probation which comes after experience or severe 
 trial. Appelles was a tried and approved Christian — 
 as gold which had passed through the crucible. 
 Them which are of Aristobulus. Aristobulus 
 himself is not saluted; perhaps he was dead, or 
 known to be absent from Rome ; or Paul may have 
 known that he was not a Christian and cared nothing 
 for his salutations. Commentators, generally, sup- 
 pose that those of the household of Aristobulus here 
 referred to were his slaves, but there is nothing to 
 support the supposition except the general form of 
 the expression. So also of " the household of Nar- 
 cissus " in the next verse. 
 
 V. II. Narcissus. Some writers think that this 
 was the famous freedman and favorite of the Emperor 
 Claudius, mentioned in the Annals of Tacitus, Bk. xi. 
 29; xiii. I. He was dead at the time this epistle was 
 
4o6 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 12 : — Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa^ who labor in the 
 Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which labored much in the 
 Lord. 
 
 V. 13 : — Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother 
 and mine. 
 
 written ; but those of his household, whether children 
 or slaves, may have been living. 
 
 V. 12. Tryphena and Trypbosa, Supposed 
 from the feminine form of the names to have been 
 women. Both the names, which are Greek, mean 
 " voluptuous " or *' dainty." However they may once 
 have been, they were not now too dainty to tot/ for 
 the Lord. The word kapiosas means to work until 
 one grows weary, or exhausted, to toil. Persis was 
 another Christian woman who also worked laboriously 
 in the Lord. 
 
 V. 13. RufttS. This may have been the same 
 Rufus mentioned in Mark xv. 21. Chosen in the 
 I/Ord, An excellent or choice Christian. His 
 mother and mine, Paul seems to have been suf- 
 ficiently intimate with the family of Rufus to justify 
 him in calling the aged Christian his mother. She 
 had doubtless shown toward him a mother's love. 
 He may have lived with the family while studying at 
 the feet of Gamaliel. At the time Mark wrote his 
 gospel Rufus and Alexander, her sons, seem to have 
 been well-known Christians. If this be the same 
 Rufus the family must have moved from Jerusalem to 
 Rome. 
 
 V. 14. The brethren which are with them. 
 
 The Christians at Rome seem to have been grouped 
 
Chapter XVI. 407 
 
 V, 14: — Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hennas, PatrobaSy 
 HermeSy and the brethren which are with them. 
 
 V. 15 : — Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister ^ 
 and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them. 
 
 V. 16 : — Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches 
 of Christ salute you. 
 
 into different small bands or " churches," for the pur- 
 pose of convenience in worshiping in the houses of 
 some members of the respective groups, before any 
 public church building was erected. Perhaps also 
 the assembling of small bands would attract the at- 
 tention of their enemies to a less extent. The per- 
 sons named in this verse seemed to be mentioned as 
 the representatives of one of the groups. See also 
 other groups referred to in verses 5, and perhaps in 
 lo and II, and also verse 15. 
 
 V. 16. Salute one another with a holy kiss. 
 
 See also i Cor. xvi. 20 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 12 ; i Thess. v. 26 ; 
 I Peter v. 14. This is known as the ** kiss of charity," 
 and is supposed to have been of Eastern origin. The 
 custom was perpetuated in the Church for several 
 centuries. It was especially one of the rites of the 
 sacramental service, but was also observed on com- 
 mon occasions of public worship, the brethren thus 
 saluting the brethren and the sisters the sisters. The 
 holy kiss was expressive of mutual Christian affection 
 and equality before God. It was omitted on Good 
 Friday, in remembrance of the traitorous kiss of 
 Judas Iscariot. It became for the enemies of Chris- 
 tianity the occasion of reproach, and seems to have 
 been entirely abandoned about the close of the 
 twelfth century. One or two minor sects, however, 
 still observe this rite. 
 
4o8 The EP1STI.K to the Romans. 
 
 V. 17 -.—Now I beseech you^ brethren^ mark them which 
 cause divisions a7id offences contrary to the doctrine which ye 
 have learned ; and avoid them. 
 
 The Churches of Christ salute you, Paul 
 was in constant communication with the Churches, 
 particularly those west of Jerusalem, and he had 
 doubtless informed them of his intended correspond- 
 ence with the Christians at Rome, or of his intended 
 visit thither. They authorize him to transmit their 
 salutations. So this epistle becomes the immediate 
 occasion of bringing all the Christians at Rome and 
 the other parts of the world closer together in the 
 bonds of a holy love. It would be well for all the 
 Churches of Christendom of to-day to pause in their 
 strivings against one another at least long enough 
 once a year to greet one another in sincerity and 
 truth with the "holy kiss" of mutual esteem and 
 affection. If this sixteenth chapter of the Epistle to 
 the Romans brought the Churches of the world nearer 
 to each other even for a little while, it was by no 
 means a valueless part of the epistle. If it should 
 remind the Churches through the ages that true 
 Christian affection is hardly less valuable than a sound 
 Christian doctrine, no one can ever say that it is a 
 mere chapter of dry names and meaningless saluta- 
 tions. 
 
 Instead of " the Churches of Christ salute you," the 
 Revised Version, following the better Greek text, 
 reads, "All the Churches of Christ salute you." 
 
 V. 17. Now I beseech you, etc. What words of 
 earnest, solemn warning ! See i Cor. v. 1-5 ; Col. ii. 
 10-33 ; I Tim. iv. 1-8, for illustrations of the schis- 
 
Chapter XVI. 409 
 
 V. 18 : — For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, but their own belly ; and by good words and fair 
 speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 
 
 V. 19 : — For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. 
 / am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have 
 you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil^ 
 
 V. 20 : And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under 
 
 your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 with you. Amen. 
 
 matic influences which were already creeping in 
 among the Churches, and against which, and all such, 
 Paul beseeches the Christians at Rome to be on the 
 guard. He says of the sowers of these pernicious 
 seed that they "serve their own belly" — they are 
 actuated by selfish considerations. 
 
 V. 18. JPor yonr obedience is come abroad, 
 
 «tc. May a flock which is now so simple, so devoid 
 of evil, so pure, never become a prey to false teach- 
 ers, wolves in sheep's clothing. See chap. i. 8. 
 
 V. 20. The God of peace. Here called the God 
 of peace in reference to the divisions and scandals 
 referred to in verses 17-19, and to which they were 
 only the more exposed on account of their simplicity 
 and guilelessness. Observe the caution here given, 
 and the God of peace shall make quick work of 
 crushing Satan under your feet whenever he shall 
 come among you in the person of his emissaries to 
 disturb your peace or corrupt your purity. The 
 Apostle seems to have in mind here the words of Gen- 
 esis iii. 15. 
 
 Prof. Moses Stuart, and others, have incorrectly 
 regarded the verb in this verse as used in an opta- 
 
4IO The Bpisti^e to the Romans. 
 
 V. 21 '.—Timoiheus my workfellow^ and Lucius^ and JasoUy 
 and Sosipater, my kinsmen^ salute you. 
 
 V. 22 :— / TeriiuSy who wrote this epistle, salute you in the 
 Lord. 
 
 V. 23 : — Gains mine hosty and of the whole church, saluteth 
 you. Erastus the chamberlain 0/ the city saluteth you, and 
 Quartus a brother. 
 
 sense, rendering the words as a prayer — "May the 
 God of peace bruise," etc. On the contrary, Paul 
 declares that it shall be done — not erelong, but in short 
 time should Satan once come among them. The way 
 to make quick work of our spiritual enemies when 
 they attack us is to be ever on the alert before they 
 attack us. 
 
 V. 21. Timotbeus, Timothy. If Timothy was 
 not with Paul when he wrote this epistle, as seems 
 probable, he was with him shortly before, and may 
 have asked Paul to transmit his salutations to the 
 Roman Christians. Timothy was personally known 
 to some of them. Acts xviii. 1-5. IfUcittS. Possi- 
 bly Lucius of Cyrene. Acts xiii. i. Jason, Acts 
 xvii. 5. Sosipater. Acts xx. 4. Nothing whatever 
 is known, with certainty, in regard to the identity of 
 these persons. My kinsmen. See vs. 7, 11. The 
 word (sugeneis) does not inform us whether they 
 were the blood relations of Paul or not ; they may 
 have been his fellow countrymen. 
 
 V. 22. I Tertins, He was Paul's amanuensis or 
 secretary. 
 
 V. 23. Gains, Probably the one mentioned in i 
 Cor. i. 14, as the one whom Paul had baptized. There 
 
Chapter XVI. 411 
 
 V. 24: — The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you 
 all. Amen. 
 
 was another Gaius, a native of Derbe. Acts xx. 4. 
 See also Acts xix. 29. Mine host, and of the 
 whole Church. Acts xviii. 1-7. The house of 
 Gaius seems to have been ever open to receive Chris- 
 tian strangers. Mrastus. Most probably not the 
 one mentioned in Acts xix. 22, but the one referred 
 to in 2 Tim. iv. 20. Quartus the brother. Wholly 
 unknown to us, but perhaps well known to Christians 
 at Rome, as he is designated simply as " the brother " 
 — the Christian brother. 
 
 V. 24. The Grace of our I/ord Jesus Christ 
 be with you all. The benediction of verse 20 re- 
 peated. In this verse the Revised Version omits it. 
 It is also omitted in the four most ancient manu- 
 scripts. It is found in the Syriac, the Vulgate of 
 Sextus, and Clement. Chrysostom in his Homilies 
 regards it as genuine, as do other Greek Fathers. Its 
 genuineness is defended by Meyer, Godet, and other 
 modern critical commentators. Olshausen regards it 
 as genuine, but attributes it to Tertius, and the one in 
 verse 20 to Paul. It is most probably the genuine, 
 though repeated, benediction of Paul, its omission in 
 some ancient manuscripts and versions being more 
 easily accounted for than its insertion. It is not in- 
 consistent with the affectionate fervor and earnest de- 
 sire of Paul for the continued welfare of the Roman 
 Christians that he should twice in concluding say, 
 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you 
 all in respect to all these matters of which I have 
 written you. 
 
413 The Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 25 : — Now to him that is 0/ power to stablish you accord- 
 ing to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christy accord' 
 ing to the revelation of the -mystery , which was kept secret 
 since the world began. 
 
 Vs. 25-27. After the benediction comes the doxol- 
 ogy, " rich in contents, deep in feeling, in which the 
 leading ideas contained in the whole epistle, as they 
 had already found in the introduction (i. 1-5) their 
 preluding key-note, and again in xi. 33-36, their pre- 
 liminary doxological expression, now further receive 
 in the fullest unison of inspired piety their concen- 
 trated outburst for the ultimate true consecration of 
 the whole." (Meyer.) 
 
 According to my gospel. Not " in my gospel," 
 or "by means of my gospel," but "agreeably to my 
 gospel," in such a manner as my gospel requires. 
 This is the view adopted by Stuart, Hodge, and 
 others, but Meyer prefers the first. My gospel, A 
 somewhat characteristic phrase of Paul. See chap, 
 ii. 16; I Tim. i. 11 ; 2 Tim. ii. 8. By his gospel he 
 does not mean a gospel different essentially from that 
 of the other apostles ; he means simply the good tid- 
 ings which he preached, the prominent characteristics 
 of the doctrinal parts of which were (i) Salvation by 
 grace through faith in Christ, and not by works ; (2) 
 Salvation provided for all. It is probable also that 
 Paul meant to include in this reference to his gospel 
 certain ethical elements, as consecration, love for one 
 another, humility, etc. 
 
 The preaching of Jesus Christ. This may 
 mean either the preaching which Christ did, or the 
 preaching which the Apostle did and of which Christ 
 was the subject. Both make a good sense. Paul's 
 
Chapter XVL 413 
 
 V. 26 : — But now is made manifest^ and by the Scriptures 
 of the prophets^ according to the commandment of the ever- 
 lasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of 
 faith : 
 
 preaching or gospel was in deepest harmony with 
 Christ's preaching. And Christ was the very center 
 and core of Paul's gospel. Both these propositions 
 are true. It is perhaps better, however, to suppose 
 that Paul had in mind the second of the two mean- 
 ings, as it seems to be more pertinent to his immediate 
 thought to regard him as affirming that the subject of 
 his gospel was Christ, rather than that his gospel and 
 Christ's gospel were the same gospel. 
 
 The revelation of the mystery. The preached 
 gospel is itself the revelation of the mystery, and this 
 gospel Paul himself had received by supernatural rev- 
 elation. Kept secret since the world began. 
 The Gentiles had lived in the darkness; the Old 
 Testament saints in the twilight. 
 
 V. 26. By the Scriptures of the prophets. In 
 
 making known the " mystery," or gospel, the Old 
 Testament Scriptures were used as a means. These 
 Scriptures had not been clearly understood, and in the 
 gospel they received their clearest and fullest inter- 
 pretation. Paul himself in writing this epistle had, 
 as we have seen, made much use of the writings of 
 the prophets. See Luke xxiv. 27 ; Acts xiii. 23-41. 
 
 The everlasting God. The God who was when 
 the world began, and who is now, could alone cause 
 the mystery to be made known. Por the obedience 
 of faith. Unto the obedience which consists in 
 faith, chap. i. 5. This was the end aimed at in mak- 
 ing the mystery known. 
 
414 ^^^ Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 V. 27: — To God only wise^ be glory through Jesus Christ 
 for ever. Amen. 
 
 % Written to the Romans from CorinthuSy and sent by Phebe 
 
 servant of the church at Cenchrea. 
 
 V. 27. To God only wise. He who could devise 
 and execute the plan of redemption as set forth by- 
 Paul is indeed so wise that in comparison with him 
 no other being can be so called. " O the depth of the 
 riches and wisdom and knowledge of God ! How un- 
 searchable are his judgments and his ways past find- 
 ing out." (xi. 33.) 
 
 Amen. This word expresses an energetic or hearty- 
 affirmation of or assent to the truth of a statement. 
 It often occurs in both the Old and New Testaments, 
 and in the Gospels is frequently translated " verily." 
 In the ancient synagogue service and in that of the 
 early Christian Church it was customary to say 
 " amen" to the prayers of the rabbin or pastor. 
 
 Subscription : " Written to the Romans from 
 Corinthus, and sent by Phebe servant of the Church 
 at Chencrea." See xvi. i, and note. It is not neces- 
 sary for us to suppose that this subscription was writ- 
 ten by Paul. The Romans would know that he was 
 at Corinth when he wrote it, and that Phebe was the 
 bearer of it. It is not usually regarded as a part of 
 the epistle. 
 
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