with rejoycing Therefore these words of the Prophet Isaiah may be understood and are to be understood in the second and Sublime sense of the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel and the believing Gentiles receiving them and their doctrine with faith and joy The Gospel of Peace The Gospel is called the Gospel of peace because it is the good news of that peace which we have with God through Christ And bring glad tidings of good things These good things are of our justification sanctification and hope of glorification through Christ c. Ver. 16. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel But though the Gentiles have yet the Jews have not all believed the Gospel By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these he meaneth the Jews here of whom he denies that here which he affirmed of the Gentiles just before Though the far greatest part of the Jews believed not yet the Apostle speaks as though there were but few of them which did not believe And this he doth that he might the less Exasperate them For Isaias saith To wit Isaiah 53.1 Lord who hath believed our report This is spoken by the Prophet in the first and litteral sence in the person of the Prophets who preached to the Jews which were in the Babylonish Captivity the good tidings of their deliverance out of that captivity But in the second Mystical and sublime sence it is to be understood as spoken in the person of the Apostles and preachers of the Gospel for the deliverance of the Jews out of the Babylonish Captivity was a Type of mans redemption from sin and the Prophets preaching to the Jews the good tidings of their deliverance out of the Babylonish Captivity were a Type of the Apostles and preachers of the Gospel preaching in the name of Christ Remission of sins or deliverance from Sin Who hath believed c. That is who among the Jews have believed our report That this is to be meant of the Jews Saint John also teacheth John 12.38 Our report i. e. Our report who are the Apostles and preachers of the word concerning the Remission of sins by Christ Jesus This report was not from the Preachers and Apostles as originally from themselves but it was that which they received from God for that did they teach and preach to the Jews as Gods word and that only Ver. 17. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God This the Apostle gathers out of those words ver 16. Who hath believed our report For the report there is the report of remission of sins and by Christ which report the Apostles and Preachers of the word brought to the Jews from God and it was brought to them that they might hear it and that hearing it they might believe it And this is the only means which God useth for the begetting of faith This is a conclusion which the Apostle gathereth here by the by for it it not pertinent to that business which he is now upon to wit to shew the unbelief of the Jews But it Excellently sheweth that which he handled ver 14.15 To wit That no man can believe except he heareth and no man can hear except he hath a Preacher of the word of God sent to him And here observe again that which I have observed heretofore that the Apostle when he hath treated before of any subject and is passed from it yet though he hath passed from it if any new argument arise which will prove that subject from which he hath passed he doth for the most part take notice of it though it be but by the by and so doth he here to prove what he said ver 14.15 The word of God To wit the word of God preached by such as are sent to preach it Ver. 18. But I say have they not heard i. e. But I say have not the Jews heard the word of God that is the Gospel preached unto them These words relate not to the 17 verse but to the 16 verse of this Chapter And by them the Apostle prevents an objection For whereas he said verse 16. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel For Esaias saith Lord who hath believed our report A man might object and say yea but perhaps they never heard the Gospel preached or the report which the prophet Isaiah speakes of No wonder therefore then Paul that they believe not for how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard as you your self say verse 14. Yes verily Supple they have heard Their sound went out into all the Earth c. For their Sound to wit the sound of the Apostles and Preachers of the word is gone out into all the Earth Understand For here I had rather interpret these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to our vulgar manner of speaking their sound is gone out into all the Earth then their sound went into all the Earth For this signifies a going begun not câ—mpleated or a going still in fieri whereas the other signifies a going past or supposed to be past come to its end And my reason is because the Apostles had not then gone throughout the whole earth in preaching the Gospel though they where gone out of Judaea and from among the the Jews into the dwellings of the Gentiles at this time The words which the Apostle here useth are taken out of the 19. Psalm and the 4. verse and the Psalmist there speaks of the heavens which in their manner speak the power and wisedom of God their maker through out the earth For they are to be seen in every corner of the Earth and wheresoever they are seen they shew forth the wisdom and power of him that made them as a curious piece of work sets forth the cunning or Art of its workeman But the Apostle useth them here by an accommodation of the preaching of the Apostles and he may the better use them so because as in the old creation the Heavens are the highest of all corporeal Creatures So in the new Creation created by Christ Jesus in which we are new Creatures the Apostles were the next after Christ the highest These words then verily their sound is gone out into all the Earth are to be understood as the Apostle here useth them of the preaching of the Apostles q. d. The Preaching of the Apostles is gone out Supple from Judaea or from out from among the Jews into all the Earth c. That the Apostles had gone out of Judaea and from among the Jews to preach to the Gentiles at this time is manifest This Epistle it self will manifest it and so will the place from whence it was written to wit Corinth And now if the Apostles were gone out of Judaea and from among the Jews to preach the Gospel throughout the whole earth to the Gentiles then was the Gospel preached before this to the Jews for the Gospel was to be preached to the Jews before it
Righteousness and by which we are enclined to Holiness and Righteousnese as Rom. 8.13 Where it is said that If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Flesh ye shall live after which manner the gifts of the Holy Ghost are called the Holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 Where he saith the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us In this sense of the word Spirit the Spirit is most frequently opposed to the Flesh as Rom. 8. Galat. 5. c. Sometimes our Apostle takes the Spirit for the Gospel and then he opposeth it to the Letter that is to the Law as Rom. 2.29 and 7.6 which also he doth 2 Corinth 3.6 And sometimes again he takes it for the soul of man as Rom. 8.10 where the Spirit is opposed to the Body WORLD The world as it is most properly taken is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Philosopher defines it Arist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 2. that is The World is a Cistern or Fabrike consisting of heaven and earth and those Nature which are therein conteined In this sense our Apostle takes the word World Rom. 1.20 and 16.25 He takes the world sometimes also for all the men of the world whether good or bad as Rom. 3.6 19. Sometimes he takes it for the wicked men of the world or men adicted to the profits pleasures and vanities of the world as Rom. 12.2 Sometimes he takes it for the Gentiles in general as Rom. 11.12 15. Sometimes he takes it for the whole habitable earth as Rom. 10.18 Sometimes he takes it for the Land of Canaan which was but a little part of the world yea a little part of the whole earth as Rom. 4.13 And marvel not that our Apostle should take the world for the Land of Canaan when the Prophet Isaiah takes the earth yea the world for the Land of Israel which was but part of the Land of Canaan Isaiah 24 4. And here by the way observe that as Joshua was a Type of Jesus Christ so was the Land of Canaan into which he brought the Israelites a Type of all and every part of that blessedness into which Jesus Christ hath and will bring us WORKS WORKETH Our Apostle doth often make mention of Works in this his Epistle while he treats of Justification as Rom. 3.23 Where is boasting then It is excluded by what Law of works Nay and Rom. 4.2 If Abraham were justified by works he had whereof to glory and verse 4. Now to him that worketh i. e. to him which hath works is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt and verse 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works and Rom. 11.6 If it be of works then it is no more of grace and Rom. 3.28 We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds or works of the Law In all which places and the like he takes works for works exactly done according to the Law so that the doer of them did never through the whole course of his life break the Law either in thought word or deed either by commission or by omission or by any other way in the least tittle or point thereof which works if we should suppose that any one had so done he would be justified by his works and that of debt for otherwise if God should not justifie him with Reverence be it spoken he would be unjust as I have said before Whereas therefore it is said that Abraham was not justified by works and that no man is justified by the deeds or works of the Law and that the purpose of God should stand not of works c. It is not so to be understood as that either Abraham or any other had such works and yet were not or should not be justified by them But it is so to be understood as that neither Abraham nor any other ever had hath or will have any such works And therefore as many as are justified are justified without them or though they have them not And for this reason it is that no man is said to be justified by the works which he doth or hath done or shall do I may add or can do because no man doth keep hath kept will keep or can keep the Law so strictly and exactly as the Law requireth so as that he hath not doth not or will not break it at any time For our Apostle to prove that no man is justified by the works of the Law proves that every man hath sinned Rom. Chap. 1.2 3. And therefore because every man hath sinned no man hath works in that sense which he speaketh of For if a man hath sinned but never so little he hath not works as our Apostle takes works in the places first named For cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them In the voice of the Law Galat. 3.10 and Deut. 27.26 Our Apostle denies plainly that Abraham was justified by works Rom. 14. verse 1 2. And yet Saint James saith that he was when he saith Was not Abraham our Father justified by works James 2.21 what then shall we say that Saint Paul and Saint James thwarted or contradicted one the other God forbid For they were both led by the same Spirit even the Spirit of Truth and therefore could not erre or contradict one the other They take works therefore in several senses one after one sense the other after another Saint Paul speaks of works exactly done according to the command of the Law from the very birth or infancy of a man which works Abraham had not But Saint James speaks of such works as Abraham had and therefore not of works which Abraham did in the first part of his Age who no doubt in the first part of his Age was an Idolater Saint Paul speaks of works which Abraham should have done if he had been justified by works before his Call Saint James speaketh of works which he did after his Call Saint Paul speaks of works done without faith for he opposeth such works as he speaks of to faith and faith to works Rom. 3.27 28. And it is his scope to prove the necessity of faith because no man had done or could do such works but Saint James speaketh of works proceeding from faith yea Saint James takes works by a Metonymie for faith it self And therefore doth he so do that he may shew against such as are contented with an empty and barren faith that justifying faith is an operative faith and fruitful of good works To the works which Saint Paul speaks of justification is due of debt otherwise those works would not be works in his sense Rom. 11.6 and 4.4 But to the works which Saint James speaks of if we should suppose they were requisite to justification justification
Gospel which is preached by the Servants of God is a powerful instrument for the Salvation of such as believe And they which believe do attain to Salvation by the Gospel The Gospel is called the Power of God not because there is any natural or physical power in the words of the Gospel But because God sheweth his power in those that believe the Gospel in saving them that is in delivering them from all evil both of Sin and Punishment and in bringing them at last to everlasting joy and happiness And well may this be called the Power of God for what created power can save us from our sins who hath power enough to deliver us out of the Claws of the Devil to whom we were captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 who hath power to keep us safe from him that goeth about a roaring Lion seeking whom he way devour who hath power to free us from the miseries of this mortall body who can raise us up from the dead after death who hath power to change these vile bodies of ours into glorious bodies and this corruptible of ours into incorruptible who hath power to carry us up into heaven there to enjoy bliss for evermore but God who is Omnipotent and able to subdue all things to himself and to do whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and in Earth The Gospel therefore is called the Power of God Metonymically that is to say because the power of God is so joyned with it as that God will so shew his power in saving them that believe it as that he will bring them to everlasting Salvation They therefore which interpret the power of God to Salvation of a powerful instrument to save men must not take it for a Physical instrument but for a Moral instrument as I may so call it that is for such a thing with which God will so go along with his power as that he will save them which believe the Gospel even because they believe it We know that the Power of God did go along in the Primitive times with the preaching of the Gospel in that God did bear the preachers of it witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy-ghost according to his own will Heb. 2.4 But this is not the power here spoken of but that which we have already mentioned for signs are not for those which believe but for those which believe not 1 Cor. 14.22 but the Power of God in this place is for them which believe Vnto Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. For Salvation or for this end that it may bring men unto Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here a Note of the final cause or of the end The Schools use to distinguish of a double Salvation the one Inchoate the other Consummate Salvation Inchoate consisteth in Remission of sins or Justification c. and may be had in this life In this sence the Apostle saith By Grace ye are saved through faith Ephes 2.8 And again Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Titus 3.5 But Salvation Consummate is only to be had in the life to come and consists in Eternal life Now some understand this place only of Salvation Inchoate not Consummate But it is better to take it for our full and whole Salvation To every one that believeth i e. To every one that believeth the Gospel As a Medicine doth not profit how good soever it be except it be taken down So doth not the Gospel profit though it be the Power of God unto Salvation except it be believed and embraced To the Jew first and also to the Greek i. e. To the Jew first and then to the Greek And also is put here for Then or Afterwards The like manner of speech we read the 2 Cor. 8.5 They first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us i. e. They did first give themselves to the Lord and then to us his Ministers Note that by the Greek is here meant all the Gentiles per Synedochen Species and to is the Greek to be taken so often as he is opposed to the Jew and therefore is the Greek put for all the Gentiles the rather than any other Nation because the Greek tongue was at this time from the time of Alexander the Great most generally used amongst all Nations as also because the Greeks were now of a long time more known to the Jews than any other People were by the Jew therefore and the Greek all the People of the World are here meant There is a Praerogative here given to the Jew above the Gentile which Praerogative consisteth in this that the Gospel was preached and to be preached to the Jew before it was preached or to be preached to the Gentile Acts 13.46 And in that that the Gospel did appertain to the Jew which believed more peculiarly than it did to the Gentile by reason of particular promises thereof made to them But it doth not consist in this that the believing Jew did or should obtain more exuberance of grace or greater salvation than the believing Gentile should Ver. 17. For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed For therein is Justification effectually revealed and thereby performed and wrought That which is here rendred Righteousness is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cometh from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justificare to justifie So that Righteousness may be and is to be taken here for justification and justification signifieth with our Apostle remission of sins or absolution from sins and it is a tearm borrowed from the Law courts and is opposed to condemnation That which is called Righteousness or Justification is also called Redemption Chap. 3.24 Ephes 1.7 c. And it is called Salvation Math. 1.21 c. And both by a metaphor taken from Prisoners or Captives or Slaves which were under hard imprisonment or bondage or slavery and were as men appointed unto death but are delivered and redeemed with a price or saved by might out of that miserable condition and a condition no better than theirs were we in while we were under sin So that the Remission of our sins may be called as Righteousness or justification so Redemtion and Salvation too And note now that Salvation and Righteousness are often put for one and the same thing as Psal 98.2 The Lord hath made known his Salvation his Righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the Heathen and Isaiah 56.1 My Salvation is near to come and my Righteousness to be revealed And Isaih 61.10 He hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation He hath covered me with the robe of Righteousness which I observe that it might seem strange to none that besides the derivation of the Greek word Righteousness should be put or taken for justification or redemption and Salvation from sins The Righteousness of God He calls it the Righteousness of God
be done thereby By the Law understand the Law of Mosos and that not the Ceremonial but the Morall Law by him given He saith that the Gentiles did such things as are contained in the Law not because they performed or kept the Law which the Jews broke or that they did fully answer that knowledge which they had of the truth but because they did many things which the Law prescribed for in making publick Laws and in giving private precepts they did praescribe and give in precepts honest things and forbid things dishonest even as the Law of Moses it self did These having not the Law i. e These though they have not the written Law of Moses given them in Tables of stone or outward writings as the Jews had Are a Law unto themselves That is Are as a Law or instead of a written Law unto themselves The Particle As is here as often it is elsewhere to be understood Therefore they are as a Law unto themselves because they can by the light of Nature which is in them tell themselves what is honest and what dishonest and what is to be done and what to be left undone V. 15. Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts This relative Pronoun which includeth here and intimateth the cause as also it did chap. 1.25 q. d. For they shew Supple by doing by nature the things contained in the Law that the work of the Law is written in their heart And therefore they are as a Law unto themselves They shew the work of the Law to be written in their hearts because they do those things which are contained in the Law verse 14 The work of the Law By the work of the Law some understand the Law it self which is the Work to wit the Work of that great Law-maker the Lord of Heaven and Earth and as for the manner of speech the Law is called the Work of the Law as Circumcision is called the sign of Circumcision Rom. 4.3 Others take the Work of the Law for the effect of the Law to wit the written Law of Moses that is for the knowledge of good and evil for one effect of the Law is to shew what is good and to be followed what is evil and to be shunned q. d. For what the written Law doth work in the Jews to wit the knowledge of good and evill that do they shew written in their hearts which is an argument that They are a Law unto themselves Written in their hearts He opposeth the writing in their hearts to the writing in Tables of Stone after which manner the Law was written which was given by Moses Their conscience also bearing witness q. d. They not onely by shewing the works of the Law written in their hearts testifying that they are a Law unto themselves but their Conscience also testifying the same thing to wit That they are as a Law unto themselves This therefore is another argument to prove That the Gentiles are a Law unto themselves The Conscience is an operative Quality or Faculty or Action as some will of the mind which applieth our deeds to the Principles or Rules or Law of right Actions and thereby sheweth what is done as it ought to be and what is not done as it should be done Or it is a Practique Syllogisme as some call it which by the light of nature or of Grace judgeth and concludeth what is honest what dishonest what is commanded what forbiden what shall be rewarded what punished In this Syllogisme the Major Proposition is either from the light of Nature or from the Scriptures As for example he which sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed Gen. 9.6 This is the Major Proposition which the Conscience takes notice of In the Minor Proposition the Conscience of the Murderer assumeth saying thou hast shed mans blood Then doth the Conscience conclude a-against her own Master Therefore must thy blood be shed by man The Conscience therefore in whom soever it is hath knowledge of the Principles or Rules or Law of Actions and in the Gentiles which have no written Law given them from God as the Jews had she hath this knowledge from what is imprinted by Nature in their hearts Therefore well might the Apostle say that their Conscience testifieth that they are a Law unto themselves And their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another q. d. That is their thoughts in the mean time that they are working or doing any thing either accusing or excusing them respectively that is as they do either evil or good For if they do evil their thoughts will accuse them if they do good their thoughts will excuse them though men accuse them This I take to be the sence of this place as it is here rendered where Tò in the mean time signifies the mean time that they are working and One another is as much as them respectively For I understand this not of the thoughts but of the Men in whom these thoughts are But if you take it as though their thoughts accused or else excused one another So that the Accusers and Excusers were thoughts and the Accused or Excused were thoughts understand it not so as that the thoughts did this Reciprocally That is as if the same thoughts did accuse the same thoughts which accused them c. But so as that when evil thoughts arose in a man other thoughts arose in him and did accuse those evil thoughts of sin and evil and when those thoughts arose in a man which might seem evil and were not so other thoughts arose and did Apologize for and defend these thoughts For the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth not alwayes signifie a Reciprocation as will appear by Ephes 5.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being subject one to another in the fear of God where the Apostle would have Subjects to be subject to their Princes Servants to their Masters Children to their Parents but not Princes again to their Subjects Masters to their Servants nor Parents to their Children And according to this interpretation and exposition To in the mean while must either be redundant or signifie while they are Practically busied in examining what they have done Yet this place is most commonly rendered by other Interpreters thus though the sence be in a manner still the same and their thoughts by turns accusing or else excusing them The sence whereof is this q. d. That is their thoughts by turns either accusing them as when they do ill or excusing them as when they do well Note that the Conjunction And is put here as a Note of Declaration and is as much to say as That is for the thoughts accusing or the thoughts excusing are as two Species or Parts of the Conscience and declare what the Apostle meant by Conscience The thoughts of men cannot accuse men except they have a Rule or Law to judge their actions by from which Rule or
of the Devil and of sin and of death and challenged us as it were and owned and asserted us for his peculiar Servants before Gods Tribunal He may be also called our Lord because of the Power which God gave him over all things in Heaven and in Earth Acts 10.36 Vert 2. By whom also we have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand The Grace which here he speaks of and wherein he saith we stand is the Grace of justification q. d. Through whom also we have this Grace or this free gift which we enjoy to wit That we are justified by Faith Though we are justified by â—aith yet it is by the Grace and Favour of God towards us through the merits and mediation of Christ that we are thus justified For what is Faith that it should justifie us without Gods Favour and without Christs Merit and Mediation I conceive that these words By whom also we have an access by faith into this Grace wherein we stand are best to be read with a Parenthesis And we rejoyce in the hope of the Glory of God q. d. And God hath promised to give us eternall glory by Christ in hope of which glory we rejoyce Of the Glory of God By Glory is here meant that Glorious state of Life which we shall with all Saints enjoy in the Kingdome of Heaven And he calls it The glory of God because it is promised by God and shall be performed by God in his good time Ver. 3 And not only so but we glory in Tribulations also q d. And we have not only peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoyce through him in the hope of the Glory of God But that ye may not think that we neither have peace with God nor can have any sound hope of the Glory of God therein to rejoice because we are afflicted with Tribulations more than any men know that we glory in Tribulations also The Apostle doth with much art prevent an Objection here For whereas he said ver 1. That being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ And ver 2. We rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God A man might object and say How can you say Paul that ye which are justifyed by faith have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ and that ye rejoyce in hope of the glo of God through him whereas no men are more under tribulations than ye are for Christs sake which sheweth that ye have no peace with God and that ye have no sound hope of the glory of God through Christ to rejoyce in To this the Apostle answereth thus q. d. Notwithstanding these our Tribulations we have peace with God and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God For the Tribulations which befall us for Christs sake are not the signes of Gods displeasure but of his good will to us and thereby we come to know that he loves us and therefore we rejoyce in Tribulations for Christs sake whereas other men groan under the Tribulations which they suffer and are cast down and discontented at them But we glory in Tribulations also i. e. But we rejoyce also by reason of those Tribulations which we suffer for Christs sake Note that it is the same word to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is rendred we rejoyce in verse 2. and we glory in in this verse In tribulation i. e. By reason of Tribulation Supple Which befalls us for Christs sake or for Gods sake or for Righteousness sake And in such Tribulations do Christians rejoyce as in some great good so did the Apostles rejoyce because they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christs sake Acts 5.41 And hence is that admonition of Saint James My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers tâ—mptations that is into diverse Tribulations James 1.2 Knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience By Patience understand patient bearing of evils q. d. Knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience in us and maketh us to suffer those Evils Patiently which we suffer for Christs sake c. Tribulatiâ—ns in their own nature are apt to breed impatience rather than patience in men But yet in the faithfull and such as are justified by faith they bring forth patience for such in their tribulations and by reason of their tribulations meditate on this that tribulations befall them by the will and dispensation of God and on this that by them God would have them like unto his own Son and their own Head and eldest Brother Christ Jesus And on this that God will never leave them nor forsake them Heb. 13.5 And on this that our light afflictions or tribulations work for us a far more exceeding weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 By which means they through the operation of Gods spirit learn patience and patiently endure whatsoever tribulation doth befall them Ver. 4. And patience experience Experience of what For it is not here expressed Answ Experience of those Gifts and Graces which God hath given us by his Spirit as we may gather from what we read in the latter part of the fifth verse as the sincerity of our faith Our trust and confidence in God Our ardency in prayer our love even to our enemies Our contempt of worldly things c. All which do accompany our patience and patient bearing of tribulations and do then most evidently shew themselves when we are patient in tribulations And experience hope i. e. And the experience or experimental knowledge of those gifts and graces which God hath given us by his Spirit worketh or produceth in us hope that is to say hope of the Glory of God But why should the experience or experimental knowledge of those gifts and graces which God hath given us by his Spirit work or produce in us hope of the Glory of God Answ Because they are tokens of the love of God to us in Christ as it followeth in the next verse and for those whom God loveth in Christ he hath prepared eternall glory And of this Glory those gifts and graces are also Pledges Ver. 5. And hope maketh not ashamed q. d. And hope that is And this our hope of eternal Glory or of the Glory of God shall not fall or prove a vain hope but we shall enjoy that which we hope for in due season Because men which entertain great hopes of a thing are ashamed when those their great hopes fail them hence hope is said to make a man ashamed when it faileth him and he attains not to what he hopes for By a Metonymy Because the Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us By the love of God we must understand here not the love with which we love God but the love with which God loveth us Is shed abroad c. To be shed abroad is the same as to be poured out for the word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that
think it not strange my brethren that the sword should be drawn to kill us for this is our portion of old as it is written Psal 44.22 for thy sake O Lord are we which are thy servants and fear thy great Name killed one after another all the day long we are accounted of no oâ—herwise than of sheep appointed to be slain so little esteem is made of our blood 37. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us 37. But shall any of these things I say separate us from the love which God sheweth us for Christs sake No for even in the midst of these things doth God so continue and shew his love to us as that we are through the effects of his love and by the assistance and aid that he out of his love giveth us not only Conquerors over all these things but more than Conquerors 38. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come 38. Wherefore I am perswaded that nothing which we can suffer either in our life or at our death no nor whatsoever all the devils of Hell whether they be Angels or Principalities or Powers can lay upon us Nor the afflictions which we suffer at the present nor the afflictions which are threatned against us for the future 39. Nor Height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 39. Nor any creature which is in heaven above or any creature which is in earth beneath or any other creature whatsoever if they should all combine themselves against us to afflict us to the utter most shall be able to separate us from the love of God which he sheweth to us for the merits of Christ Jesus our Lord. CHAP. VIII Ver. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus This Conclusion or Corollary is drawn from that which the Apostle taught in the fifth Chapter of this Epistle and especially in the eighth ninth tenth eleventh verses and so forward Not from that which went immediately before in the precedent Chapter For the sixth and seventh Chapter the Apostle spends in answering objections which rose one after another from the latter end of the fifth Chapter hitherto so that they two chapters come between this and the first Chapter as it were by the By. No Condemnation This is part of the happiness of him which is justified by Faith To them which are in Christ Jesus i. e. To them which believe in Christ Jesus and so are made members of his body and inserted into him by saith as Branches into the vine That is to them which are justified by Faith as he speaks Chap. 5. ver 1. Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit i. e. Which follow not their sensual or carnal appetite and affections in whatsoever they move them to Who walk not after the flesh The flesh is to be taken here for the sensual or carnal appetite and affections And to walk after the flesh is to follow that sensual or carnal appetite and affections and to be carried away with them which way soever they move which cannot be done without sin The Speech is Metaphorical But after the Spirit i. e. But after the motions and inclinations of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in them as our Apostle speaks 2 Timoth. 1.14 The Apostle addes this who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit not as a note of distinction as though there were some in Christ Jesus or some which were justified by faith which did or might walk after the Flesh and others which did or might walk after the Spirit but he adds it as a note of declaration to declare what all those are and ought to be for conversation of life which are in Christ Jesus or which are justified by faith They are such or ought to be such as walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And this he adds least that any one when he hears that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus should think that now that he is in Christ Jesus he may securely live in sin or live as he listeth and so bring a scandal on Christian Religion Ver. 2. For the Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death The Apostle praevents an objection here somewhat like to that objection which he prevented Cap. 7. ver 14. For a weak and faint-hearted Christian might object here and say you require Paul of all that are in Christ Jesus that they would walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit But I hope that I am in Christ Jesus and yet having been a slave to sin and walked so long as I have done after the Flesh I am afraid that I have been so long a slave to sin and so long walked after the Flesh that I cannot be but as a slave to them still and follow them still for how shall I be freed from following sin or from walking after the Flesh who have been so long as a slave to them This objection I say the Apostle doth here prevent saying For the law of the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death The Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death i. e. The power and Efficacy of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in me through Christ Jesus and which brings those to eternal life which follow it hath made me free from my custome of sin or sining and so by consequence from walking after the flesh as I was wont to walk which whosoever walkes after whethersoever she leades them shall die everlastingly That the Apostle is frequent in raising and answering or preventing objections and useth that as one way of teaching the Truths which he hath to teach I observed before The law of the spirit of life By the Law of the spirit of life is meant here the efficacy of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in them which are in Christ Jesus For the Holy Ghost is said to dwell in them which are in Christ Jesus by reason of those gifts with which the Holy Ghost endueth them and by which they are also sanctified In Christ Jesus i. e. Which is by Christ Jesus That is which is given to me by and for the merits of Christ Jesus In is put here for By after the Hebrew manner Hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death That is hath enabled me to resist or turn away from following my carnal and sensual appetite or my carnal and sensual affections so that they cannot draw me after them which way soever they will as they were wont to do Note that the Apostle might have said only The Spirit of