that even then there were a Remnant of Jewes whom God had justified verses 2 3 4 5 6. But yet he saith that the Jews for the greatest part of them which sought for Justification by works obteined it not but those few which believed atteined to it and the rest were blinded and fell verses 7 8 9 10. and that into their place the Gentiles were received verse 11. But yet he saith that they fell not so as that they should not rise again but might recover their fall and this he proveth by the calling of the Gentiles which were called and received that they might provoke the Jews to jealousie and make them to strive to hold or regain the love of God which they had lost or well nigh lost verses 11 12. He proves it also by the end of his own preaching which was that if by any means he could he might save some of them verses 13 14 15. He proves it also by that that they were the branches of an holy root that is that they were the children of Abraham which was holy and therefore of the Church or People of God which was holy verse 16. But yet because some of the branches of that tree were broken off and cast out of the number of Gods people or Church and the Gentiles were grafted in in their room he admonisheth the Gentiles not to boast against the Jewes but rather to fear For as the Jewes were cut off by reason of their unbelief and as they were grafted into their room and stood because of their Faith So might they be cut off again if they fell back into unbelief and the Jewes be grafted in again if they would believe verses 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24. Then verses 25 26 27. he returns to prove that God had not utterly cast off his people because he intends to send them a Deliverer by whom they shall be saved from their sins when the fullness of the Gentiles is come in And because they were a People whom God had elected to be a peculiar people to himself and such as that he would not utterly leave destitute without the means of Salvation though many of them fell from the Society of that people by unbelief and that for their Fathers sake verse 28 29. and because though God had concluded them for the greatest part in unbelief yet he did it for this end that he might have mercy upon them verses 30 31 32. Which dispensations he saith were done in wisedome by God though his Counsel and Wisedome is unsearchable therein verse 33. Thus having finished the Doctrinal part of this his Epistle he comes artificially in the twelfth Chapter to the second part thereof to wit the moral part which he continues from thence to the End of his Epistle Saint Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 3. ver 15 16. Saith that in the Epistle which Paul wrote to the Jews as also in all other his Epistles there are some things hard to be understood which they which are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do all other Scriptures unto their own destruction Whether this Epistle of Saint Paul be the peculiar Epistle which Saint Peter meant by that which Saint Paul wrote to the Jewes as some would have it Or whether the Epistle to the Hebrews as others or no. Sure it is that in this Epistle of his to the Romans there be some things hard to be understood and there be things which they which are unlearned and unstable have wrested to their own destruction For because that Saint Paul declares in this his Epistle that Justification is not by the workes of the Law but by Faith and so by Grace to omit many other errors falsely collected out of other passages of this his Epistle not well understood some have contented themselves with the empty name of Faith as though that were enough not only to Justifie them but to save them and have altogether neglected good workes and even fought against them For that there were those even in the Apostles time which taught that a barren Faith which produceth not works was sufficient to salvation We may learn both from Saint James and from Saint Jude in their Epistles and Saint Augustine sheweth as much in his book De Vnico Baptismo contra Petilianum Cap. 10. Tom. 7 page 85. col 2. A. This was Simon Magus's doctrine or wicked heresie rather and the doctrine and heresie of his Disciples called from him Simoniani as also of the Menandrians Basilidians Gnosticks Manichees Aetians and Eunomians All or some of which did willingly embrace all manner of sin and turpitude as the fruit of the grace of God by which we are saved Such Hereticks did the ages following bring forth and to Skip to later times such were and are they which are called Antinomians whose Tenets concerning good works and faith among other are these That the Law is not given to Christians That the ten Commandments ought not to be taught in Churches That it is sufficient for a wicked man to believe and not to doubt of his Salvation That neither good works profit to Salvation neither ill workes do no hurt That to say that the Law is a rule of life is blasphemy in Divinity c. Then which nothing can be more destructive of a man's Salvation and these their Heresies they drew from the misunderstanding of Saint Pauls words in this his Epistle But because in this Epistle of Saint Paul's there are many things which are hard to be understood for the better understanding of this Epistle it will be expedient to know First What is the main Scope of the doctrinal part at least of this Epistle of Saint Paul Secondly How one thing hangs or depends upon another Thirdly How the Scriptures which he alledgeth so often make for the proofs for which he alledgeth them Fourthly How he useth many words which he useth and in what sense For the first of these that short Epitome which I have given of the eleven first Chapters may suffice As for the second know first that it is the manner of the Apostle as in other of his Epistles so especially in this to prevent objections which may arise out of that which he said either immediately or a little before which objections because he doth not express but pass them over in silence and onely give the answer in express terms makes the greater Hiatus and seeming independence of one sentence upon another to be in his writings which would not have been if he had expressed the objections as well as he doth the answers And the variety of mens conjectures what the objection in every place from whence it ariseth is I conceive to be one great cause that men so much differ in their judgements concerning the interpretation of divers places of this Epistle But the objections which the Apostle prevents or answers are not made alwaies in the person of one sort of men but sometimes in the person
it is written How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torment give her Rev. 18.7 Against the day of wrath i. e. Against that day in which God hath appointed to execute his wrath and to punish all those which have offended In that day that Treasure of wrath which every one hath heaped to himself shall be brought forth and poured out upon him And Revelation of the righteous judgement of God i. e. And against the day of the revelation of the righteous judgement of God that is against the day in which God will openly passe his righteous judgement upon all men The Revelation of a thing is somtimes taken for the open Existence or Being of a thing as Chap. 1.18 and so is it to be taken here By this day is meant the day of the general judgement of God which shall be in the end of the world ver 16. Ver 6. Who will render to every man according to his deeds God will render rewards to every one not only to this man or that man or to this Nation or that Nation but to every one of every Nation and he will render them according to their deeds To them who have done well he will render good things as Honour Immortality and Life eternal ver 7. And to them which have done evil evil things as Tribulation and anguish v. 9. And to those which have done better than other good men will he give a greater measure of good things and to those who have done worse than other evill men He will give a greater measure of evill things Thus will he give to every man according to his deeds And thus must we interpret this his retribution not as though he were said so to render to every one according to his works so as that the Godly man or man that did well should have no more than he deserved for his reward shall infinitely exceed his works Who will render to every one according to his deeds It may be asked by way of Objection That if God should render to every man according to his deeds and there is no man but hath sinned Chap. 1.18 Chap. 3.10 And every man which hath sinned is cursed Deut. 27.26 Galat. 3.10 How could any one look for honour and immortality and receive eternal life I answer that if we speak of good works and should measure them according to the Strict Rule of the Law No man could be saved or ever receive eternal life by vertue of his deeds And according to this Rule Repentance would do him little good because he had once sinned and so continued not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Deut. 27.26 Galat. 3.10 But this is not the Rule by which all men shall be judged at the last day For they which believe the Gospel shall be judged by the Gospel which through Christ and for his merits sake applied to us is a merciful Rule and accepts of repentance and pardons sins upon repentance and takes off the curse of the Law and promiseth eternal life to them that walk according to the Gospel And therefore he that walks according to the Rule of the Gospel and performs his part in the New Covenant which is a Gracious Covenant may through Christ hope for Glory and Honor and Immortality by those his deeds though he hath sinned and that not in vain For he shall be crowned at length with eternal life though he could not be saved if his deeds were to be examined strictly and he judged according to the strict rigour of the Law For God who is the only Law-giver who hath power to save and to destroy James 4.12 He hath cancelled the rigid Law as to Believers and set them the Gospel to be the only Rule for them to walk by now and to be judged by at the last day through the merits of Christ A Question more here may be asked for one may say the Judgment which the Lord will execute at the last day towards all men is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a just and righteous Judgment v. 5. How therefore can that Judgment by which he shall adjudge Believers to eternal life be called a just or righteous Judgment whereas there is no Believer but hath sinned and therefore deserved everlasting death I answer though the Judgment by which God shall adjudge the Believers to Eternal life cannot be said to be just in that sence as that the Believer doth deserve eternal life by the worth of his works and that God would be unjust if he did not so reward him Yet it may be said to be just in respect of the promise of eternal life which God hath graciously made to all Believers for the merits of Christ in the Gospel For there is Justice in keeping of promises and a promise gives a right to that where without a promise no right could be claimed Moreover in this case the merits of Christ supply the defect of man and for his sake he may be accounted worthy of eternal life who is not worthy thereof for his own Again there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Judgment passed according to the Gospel upon those which are under the Gospel Ver. 7. By patient continuance in well doing That is by patient continuance or perseverance in well doing By patient continuance or perseverance in well doing is meant such continuance or perseverance in doing well as no cross or persecution or discouragement can break off And by well doing is meant not that strict observance of the Law which the Law requireth for who can do that but such well doing as the faithful and believers perform which desire and endeavour to walk in all pleasing to God though they sometimes stumble and fall That is such well doing as is required of them and they perform which believe the Gospel Seek for Glory By Glory is here meant a glorious and illustrious Estate such as is described Mat. 13.43 which Estate can be sought only by them which believe and that by faith in Christ See more of this soon after And Honour Honour as it is commonly defined is a sign whereby men express that Excellency which they conceive to be in another The Honour here spoken of consisteth in that that God by that which he will do to such as are here spoken of will make it appear how highly he doth esteem of them and in what account he hath them Eternal life i. e. He will render Eternall life For these words He will render are to be repeated from verse 6. Note here from this place that in Eternal life these three things are comprehended Glory Honour and immortality Note also that the Apostle speaks here of such as believed the Gospel for none but such could seek as they should for glory and honour and immortality being it was our Saviour Christ Jesus which brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 And
only occasionally For the Apostle is wont by occasion of other matters which he affirmeth and would prove to slip as it were to his main purpose so he doth Gal. 2.16 And in other places as well as here As it is written To wit Habakkuk 2.4 The Just shall live by Faith i. e. The Just-man shall be justified not by his works though he be called just but by Faith Or thus he that shall be justified shall be justified by Faith The Apostle proveth here by the Testimony of the Prophet Habakkuk that the Righteousnesse of God is by Faith But note that these words as they lie in the Prophet as many words and passages in the old Testament do carry a twofold sence with them A Literal and a mysticall In their literal sence they relate to the Jewes which were in Captivitie to the Babilonians In their mystical sence they relate to men as they are under sin and guilty of the punishments due to sin to wit death c. And therefore have these words this double relation because the things thereby signified are One the Type of the Other the former of the latter The Captivity of the Jews under the Babylonians of the Captivity of Man under Sin and Death and him which hath the power of death the Devil For it is very well known that the Captivity of the Jews under the Babilonians was a Type of the Captivity of Man under Sin and Death and him which hath the power of Death the Devil And that the messages and good news which God sent by his Prophets of the delivery of the Jewes out of the Babylonian Captivity was a Type of the Gospel and good newes of Mans salvation out of his spirituall captivity which was preached by Christ and his Apostles and that Cyrus whom God had used as an Instrument to deliver the Jews from the Babylonians was a Type of Christ by whom Man is delivered from Sin and Death and the Devil And when one of these is prophesied of in the Letter the other is prophesied of in the Mysterie Yea and while things of this nature are thus prophesied of the Holy Ghost doth oftentimes so order and guide the Penman of his Prophesies that some passages will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in word agree aswell to the one as to the other aswel to the Type as to the Antitype of which this parcell of Scripture written by the Prophet Habakkuk is one According to the literal sence therefore these words as they lie in the Prophet Habakkuk may be thus expounded They which are just among the Babilonian Captives though they are under them from whom they may fear death through hard usage yea to be put to death by reason of their power being Conquerors yet if they believe the message and good newes of their deliverance by Cyrus out of their captivity which I shall send them by my Prophets They shall be delivered from their Captivity and shall not die under the hands of the Babylonians but live and live a joyfull life According to the Mystical sence which is the sence in which our Apostle takes the words here we may interpret these words thus The Just which believe the Gospel shall be justified from their sins by their Faith The Just According to the frequent use of Holy Scripture he is called a just or Righteous Man who is a man of a good and honest mind and desireth to walk uprightly though he slips yea falls often such a man as this is is ready to receive the message of God whensoever it pleaseth God to send it and doth verily believe it when it is sent Again if we look into the place of Habakkuk beforementioned to wit Habakkuk 2.4 we shall find that our just Man there is opposed to him whose soul is lifted up that is to a proud man and so may be taken for the humble minded man such an one as trusteth not in himself nor boasteth of his own worth And who is more likely to be a Believer than He for Pride is the greatest keeper out of Faith as can be For how can ye believe which seek honour one of another saith our Saviour to the Jewes John 5.24 But besides this the Just may be taken for him which it justified and so may it be taken here when we expound the words in the mystical sence q. d. He that shall be justi ed shall be justified by his Faith Shall live This is as if he should say in our Saviours words He shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life John 5.24 That is he shall be justified that is he shall be absolved of his sins he shall not be condemned for them though he hath deserved death by them A man that is arraigned and tried for his life upon some Criminal or Capital matter If he be condemned he is put to death but if he be justified or absolved he liveth To live therefore may be put here Per Metonymiam Consequentis for to be justified That which Saint Paul drives at and for which he produceth the Testimony of the Prophet Habakkuk is as I said to prove that righteousness is of faith or which is the same that he that believeth is accepted of God and freed from sin and death which is the penalty of sin not for his works sake but for his faith And to expresse this freedom the Scripture calls it sometimes by the name of Salvation and Redemption which are words borrowed from Captives which are saved or redeemed whereas by their condition they were as men appointed unto death Sometimes again and that is the tearm most frequently used in this Epistle by the name of Justification which is a name or word borrowed from men as I said immediately before accused of some Capital matter in a Court of Justice where the Person accused is acquitted or absolved of the crimes laid against him and so justified by the Judge and freed from the Censure of the Law viz. Death The words of the Prophet Habakkuk as they are here alledged by our Apostle may in their Mystical sence be interpreted either in allusion to the Salvation or Redemption of Captives or in allusion to the Acquitting Absolving or Justification of a man accused in a Court of Justice of some Capital crime And after which of these ways the Reader will interpret them I leave to his choice for the issue of both is Life By faith i. e By reason of his faith or if he believe the Gospel For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men The Apostle prevented an objection here For whereas he said that the Righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel from faith And again it is written The just shall live by faith signifying thereby that the way of obtaining Justification is by faith A man may object and say But why Paul dost thou say that the way of obtaining justification is by faith
best means to overcome evil For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sophocles speaks in his Ajax Flagister kindness doth all ways bring forth kindness CHAP. XIII 1. 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 1. Let every one be subject to the Supream Powers and to those which are placed in the highest Seats of Authority and that with their very soul for there is no power or Authority of what Nation or Country soever I speak of Lawful Powers but it is of God The Powers and Rulers that are throughout the whole world whether in Rome or in Greece or any other part of the earth though some Jews think otherwise and account God to have ordained no Powers or Rulers whom they should obey though they live under them but in and among themselves are ordained of God 2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation 2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power and taketh Arms against him resisteth the Ordinance of God And they that resist shall for that resistance receive to themselves damnation Damnation temporal in this life from mans tribunal for that that they resist him And damnation eternal from the Tribunal of the great and terrible God in the life to come for that that they resist his Ordinance 3. For rulers are not a terrour to good works but to the evil Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same 3. But perhaps you will say that if ye should be subject to these powers and put your neck under their yoke ye should be always in fear For such powers are always a terrour to those which live under them But to this I answer that though ye are subject to such powers yet ye have no cause to fear if ye do well and if ye do ill ye are worthy to suffer for it For Rulers are not a terrour to those which do well but to those which do ill Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Ruler do that which is good and thou shalt be so far from having cause to be afraid of him as that thou shalt have praise and encouragement from him 4. For he is the minister of God to thee for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil 4. For he is the Minister of God to thee for good to reward thee and defend thee if thou dost well but if thou dost that which is evil be afraid For he hath a sword given him of God to cut of them which deserve death from the face of the earth And he beareth not his sword in vain For he is the Minister and servant of God a Revenger in his stead to execute wrath upon him that doth evil 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject to the Supream powers and Rulers not only if you intend to avoid wrath and punishment but also if you would keep your conscience void of offence 6. For for this cause pay you tribute also for they are Gods ministers attending continually upon this very thing 6. And now being that rulers are as I said the Ministers of God to thee for good see that you pay them tribute also for they are Gods Ministers to thee for good attending continually upon this very thing to wit that thou maist receive benefit by their Government 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 7. Render therefore to all Rulers of what Countrey or Nation soever they are so long as thou livest under their government that which is due to them Render tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour 8. Owe no man any thing but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law 8. Yea owe not any private man any thing but to love one another And that is a debt which ye must always owe yet always pay Love therefore one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law that is that part of the Law which concerneth our neighbour 9 For this Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness Thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self 9. For this Commandment thou shalt not commit adultery and this thou shalt not kill and this thou shalt not steal and this thou shalt not covet and if there be any other Commandment beside these concerning our neighbour it is briefly and summarily comprehended in this saying Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the law 10. Love worketh no ill to his Neighbour yea it worketh all good it can for him Therefore is love the fulfilling of the Law 11. And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation neerer then when we believed 11. Love therefore one another as I said vers 8. and that considering the time that it is now high time for us who since our calling to the Gospel have fallen asleep and have thereby left off to do well to awake out of that our sleep For now is our salvation neerer than when we first believed therefore if when we first believed we did rouse up our selves and were zealous in good works because of the approach of our salvation much more should we rouze up our selves now and be more zealous now than we were then because our salvation is neerer now than it was at that time 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 12. The night of ignorance is gone the day of knowledge is risen and hath shone upon us let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and works of the night evill works which cannot indure the light and let us put on the armour of light let us cloath our selves with such works as we shall not be ashamed of at the highest time of day 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying 13. Let us do that which is honest as they are wont to do which do any thing in the day time let us not walk in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in
Faith should think that he might continue in sin that the grace of God might the more abound and so the mercy of God might be the more glorified As some had objected to the Christians that they did and held though falsly to whom he had answered before Chap. 3. ver 6 7 8. In the sixth Chapter he sheweth how inconsistant it is with him who is justified by faith and had his former sins pardoned by Grace to live in sin and useth many arguments to stir him up to live an holy life But least that any faint-hearted Christian in general or Jew in particular for of him by the answer which he gives in this sixth Chapter and which he prosecutes in the seventh he seems especially to speak should say Yea but for my part I cannot follow Righteousness as you would have us nor can I be but a slave to sin having been so great a follower of unrighteousness and sin having had such dmoinion over me The Apostle tells him Chap. 6. verse 14. that Sin should not have dominion over him as it had had for he was not now under the Law but under the Gospel which afforded him these means to free himself from sin which the Law could not afford him CHAP. VII And this his answer he prosecutes Chap. 7. and shews the Jew that the Jews were freed from the Law which was the strength of Sin 1 Cor. 15 56. and were brought under the Gospel that they might serve God by a new kind of Life which the Gospel worketh in us and that they might not follow that old kind of life which they led while they were under the Law through the Motions of sin which were by the Law But now because some might say that there could be no motions of Sin by the Law and others might say that the Law would be the cause of Sin if there were any motions of Sin by it He sheweth verse the seventh and so forward to the end of the Chapter both that the Law was the occasion of sin to those which were under it and that it was not for all that the true and genuine cause thereof wherefore at the seventh verse the better to shew these things which he speaks of and the condition of the Jews which lived before the Law was given by Moses and the condition of the same people when they were under the Law after it was given He puts one in his own person the person of the Jews both as they lived before the Law and under the Law CHAP. VIII Now after the Apostle hath finished these things he comes again in the eighth Chapter to shew the happiness of them who are justified by faith or who are in Christ Jesus for those are all one whom he also describeth by that That they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit in relation to what he had taught in the whole sixth Chapter concerning the Life of a man which is justified by Faith or which is in Christ Jesus that it ought to be such as is Holy and free from all Vnrighteousnesse And to this holinesse of life doth he use here divers new Arguments to excite them from the first to the seventeenth verse of this Chapter at which verse shewing that we must not onely do the works of Righteousnesse but also suffer if need be for Righteousness sake He doth in the ensuing part of the Chapter use divers arguments to move them to suffer afflictions patiently and endeth this Chapter with the narration of the happinesse of those which he spake of from the fifth Chapter hitherto that is of those which are justified by Faith or which is the same of those which are in Christ Jesus CHAP. IX Now in the ninth Chapter reflecting upon what he said before that a man is justified by Faith and not by the workes of the Law and reflecting upon the happinesse of those which are justified by Faith and considering withall that the Jewes for the most part were such as he spake of Chap. 2. Verse 8. That is such as were contentious against the Gospel and obeyed not or believed not that Word of Truth but obeyed Vnrighteousness against whom indignation and wrath is revealed He manifests the great heaviness and continual sorrow which he had in his heart For those Jews which were his Kinsmen according to the flesh and to whom among many other priviledges the promises of God did belong to think that they resisting that way which God had appointed for obtaining Righteousness or Justification should invent another way of their own and go about to establish that their own way and submit not or yield not to follow that way of Righteousness which God had prescribed And this heaviness and continual sorrow of his heart for them he doth shew that they considering and contemplating his sorrow for them might pity their own selves and embrace the truth that they might be saved at the last But though he manifesteth here the great heaviness and continuall sorrow which he had in heart for those his Kinsmen to wit the Jewes yet he doth not here express the cause of this his sorrow being interrupted with an objection which might arise from what he had said and to which he would answer but deferreth it to the next Chapter and there resumeth and perfecteth what he here broke off though in other terms The Objection which might arise from what he had sad is this He said that among other Priviledges which belonged to the Jewes which were the people of Israel according to the flesh this was one That the promises of God were theirs upon which a Jew might thus object and say That if we Jewes who are the Childrn of Israel according to the flesh were not justified but were under Wrath and Indignation as thou Paul sayest Then would the promises of God be void and of none effect which is to make God false in his word For God promised by his servant Jeremy and many other his servants the Prophets that he would make a new covenant with them and justifie them Jer. 31. ver 31 32 33 34. To this objection Saint Paul answers here verses 6 7 8 9. to this effect True it is that God made a promise to the Israelites that he would justifie them but whereas there are to sorts of Israelites one which are Israelites according to the Flesh which descended from Jacob and Abraham by carnall propagation The other which were Israelites and the Children of Abraham according to the Spirit because they did imitate and follow Abraham in this Faith for they which are of Faith they are the Children of Abraham Gal. 3.7 That promise of Justification doth belong absolutely and immediately not to those which are the Children of Jacob or the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh as Such but to those which believe as Such and so are the Children of Jacob and of Abraham according to the Spirit whether they be Jewes or whether
of one and sometimes in the person of another but most commonly his objections are to be understood as made in the person of a Jew and yet not alwayes of one kind of Jew but sometimes of one and sometimes of another according to the diversity of opinions which were among the Jews For some Jews thought it enough to their Justification that they were the Children of Abraham others that they were circumcised others which were more learned that they had excellent skill in the Law And others who were highly conceited of the purity of their lives relied upon their works for justification c. Know secondly That the Apostle when he hath treated of a matter and is passed from that particular matter of which he treated and is upon another subject if in treating of this latter subject any thing may arise to prove his former matter he takes notice of it oftentimes though it be but by the by and though he hath no other reason so to do but because it proveth his former matter An Example of this you may have Rom. 10.17 in those words So then Faith commeth by hearing which was not the conclusion of the subject which he had then in hand For the subject which he was then about was to prove that all the Jews believed not For they that is the Jews have not all obeyed the Gospel saith he Verse 16. And this he proves there Verse 17. by the testimony of the Prophet Isaiah For saith he Esaias saith Lord who hath believed our report Now out of this testimony of Esaias this conclusion may be as well drawn Viz. That Faith cometh by hearing as that Viz. That the Jews did not all believe Wherefore because this conclusion Viz. Faith cometh by hearing may be drawn thence as well as that other he maketh mention of it here verse 17. only to prove that which he said before ver 14. Viz. That none could believe in him of whom they have not heard And after this manner as I conceive doth the Apostle bring in those words of the Ninth Chapter to the Romans and the sixteenth verse Viz. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Which conclusion he draws and it evidently follows out of those foregoing words Verse 15. Viz. For he saith unto Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion But yet this is not that for which he quoted those words but he quoted them to shew that there was no unrighteousness in God in shewing mercy to or in justifying those which were figured either in Isaac or in Jacob that is in justifying the faithfull though they were Gentiles But yet because he had bewailed the Jews for that that they being ignorant of Gods Way of righteousness or Justification went about to establish a way of their own and had not submitted themselves to Gods way and because that from these words of the fifteenth verse an Argument might be drawn to convince them of their error he draweth that Argument from thence though by the by and though it was not that conclusion or Thesis which he was to prove in this place when he was as I said to prove here that there was no unrighteousness in God for shewing mercy to or justifying those which were typified either in Isaac or in Jacob that is for justifying the faithfull though they were Gentiles The third thing which I said was expedient to be known for the better understanding of this Epistle of Saint Paul was to know how the parts of Scriptures which he alledgeth â—herein so often make for the purposes for which he alledgeth them For indeed if any one should turn to the several places out of which he taketh his testimonies of Scripture it would seem strange at the first to see how Paul could bring them to prove such things by them as he bringeth them for But that it may not seem strange this must be observed that many places of the Scriptures of the Old Testament have a double sense One concerning terrene and corporeal things and things to come to pass before the dayes of the Messiah Another concerning heavenly and spiritual things of which those terrene and corporeal things were a Type The first may be called the Literal or Historical or meaner sense The second the Mystical or Sublime sense Of which because I have spoken fully in my Preface to my Exposition upon the Prophet Isaiah I shall speak no more here only this I add that the Jews did acknowledge this twofold sense Now the Apostle in his testimonies of Scripture which he brings to prove several matters which he handles takes those testimonies of Scripture for the most part not as they are in their first literal historical or meaner sense but as they are to be taken in their Mysticall and Sublime sense according to which I have also interpreted them in these my Commentaries respectively The fourth thing which I said was expedient to be known for the better understanding of this Epistle of Saint Paul was to know how he useth many words which he useth herein and in what Sense he useth them and of as many of such words as I think convenient I shall now speak in their Alphabetical order adding some things also by occasion of those words which will make to the further explication of some passages of this Epistle The words are as follow Call Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Election Faith Flesh Foreknow Hardning Holy In. Justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Long-suffering Righteousness Spirit World Works TO CALL CALLED Our Apostle doth make often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to call an act of God as Rom. 9.11 That the promise of God may stand not of Works but of him that calleth And verse 24. Even us whom he hath called not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles And that act of calling doth oftentimes by a Metonymie include the effect intended by the act so that because God intendeth by the calling of men by the preaching of the Gospel to the grace therein conteined that they should believe the Gospel preached to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he hath called is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who believe and so in the aforenamed place Rom. 9.24 Viz. Even us whom he hath called not of the Jews onely but also of the Gentiles is put for Even us which believe not onely of the Jewes but also of the Gentiles and after the same manner they to whom any thing is revealed when it is revealed with effect are said to believe that which is revealed As Isaiah chap. 53. verse 1. Who hath believed our report or to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed That is Who hath believed how great the strength of the Lord is which he declareth by his Prophets that he would shew for the deliverance of his People There is a
consisteth in the free pardon and remission of his sins according to that which is written Rom. 4.7 Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin Note that the Justification of an innocent and righteous man and the Justification of a Sinner which believeth agree both in this that they are both absolved and acquited from the accusation laid against them by Satan but they differ in this that one is acquited for his workes sake the other is acquited through the meer grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus Note also that though I have shewed how a righteous man which hath exactly kept the Law is justified I do not thereby affirm or hold that there is or hath been or ever will be any such man For by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Gal. 2.16 For if Righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Galat. 2 12. And all the world is become guilty before God Rom. 3.19 but I say onely that if we should suppose that there were any righteous man which had exactly kept the Law he would be justified after that manner which I have spoken of So when our Apostle said that the doers of the Law shall be justified Rom. 2.13 He did not say that there were any such doers of the Law as had so done the works of the Law as the Law in rigour exacts but he did only shew what they must do who would be justified by the Law they must not be onely hearers of the Law but doers also of the Law And when he said now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 He said not that there was any which did work or had wrought that is he said not that any one did work or had wrought the work of the Law so exactly as the Law requireth which required a perfect observation thereof of a man throughout the whole course of his life but this he said that if we should suppose that there were any such man then the reward would not be reckoned to him of grace but of debt And after the same manner is he to be understood when he saith If it be of works then it is no more of grace otherwise work is no more work Rom 11.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Greek praeposition to the various acception of which we have neither in Latine nor in English one single praeposition which will fully answer It signifieth frequently when it is joyned with an Accusative case secundum that is according to as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gospel according to Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gospel according to Luke But it doth also when it is joyn'd with an accusative case signifie De that is of or concerning as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Pol. lib. 5. Lawes of or concerning excess And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 11.21 I speak as concer-cerning reproach And according to this acception of the praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do I render those words of our Apostle Rom. 9.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the purpose of God concerning Election may stand There is also a Rule which Grammarians give concerning an other use or acception of this praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you may find in H. Stephan's Thesaurus Vocab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 2. pag. 87. G. and it is this Interdum verbum substantivum cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habente accusativum ponitur tunc hae tres orationis partes Vnico verbo vel participio resolvi possunt as Thucidid lib. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differing After this manner doth our Apostle say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.8 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They which are according to the Flesh for carnal or they which are carnal And according to this Rule do I interpret those words of our Apostle Rom. 11.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a Remnant Elected Except you would interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Per as it sometimes signifies and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Per Dei electionem but I prefer the former LONG-SVFERING Long-suffering is attributed often to God and it is that by which God defers those punishments which are due to Sinners for their sins and punisheth them not according to their deserts so soon as they have sinned It is attributed to God twice in this Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans viz. cap. 2.4 and cap. 9.22 and it is there spoken of him by reason of those Jews which were contentious and obeyed not the truth of the Gospel but resisted it and oppugn'd it with all violence for how violently the Jews for a great part of them did resist and oppugn the Gospel Saint Luke tells us in many places of the Acts of the Apostles whom notwithstanding God is said to have indured with much long-suffering because he brought not any signal punishment upon them or rather because he did not cut them off in anger for that their unbelief and violent contention against the Gospel and cruel persecution of the Preachers and Professors thereof by which they made themselves the vessels of wrath Cap. 9.22 and for which he threatned them with indignation and wrath Cap. 2.8 For notwithstanding he was long-suffering towards them that that his long-suffering towards them might lead them to Repentance cap. 2 4. yet were they for the greatest part of them so far from being led to repentance thereby as that they did thereby harden their hearts And by their hardness and impenitent hearts treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath cap. 2.5 For which God was willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known upon them cap. 9.22 because they repented not but did heap up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath RIGHTEOVSNESSE This word Righteousness is taken sometimes for conformity with the Law of God But in this his Epistle to the Romans Saint Paul doth most frequently take it for justification It is sometimes joyned with the word Law as when it is said the Righteousness of the Law concerning which see the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SPIRIT Our Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans useth this word often viz. The Spirit and that after divers waies with the word Holyness joyned with it he takes it for God or the divine nature for when the Apostle saith according to the Spirit of Holiness Graece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.4 It is as if he should say as he was God or according to his divine nature concerning which see Beza in his notes upon that place Sometimes he takes Spirit for the Holy Ghost as Rom. 8.23 Sometimes by a Metonymie For the gifts of the Holy Ghost by which we are regenerated and enabled to work the works of
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
would be due not of debt but of grace But they are not requisite to justification for they follow it But yet they are requisite to Eternal Salvation For If we live after the flesh we shall die but if through the Spirit we mortifie the deeds of the flesh we shall live Rom. 8.13 But yet though the works which Saint Paul speaks of do require a most exact conformity with the Law throughout a mans whole life without the least interruption or deviation from the Law otherwise a man cannot be justified by them yet may a man be saved though after his justification by faith when the works which Saint James speaks of do begin there be some failer in those his works and they do not exactly answer the rigour of the Law To these words which I have treated of might be added the Explication of other words but because they will be found sufficiently explained as I hope in their places in these ensuing Commentaries I add no more But as the Explication of these words afore explained is convenient for the better understanding of divers passages of this Epistle so would the explication of those Figures of Speech which Saint Paul useth be for the Vulgar who are unacquainted with them But because I have been more large upon these elsewhere viz. in the Preface of my aforenamed Book I shall be the briefer here and only give the description of those following to wit Metaschematismus Prosopopoeia Synechdoche with some examples of each METASCHEMATISMVS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Metaschematismus is a Figure by which a man speaks of that as done by himself and in his own person which was done or acted by others in their persons An evident example of this we have 1 Cor. 4 6. where Saint Paul when he had spoken of some things which were done by others as if they had been done by himself and by Apollos saith And these things Brethren I have in a Figure transferred to my self and to Apollos for your sakes c. This same Figure doth Saint Paul also use Rom. 7. verse 7. c. where he saith I had not known sin but by the Law and so forward For from that place to the end of the Chapter he acts in his own person a Jew or rather the whole people of the Jews among whom were divers of divers dispositions as they lived both before and under the Law and transfers their manners and doings to himself And that it may not seem uncouth for one man to act the part of a whole people and that in several estates in his own single Person That Polite Historian L. Florus considered the people of Rome in their several ages and estates as one single Man For Siquis populum Romanum quasi hominem consideret totamque ejus aetatem percenseat ut coeperit atque adoleverit ut quasi ad inventae florem pervenerit ut postea velut Consenuerit quaâ—â—or gradus processusque ejus inveniet saith he in the Proaeme of his History i. e. If any one shall consider the people of Rome as it were a man and throughly consider its whole age how it began how it grew up to its stripling and how it came to its more manly age and how afterwards it did as it were wax old he shall find as it were four degrees or proceedings thereof c. But that I may take occasion here to speak more fully of those whom Saint Paul personates from the seventh Verse of the seventh Chapter to the Romans to the end thereof I conceive that the Apostle doth from those words of the seventh Verse of that Chapter viz. Nay I had not known sin but by the Law c. and so forward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that he speaks not in his own peroson but in the person of others that is that he personates here the people of Israel that is the Jews which lived both before the Law and under the Law which was given by Moses and so personates them as if they were but one single Man and yet not all the Jews neither but the greatest part of them and these considered not as they might have been for surely they might have been better if they had put out themselves to the utmost and used their utmost endeavours to have been better but as they were And they were for the most part of them a carnal untoward stubborn and rebellious people and a people of the worst Natures I said first that the Apostle doth not as I conceive speak here in his own person nor yet in the person of a regenerate man for reasons which I gave in my Commentaries on those words Ver. 14. But I am carnal sold under sin Secondly I said that the Apostle doth speak here in the person of the People of Israel or of the Jews for it is most evident that in the former part of the Chapter he spoke of the Jews and they are they who he said were delivered from the Law wherein they were held that they should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter verse 6. And from that that the Apostle said that they had lived in the oldness of the Letter is the ground of that Objection which is made in the seventh verse viz. What shall we say then is the Law sin which Objection the Apostle could not better or more aptly answer than by shewing what kind of people the Jews were both as they lived before and under the Law and thereby clear the Law of sin And therefore doth he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or take upon him their person Thirdly I said that he doth not here personate all the Jews and therefore I said it because all the Jews were not such as he speaks of here to wit carnal and sold under sin and such as in whom sin wrought all manner of concupiscence for it is written of Zachary and Elizabeth his Wife that they were both righteous before God walking in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless Luke 1.6 Of David it is said that he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the dayes of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite 1 Kings 15.5 And of Asa that his heart was perfect with the Lord all his dayes ibid. ver 14. The like we read of others which lived under the Law And what shall we say of Isaiah Jeremy and other Prophets of the Lord what of those worthy Jews which the Apostle commendeth Heb. 11. shall we say that they were carnal sold under sin and that they were forges of all manner of concupiscence where doth ever the Scripture speak such things of such men These and all such as these were were not carnal but spiritual and though they lived under the Law that is under the obligation of the Law yet were they not under the imperfection of
Resurrection to them his Resurrection will not only prove him to be God but the Son of God also for before his Passion he had often told the Jews that he was the Son of God but they would not believe him yea they persecuted him for this very reason because He made himself the Son of God John 19.7 But saith our Saviour when ye have lifted me up then ye shall know that I am He that is that I am he whom I have said I am and whom I have made my self to be John 8.28 And how could he better shew himself to be Him whom he had said himself to be when they had lifted him from the earth that is when they had crucified him and put him to death than by raising himself and bringing himself to Life again for that was sufficient to confirm the truth of his words when he gave that as a sign and confirmation of the truth which he then spake For to raise from the Dead must needs be the work of him that could not lie for it must needs be the work of him who is God 5. By whom we have received Grace and Apostleship i. e. Of whom I have received the Apostleship or by whom I was made an Apostle Paul mentioning the Name of Jesus Christ in the foregoing verse returneth to speak of his Office and doth here more fully explain of whom he received it and for what end He said therefore in the first verse that he was a called Apostle now he sheweth of whom he was called and of whom he received that Office he was called of Christ and of him he received the Apostleship By whom i. e. Of whom This Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By hath that efficacy in this place to shew not onely by whose authority he was made an Apostle but also of whom he was immediately called and designed thereunto We have received Some think that Paul speaks of all the other Apostles here as well as of himself Because he speaks in the Plurall number and because he saith for the obedience of the faith among all Nations whereas he himself went not into all Nations But yet I think it most probable that he speaks only of himself Whereas therefore he saith we have received he useth a Plural for a Singular number as he doth elsewhere Gal 1. v. 8 9. Heb. 5.11 c. and this he doth out of Modesty for it may seem a kind of Arrogancy for a man to ascrib any great thing as this was to himself singularly or else he doth it because the grace of his speech requireth it Grace and Apostleship i. e. The grace or gift of Apostleship so some who would have a figure called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here to be used Or Grace that is to say The Apostleship so others taking the Conjunction Copulative And for a note of declaration or to signifie as much as That is to say He taketh Grace here by a Metonymie for the Effect of the grace that is of the favour and goodnesse of Jesus Christ and that it was of that favour and goodness of Jesus Christ to him to put him into this Ministery Saint Paul acknowledgeth 1 Tim. 1.12 For obedience to the Faith among all Nations i. e. That the faith may be believed among all Nations That is q. d. for this end That any Nation whatsoever might by my Ministry be brought to believe the Gospel or Doctrine of Faith He sheweth here the end of his Apostleship Note that the word Faith is taken here by a Metonymie for the Doctrine of Faith that is for the Gospel which is to be believed as it is also taken Acts 6.7 Gal. 1.23 c. And by Obedience to the Faith is meant the belief of the Faith or of the Gospel For though belief be an Act or Habit of the Vnderstanding yet that we may believe there is need of obedience and an humble and lowly submission of the Will And therefore the Apostle speaking of the Office of his Apostleship saith that he casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God bringeth every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 And again the Apostle speaking of the unbelief of the Jewes saith that they have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 That is they have not believed that Righteousness which God hath revealed Note also that when he saith all Nations he taketh all for any whatsoever for Paul preached not to all Nations yet was there no Nation whatsoever but he might have preached to for God forbade him none but made him free to all Note again that some refer these words among all Nations not to those For obedience to the Faith which went immediately before but to those We have received Grace and Apostleship q. d. We have received the Apostleship to all Nations And these interpret the praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not among but to But these words may be very well referred to and cohere with those words which they do immediately follow to wit those for obedience to the Faith For his Name i. e. For this end that his Name might be known and that he may be glorified among the Gentiles See 2 Thes 1.12 The Apostles preached not themselves but Jesus Christ the Lord 2 Cor. 4.5 And when Jesus Christ died for all he died for this end that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 Ver. 6 Among whom are ye also i. e. Among which Nations or in the number of which Nations are ye also He intimates a Reason here why he wrote unto the Romans and it was to wit because he thought it a part of his duty so to do being that he was an Apostle and Minister of the Gentiles in the number of the which the Romans were and that he was peculiarly called of Christ to bring them to the Faith See Chap. 15. ver 15.16 The Called of Jesus Christ By the Called of Jesus Christ he meaneth those which were the Servants of Jesus Christ and believed his Gospell For this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this and the like places doth not signifie such an one as hath been onely called by the preaching of the Gospel to be the Servant of Christ or to the participation of the Graces of the Gospel or such an one to whom the Gospel hath been only preached But such an one as hath in some measure embraced that to which he hath been called and believed that which the hath been preached to him So that by called here are meant those which have been called with effect So Isaiah 53.1 the Prophet crieth To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed where by Revealed he meaneth revealed with effect The Apostle by calling the Faithfull and the Servants of Christ by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The called would put them
there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Defect to be supplied of some of those words Secondly or then or after this Others yet again say that wheresoever this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first is used it is alwayes answered though not with formall words yet with the sence of the place which is enough to make it an Ordinall I thanke my God He called God his God because of that love wherewith God loved him and because of the relation of that service in which he stood to God ver 9. But when he saith I thank my God he speaks with a great deal of feeling of some favour and blessing which God hath shewed to him even in that for which he gives thanks and he accounted it even a favour and blessing to him that the Romans had received the Faith after such a manner as they did because he exceedingly desired that they might believe Through Jesus Christ As we pray unto God through Jesus Christ for what we stand in need off for what we receive we receive for his sake So we give thanks to God for what we receive through him for as he is the Purchaser of all our blessings so is he our High Priest to offer up all our Oblations He is therefore the Mediator of our Prayers and the Mediator of our Thanksgivings and they are all accepted through him and for him For you all He puts no difference here betwixt High and Low Rich and Poor That your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole World i. e. That you so believe the Gospel as that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole world He seemeth to put here the Consequent for the Antecedent that is the report of their Faith for the Faith which was reported and spoken of Throughout the whole World i. e. Through out all the Churches of Christ which are throughout the whole World so Some yet we need not to restrain it to the Churches of Christ only for being that the Romans were the most eminent people in all the world their change of Religion and embracing of Christianity might be taken notice and spoken of of all the strangers throughout the whole world though they were not Christians which had occasion to come to Rome Note here that their is an Hyperbolicall Synechdoche in these words The whole world And it is an usuall thing to put some parts especially the civilest parts of the World for the whole world in generall as Colos 1.6 Ver. 9. For God is my witnesse whom I serve with my Spirit in the Gospel of his Son that without ceasing I make mention of you alwayes in my prayers The Apostle would by this perswade the truth of what he said in the former verse to wit That he did thank God in their behalfe Because the Romans might not otherwise easily believe that Paul should be so Zealous for them whom he never saw in his life and with whom he had no acquaintance at all he that he Might make it the more credible which he saith concerning them confirmes it here with an Oath Whom I serve with my Spirit in the Gospel of his Son i. e. Whom I serve in the preaching and ministration of the Gospel of his Son withall readiness willingness and sincerity of mind Paul addes this that he might not be thought to call God to witnesse what he said rashly irreligiously and with the contempt of God For this sheweth how highly he accounted of the Majesty and Honour of God to say that he served him with his spirit And because he did so highly esteem of him surely he would in no wayes dishonour him as he should do if he should swear falsely by him With my spirit That is as we use to say with my heart which phrase speaketh willingness and readiness and sincerity In the Gospel of his Son This Gospel Paul called the Gospel of God ver 1. Because God was the Author of it Here he calls it the Gospel of his Son because it is concerning his Son Jesus Christ ver 3. And by this Gospel he meaneth the preaching thereof by a Metonimy Without ceasing I make mention of you alwayes in my prayer He might make mention of them in his prayers when he gave thanks for them and he might make mention of them in his prayers when he prayed for some blessing to be bestowed upon them and both these wayes may he be understood here to make mention of them In relation to what went before he might be said to make mention of them in that he gave thanks for them In relation to what followed he may be said to make mention of them in that he prayed and made request for them He might say that he made mention of them alwayes in his prayers without ceasing because he prayed often and as often as he prayed he made mention of them For by an usual Hyperbole we are said to do a thing alwayes and without ceasing which we do often and in which we are studious and sedulous So Anna the Prophetesse is said not to have departed from the Temple but to have served God with fasting and Prayers night and day Luke 2.37 Whereas she was but frequent in the Temple and frequent in prayers there So it is said of the Disciples that they were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God Luke 24.53 Whereas they were not allwayes there but onely so often as occasion offered 〈…〉 Ver. 10. Making request c. q. d. And I make not only mention of you in my prayers by thanksgiving but by making request also for you By this he doth yet further insinuate himself into these Romans If by any means now at length c. These words shew the ardent desire which Paul had to obtain that which he speaks of That is To see these Romanes But that particle If doth withall signifie that Paul was not certain whether he should obtain what he prayed for or no and therefore he prayeth for it conditionally If it stood with the glory and good will of God to give him a prosperous journey to them By the will of Ood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred the will of God signifieth sometimes the General Providence of God disposing of our affairs yet we may well think that the Apostle did take his journeys from place to place by the speciall instinct of God especially such journeys as this was Ver. 11. For I long to see you that I may impart c. He shews the reason here why he desired so much to see the Romans That I may impart unto you some spiritual gift The end of Pauls desire to see them was not to receive any worldly profit from them though they were Citizens of a rich City but that he might impart some gift to them but a spiritual gift Some spiritual gift Some interpret this of such gifts as were wont to be given by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles as the gift of
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
the Jew of the good will of God towards the Gentiles from that therefore he inferreth this Corollary Is he the God of the Jews only c. As if he should say and now O thou Jew is God the God of the Jews only is he not the God of the Gentiles also Yes he is the God of the Gentiles also seeing it is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith And this or the like opportunity he takes often to declare the good will and favour of God towards the Gentiles because the Jews counted the Gentiles but as brute Beasts to whom God had no respect in comparison of themselves Ver. 30. Seeing it is one God which shall justifie It would have been better rendred thus Seeing God is one who justifieth c. That is Seeing God is one and the same God which justifieth the Circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith God is called One here not in respect of his Essence or in opposition to a multitude of gods but in respect of his carrying himself to all alike whether Jews or Gentiles q. d. Seeing God is one and the same towards all who shall justifie c. Which shall justifie the circumcision by faith Note that the Circumcision is taken here for the Circumcised that is for the Jews who were Circumcised by a Metonymie and that shall justifie is put here for doth justifie A Future for a Present tense after the manner of the Hebrews which use so to do especially when they would signifie a continued Act. And the uncircumcision through faith By the uncircumcision are here meant the Gentiles who used not Circumcision as the Jews did who were enjoyned by God to it but were uncircumcised And yet we read of some Gentiles which were Circumcised as the people of Colchis Aegypt and Aethiopia as Herodotus relates in his Euterpe yet they come under the name of uncircumcision here because the Circumcision which they received they received from among themselves the use thereof was not enjoyned to them of God as that Circumcision which the Jews used was to them Gen. 17. v. 10 11 c. Note that these Phrases By faith and Through faith signifie one and the same thing and that there is no difference in the sence of the Phrases though there be in the words In that God justifieth both Jew and Gentile after the same manner it sheweth him to be the same in his love and affection to both Ver. 31. Do we then make void the Law through faith q. d. Do we then say that the Law is useless and as an idle thing and a thing of no effect by those things which we have said of faith To make void is put here for to say that it is void by a Metalepsis Note that the Apostle doth prevent an Objection here for because he said v. 28. We conclude that a Man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law And again v. 30. It is one God or God is One which shall justifie the Circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith A Jew might object and say If it be so that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law and God doth justifie the Circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision throuh faith then is the Law void for to what end should it stand if it did not justifie a man To this the Apostle answers That notwithstanding that which he had said concerning faith the Law doth stand yea what he said concerning faith doth establish the Law For though the Law doth not justifie a man yet the Doctrine of faith doth enjoyn those which believe to lead a pious godly and religious life according to the Praescript of the Law and to follow those things which the Law commandeth And by faith we attain to more ability for the performance of the Law than the Law it self can give Note that what is here spoken must be understood of the Moral Law Through faith i. e. Throuh the Doctrine of faith or through those things which we have said of faith We establish the Law i. e. We maintain the Law in its standing and keep it up That is we take not the Law away but let it stand in its due place and give it its due honour How Saint Paul established the Law by faith we shewed a little before in the Exposition of this verse He establisheth it by making it or teaching that it is a Rule of our Lives though he denies to be the means of justification And that we attain more ability to the keeping of the Law through faith than the Law it self could give us CHAP. IV. 1. WHat shall we say then that Abraham our Father as pertaining to the flesh hath found 1. We have taught hitherto that the man that is justified is not justified by the works of the Law but by faith And let us now enquire in particular concerning Abraham's justificâ—tion to wit how he was justified How shall we say then that Abraham who is our Father as concerning the flesh attained to justification Shall we say that Abraham attained to justification by works No in no wise 2. For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God 2. For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory or boast even before God but he hath not whereof to glory or to boast before God therefore he is not justified by works 3. For what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness 3. Now that Abraham hath not whereof to glory or boast before God is apparent for what saith the Scripture It saith that Abraham believed God and that that was set down upon his account to him to receive righteousness or justification for it that is in fewer words it saith That Abraham believed God and for that he was justified Gen. 15.5 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt 4. Now to him that worketh the works of the Law so punctually and so exactly as that he never failes at any time in performing the least title of the Law to him indeed the reward that is righteousness or justification is set down upon accompt to be paid him as a thing not of grace and favour but of debt for with reverence be it spoken God would be unjust if he should not justifie him that is if he should not acquit him but condemn him for a sinner who had never sinned So that he indeed hath whereof to glory or boast even before God 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness 5. But to him that worketh not the works of the Law so punctually and so exactly as the Law requires but believeth on God who justifieth sinners his faith is set down upon accompt to him for him to receive
condition required to all the spiritual seed of Abraham that is to all the faithfull not only to that which is of the Law and under that as the Jews are but to that also which followeth the Faith of Abraham though they be not under the law as the believing Gentiles doe which Abraham is the Father of us all which believe whether we are Jews or Gentiles and under the Law or without the Law 17. As it is written I have made thee a Father of many Nations before him whom he believed even God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were 17. As it is written of him Genesis 17.5 I have made thee a Father of many Nations I say which Abraham is the Father of us all before him whom he believed even God who quickeneth those which are dead in unbelief with the life of Faith and maketh those which are not faithfull as they which are so raising up spiritual seed to Abraham 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 18. Who against all hope which he could conceive by the course of nature of having a childe believed in hope which he grounded upon the truth and power of God That he should become the Father of many nations according to that which is written of him Gen. 15.5 As the Stars of the Heavens for number so shall thy seed be 19. And being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred year old neither yet the deadness of Saras womb 19. And being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now old and feeble and unfit for generation and as it were dead in respect of that when he was now about an hundred years old nor did he consider the barrenness of Sarahs womb and the indisposition and inability thereof to conception so as to doubt or dispair by reason of them of the promise of God 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God 20. He staggered not at the word of God through unbelief But was strong in faith giving glory to God by relying upon his word 21. And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform 21. And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was also able to perform 22. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness 22. And therefore it is written to his immortal praise that this his Faith was imputed to him for righteousness 23. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him 23. But now it was not written for his sake alone that he might thereby be praised that it was imputed to him 24. But for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead 24. But it was written for our sakes also to assure us that our beliefe also shall be imputed to us for righteousness if we believe on God who raised up Jesus our Lord from the Dead 25. Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification 25. Who was both delivered to death and raised again from the dead for our Justification that is that we might be thereby justified CHAP. IV. Verse 1. What shall we say then i. e. How or by what way or after what manner shall we say then What is to be taken here for How or after what manner for the Apostle speaketh here not so much of Justification it self as of the way or manner of attaining it And so the word What is sometimes taken elsewhere For whereas it is said Marke 4.23 Take heed what you hear It is said Luke 8.18 Take heed how you hear That Abraham our father as pertaining to the Flesh i. e. That Abraham who is the Father of all us Jews after the flesh i. e. by carnal Propagation whether we be of the Law or whether we be of the Faith Abraham was a Father two manner of wayes to wit according to the Flesh and according to the Spirit according to the flesh Abraham was a Father of all Jews whether they believed or no. But according to the spirit he was the Father only of Such Jewes as did believe and imitate his Faith verse 12. The Apostle calls Abraham his Father as other Jews also did to shew that he did esteem of Abraham as his Father aswel as they and therefore what he was to say of Abraham he would not say out of desire he had of diminishing Abrahams glory but out of meer love which he bore to the Truth Hath found i. e. Hath obtained or attained to Supple Justification Note that to find is put here for to obtain or to attain to as Prov. 8.35 and 17.20 and so it is taken so often as one is said to find grace in the sight of another a phrase which the Scripture often useth as Gen. 18.3.30.27 Numb 11.11 Deut. 24.1 2. Sâ—m 15 25 c. Note also that here is somewhat to be understood to wit Justification for it is not to be doubted but that the Apostle speaks here of Justification for this is the subject of all his discourse in this place Our Apostle doth suppose here that Abraham was justified and doth enquire only how he was justified I say he doth suppose that he was justified which he might well suppose for none of the Jews with whom he hath here to do did ever doubt of that or deny it Ver. 2. For if Abraham were justified by works Between this and the former verse we must understand these words to wit by Works No surely q. d. How then or by what means shall we say that Abraham who is the Father of us all after the Flesh hath obtained Justification by works No surely For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory before God in the matter of justificationâ— But he hath not whereof to glory before God in the matter of justification Therefore he is not justified by works He is said in our Apostles sence to be justified by works which hath so strictly observed the Law by which he should walk and walked so strictly according to it as that he never offended in the least manner that is either in thought word or deed For whosoever hath offended against that Law in never so small a matter cannot be said to be justified by morks He hath whereof to glory Supple even before God By glorying is not meant here any Thrasonicall vaunting or any unjust glorying but such a glorying which he might both justly and seemly use which had perfectly kept the Law and never offended against it in the least point which glorying is nothing else but the attributing of his justification or that that he is not condemned but acquitted when he
Sublim sence According to the Literal or Historical sence they are to be understood of such Nations as descended from Abraham by carnall Propagation And many Nations descended from him that way as the Israelites Ishmalites Edomites Amalekites c. According to the Mystical or Sublim sence they are to be taken of such as did imitate the faith of Abraham and were like to him in that And in this sence Abraham was called a Father of many Nations because he was set out by God as a President or Example to them that they might be moved to believe God and so be justified by their faith as Abraham believed God and was justified by his faith And many Nations have become Children of Abraham this way If you ask now in which sence these words are to be understood here I say in the Mystical or Sublime sence Before him whom he believed i. e. In sight of him whom he believed By him whom he believed is meant God as appeareth by the next words whom He to wit Abraham believed when He to wit God promised to give him a Son in his old age and to multiply his seed as the Stars of Heaven These words before him whom he believed are to be referred to those Who is the Father of us all q. d. Who is the Father of us all before him or in the sight of him whom he believed And these words Before God or in the Sight of God use to shew the truth or reality of a thing as Gen 6.11 Eccles 2 26. Luke 1 6 c. The Apostle therefore to shew that Abraham was the Father of us all not in word but in deed Not in the Opinion of Men but in the Judgement and Constitution and Approbation of God saith not only that he was the Father of us all in the Mystical and Sublime sence before mentioned but also adds Before him whom he believed even God Even God who quick'neth the Dead i. e. Even God who raiseth up those to life which were dead And oalleth those things which be not as though they were The words in the Original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be rendred thus And who calleth those things which be not as things which be And the sence is thus Which giveth a being to those things which be not as he hath done to those things which be that is Which maketh those things which yet be not to be To call is taken here for To make after the Hebrew manner of Speech So it is said Cap. 9.25 I will call them my People which were not my People and Her Beloved which was not my beloved for I will make them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not my Beloved To call as it signifieth To make seemeth to be spoken if not only yet principally of God And that to shew the Greatness of his power who by his word can produce what he pleaseth as he did Genes 1. To call therefore things which are not as things which are is as if he should call things that are not and say unto them O ye things which are not come out of your nothing and be ye something as things which are and they should obey Man calls only things which are as a Master his Servant to come to him But God calls even things which are not and they come at his call Note that some understand these words That quickneth the dead and calleth the things which are not as those that be in relation to the carnal seed or to the children of Abraham according to the flesh of which the Apostle speaks in the following part of this chapter And then these words must be understood of Gods enabling Abraham to beget and Sarah to conceive when in respect of Generation Abraham and in respect of Conception Sarah were now as dead being that they were both decreped and unfit by nature the one to beget the other to conceive and bear Children By the Dead in this Sence we must understand such as are unfit for Generation and Conception by a Metaphor And by making such alive is meant giving power to such to beget and conceive with child respectively by the like Metaphor And by things which are not are meant not things which are absolutely without a being but things which are without a certain kind of being as Abraham without the natural power of begetting and Sarah without the natural power of conceiving seed But others understand these words That quickneth the dead and calleth the things which be not as those that be as spoken in relation to the Spiritual seed of Abraham such as be Abrahams children by faith And then the meaning of this which quickneth the dead is this which quickneth those which were dead in trespasses and sins by bringing them to a lively faith See for this Ephes 2.1 And the meaning of those words And calleth those things which be not as those that be is this and making those believe which did not believe before Now if it be asked which of these two sences are to be preferred before which I conceive the Later before the former The sence which interprets these words of the Spiritual seed before the sense which interprets those words of the Carnal seed For whereas the Apostle said of Abraham That he is the Father of us all before him whom he believed even God signifying thereby that Abraham was the Spiritual Father of us All not in word but in deed not in the opinion of Men but in the Judgement and Approbation and Constitution of God He goes on to to prove that Abraham was such a Father And because to the being of such a Father two things are requisite First that Abraham should be himself a man of a sound and a strong faith Secondly that there should be other men like him in his faith He sheweth both these in this latter part of the Chapter For he sheweth that Abraham was strong in faith vers 18 19 20 c. And he shews That God raiseth up daily faithful men out of such as were not so in the words which we have in hand V. 18. Who against hope believed in hope This is spoken of Abraham whom he made mention of ver 16. It is a great Trajection or Hyperbaton to refer this to the Sixteenth verse I conceive it therefore not amiss for the better Coherence of the Text to understand here these or the like words between this and the former verse viz. That he may raise up seed unto Abraham q. d. Who is the Father of us all before him whom he believed even God who quickneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were that he may thereby raise up seed to Abraham who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations c. The Coherence of the Text by this supplement is smooth and who knows not that in the Scripture greater supplements than this
which is the wages of sin and which never falls upon any one but for sin reigned over all men from the days of Adam to the days of Moses though they had not sinned as Adam had who transgressed against a law which God gave him to keep with his own mouth which Adam was a Figure of Christ who indeed was then to come but is since come among us And therefore was he a Figure of Christ because as Christ derived something to his children so did Adam before Christ came derive something to his But yet if we come to particulars that which Christ derived to his children was Grace and the free gift of God But that which Adam derived to his was Original sin which I call here the Offence 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 man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many 15. But yet not as the offence which Adam derived to his Children so also is the free gift which Christ derived to his for equality but this much exceeds that For if by the offence which was caused by one to wit Adam and by him derived to his Children many to wit so many as are born of him are either already dead or shall surely die In a much higher degree and more plentiful though contrary manner hath the grace of God that is the gift of grace which is by one man Jesus Christ abounded unto many even to so many as are born of Christ that they might live 16. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification 16. Not I say as was the offence or sin which was by one to wit Adam So is the gift which is by one to wit Christ Jesus For the Judgement of God passed upon the Children of Adam to their condemnation by reason of that one sin or offence which Adam derived to them But the free gift or pardon which is derived by Christ to his Children is the remission or pardon not of that one only offence but of many other offences to their justification 17. For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ 17. Again if by that one sin or offence death reigned by reason of one man to wit Adam who was the cause of that sin or offence and who derived it to his Children over all the Children of Adam After a far more bountiful and glorious manner shall life reign by one to wit Jesus Christ over all the Children of Christ who receive by him abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness by the remission and pardon of their many sins and offences 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 18. Therefore that I may resume and perfect what I began to say but left unperfect verse 12. As by reason of that original sin or offence which was caused by one and by that one to wit Adam derived to all his Children judgement came upon all men which were born of Adam whereby they were condemned to death Even so by reason of that righteousness or justification which was purchased by one even Jesus Christ and by that one derived to all his Children the pardon or remission of sins which was a free gift from God came upon all men which are born of Jesus Christ so that they are thereby justified and translated from death to life 19. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous 19. I said by reason of the offence which was caused by one to wit Adam and I said by reason of the righteousness or justification which was purchased by one to wit Jesus Christ For as by the disobedience of one man that one man Adam who disobeyed God by eating of the Tree concerning which God had said Thou shalt not eat thereof many yea so many as were born of Adam were made sinners through the offence which was caused by him So by the obedience of one even Jesus Christ who obeyed God unto death even the death of the Cross shall many yea as many as are born of him be justified from their sins through the righteousness which was purchased by him 20 Moreover the Law entred that the offence might abound but where sin abounded grace did much more abound 20. Moreover least any one should say that though sin was in the world untill the Law yet surely when the Law was once entred sin was taken away let me tell you that the Law was so far from taking away sin that sin did abound by the entring in of the Law But yet to our comfort when sin abounded the Grace and Mercy of God through Christ did much more abound 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 21. So that as sin hath reigned unto death by Adam even so the grace and favor of God hath reigned through justification and remission of sins unto Eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. CHAP. V. Vers 1. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with The Apostle having shewed in the foregoing part of this Epistle that we are justified not by the works of the Law but by faith cometh here to shew the fruit and excellent effects which follow or come by that Justification Being justified c. Concerning the signification of this word See Chapter 6. ver 7. We have peace with God That is God is at peace with us so that though we have sinned yet God will nor pour out his wrath upon us for our sins as he will upon other sinners because we are justified by Faith These words are not so to be understood as though the meaning thereof were that we were peaceably affected towards God But so as that God is peaceably affected towards us And the word Peace here is opposed to Wrath to wit the Wrath of God of which he speaks ver 9. And not God but we are the Object of this Peace or they to whom this peace is shewed and God is as the Subject so when we say we have favour with God God is the Subject we the Object to whom this favour is shewed Through our Lord Jesus Christ i. e. Through the merits and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is called here our Lord because he bought us with a Price 1 Cor. 6.20 2 Pet. 2.1 which Price was his own blood with which price he redeemed us out of the bondage
children in its kind The Apostle sheweth here that Christ in his kind as he was a Saviour to his branches or to his children did far exceed Adam in his kind as he was a destroyer to his branches or to his children And that he did confer more good to them which were his branches or his children than Adam did evil to those which were his so that though Adam may be said to be a type of Christ by a contrary comparison yet in that comparison there is an excess of contrariety on Christs part Not as the offence He speaks of that sin and means that here even Original sin which Adam transmitted or derived to all mankind and which he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 12. He means not that sin of actual disobedience whereby Adam disobeyed God in eating the forbidden fruit Gen. 3 6. Though that actuall disobedience of his was that which brought this Original sin upon his posterity to wit such as were born of him by natural generation For note that that Actual disobedience of Adam is opposed to the actual obedience of Christ as plainly appeareth ver 19. But the offence here is opposed to the free gift which came upon the Children or branches of Christ through his obedience Wherefore as the free gift signifieth something here which came upon the children or branches of Christ by reason of Christs obedience so doth the offence which is opposed to the free gift signifie something here which came upon the children or branches of Adam through his disobedience The free gift The free gift here spoken of is that gift which God doth freely bestow upon those which are ingrafted into Christ by faith and which he cals the gift by grace in this very verse If through the offence of one i. e. If by sin which was caused by one man to wit Adam and by him brought upon or derived to his children or his branches This Genitive case of one is Genitivus Efficientis Note that this particle If doth not here intimate any uncertainty of the thing with which it is joyned But as often elsewhere so here it sheweth the certainty of it rather and signifieth as much as though And note that the Subject of the offence here spoken of is not Adam or Adam alone but Adams children also though the efficient or deficient cause thereof was Adam Many be dead This is that which he said ver 12. to wit Death passed upon all men that is Death hath or shall pass upon all men But how doth he say only Many be dead here when he saith Death passed upon all men ver 12. We may answer with Saint Augustine that it may so fall out sometimes as that by all a very few may be be understood as when few are all To shew therefore that the All here are very many He saith Many be dead yet excluding none of all the Sons or Daughters of Adam born of him by natural generation Again because he was to say in this verse that the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many which he will say because it aboundeth not absolutely to all men he might use the word many here in the sence aforesaid that there might be conformity between the former and latter member of his speech in matter of words Much more the grace of God and the gifts by grace which is by one Man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many i. e. In a much higher degree and more plentiful though contrary manner hath the grace that is the gift of grace which is by one man Jesus Christ abounded unto many Supple that they may live Note that the words much more seem to import an Argumentation à minori as Logicians speak that is from that which is less credible to that which is more credible as it is ver 9. But though they may seem so to do yet they do not indeed For he that will be attentive here to what the Apostle writes he shall find that the Apostles words import not any such thing but do onely shew the dissimilitude which is between Adam and Christ by comparing some particulars in which they disagree and how much Christ in his kind excells Adam in his The reason why Christ in his kind excells Adam in his and why Christ derives greater gifts in his kind to his branches or his children than Adam did in his kind to his branches or his children is because the merits of Christ are greater than were the demerits of Adam The grace of God By the Grace of God is meant the favour of God But the grace or favour of God is to be taken here by a Metonymy for the gift proceeding from Gods favour as the Apostle expounds himself in the next words And the gift by Grace q. d. That is to say the gift which is by grace or by the favour of God or that which God out of his grace and favour bestoweth c. The Conjunction And is a Note of declaration here The gift by Grace doth include and comprehend here both the free and gracious pardon of our sins or the gracious sentence of Absolution by which we are absolved from our sins which the Apostle speaks of ver 16. And also the gift of a life of Glory which we shall enjoy in heaven or the reign in that life of which he speaks verse 17. For what he speaks of in gross here he divides and speaks of in particular or in parts in those two verses Which is by one man Jesus Christ i. e. Which grace is shewed for one mans sake to wit Jesus Christ and purchased by him Hath abounded Supple above what the offence and death did abound to those which were the branches or Children of Adam by natural propagation Vnto many Supple Even those many which are the Branches or Children of Christ by faith Through Adams eating the forbidden fruit did the offence that is sin enter upon many yea so many as were born of Adam the Consequent of which offence or sin as the penalty thereof was death But through the obedience of Christ there came by the favour and grace of God pardon of all sins not Original only but Actual also whereby as many as believed were justified the Consequent of which is through the gift of God Eternal life Here is therefore an opposition of pardon of sins by which we are justified to the offence or sin by which we are condemned And of eternal life to death which being weighed one against the other the pardon of Sins by which we are justified against the offence and Sin by which we are condemned and life eternal against death the pardon of Sins by which we are justified will out weigh the offence by which we are condemned and Life eternal will outweigh death For the offence or Sin is but One but the Sins which are pardoned are many And eternal life is accompanied with an unspeakable
in them And because they were made Sinners therefore the judgement of God came upon them to condemnation ver 18. By the obedience of one This one is Christ Jesus and this his obedience is that which we read Philip. 2.8 whereby he was obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Shall many be made righteous i. e. Shall many be justified The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is asmuch as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is shall be justified So also is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken Chap. 2.13 The righteousness here spoken of is that Righteousness which is called also justification and which consists in the pardon of or absolution from Sins and it is the effect of the obedience of that One that is of Christ Jesus This righteousness did Jesus Christ purchase for us by this his obedience and conferreth on all them which believe in him By the disobedience therefore of Adam were many made Sinners in that by his disobedience the offence that is Original Sin came upon them And by the obedience of Christ were many made righteous in that by his obedience they attained to that righteousness or justification by which they are freed acquitted and absolved from all both Original and Actual Sins Ver. 20. Moreover the Law entred that the offence might abound i. e. Moreover when the Law entred the offence did abound Note that the particle that is a sign here not of the intent but of the event so that the sence of this place is this q. d. The Law which forbiddeth Sin entred into the world in the middle time between Adam and Christ yet the event or issue of that was only this That Sin did abound He speaks here of the Law which was given by Moses and prevents an objection for whereas it was tacitly objected between the 12 and 13 verses That Sin was not in the world before the Law which objection the Apostle answered in the 13 and 14 verses It might be thus objected upon the Apostles answer But if we grant Sin to have been in the world before the Law yet surely when the Law came Sin was then no more in the world for the Law is a perfect remedy against Sin To this the Apostle here answereth that though the Law entred yet when it had entred it was so far from being a remedy against Sin as that Sin did abound and became more abundant by the Law than it was before I have said that these words are an answer to a tacit objection springing from the Apostles answer to a former objection supposed to arise between the 12 and 13 verses But some make them an answer to an objection supposed to arise out of the last words of the 19 verse viz. By the obedience of one man many were made righteous For a man may object from those words and say But why dost thou Paul say that by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous that is many shall be justified For there is no need of the obedience of another that any should be made righteous or that any should be justified since the Law was given for the Law is enough to make men righteous and is sufficient it self to preserve them from Sin To this the Apostle answereth q. d. The Law is so far from making men righteous and from preserving them from Sin as that the Law since it entred hath been an occasion that Sin hath much more abounded than it did before But which way soever of the two we conceive this objection to be raised or whether both ways it skills not much the matter tending still to the same purpose The Law entred that the offence might abound i. e. The Law entred that Sin might abound And therefore did Sin abound when the Law entred Because the Law worketh wrath for where there is no Law there is no Transgression as our Apostle speaketh Chap. 4.15 By the offence he means Actual Sin or Sins And that which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the offence here he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin in the following words But where Sin abounded i. e. But when sin abounded Where is put here for When an Adverb of place for an Adverb of time That which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here as was there observed Grace did much more abound By Grace understand here the grace and favour of God which is said here to abound by reason of its effects to wit Remission of Sins or Justification whereby the Sinner which believeth is justified from all his sins or hath all his Sins forgiven him By how much the more and greater the Sins of a Sinner are By so much the greater and more abundant is the grace and favour of him which forgiveth them And by how much the greater Sinner a man acknowledgeth himself to have been so much the greater grace and favour and mercy doth he confess that he hath received by the remission and forgiveness of his sins as we may learn by the example of the woman which was a Sinner Luke 7. ver 38 c. And by the example of the Apostle himself 1 Tim. 1.12 He saith of the offence or of Sin that it did abound and of grace that it did much more abound Supple than Sin did And this he doth because the grace and mercy of God did prevail above the Sins of men though they did very much prevail and was more powerful than they For the grace and mercy of God did take away the guilt of all sins in the believer and therefore was more powerful in him to justifie him than all his Sins were to condemn him V. 21. That as sin hath reigned unto death i e. That as Sin hath shewed her power which was as the power of Queen over men by bâ—inging them to death and destruction through her guilt Even so might grace reign through Righteousness unto eternal life i. e. Even so might the grace or favour of God towards men like a Queen shew her power in them which believe in bringing them through the remission of their Sins and of the guilt thereof to eternal life By Righteousness is here meant Justification or Remission of sins See verses 17 and 18. And grace is said to bring men to eternal life through Righteousness that is by Remission of Sins or Justification Because God glorifieth none whom he doth not Justifie And because he doth not only vouchsafe to justifie Sinners from their sins if they believe But doth also bring them when he hath Justified them to life eternal if they persist in their faith Note here that when the Apostle saith that grace reigneth through righteousness unto everlasting life his meaning is not that grace exempteth us so from death as that we shall never die but his meaning is that grace doth confer life so unto us and so exempt us from death as that death shall not always have dominion
over us but shall be destroyed at the last by the power of Christ at the General Resurrection when we shall be so raised to life as that we shall die no more Note that the Apostle useth a Prosopopaeia here when he saith that Sin hath reigned and that grace reigneth and speaketh of them as of Queens By Jesus Christ our Lord Supple who hath merited this for us by his obedience and will work it for us by his power CHAP. VI. 1. WHat shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound 1. But now because I said That when sin abounded Grace did much more abound Shall we therefore continue in sin that Grace may abound 2. God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein 2. God forbid For with what face shall we Christians which profess our selves to be dead unto sin Or how shall we which are dead to sin indeed as we are if we answer our profession live any longer in sin 3. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death 3. Know ye not that so many of us as have by baptism entred our selves into the number of Christ Jesus his Disciples were in our baptism baptized into the likeness of Christs death and that by being so baptized we did promise and profess that we would die unto sin 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 4. Now for this end were we baptized into the likeness of the death of Christ and did by that profess and promise that we would die unto sin which was figured to us by the death of Christ That we might thereby profess and signifie that like as Christ when he was buried was raised from the dead by the power of God the Father even so we also which was signified by our rising out of the waters when we were dipped over head and ears would rise from the death of sin to a new and more pure kind of life 5. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection 5. For if we like a grain of Corn that is planted in the earth have been planted in the waters of Bâ—ptism when we were baptized as Christ was planted in the earth when he was buried in the Grave so that like as the grain of corn that dies in the ground we be also dead to sin as Christ also was dead to this bodily life Then we like corn which springs up out of the ground after it is dead shall rise as Christ also did out of the grave and as we our selves did out of the waters of Baptism and spring up to a new and spiritual life 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 6. Knowing this that we died to sin that sin might be destroyed so that that from henceforth we should not serve sin 7. For he that is dead is freed from sin 7. For as a servant or a slave when he dieth is freed from the servitude and service of his Master So that his Master now hath no power over him Even so he that is dead to sin is freed from sin so that sin hath no power over him to make him her Servant and to serve her 8 Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him 8. And now that we may go on if we be dead to sin as Christ was dead to this natural or bodily life we believe and are perswaded that we shall not remain in this estate but that we shall also live the life of righteousness as He liveth now the life of glory 9. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him 9. For least any one should think it strange that Christ which was once dead should be so revived and raised up from the dead again as that he should be still alive we know that Christ being raised from the dead nor died nor shall die any more and that death hath no more dominion over him 10. For in that he died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God 10. For in that he died he died but once and that for this end that he might take away sin But that he is revived and liveth he liveth and shall live for ever for this end that God may be honoured and glorified by that his life 11. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 11. Now then that Christ whom ye ought to imitate is alive who was once dead reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto sin But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortall body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof 12. Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal bodies that ye should obey her in her lust and temptations Though she stirs up lusts and Temptations in you 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God 13. Neither yield ye your members unto sin as Instruments for her to work unrighteousness by them But yield ye yourselves unto God as it becometh and behoveth those to do which are raised from the death of sin and yield ye your members unto him to be Instruments by which he may work righteousness in you 14. For sin shall not have dominon over you for ye are not under the law but under grace 14. For let no faint hearted Christian say nay but I cannot but obey sin when she stirs up her lusts in me and tempteth me to naughtiness for sin shall not have dominion over you as she hath had heretofore to make you do what she pleaseth for ye are now not under the Law which commanded you to do that which is good and forbad you to do that which is evil but gave you little or no power towards the doing of them But ye are under the Gospel the Gospel of Grace which as it commands that which is good and forbids that which is evil so it gives power to perform that which she commands for the Gospel is the power of God to salvation 15. What then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace God forbid 15. But now because the Law as she commands but gives little or no power to fulfill her commands So she is severe in punishing every the least transgression which is committed against her precepts And because
the Gospel as it commands and giveth power to fulfil her commands so is it ready to pardon sin and iniquities Some when they hear me say that ye are not under the Law but under grace are ready to take from hence encouragement and liberty to sin But what if I said ye are not under the Law but under Grace shall we therefore take liberty to sin God forbid 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether ye yield your selves servants to sin to obey her and so become the Servants of sin which brings men unto death or whether ye yield your selves unto the Gospel which is the doctrine of obedience to obey her and so become the Servants of the Gospel which brings to righteousness or justification 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you 17. But God be thanked that though ye were sometimes the servants of sin yet ye have now obeyed the Gospel that form of doctrine which was delivered to you 18. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness 18. Being therefore made free from sin and her service ye are become the servants of the Gospel which teacheth and commandeth righteousness 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness 19. I speak in speaking as I do of sin and of the Gospel under Metaphors taken and used amongst vulgar men as a vulgar man which is not acquainted with divine matters and that because of the weakness of your understanding being ye are not yet able to apprehend and bear the high and deep things of God Wherefore as while ye were the servants of sin ye yielded your members to sin as servants to work her work to wit iniquity Even so now being that ye are the servants of the Gospel which teacheth righteousness yield ye your members as servants to the Gospel to do her work to wit holiness 20. For when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness 20. For when ye were servants to sin ye were as men free from the Gospel which teacheth and commandeth righteousness and so carried your selves and did no work at all for her As therefore when ye were the servants of sin ye were as men free from the Gospel and so carried your selves and did no work for her So being that ye are now the servants of the Gospel be ye as men free from sin and so carry your selves and do no work for her 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death 21. But what fruit had ye then when ye were the servants of sin in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things which ye did while ye were servants to sin is everlasting death 22. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life 22. But now being that ye are made free from sin and become the servants of the Gospel and so by consequence the Saints of God who is the Author of the Gospel ye have your fruit even holiness and the end of your doings will be everlasting life 23. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 23. For the wages which sin giveth to her servants which do her work is everlasting death but the gift which God bestoweth upon his servants which do his work is eternal life which he bestoweth upon them for Jesus Christ our Lords sake CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. What shall we say then In the twentieth verse of the former chapter the Apostle said that where sin abounded grace did much more abound Lest any therefore should think that he might continue in sin for this end that grace might abound And because Christians were defamed with the tenancy of such an opinion as appeareth Chap. 3. v. 8. The Apostle sheweth here the detestation even of such a thought as this is that Christians might continue in Sin that the grace of God might abound and that it is against the very Profession of Christianity Shall we continue in Sin c. i e. Shall we continue in our old course of sinning by adding Sin to Sin Note that the Apostle speaks here of such who had lived in Sin before their conversion to Christianity That grace may abound That is that the grace and favour of God may abound in pardoning our Sins or that God may have the more abundant occasion to shew his grace and favour to sinners Ver. 2. God forbid These words are words of abhorring and detesting as Chap. 3.4.6.31 How shall we that are dead unto Sin live any longer therein The Apostle calls those dead to Sin which are dead in respect of Sin That is which have renounced and cast off the Service of sin and the obedience which they were wont to yield to her and as the dead have no commerce with the living have no commerce with Sin as they were wont to have Or rather as Servants which are now dead are freed from their Masters by death so that their Masters have no command over them neither do they serve them So are they which are dead to Sin so freed from sin as that she hath no power to command them nor do they obey or serve her All which profess Christianity are dead to Sin by profession and by promise for in their very entrance and admission into the Church of Christ they promise and profess that they will renounce sin with her lusts And they which are Christians as well in truth as in profession are dead to sin not in promise and profession only But in truth and reality too for they are so mortified to sin as that they obey her not neither have they their wonted commerce with her If therefore we be dead to sin if it be but by promise and profession only how can we with any face live any longer to sin or in the obedience and service of sin But if we are dead to sin not only in promise and profession but also in truth and in reality too how can we possibly live to sin or in the service and obedience of sin while we are dead to her Thus are Christians two manner of ways said to be dead to sin First by promise and profession Secondly in truth and in reality And being any of these wayes dead to sin they cannot
serve sin and he proves it by an Allegoricall argument drawn from the Servants of Men who are freed by death from their Masters Service And from that that they which are free from the Service of men do not as though they were their Servants still yield them any further Service Ver. 8. Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him I said ver 6. that the Apostle prevented an Objection there and so he undertook to declare that he knew well enough what he said when he said If we have been planted together with him in the likeness of his death we shall also in the likeness of his Resurrection ver 5. But hitherto he hath declared only that he knew that they which were Planted together with Christ in the likeness of his death that is that they which were crucified or dead to sin with Christ were therefore so planted or so dead that they should serve sin no more He hath not as yet declared that he knew that they which were so planted and so dead should rise or spring up to a new life for it is not enough to shew that a man doth good to shew that he abstains from evil I said moreover that the Apostle spoke somewhat incongruously if we did look not to the sence but to the manner of his Speaking in the sixt verse Therefore the Apostle doth here correct as it were what he said there when he saith But if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him And also makes that out to the ful which he undertook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him q. d. But that I may correct my speech and speak more congruously and bring up that to the full which I undertook If we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him If we be dead with Christ i. e. If we be dead to sin as Christ was dead to this natural life The preposition With is a note of similitude here also We believe that we shall also live with him i. e. We believe or are perswaded that we shall also live the life of grace to God or to Righteousness as Christ now liveth a life of Glory to the glory of God With him i. e. As he doth Ver. 9. Knowing this that Christ being raised from the dead c. Whereas the Apostle said in the former verse If we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him that is that we shall live the life of grace and of righteousness as he liveth the life of Glory Some man may say but how canst thou say Paul that we shall live with Christ For art thou sure that Christ is now alive That thou canst not be for though Christ was raised from the dead yet he may be now dead again for many which were raised from the dead dyed again after they were raised This doubt or this objection the Apostle here prevents saying Knowing this that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more c. q d. I say we shall also live with him for we know this that Christ is now alive For Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Knowing this that Christ being raised from c. This he might know being informed thereof by the Spirit of God which knoweth all things and cannot lie but Christ appeared to Paul alive after a glorious manner 1 Cor. 15 8. By which he might certainly know that Christ was now living Death hath no more dominion over him i. e. Death neither hath nor shall have any more dominion over him A Syllepsis as before He speaks of death as of a Person by a Prosopopoeia Death had dominion over Christ after a certain manner when it severed his Soul from his Body upon the Cross and brought him down to the grave But Christ soon cast off this dominion of death and hath so far conquered death as that death shall never have any power of him again Nay death never had had any dominion over him at all had not he himself willingly for mans redemption submitted himself thereto V. 10. He died unto sin i. e. He died to or for this end that he migh abolish and destroy sin in us The word Sin is of the Dative Case and therefore to die to sin is as much as Mori propter peccatum vel ad peccatum in nobis mortificandum abolendum i. e. To die for sin or to die that he might mortifie and abolish sin in us For this efficacy or vertue hath Lamed with a Dative Case with the Hebrews whose Idiotismes Paul often useth Note that Christ and we are both said to die to sin but not both after one and the same manner for we are said to die to sin because we cease to yield to the motions of sin which are in us and after this manner Christ is not said to die to sin for there is no sin in Christ nor did he ever yield to any such motions thereby to be said to have ceased from yielding to the motions of sin but Christ is said to die to sin because he died to put away sin and abolish that sin which is in us and after this manner we cannot be said to die to sin for none can put away sin or abolish sin by his death but he that is both without sin himself and is a Person infinite Once i. e. Once and but once For such was the worth and value of Christs death as that he needed not to die more than once for the abolishing of sin Heb. 9. ver 25 26. But in that he liveth i. e. But in that he is raised again from death to life He liveth unto God i. e. He liveth and that an immortal life to the glory of God who hath exalted him to that life and is thereby glorified in that he hath so exalted him He liveth i. e. He liveth an immortal life Synechdoche Integri Vnto God i. e. Unto Gods glory Ver. 11. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin q. d. Being therefore ye hear that Christ was dead but is raised from the dead and being raised liveth and shall live for ever And being that Christ by his death and resurrection and life is a Type and Figure to teach us what we should do and should be Now as Christ was dead but was raised again and liveth a life immortal So likewise reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but yet alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord and so alive as always to continue in that life To be dead indeed unto sin What it is to be dead unto sin See verse 2. Alive unto God To live or to be alive unto God is so to live as that we please God and observe and do his will Through
without that defect aforesaid which otherwise they suffer The words then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being thus taken may be thus translated Know ye not that in as much as ye yield your selves servants to obey ye are servants in as much as ye do obey and that either of sin which brings to death or of the Law or doctrine of obedience which leads to righteousness The Apostle argues here and in the verses following against the foresaid Objection which some might by a miss-construction of his words raise out of the former verse as though by those words he gave there a freedom to sin And in his arguing he useth this methode First he lays this for a ground that Christians they at least to whom he wrote were the Servants of Righteousness and not of sin Secondly he builds this upon that or infers this from that That being they were the servants of Righteousness and not of sin they ought to obey Righteousness and not sin That which he lays for his ground he lays and makes good in the 16 17 18 verses That which he builds upon that and infers from that he doth in the 19 verse but yet he doth it not in Categorical terms but winds it up in an Exhortation as his manner sometimes is The ground to wit That they were the servants of Righteousness and not of sin he makes good by a Syllogism thus To whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whatsoever he be And this he lays down ver 16. But ye have yielded your selves servants to righteousness to obey her and not to sin to obey her And this he lays down ver 17. Therefore ye are the servants of Righteousness and not of sin This he lays down ver 18. The Major proposition of this Syllogism needed not any proof it is cleer they themselves knew it therefore he saith Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey ver 16. The Minor proposition he proves first by removing that which might be objected in the behalf of sin against it Secondly by shewing that which would make for Righteousness by matter of fact and both of these he doth ver 17. Of sin He speaks of Sin still as of a Person yea a Queen to whom to obey is to sin Vnto death That is which bringeth unto death yea death eternal Of obedience Obedience is to be taken here for the Law or Doctrine of obedience by a Metonymie as is plain by the next ensuing verse The Gospel may be called the Law or doctrine of obedience because it teacheth men to follow not their own sence and the motions of sin but to obey God who only is to be obeyed and not only teacheth them but enableth them also to obey him which may be called an inward teaching The Apostle speaketh of obedience that is of the Gospel which is the Law or Doctrine of obedience as of a person yea as a Queen by a Prosopopoeia Vnto Righteousness i. e. Which leadeth unto Righteousness the end whereof is everlasting life Ver. 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine delivered to you The sence of these words is this q. d. But for which ye have cause to thank God whereas ye had been the servants of sin and obeyed her ye have now at length obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered you Note that the Apostle doth not give God thanks here for that they were sometimes the slaves or servants of sin as though that had been the gift or blessing of God to them for which they ought to give thanks for that would be absur'd but he gives thanks to God for that that they had obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered them whereas they had in foretime been the servants and slaves of sin This giving of thanks therefore must be referred to the latter sentence not to the former And for such progress of the Gospel we ought to give God thanks as well as for the Gospel it self See Chap. 1.8 This phrase ye were the servants of sin is as much as whereas ye have been the Servants of sin Like phrase to this we meet with in many places See one Luk. 15. ver 23 24. In these words Let us eat and be merry for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine c. By this Doctrine he means the Gospel with its precepts and commands And by obeying is meant believing and doing according to it He speaks of this doctrine as of a Queen or Lady or Mystress by a Prosopopoeia This is that which he gives God thanks for to wit that they obeyed the Gospel by which giving of thanks we are admonished First that to obey the Gospel is the gift of God Secondly we are admonished that to obey the Gospel is a great blessing and so to be esteemed From the heart i. e. Not only in shew and outward appearance but also in truth and in inward sincerity as your holy conversation will testifie That form of doctrine By the doctrine here mentioned is meant the Gospel which is also called the doctrine of Christ 2 John 9. This doctrine he calls a form or mould and saith the form or mould of Doctrine by a Metaphor taken from a form or mould which Goldsmiths or some such Crafts-men use to cast an Image or thing in that they would form into any shape For as that Silver or Gold or whatsoever mettal else it is which is cast in such a form or mould is made like unto it So should they which believe the Gospel conform themselves and their lives unto the Gospel that they may represent it and carry the likeness of it in their lives and actions Ver. 18. Being then made free from Sin ye became c q. d â—herefore being made free from sin yee became c. This is the conclusion of the Syllogism which we spoke of Being made free from Sin ye became the servants of Righteousness Righteousness is to be taken here by a Metonymy for the Gospel which containeth precepts and prescripts of Righteousness or for the Laws prescripts and precepts of Righteousness therein contained He speaks both of Sin and Righteousness as of Ladies Queens or Mistresses by a Prosopopoeia Being then made free from Sin When a Man is so weak and so unable by his custome in sin or otherwise to resist the motions and temptations of Sin as that he is overcome with every little temptation this his â—state the Apostle calls an estate of servitude and thus to yield to every little temptation of sin he calls to serve Sin by a Metaphor When therefore we receive grace from Christ and strength and ability to withstand the motions and lusts
means the abrogation or expiration thereof but he speaks of the Law as of an Husband by an Allegory therefore saith rather That being dead wherein we were held than That being abrogated or expired wherein we were held Wherein we were held The particle In in Wherein is to be taken here for under So is the Greek preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word in the Greek here interpreted under Matth. 7.6 In those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translatours render under their feet That we should serve i. e. That being now married unto Christ and so strengthned by his Grace in the inward man we should serve Christ or we should serve God We should serve Supple God or serve Christ. The Apostle seemeth here to leave his Allegory of an Husband and Wife and Children and to speak more plainly and literally than he did before For whereas he saith here That we should serve he said in the same sence before That we should bring forth fruit ver 4. In newness By newness understand here Newness of life or a new kind or course of life rather by an Hebraism a kind or course of life different from that which we led before while we were under the Law and in the flesh In newness therefore is by a new life Before they led a sinful and ungodly life Now he would have them to lead a Righteous and a Godly life Of Spirit i e. Which the Spirit that is which the Gospel worketh or is able to work under which ye are brought For the Spirit is opposed here to the letter that is to the Law and what is more usually opposed to the Law than the Gospel So is it opposed and so is the word taken 2 Cor. 3.6 The Gospel is called the Spirit because of the Spirit of God which goeth along with it wherby man is brought to believe the Gospel and is renewed and strengthened to walk according to the Gospel by reason of which Spirit accompanying it it is also called the power of God unto salvation Chap. 1.16 To serve God therefore in newness of Spirit is to serve God by a new course of life such a course of life as the Gospel doth not only require of us but enable us also to lead For they which are under the Gospel are both required and enabled by the Gospel to lead a new life And not in the oldness of the letter i. e. And not with our old manner of living or with our old course of life which we led while we were under the Law and which was occasioned by the Law This the Apostle adds and speaks with a kind of Sarcasm because many Jews were so addicted to the Law as that they would hardly here of the abrogation or expiration of the Law as though that life which they lead under the Law before they were engrafted into Christ or had received his Gospel or his Grace was a life pleasing unto God And not in the oldness Oldness is to be taken here by an Hebraism for our old course and manner of living which was a course of life led in sin occasioned by the Law In is to be taken here for With after the Hebrew manner Of the Letter The letter is to be taken here for the Law of Moses that is for the Law as it was given by Moses and as it is precisely considered without the grace of the Gospel as it was taken Chap. 6 14 c. He calls the Law as it was given by Moses and as it is precisely considered without grace the Letter because it was described by Letters that is because it was written or given in writing and because it was in a manner but as a bare Letter or bare writing only which had no more or little more power to make a man good than by telling him what was good and commanding him to do it And being the Law was but a bare letter and did in a manner tell a man only what was good and command him to do it it did by Accident when he was bad make him worse for except a Carnal man hath grace given him to keep the commandments he runs contrary to the commandments and grows the worse by being commanded When therefore the Apostle saith And not in the oldness of the Letter we must not understand the words so as if he meant only thereby their old course of life led under the Letter that is under the Law But we must also understand them so as that he meant thereby that that course of life was occasioned at least in part by the Letter that is by the Law while they were under it as will appear by the Objection following and by the eighth verse So that these Genitives of the Spirit and of the Letter may be taken for Genitivi Efficientis Ver. 7. What shall we say then i. e. What shall we conclude then from that which we said viz. From that The Law is dead by the body of Christ And from that that we called Our former oldness The oldness of the Letter Is the Law sin q. d. Shall we conclude that the Law is a true and Genuine cause of sin Sin is to be taken here by a Metonymie for the cause of sin and the Law is to be taken here as it was taken Chap. 6.14 and Chap. 7. ver 1. 4. And as it signifieth the same with the Letter ver 6. God forbid By these words as he did before the Apostle detesteth and putteth from himself the thought of such a thing or such a conclusion as this is that the Law is a true and genuine cause of sin Nay I had not known sin i. e. Nay so far is the Law from being a true and genuine cause of sin as that I had not known sin at least so well as now I do c. But by the Law i e. But by the Law which was given in writing by Moses which did forbid sin If the written Law did forbid Sin and make it at least more known to be Sin than otherwise it would be by forbidding it surely the Law was not the genuine cause of Sin nor did it prompt or move thereunto For I had not known Lust Supple to be a Sin That is For I had not known that the inward lust and inward desire onely of that which is evil though it did not break out into any outward Act was Sin at least so well as now I do Thou shalt not covet This is the tenth Commandment of the Decalogue the Apostle omits here the object which is mentioned by Moses in that commandment viz. Thy neighbours house thy neighbours wife c. for brevities sake But though in that commandment at large there is no other object named but that which is the object of the Sixth and that which is the object of the seventh Commandment yet the object of this Commandment seems to me to be as large as the object of all the other nine
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from sin and death But he saith the Law of the Spirit of life and the Law of sin for the like reason as he said the Law of works and the Law of faith Chap. 3. ver 27 and as he saith the Law of righteousness Chap. 9.31 Note also that when he saith The Law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death he useth a Metaphor drawn from men Enfranchesing slaves and freeing them from that slavery which before time they underwent Note thirdly that the Apostle speaks here in the person of such as were justied by faith and were ingraffed into Christ Jesus as living branches into the living Vine Ver. 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 i. e. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak in comparison of the flesh that God did who sending his own Son in the likeness of a sinful man though he was without sin and for the destruction of sin destroyed sin which reigned in us by his Flesh that is by his Body which was Crucified for us There is an Ellipsis in these words of the Apostle as they are here translated But the words in the Original are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which may be thus interpreted For by reason of the weakness and imbecillity of the Law in that it was weak in comparison of the flesh God sending his own Son c. The Apostle prevents an Objection here For whereas he said ver 2. The Law of the spririt of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death a man might object and say But what needst thou Paul to say The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death when as the Law which was given by Moses can do this To this the Apostle answers after this manner q. d. I said that the Law of the Spirit of life which is by Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death I said not that the Law which was given by Moses hath done this because the Law which was given by Moses was weak in comparison of the flesh and not so able to draw men after it as the flesh was after it and therefore by reason of the impotency and imbecillity of the Law of Moses in that it was weak in comparison of the flesh God sending forth his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for this end that he might be a Sacrifice for sin and destroy sin hath destroyed sin by his flesh that is by his Body which was made a Scrifice for us For what the Law could not do That which is said of the Law here that it could not do is this viz. That it could not destroy sin The words in the Original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where first we may understand the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter then take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impotentiam or imbecillitatem and then interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Law of Moses thus For by reason of the impotency and weakness of the Law of Moses c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not only signifie Impossibilis Impossible but Impotens and Imbecillis also Imperfect and Weak and in the Neuter gender with a Prepositive Article Impotentia and Imbecillitas Impotencie and Weakness For that it was weak through the Flesh The words in the Original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here rendred Through is to be taken in a sence of Comparison as I conceive q. d. In that it was weak in comparison of the flesh And the Law of Moses was weak in comparison of the flesh in that the flesh had more power to draw men after it from the Law than the Law had to draw men after it from following the flesh Through the flesh By Flesh understand here the fleshly that is the carnal appetite of a man God sending his own Son Supple into the World This sets forth the love of God in that he would send a Son and that his own Son into the World for such a purpose In the likeness of sinful flesh Flesh is to be taken here by a Synechdoche for the Body that other part of Man and that again by a further Synechdoche for the whole man q d. In the likeness of sinful man Note that the word Likeness doth not relate here to the word Flesh but to the word Sinful For Christ Jesus was true and real Flesh that is true and real Man but yet not truly and really sinful man he was only like such a man for he himself was without sin Christ was made like to sinful man in that he was made subject to infirmities and miseries as sinful man was for his sin Condemned sin i. e. Destroyed or slew sin To Condemn is taken here for to Kill Per metonymiam Antecedentis or Causae For those Malefactors which are condemned to die are put to death after the Sentence of Condemnation is passed on them to which the Apostle here alludes One way by which Christ is said to kill or slay sin is by purchasing and procuring for us by his death and sacrifice the Holy Ghost or such spiritual gifts by which we are able to crucifie or slay sin which reigned in us and after this way may the Apostle seem to be particularly understood in this place if we consider what he saith of the Law of the Spirit of life in the foregoing verse In the flesh i. e. By his Flesh that is by his Body which was made a sacrifice for us In is put here for By and the Flesh is taken here for his Body by a Metonymie and that as sacrificed and offered upon the Cross as Chap. 7.4 Ephes 2.5 Ver. 4. That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us i. e. That we might perform those righteous Commandments which are contained in the Moral Law which was given by Moses so far forth at the least and in such manner as they are necessary to Salvation to which a most exact and a most perfect keeping of the Commandments is not required In us To wit which are in Christ Jesus Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit See verse 1. This the Apostle repeats here that he may shew the truth of it and press it home upon them to whom he wrote Ver. 5. For they that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit q. d. I say who walk not after the Flesh but after the spirit for they indeed
People The people of Israel are here meant whom God elected to be a peculiar people to himself which people were called Jews from the chiefest Tribe to wit the Tribe of Judah after the return of that people out of the Babylonish Captivity Which he foreknew i. e. which he hath heretofore shewed his love to Or rather being spoken of God whom he did decree and determine from eternity to cast his love upon See what was Said Cap. 8. v. 29. Of this word But note that the love here spoken of is not such a love as is spoken of there but such a love only as caused God to adopt the children of Israel for sons unto himself with such an Adoption as was described Chap. 9. v 4. These words contain an Argument to prove that God would not cast off his people Israel in that manner as we have spoken of being that God promised Abraham to be a God to him and his seed for ever Gen 17 7. And thereupon made choice of his seed to be his people and promised not so to abhor them at any time as to destroy them utterly Levit. 26.44 Deut. 4.31 There is therefore a Note of the cause contained in that Relative Pronoune Which Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias i. e. Know ye not c. The Apostle hath relation here to that Story which is Recorded of Elias 1 Kings 19.14 How he maketh intercession to God against Israel c. i. e. How he being zealously affected towards God complains to God of the ten tribes of Israel as Revolters from his worship to impiety And prayes his aid or revenge against them Ver. 3. Lord they have killed thy Prophets c. That as many Prophets of the Lord as could be found in Israel that is within the Kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel were slain at the command of Jezebel is manifest by the History 1 Kings 18.4 And digged down thine Altars Concerning the digging down of the Altars here mentioned nothing is found in the story aforementioned But yet that they were thus digged down The words of Elias 1 Kings 19.14 are sufficient Testimony But it may be questioned here how the Altars of the Lâ—â—d could be said to be digged down when aâ— there was to be no Altar of the Lord for sacrifice at this time but in Hierusalem only Answ Indeed ordinarily there could be no Altar made for sacrifice out of Hierusalem after that God had taken that for the place of his worship The Lord so commanding But upon special occasions the Lord again commanding it or moving to it by his spirit there might be Altars made even out of Hierusalem and that for Sacrifice as was that Altar which Eliah built 1 Kings 18.32 But though ordinarily there could be no Altars built but in Hierusalem only after the building of the Temple in Hierusalem and placing of the Ark there yet before that there might be and were many Altars built by the Holymen of God in many other places and many were built in the land of Israel which stood to this time of Elias though they were not now used for sacrifice as at the first And of these or such Altars doth Eliah here complain that they were digged down Not that he did allow of their doings and worship which sacrificed now upon these Altars because men were now to sacrifice in Hierusalem only ordinarily But because he did detest the abominable impiety of the men of the kingdom of the ten tribes who would not have sacrifices to be offered any where to the Lord but to Baal only And therefore did demolish and even dig down the Altars which were informer time built to the Lord and on which some of the Lords servants perhaps might by extraordinary dispensation sacrifice to the Lord in despight of them or that so they might dishonour him And I am left alone To wit of all them that truly worship thee all others being either slain or having forsaken thee and turned to Baal Elijah thought that there were none left that worshipped the true God but himself alone But he was deceived though he was a Prophet For the Spirit of the Prophets was but an Assistant Spirit Nor was it alway assistant to Prophets to inform them at all times in all things but only then and in such things as the Lord was pleased to reveal unto them And they seek my life To wit to destroy it Ver. 4. But what saith the answer of the Lord i. e. But what saith the Lord in his Answer to him The Answer of the Lord is put here by a Metonymie for the Lord himself that made Answer I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the Image of Baal i e. I have reserved to my self alive many thousand men which have not worshipped the Image of Baal that Idol God but worship me still and continue upright in my service He saith seven thousand for many thousand putting a certain for an uncertain number as it is often put And he saith have not bowed the knee to Baal for they have not worshipped Baal Per Metonymiam Adjuncti or per Synechdochen Ver. 5. There is a Remnant according to the Election of Grace i. e. That is there is a Remnant of the Jews remaining which God out of his free Grace and mercy hath elected to wit to justification The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where note that the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned with a new substantive makes it often to have the signification of an Adjective or a Participle so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Carnal Rom. 8.5 A Remnant that is a few The immediate Object of the Election here spoken of is under correction not Eternal glory and life everlasting in Heaven though justification tends to glorification But Justification for the object of this Election is due to works of debt without any grace or favour at all as appears by the sixth verse That is the object of this Election is such as that if a man did perfectly keep the Law and as exactly as the Law requireth it would be due to him of debt and with Reverence be it spoken God would be unjust if he should keep it from him But now though a man upon supposition did perfectly keep the Law or had perfectly kept it and as Exactly as the Law requireth yet he would not thereby merit Eternal glory and life everlasting in heaven that would not for all this be due to him of debt so that abstracting from the gratious promise of God if God should have made any such promise God would be unjust if he did not give it him And this I think all Protestant Divines will grant and maintaine who dispute against the merit of the Creature But yet if a man did perfectly keep the Law and as Exactly as the Law requireth as suppose Adam would have done if he had
Allegory as before Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness i. e. Let us therefore cast off those works which we did while we were in ignorance and knew not God or the mind or things of God Or let us cast off the works which men though they do them yet will do them only in the night or in the dark that they might not be seen that is Let us cast off evil works By the works of darkness he means evil works and such as he speaks of verse 13. which he calls works of darkness because they are such as the Romans committed in the night while they were in darkness that is while they were in ignorance before the light of the Gospel had shined to them And because they are such as they which commit commit in the night or in the dark as loving darkness more than light and night more than day yea as hating the light because their works are evil as our Saviour speaks John 3. v. 19.20 And let us put on the armour of light i e. And let us do the works of light and of the day that is let us do such works as are according to the Law of God and which are beseeming such as have the light of the Gospel and such works as a man will not be ashamed to do in the light or in the day By the armour of light then he meaneth good works and good works as they are sometimes compared to a Vestment or Garment so are they here compared to Armour and they may be compared to armour because they do not only cover us but also defend us from the assault of the Devil and spiritual wickedness in high places See Ephes 6. v. 13. c. where the Apostle sets out the Armour of a Christian Good works are called the Armour to wit of light or of the day not so much in allusion to Armour as in respect of the works signified by Armour which are such as are not ashamed of the light or of the day as evil works are Yet as men will wear such clothes in the night which they would not willingly be seen in in the day So the better sort of Souldiers might wear more foul rusty and unfurbished Armour in the night than they would wear in the day and to this might the Apostle here allude We said verse 11. that the Apostle did use an Allegory there in which he did allude to certain War like or Military passages In pursuance therefore of that Allegory may he use this phrase or manner of speech here saying Let us put on the Armour of light V. 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day c. He doth as it were interpret and shew here in this verse what he meant by that which he said verse 12. in those words Let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light Let us walk honestly as in the day i. e. Let us walk honestly and circumspectly as men use to walk in the day time when their works are seen and their doings taken notice of of all It is not unknown to any which are versed in the Scripture that the life and conversation of a man is often likned in the Scripture to walking Not in rioting and drunkenness These are such works as the Apostle called works of darkness ver 12. For they that are drunken are drunken in the night 1 Thes 5.7 c. These which the Apostle mentioneth here are not all the works of darkness which are but some only And the Apostle seemeth to mention these when he omitteth others because the Romans were more prone to these than they were to others Not in rioting i. e. Not in banqueting and Junqueting and riotous feasting He speaks of such banqueting and feasting and Junqueting as are not for necessity or for honourable and seemly entertainments but for voluptuousness and gluttony only to please the paunch or gullet and to stir up Venery And drunkenness By Drunkenness the Hebrews mean all excessive drinking though it proceeds not to the eclipsing or taking away of the use of reason for the time Not in chambering By Chambering he means all unlawful lying of men with women c. which useth to be practised in Chambers And wantonness By wantonness understand all unchast and lascivious gestures dealings and doings Not in strife i. e. Not in strife of words as reproaches c. nor in strife of deeds as fighting and quarrelings And envying i. e. Envying other men for their riches or honour or the like These two last sins are manifestly hurtfull to our Neighbour and the four other sins are hurtfull to our neighbour too in that they are committed with others and so they with whom they are committed are brought by our means into the guilt of sins with us and loss of their good names and reputation Ver. 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ By the Lord Jesus Christ is here meant the life and conversation of the Lord Jesus Christ by a Metonymy And then do we put on the Lord Jesus Christ when we imitate his vâ—rtues and live as he lived It is plain by the foregoing verse that by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is meant here nothing else but the imitation of his life and conversation The Life therefore or Conversation of Christ is likened here either to a garment or else to Armour as he likned good-works before ver 12. when he sayes Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ And make no provision for the flesh i. e. And provide not either meat or drink or any other thing for your Bodies By the Flesh is meant the body here by a Synechdoche or for the carnal affections To fulfill the lusts thereof To satisfie the inordinate desires thereof Note that the Apostle doth not simply forbid us to take care or to provide for the body here for there is no man but may lawfully nourish and cherish his own body Ephes 5. ver 29. But he forbids us only to take care and provide for the body for fulfilling the lusts thereof that is to take care for and to provide voluptuâ—us mâ—as and drinks and the like which are onely to satisfie or fulfill the inordinate desires and lusts thereof and to stir it up to venery and uncleanness Note that the Apostle useth here an Enallagy of the Person changing the first into the second person For whereas he said ver 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying He should have said here in order of speech But let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ and not make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof But such an Enallagy is frequent CHAP. XIV 1. HIm that is weak in the faith receive you but not to doubtful disputations 1. That Jew which is weak in the faith and is not perswaded of the abrogation of the
Lord Jesus Christ 6. That being of the like affection when ye meet together in the holy Congregation ye may with one heaâ—t and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which will be yet a greater blessing to you 7. Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God 7. Wherefore receive and embrace ye one anothe in a loving and respectful manner as Christ also received and embraced us that God may be thereby glorified 8. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the Fathers 8. And that ye may so receive and embrace one another I say to you Gentiles that Christ Jesus was himself in person a minister of the Jews and that he was so to shew the truth and veracity of God and to confirm the promises which God made to their fore-fathers of sending the Messiah in person to them so that being that the Jews were so highly honoured of God and of his Christ ye ought also to love honour respect and receive them 9. And that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercy as it is written For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name 9. And I say to you Jews that the Gentiles have received such mercies by Christ as that they have cause to praise and glorifie God for them And that which I say concerning the Gentiles is no other than what was prophesied of them of old For Psalm 18.49 David saies in the person of Christ For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing praises unto thy name 10. And again he saith Rejoyce ye Gentiles with his people 10. And again Moses by a prophetick Spirit saith Rejoyce ye Gentiles with his people Deut. 32.43 11. And again Praise the Lord all ye Gentiles and laud him all ye people 11. And again David saith Psalm 117.1 Praise the Lord all ye Gentiles and laud him all ye people 12. And again Esaias saith There shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust 12. And again Isaiah saith Isa 11.10 There shall be a a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust Being therefore that the Gentiles have received such mercies of God as that they may justly praise and glorifie God for them according to the prophesies which went of them of old ye Jews ought also to love honour respect and receive them 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 13. Now that I have told you Gentiles these things concerning the Jews and you Jews these things concerning the gentiles the God of hope grant that ye may believe them that he may fill you with all joy and peace by believing and that ye may have thereby abundant hope of eternal life through the powerful operation of the holy Ghost 14. And I my sâ—lf also am perswaded of you my brethren that ye also are full of goodness filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another 14. But perhaps some of you will say unto me Paul by this your writing to us you think that there is little goodness in us and that we are such babes or fools as that we know not what is amiss and are not able to admonish one another in a brotherly way when any of us erreth But whatsoever you think yet others think that we are full of goodness and knowledge and that we are able to admonish one another But in answer to this I say I Paul also even I my self am perswaded as much of you brethren that ye also as well as other Christians are full of goodness filled with knowledge able also to admonish one another 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 15. But yet notwithstanding my brethren I have written somewhat boldly unto you in some sort not that I might teach you what ye know not but that I might put you in mind of and call to your remembrance what ye know And this I do because the grace or office which is given to me of God requireth this of me 16. That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministring the gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the holy Ghost 16. For I have this grace or office of God that I should be the Minister or Servant of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles performing the holy function of a Priest in the Ministery of the gospel of God that the Gentiles being made as a sacrifice or oblation might become such a sacrifice or oblation as is acceptable unto God being sprinkled and sanctified by the gifts of the holy Ghost through my ministery 17. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God 17. But perhaps some of you Romans will say But Paul if thou hast this grace given thee of God that thou shouldst be the Minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles why dost thou not make use of this Ministery why hast thou not come to Minister the gospel of Christ to us Gentiles which live at Rome Thou lets this thy gift to lie Idle Know ye therefore that this grace or office which I received of God was not bestowed upon me in vain for by the exercise of that office and stirring up of that grace in me I have done that in those holy things which appertain to God whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ 18. 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 18. For for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me Christ hath wrought effectually by me by word and deed 19. Through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ 19. By mighty signs and wonders by the power of the holy Ghost to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gospel So that from Jerusalem and round about Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ with happy success 20. Yea so have I strived to preach the gospel not where Christ was named lest I should build upon another mans foundation 20. And I have with a kind of Ambition endeavoured thus to preach the Gospel Not where Christ had been named before lest I should build as it were upon the foundation which another man had laid and enter upon his
prophesieth here chiefly of the miseries and captivities which the people of Israel suffered under Sennacharib King of Assyria and under Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians which were meer hunters of men and so oppressed not the people of Israel onely but all other people that they could reach When therefore the people of Israel were delivered from the sword and captivity of the Babylonians these Gentiles also were delivered and by reason of that delivery they had reason to rejoyce as well as the people of Israel See Isaiah 14. verse 6.7 and Isaiah 42.10 c. to this purpose But this is for the first and Historical sence Now it is very well known that tâ—mporal miseries and afflictions were types of Spiriâ—ual miseries and afflictions which we suffer under the Divel and sin c. and the delivery from temporal miseries and afflictions were a type of the delivery from the miseries which we suffer by sin and the Divel though therefore in the first and Historical sence of these words Moses speaketh here of the corporeal deliverance of the people of Israel and such Gentiles as were persecuted and held captive by the Assyrians and Babylonians and the like from their sword and their captivity Yet in the second and mystical sence he prophesieth of the spiritual delivery of the Jews and Gentiles both from that which they suffered by sin and the Divel by Christ and for that are they exhorted to rejoyce in these words Rejoyce ye Gentiles with his people Ver. 11. And again Supple the Scripture saith Psal 117.1 Praise him all ye Gentiles and Laude him all ye people The Gentiles are exhorted here to praise the Lord and that for some great mercy shewed unto them or to be shewed this mercy was either spiritual or corporeal If Spiritual it is immediately for the Apostles purpose If Corporeal that Corporeal was a type of this Spiritual and so for the Apostles purpose too mediately at least Ver. 12. And again Esaias saith i. e. And again Esaias a pen-man of the Scripture saith Esa 11.10 There shall be a root of Jesse and he shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust i. e. And at that time there shall be a branch which shall spring out of the root of Jesse and he shall reign over the Gentiles after a spiritual manner And in him shall the Gentiles trust for salvation This is taken out of the prophesie of Isaiah Isa 11.10 as I said but not verbatim word for word but for the sence And in the Historical sence Hezekiah is meant by the Root of Jesse whose prosperity invited many of the Gentiles to come and live under his protection But in this Hezekiah was a Type of Christ who also was a root that is a branch of the root of Jesse And the Gentiles which lived under Hezekiahs protection a type of the Gentiles which should believe in Christ and submit themselves to him and trust and relie on him for forgiveness of sins and everlasting salvation so that in the mystical fence this is spoken of Christ and of the Gentiles which should believe in him and this is the sence which the Apostle here aims at There shall be a root of Jesse Jesse was the father of David from whom Hezekiah descended and of whom Christ came according to the flesh Matth. Chap. 1. ver 6 9 16. Christ and Hezekiah may either of them be called the root of Jesse by a Metonymie because he was a branch growing out of the root of Jesse according to that of Isaiah Isa 11. ver 1. Or we may say that as by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Genus is understood the head of a generation or kindred and the generation or kindred or that that comes of it So both the head of a generation or kindred and the generation or kindred it self or that that comes of it is meant by the root in the Hebrew manner of speaking for it signifies the head Isa 14.1 And it signifies the off-spring Revel 22. ver 16. By the root of Jesse Christ is here meant Not Hezekiah for the Apostle alledgeth this testimony in the mystical sence And he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles i. e. And one that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles This is the same as the root of Jesse to wit Christ who should be King not of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also They are called Gentiles which were not of the seed of Abrham according to the flesh In him shall the Gentiles trust To wit for Salvation Ver. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in bâ—lieving Now that I have told ye Gentiles these things concerning the Jews and ye Jews these things concerning the Gentiles the God of hope give you both to believe these things respectively which I have spoken to you that so ye may be at firm peace and unity among your selves which may be a great joy yea even fulness of joy to you and that further ye may abound by them throuh the power of the Holy Ghost in hope of Eternal life This Exhortatory Corollary the Prophet gathers from that which he said of Christs being the Minister of the Circumcision v. 8. And from that which he said of the mercy of God shewed to the Gentiles ver 9. The God of hope i. e. God which is the Author of hope and which worketh hope in us Here the Apostle adorns that third thing which he spake of ver 4. to wit Hope by declaring God to be the Author of it as he had done the two others Patience and Comfort before ver 5. Fill you with all joy and peace in believing i. e. Give you fulness of peace among your selves through believing even peace in which you may take abundance of joy and delight By peace he meaneth unity and concord of mind and heart and he speaketh it in opposition to that variance discord or contention which was among them When he saith with all joy and peace I conceive that he useth an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that he saith with all joy and peace for with all peace and joy for I conceive that this joy flows from this peace as joy and gladness doth from every Cordial vertue See Chap. 14. ver 17. All joy All joy in the Hebrew phrase signifieth full and perfect joy as James 1.2 My Brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations In believing i. e. By beliving to wit that which I said concerning the Jews and the Gentiles ver 8 9. c. In is put here for By or Through after the Hebrew manner The Object of this believing I conceive to be not the Gospel in general but that which he said concerning the Jews and Gentiles ver 8 9 c. For if the Jews and Gentiles which were at variance and discord among themselves as I have said before should but believe the truth of what the Apostle saith here the
Jews concerning the Gentiles and the Gentiles concerning the Jews their variance and discord must needs end in a firm peace and concord That ye may abound in hope i. e. That ye may have exceeding strong hope of everlasting life or everlasting glory Through that joy and peace The fruits of the Spirit are love joy peace c. Galat. 5.22 and such fruits raise an hope in us of everlasting glory to a great height and make it exceeding strong See Rom. 5. v. 4 5. Through the power of the Holy Ghost i e. By the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost Ver. 14. And I my self also am perswaded of you Brethren that ye are full of goodness c. The Apostle prevents an Objection here For some of the Romans may say Paul By this your writings to us you think that there is little goodness in us and that we are such babes or fools as that we know not what is amiss and are not able to admonish one another in a brotherly way when any errs but whatsoever you think others think that we are full of goodness and knowledge and that we are able to admonish one another This Objection I say the Apostle prevents here saying I think not so but I my self also am perswaded of you Brethren as well as others that ye are full of goodness filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another I my self also am perswaded Supple as well as others This perswasion which the Apostle here speaks of was grounded upon the fame and speech of men of credit That ye also are full of goodness i. e. That ye also as well as other brethren are full of goodness Supple one towards another c. By Goodness understand here the act or acting of goodness and take Goodness here for Loving kindness Filled with all knowledge i. e. That ye are endued with very much knowledge He saith all knowledge here as he said all joy v. 13. Here is a double Auxesis in these words Filled with all knowledge One in the word Filled another in the word All. He speaks here more especially of the knowledge which they had of Christs receiving both Jews and Gentiles and of the nature of things indifferent and of what was a fault and what not and how to teach and admonish c. Able also to admonish one another Supple when any did amiss and wanted admonition Note that what the Apostle speaks here he doth not attribute to all the Roman◠as though all were full of goodness and knowledge and able to admonish his brother but only to certain of the most eminent of them Because the Romans were one Body or one Church in which were members of divers qualities a◠some ignorant some knowing c. The Apostle speaks of them sometimes as of ignorant and wanting admonition And sometimes again as knowing and able to admonish in respect sometimes to one sort of them sometimes to another Ver. 15. Nevertheless Brethren I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort q. d. Though I am perswaded of you Brethren that ye are full of goodness and knowledge and are able to admonish one another yet nevertheless I have written to you somewhat the more boldly or more freely than otherwise I should do because of the grace that is given to me of God c. that is because I am the Apostle of the Gentiles Note that this Comparative degree doth here diminish its Positive In some sort By this the Apostle doth also lessen or mince what he said before of his boldness for these terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do diminish something of that of which they are spoken as ver 24. 1. Cor. 13.9 c. As putting you in mind i. e. Not as teaching you what ye know not but as putting you in mind or calling to your remembrance what ye know By this the Apostle doth somewhat excuse his boldness to the Romans but that by which he doth chiefly excuse it is that which follows Viz. Because of the grace that was given to him of God Because of the grace that was given to me of God These words relate not to these which went immediately before but to those I have written the more boldly to you in part And contain as I said his chief Reason why he wrote so boldly unto them By Grace here is meant that which follows in the next verse Viz. That he should be the minister of God to the Gentiles q. d. I have written unto you the more boldly because the Office in which God hath placed me requireth me so to do The word Grace doth commonly signifie a free gift of God here an Office by a Synechdoche generis Ver. 16. That I should be the Minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles i. e. That I should be the Servant of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles to minister the Gospel to them In what he should minister to the Gentiles he shews in the next words Viz. ministring the Gospel of God And among these Gentiles the Romans are contained as being the most part Gentiles That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ This Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 minister is a word which generally signifies any publick minister whether Civil or Ecclesiastical As appeareth Chap. 13. ver 6. Acts 13.2 But it is limited here by those words following Viz. Ministring the Gospel To an Ecclesiastical Minister a Preacher of the Gospel yea to a Priest for though the preaching of the Gospel be the Office to which this minister is here limited yet the Apostle speaks of himself here Metaphorically as of a Priest and the Sacrifice which he hath to offer for every Priest hath his Sacrifice are the Gentiles To the Gentiles Saint Paul was elected of Christ Jesus to be a minister to the Gentiles Acts 9.15 And it was agreed between Paul and other Apostles that he should go to the Gentiles and they to the Circumcision Galat. 2.9 wherefore he calls himself a Teacher of the Gentiles 2 Tim. 1.11 But yet we must not understand him so as if his ministry were limited only to the Gentiles to preach to them only for he teacheth the Jews in many places of this Epistle as well as the Gentiles and it is not likely that Saint Paul would go beyond the limits of his commission he therefore saith that he is the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles not because he might not or ought not to preach the Gospel to the Jews also but because it was the will of Christ Jesus who chose him to be his minister that he should preach chiefly unto the Gentiles and bring forth fruit chiefly among them It seemeth by this that the Apostle spake what he spoke here ver 14 15 c. to the Gentiles which lived at Rome who perhaps were men skilled in humane learning and therefore somewhat puffed up and not so ready to take such admonitions as Saint Paul gives