Editorial note: The supplied edition prints “Romans 1:18-4” here (WES_NTN1.PDF, physical PDF page 463). The surrounding outline uses an abbreviated range from Romans 1:18 through chapter 4; the last number names a chapter, not a verse in the starting chapter. The historical wording is retained. WES_NTN1.PDF, PDF page 463.
NOTES ON ST PAUL'S EPISTLE
TO THE ROMANS.
Many of the writings of the New Testament are written in the form of epistles. Such are not only those of St. Paul, James, Peter, Jude, but also both the treatises of St. Luke, and all the writings of St. John. Nay, we have seven epistles herein which the Lord Jesus himself sent by the hand of John to the seven churches; yea, the whole Revelation is no other than an epistle from Him.
Concerning the epistles of St. Paul, we may observe, he writes in a very different manner to those churches which he had planted himself, and to those who had not seen his face in the flesh. In his letters to the former, a loving or sharp familiarity appears, as their behaviour was more or less suitable to the gospel. To the latter, he proposes the pure, unmixed gospel, in a more general and abstract manner.
As to the time wherein he wrote his epistles, it is probable he wrote about the year of Christ, according to the common reckoning,
48 From Corinth, The Epistle to the Thessalonians.
49 From Phrygia, To the Galatians.
52 From Ephesus, The First to the Corinthians. From Troas, The First Epistle to Timothy. From Macedonia, The Second to the Corinthians, and that to Titus. From Corinth, To the Romans.
57 From Rome, To the Philippians, to Philemon, the Ephesians, and Colossians.
53 From Italy, To the Hebrews.
66 From Rome, The Second to Timothy.
As to the general epistles, it seems, St. James wrote a little before his death, which was A. D. 63. St. Peter, who was martyred in the year 67, wrote his latter epistle a little before his death, and not long after his former. St. Jude wrote after him, when the mystery of iniquity was gaining ground swiftly. St. John is believed to have wrote all his epistles a little before his departure. The Revelation he wrote A. D. 96. That St. Paul wrote this epistle from Corinth we may learn from his commending to the Romans Phebe, a servant of the church of Cenchrea, Romans 16:1, a port of Corinth; and from his mentioning the salutations of Caius and Erastus, Romans 16:23, who were both Corinthians. Those to whom he wrote seem to have been chiefly foreigners, both Jews and Gentiles, whom business drew from other provinces; as appears, both by his writing in Greek, and by his salutations of several former acquaintance. His chief design herein is to show, 1, That neither the Gentiles by the law of nature, nor the Jews by the law of Moses, could obtain justification before God; and that therefore it was necessary for both to seek it from the free mercy of God by faith. 2, That God has an absolute right to show mercy on what terms he pleases, and to withhold it from those who will not accept it on his own terms.
3. Concerning the equality of believers, Jews or Gentiles, 16-17 To these three parts, whereof The first is treated of, Romans 1:18-4. The second, Romans 5-8. The third, Romans 9.-11
Not only the treatise itself, but also the exhortation, answers in the same order.
III. The treatise,
1. Concerning justification, which is,
1. Not by works, for Romans 1:18 The Gentiles, Romans 2:1-10 The Jews, and 11-29 Both together are under sin,
1. Concerning faith and its fruits, love and practical holiness, 3-21 Romans 13:1-10
2. Concerning salvation, 11-14
3. Of the conjunction of Jews and Gentiles, Romans 14:1-15:13 V. The conclusion, 14- Romans 16:25
To express the design and contents of this epistle a little more at large: The apostle labours throughout to fix in those to whom he writes a deep sense of the excellency of the gospel, and to engage them to act suitably to it. For this purpose, after a general salutation, Romans 1:1-7, and profession of his affection for them, Romans 1:8-15, he declares he shall not be ashamed openly to maintain the gospel at Rome, seeing it is the powerful instrument of salvation, both to Jews and Gentiles, by means of faith, Romans 1:16,17. And, in order to demonstrate this, he shows,-
1. That the world greatly needed such a dispensation, the Gentiles being in a most abandoned state, Romans 1:18-32, and the Jews, though condemning others, being themselves no better, Romans 2:1-29; as, not withstanding some cavils, which he obviates, Romans 3:1-8, their own scriptures testify, Romans 3:9-19. So that all were under a necessity of seeking justification by this method, Romans 3:20-31.
2. That Abraham and David themselves sought justification by faith, and not by works, Romans 4:1-25.
3. That all who believe are brought into so happy a state, as turns the greatest afflictions into a matter of joy, Romans 5:1-11.
4. That the evils brought on mankind by Adam are abundantly recompensed to all that believe in Christ, Romans 5:12-21.
5. That, far from dissolving the obligations to practical holiness, the gospel increases them by peculiar obligations, Romans 6:1-23. In order to convince them of these things the more deeply, and to remove their fondness for the Mosaic law, now they were married to Christ by faith in him, Romans 7:1-6, he shows how unable the motives of the law were to produce that holiness which believers obtain by a living faith in the gospel, Romans 7:7-25; 8:1, 2, and then gives a more particular view of those things which rendered the gospel effectual to this great end, Romans 8:3-39.
That even the Gentiles, if they believed, should have a share in these blessings, and that the Jews, if they believed not, should be excluded from them, being a point of great importance, the apostle bestows the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters in settling it. He begins the ninth chapter by expressing his tender love and high esteem for the Jewish nation, Romans 9:1-5, and then shows,—
1. That God's rejecting great part of the seed of Abraham, yea, and of Isaac too, was undeniable fact, Romans 9:6-13.
2. That God had not chosen them to such peculiar privileges for any kind of goodness either in them or their fathers, Romans 9:14-24.
3. That his accepting the Gentiles, and rejecting many of the Jews, had been foretold both by Hosea and Isaiah, Romans 9:25-33.
4. That God had offered salvation to Jews and Gentiles on the same terms, though the Jews had rejected it, Romans 10:1-21.
5. That though the rejection of Israel for their obstinacy was general, yet it was not total; there being still a remnant among them who did embrace the gospel, Romans 11:1-10.
6. That the rejection of the rest was not final, but in the end all Israel should be saved, Romans 11:11-31.
7. That, meantime, even their obstinacy and rejection served to display the unsearchable wisdom and love of God, Romans 11:32-36. The rest of the epistle contains practical instructions and exhortations. He particularly urges,
1. An entire consecration of themselves to God, and a care to glorify Him by a faithful improvement of their several talents, Romans 7:1-11.
3. Obedience to magistrates, justice in all its branches, love the fulfilling of the law, and universal holiness, Romans 8:1-14.
4. Mutual candour between those who differed in judgment, touching the observance of the Mosaic law, Romans 14:1-23; 15:1-17; in enforcing which he is led to mention the extent of his own labours, and his purpose of visiting the Romans; in the mean time recommending himself to their prayers, Romans 15:18-33. And, after many salutations, Romans 16:1-16, and a caution against those who caused divisions, he concludes with a suitable blessing and doxology, Romans 16:17-27.
Adam Clarke
Preface to the Epistle to the Romans.
CLA_ROM.PDF, source PDF p. 3
Editorial note: Source collation note — paragraph 53: “is in the hebrew, בם tlvm היינו מעולם לא hayinu meolam, lo mashalla”. source PDF page 18: “is in the Hebrew בם משלת לא מעולם היינו hayinu me-olam, lo mashalla”. Compared with CLA_ROM.PDF PDF p. 3, CLA_ROM.PDF PDF p. 18. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: an automated comparison of surrounding English text located possible corresponding passages in OCR from separately digitized printed volumes. The linked scan pages are research locators; their images have not been collated for this note's flagged readings. OCR agreement does not verify Greek or Hebrew letters, diacritics, word order, or table layout. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain. CLA_ROM.PDF, PDF page 3; CLA_ROM.PDF, PDF page 18; Additional printed-scan page locator (OCR context only; flagged reading unverified).
PREFACE TO THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
THAT ST. PAUL was the author of this epistle, and that it possesses every evidence of authenticity that any work of the kind can possess, or that even the most fastidious skepticism can require, has been most amply proved by Dr. W. Paley, Archdeacon of Carlisle, in his work entitled “Horæ Paulinæ; or, the Truth of the Scripture History of St. Paul evinced, by a comparison of the Epistles which bear his name with the Acts of the Apostles, and with one another.”
Of this apostle I have spoken at large in the notes on the preceding book, and especially in the observations at the close of the ninth chapter, to which I beg leave to refer the reader. It will be sufficient to state here, that Saul, (afterwards called Paul,) was born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, of Jewish parents, who possessed the right of Roman citizens; (see the note on Acts 22:28;) that, when young, he was sent to Jerusalem for the purpose of receiving a Jewish education; that he was there put under the tuition of the famous Rabbi Gamaliel, and was incorporated with the sect of the Pharisees, of whose system he imbibed all the pride, self-confidence, and intolerance; and distinguished himself as one of the most inveterate enemies of the Christian cause; but, being converted by a most singular interposition of Divine Providence and grace, he became one of the most zealous promoters and successful defenders of the cause which he had before so inveterately persecuted.
Though this epistle is directed to the Romans, yet we are not to suppose that Romans, in the proper sense of the word, are meant; but rather those who dwelt at Rome, and composed the Christian Church in that city: that there were among these Romans, properly such, that is heathens who had been converted to the Christian faith, there can be no doubt; but the principal part of the Church in that city seems to have been formed from Jews, sojourners at Rome, and from such as were proselytes to the Jewish religion.
When, or by whom, the Gospel was first preached at Rome cannot be ascertained. Those who assert that St. Peter was its founder, can produce no solid reason for the support of their opinion. Had this apostle first preached the Gospel in that city, it is not likely that such an event would have been unnoticed in the Acts of the Apostles, where the labours of St. Peter are particularly detailed with those of St. Paul, which indeed form the chief subject of this book. Nor is it likely that the author of this epistle should have made no reference to this circumstance, had it been true. Those who say that this Church was founded by these two apostles conjointly, have still less reason on their side; for it is evident, from Romans 1:8, &c., that St. Paul had never been at Rome previously to his writing this epistle. It is most likely that no apostle was employed in this important work, and that the Gospel was first preached there by some of those persons who were converted at Jerusalem on the day of pentecost; for we find, from Acts 2:10, that there were at Jerusalem strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes; and these, on their return, would naturally declare the wonders they had witnessed, and proclaim that truth by which they themselves had received salvation. Of ROME itself, then the metropolis of the world, a particular account has been given in the note on Acts 28:16; to which the reader is requested to refer. The occasion of writing this epistle may be easily collected from the epistle itself. It appears that St. Paul had been made acquainted with all the circumstances of the Christians at Rome, by Aquila and Priscilla, (see Romans 16:3,) and by other Jews who had been expelled from Rome by the decree of Claudius, (mentioned Acts 18:2;) and, finding that they consisted partly of heathens converted to Christianity, and partly of Jews who had, with many remaining prejudices, believed in Jesus as the true Messiah, and that many contentions arose from the claims of the Gentile converts to equal privileges with the Jews, and from the absolute refusal of the Jews to admit these claims unless the Gentile converts became circumcised, he wrote to adjust and settle these differences. Dr. Paley, with his usual perspicuity, has shown that the principal object of the argumentative part of the epistle is “to to place the Gentile convert upon a parity of situation with the Jewish, in respect of his religious condition, and his rank in the Divine favour.” The epistle supports this point by a variety of arguments; such as, that no man of either description was justified by the works of the law-or this plain reason, that no man had performed them; that it became therefore necessary to appoint another medium, or condition of justification, in which new medium the Jewish peculiarity was merged and lost; that Abraham’s own justification was antecedent to the law, and independent of it; that the Jewish converts were to consider the law as now dead, and themselves as married to another; that what the law in truth could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God had done by sending his Son; that God had rejected the unbelieving Jews, and had substituted in their place a society of believers in Christ, collected indifferently from Jews and Gentiles. Therefore, in an epistle directed to Roman believers, the point to be endeavoured after by St. Paul was to reconcile tho Jewish converts to the opinion that the Gentiles were admitted by God to a parity of religious situation with themselves, and that without their being obliged to keep the law of Moses. In this epistle, though directed to the Roman Church in general, it is, in truth, a Jew writing to Jews. Accordingly, as often as his argument leads him to say any thing derogatory from the Jewish institution, he constantly follows it by a softening clause. Having, Romans 2:28, 29, pronounced “that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,” he adds immediately, “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way.” Having in Romans 3:28, brought his argument to this formal conclusion, “that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law,” he presently subjoins, Romans 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the law.” In the seventh chapter, when in Romans 7:6 he had advanced the bold assertion, “that now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held;” in the next verse he comes in with this healing question, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin but by the law.” Having, in the following words, more than insinuated the inefficacy of the Jewish law, Romans 8:3: “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;” after a digression indeed, but that sort of a digression which he could never resist, a rapturous contemplation of his Christian hope, and which occupies the latter part of this chapter; we find him in the next, as if sensible that he had said something which would give offence, returning to his Jewish brethren in terms of the warmest affection and respect: “I say the truth in Christ Jesus, I lie not; my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart; for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers; and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.” When, in the 31st and 32d verses of the ninth chapter, he represented to the Jews the error of even the best of their nation, by telling them that “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of righteousness, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;” he takes care to annex to this declaration these conciliating expressions: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved; for I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Lastly, having, Romans 10:20, 21, by the application of a passage in Isaiah, insinuated the most ungrateful of all propositions to a Jewish ear, the rejection of the Jewish nation as God’s peculiar people; he hastens, as it were, to qualify the intelligence of their fall by this interesting exposition: “I say then, hath God cast away his people, (i.e. wholly and entirely?) God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew;” and follows this throughout the whole of the eleventh chapter, in a series of reflections calculated to soothe the Jewish converts, as well as to procure from their Gentile brethren respect to the Jewish institution. Dr. Paley, drawing an argument from this manner of writing, in behalf of the genuineness of this epistle, adds, “Now all this is perfectly natural. In a real St. Paul writing to real converts, it is what anxiety to bring them over to his persuasion would naturally produce; but there is an earnestness and a personality, if I may so call it, in the manner, which a cold forgery, I apprehend, would neither have conceived nor supported.” Horæ Paulinæ, p. 49, &c.
From a proper consideration of the design of the apostle in writing this epistle, and from the nature and circumstances of the persons to whom it was directed, much light may be derived for a proper understanding of the epistle itself. When the reader considers that the Church at Rome was composed of heathens and Jews, that the latter were taught to consider themselves the only people on earth to whom the Divine favour extended; that these alone had a right to all the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom; that the giving them the law and the prophets, which had not been given to any other people, was the fullest proof that these privileges did not extend to the nations of the earth; and that, though it was possible for the Gentiles to be saved, yet it must be in consequence of their becoming circumcised, and taking on them the yoke of the law:-when, on the other hand, the reader considers the Roman Gentiles, who formed the other part of the Church at Rome, as educated in the most perfect contempt of Judaism and of the Jews, who were deemed to be haters of all mankind, and degraded with the silliest superstitions, and now evidently rejected and abandoned by that God in whom they professed to trust; it is no wonder if, from these causes, many contentions and scandals arose, especially at a time when the spirit of Christianity was but little understood, and among a people, too, who do not appear to have had any apostolic authority established among them to compose feuds and settle religious differences.
That the apostle had these things particularly in his eye is evident from the epistle itself. His first object is to confound the pride of the Jews and the Gentiles; and this he does by showing the former that they had broken their own law, and, consequently, forfeited all the privileges which the obedient had a right to expect. He shows the latter that, however they might boast of eminent men, who had been an honour to their country, nevertheless, the Gentiles, as a people, were degraded by the basest of crimes, and the lowest idolatry; that, in a word, the Gentiles had as little cause to boast in their philosophers as the Jews had to boast in the faith and piety of their ancestors; “for all had sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This subject is particularly handled in the five first chapters, and often referred to in other places.
Concerning the time in which this epistle was written, there is not much difference of opinion: it is most likely that it was written about A. D. 58, when Paul was at Corinth: see Romans 16:23, conferred with 1 Corinthians 1:14; and Romans 16:1, conferred with 2 Timothy 4:20. It appears, from Romans 16:22, that Paul did not write this epistle with his own hand, but used a person called Tertius as his amanuensis; and that it was sent by the hands of Phoebe, a deaconess, (δια φοιβης της διακυνου,) of the Church of Cenchrea, which was the eastern port on the Isthmus of Corinth.
From internal evidence Dr. Paley has demonstrated the authenticity of this epistle; and its existence in the ancient Antehieronymian versions and the Syriac, as well as its being mentioned by the Apostolic Fathers, Barnabas, chap. xii. 13; Clemens Romanus, Ep. i. c. i. 30, 32, 35, 46; Ignatius, Epist. ad Ephes. 20, ad Smyrn. 1, ad Trall. 8; and Polycarp, 3 and 6, and by all succeeding writers, puts it beyond all dispute.
Of the fourteen epistles attributed to St. Paul, (thirteen only of which bear his name,) this has been reckoned the first in importance, though certainly not in order of time; for there is every reason to believe that both the epistles to the Thessalonians, that to the Galatians, those to the Corinthians, the first to Timothy, and that to Titus, were all written before the epistle to the Romans. See the dates of the books of the New Testament at the end of the introduction to the Gospels, &c. In the arrangement of the epistles nothing seems to have been consulted besides the length of the epistle, the character of the writer, and the importance of the place to which it was sent. ROME, being the mistress of the world, the epistle to that city was placed first. Those to the Corinthians, because of the great importance of their city, next. Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessalonica, follow in graduated order. Timothy, Titus, and Philemon succeed in the same way: and the epistle to the Hebrews, because the author of it was long in dispute, was placed at the end of the epistles of Paul, as being probably written by him. James, as Bp. of Jerusalem, precedes Peter, Peter precedes John, as the supposed chief of the apostles; and John the beloved disciple, Jude. The book of the Revelation, as being long disputed in the Christian Church, was thrown to the conclusion of the New Testament Scriptures. The surats or chapters of the Koran were disposed in the same sort of order; the longest being put first, and all the short ones thrown to the end, without any regard to the times in which it was pretended they were revealed.
There have been some doubts concerning the language in which this epistle was written. John Adrian Bolten endeavoured to prove that St. Paul wrote it in Syriac, and that it was translated into Greek by Tertius: but this supposition has been amply refuted by Griesbach. Others think that it must have been written originally in Latin, the language of the people to whom it was addressed; “for although the Greek tongue was well known in Rome, yet it was the language of the great and the learned; and it is more natural to suppose that the apostle would write in the language of the common people, as those were most likely to be his chief readers, than that of the great and the learned.” This argument is more specious than solid.-1. It is certain that at this time the Greek language was very generally cultivated in Rome, as it was in most parts of the Roman empire. Cicer., pro Arch. 10, says Græca leguntur in omnibus fere gentibus: Latina, suis finibus, exiguis sane continentur. “The Greek writings are read in almost all nations: those of the Latin within their own narrow limits.” Tacitus, Orator. 29, observes, Nunc natus infans delegatur Græculæ alicui ancillæ. “Now the new-born child is put under the care of some Greek maid;” and this undoubtedly for the purpose of its learning to speak the Greek tongue. And Juvenal, Sat. vi. ver. 184, ridicules this affectation of his countrymen, which in his time appears to have been carried to a most extravagant excess.
Nam quid rancidius, quam quod se non putat ulla
Formosam, nisi quæ de Tusca Græcula facta est?
De Sulmonensi mera Cecropis? OMNIA GRÆCE,
Cum sit turpe magis nostris nescire Latine.
Hoc sermone pavent, hoc Iram, Gaudia, Curas,
Hoc cuncta effundunt animi secreta. Quid ultræ
“For what so nauseous and affected too,
As those that think they due perfection want
Who have not learned to lisp the Grecian cant?
In Greece their whole accomplishments they seek:
Their fashion, breeding, language must be Greek,
But raw in all that does to Rome belong,
They scorn to cultivate their mother-tongue,
In Greek they flatter, all their fears they speak,
Tell all their secrets, nay they scold in Greek.”
DRYDEN.
From these testimonies it is evident that the Greek was a common language in Rome in the days of the apostle; and that in writing in this language, which he probably understood better than he did Latin, he consulted the taste and propensity of the Romans, as well as the probability of his epistle being more extensively read in consequence of its being written in Greek.
2. But were these arguments wanting, there are others of great weight that evince the propriety of choosing this language in preference to any other. The sacred writings of the Old Testament were, at that time, confined to two languages, the Hebrew and the Greek. The former was known only within the confines of Palestine; the latter over the whole Roman empire: and the Latin tongue appears to have been as much confined to Italy as the Hebrew was to Judea. The epistle, therefore, being designed by the Spirit of God to be of general use to the Christian Churches, not only in Italy, but through Greece and all Asia Minor, where the Greek language was spoken and understood, it was requisite that the instructions to be conveyed by it should be put in a language the most generally known; and a language too which was then in high and in daily increasing credit.
3. As the Jews were the principal objects of the epistle, and they must be convinced of the truth of Christianity from the evidence of their own Scriptures; and as the Greek version of the Septuagint was then their universal text-book, in all their dispersions, it was absolutely requisite that the epistle should be written in a tongue with which they were best acquainted, and in which their acknowledged Scriptures were contained. These arguments seem conclusive for a Greek and not a Latin original of this epistle.
From the manner in which this epistle has been interpreted and applied, various most discordant and conflicting opinions have originated. Many commentators, forgetting the scope and design of it, have applied that to men in general which most obviously belongs to the Jews, as distinguished from the Gentiles, and to them only. From this one mistake the principal controversies that have agitated and divided the Church of Christ concerning the doctrines of unconditional reprobation and election have arisen. Men, eminent for their talents, learning, and piety, have interpreted and applied the whole on this mistaken ground. They have been opposed by others, not at all their inferiors either in religion or learning, who, not attending properly to the scope of the apostle, have rather argued from the perfections of the Divine nature, and the general concurrent sense of Scripture, and thus proved that such doctrines cannot comport with those perfections, nor with the analogy of faith; and that the apostle is to be interpreted according to these, and not according to the apparent grammatical import of the phraseology which he employs. On both sides the disputes have run high; the cause of truth has gained little, and Christian charity and candour have been nearly lost. Dispassionate men, on seeing this, have been obliged to exclaim:-
———tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ!
Can such fierce zeal in heavenly bosoms dwell!
To compose these differences, and do justice to the apostle, and set an important portion of the word of God in its true and genuine light, Dr. John Taylor of Norwich, a divine who yielded to few in command of temper, benevolent feeling, and deep acquaintance with the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, undertook the elucidation of this much-controverted epistle. The result of his labours was a paraphrase and notes on the whole book, to which is prefixed “A KEY to the Apostolic Writings; or, an essay to explain the Gospel scheme, and the principal words and phrases the apostles have used in describing it.” 4to. 1769, fourth edition. This KEY, in the main, is a most invaluable work, and has done great justice to the subject. Christians, whether advocates for general or particular redemption, might have derived great service from this work, in explaining the Epistle to the Romans; but the author’s creed, who was an Arian, (for he certainly cannot be ranked with modern Unitarians,) has prevented many from consulting his book.
To bring the subject of this epistle before the reader, into the fairest and most luminous point of view in my power, I think it right to make a large extract from this Key, steering as clear as possible of those points in which my own creed is certainly at variance with that of my author; especially in the articles of Original Sin, the Atonement, and Deity of Christ; but as these points are seldom directly touched in this introductory key, the reader need be under no apprehension that he shall meet with any thing in hostility to the orthodoxy of his own creed.
A KEY TO THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS; or, an Essay to explain the Gospel Scheme, and the principal words and phrases which the apostles have used in describing it.
§ 1. On the Original and Nature of the Jewish Constitution of Religion.
1. God, the Father of the universe, who has exercised his boundless wisdom, power, and goodness, in producing various beings of different capacities; who created the earth, and appointed divers climates, soils, and situations in it; hath, from the beginning of the world, introduced several schemes and dispensations for promoting the virtue and happiness of his rational creatures, for curing their corruption, and preserving among them the knowledge and worship of himself, the true God, the possessor of all being, and the fountain of all good.
2. In pursuance of this grand and gracious design, when, about four hundred years after the flood, the generality of mankind were fallen into idolatry, (a vice which in those times made its first appearance in the world,) and served other gods, thereby renouncing allegiance to the one God, the maker and governor of heaven and earth, He, to counteract this new and prevailing corruption, was pleased, in his infinite wisdom, to select one family of the earth to be a repository of true knowledge and the pattern of obedience and reward among the nations; that, as mankind were propagated, and idolatry took its rise and was dispersed from one part of the world into various countries, so also the knowledge, worship, and obedience of the true God might be propagated and spread from nearly the same quarter; or, however, from those parts which then were most famous and distinguished. To this family he particularly revealed himself, visited them with several public and remarkable dispensations of providence, and at last formed them into a nation under his special protection, and governed them by laws delivered from himself; placing them in the open view of the world, first in Egypt, and afterwards in the land of Canaan.
3. The head or root of this family was Abraham, the son of Terah, who lived in Ur of the Chaldees, beyond Euphrates. His family was infected with the common contagion of idolatry, as appears from Joshua, Joshua 24:2, 3: “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood (or river Euphrates) in old time; even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, &c.” And the Apostle Paul intimates as much, Romans 4:3-5: “For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Abraham is the person he is discoursing about; and he plainly hints, though he did not care to speak out, that even Abraham was chargeable with not paying due reverence and worship to God; as the word ASEBHS, which we render ungodly, properly imports.
4. But, though Abraham had been an idolater, God was pleased, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, to single him out to be the head or root of that family or nation which he intended to separate to himself from the rest of mankind for the forementioned purposes. Accordingly he appeared to him in his native country, and ordered him to leave it and his idolatrous kindred, and to remove into a distant land to which he would direct and conduct him, declaring at the same time his covenant or grant of mercy to him, in these words, Genesis 12:1-3: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” So certainly did God make himself known to Abraham, that he was satisfied this was a revelation from the one true God, and that it was his duty to pay an implicit obedience to it. Accordingly, upon the foot of this faith, he went out, though he did not know whither he was to go. The same covenant, or promise of blessings, God afterwards at sundry times repeated to him; particularly when it is said, Genesis 15:5: “And the Lord brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.” Here again he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. Also, Genesis 17:1-8, he repeats and establishes the same covenant, to be a God unto him and his seed after him; promising him the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and appointing circumcision as a perpetual token of the certainty and perpetuity of this covenant. Thus Abraham was taken into God’s covenant, and became entitled to the blessings it conveyed; not because he was not chargeable before God with impiety, irreligion, and idolatry; but because God, on his part, freely forgave his prior transgressions, and because Abraham, on his part, believed in the power and goodness of God; without which belief or persuasion that God was both true and able to perform what he had promised, he could have paid no regard to the Divine manifestations; and consequently must have been rejected as a person altogether improper to be the head of that family which God intended to set apart to himself.
5. And as Abraham, so likewise his seed or posterity, were at the same time, and before they had a being, taken into God’s covenant, and entitled to the blessings of it. Genesis 17:7: “I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy SEED AFTER thee, &c.” Not all his posterity, but only those whom God intended in the promise; namely, first, the nation of the Jews, who hereby became particularly related to God, and invested in sundry invaluable privileges; and, after them, the believing Gentiles, who were reckoned the children of Abraham, as they should believe in God as Abraham did.
6. For about two hundred and fifteen years from the time God ordered Abraham to leave his native country, he, and his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, sojourned in the land of Canaan, under the special protection of Heaven, till infinite wisdom thought fit to send the family into Egypt, the then head-quarters of idolatry, with a design they should there increase into a nation; and there, notwithstanding the cruel oppression they long groaned under, they multiplied to a surprising number. At length God delivered them from the servitude of Egypt, by the most dreadful displays of his almighty power; whereby he demonstrated himself to be the one true God, in a signal and complete triumph over idols, even in their metropolis, and in a country of fame and eminence among all the nations round about. Thus freed from the vilest bondage, God formed them into a kingdom, of which he himself was king; gave them a revelation of his nature and will; instituted sundry ordinances of worship; taught them the way of truth and life; set before them various motives to duty, promising singular blessings to their obedience and fidelity, and threatening disobedience and apostasy, or revolt from his government, with very heavy judgments, especially that of being expelled from the land of Canaan and “scattered among all people from one end of the earth unto the other,” in a wretched, persecuted state; Deuteronomy 28:63-68; Leviticus 26:3, 4, &c. Having settled their constitution, he led them through the wilderness, where he disciplined them for forty years together, made all opposition fall before them, and at last brought them to the promised land.
7. Here I may observe that God did not choose the Israelites out of any partial regard to that nation, nor because they were better than other people, (Deuteronomy 9:4, 5,) and would always observe his laws. It is plain he knew the contrary, (Deuteronomy 31:29;32:5,6,15.) It was indeed with great propriety that, among other advantages, he gave them also that of being descended from progenitors illustrious for piety and virtue and that he grounded the extraordinary favours they enjoyed upon Abraham’s faith and obedience; Genesis 22:16-18. But it was not out of regard to the moral character of the Jewish nation that God chose them; any other nation would have served as well on that account; but, as he thought fit to select one nation of the world, he selected them out of respect to the piety and virtue of their ancestors; Exodus 3:15; 6:3-5, Deuteronomy 4:37.
8. It should also be carefully observed that God selected the Israelitish nation, and manifested himself to them by various displays of his power and goodness, not principally for their own sakes, to make them a happy and flourishing people, but to be subservient to his own high and great designs with regard to all mankind. And we shall entertain a very wrong, low, and narrow idea of this select nation, and of the dispensations of God towards it, if we do not consider it as a beacon, or a light set upon a hill, as raised up to be a public voucher of the being and providence of God, and of the truth of the revelation delivered to them in all ages and in all parts of the world; and, consequently, that the Divine scheme, in relation to the Jewish polity, had reference to other people, and even to us at this day, as well as to the Jews themselves. The situation of this nation, lying upon the borders of Asia, Europe, and Africa, was very convenient for such a general purpose.
9. It is farther observable that this scheme was wisely calculated to answer great ends under all events. If this nation continued obedient, their visible prosperity, under the guardianship of an extraordinary Providence, would be a very proper and extensive instruction to the nations of the earth; and no doubt was so; for, as they were obedient, and favoured with the signal interpositions of the Divine power, their case was very useful to their neighbours. On the other hand, if they were disobedient, then their calamities, and especially their dispersions, would nearly answer the same purpose, by spreading the knowledge of the true God and of revelation in the countries where before they were not known. And so wisely was this scheme laid at first, with regard to the laws of the nation, both civil and religious, and so carefully has it all along been conducted by the Divine providence, that it still holds good, even at this day, full 3600 years from the time when it first took place, and is still of public use for confirming the truth of revelation. I mean, not only as the Christian profession spread over a great part of the world has grown out of this scheme, but as the Jews themselves, in virtue thereof, after a dispersion of about 1700 years over all the face of the earth, every where in a state of ignominy and contempt, have, notwithstanding, subsisted in great numbers, distinct and separate from all other nations. This seems to me a standing miracle; nor can I assign it to any other cause but the will and the extraordinary interposal of Heaven, when I consider that, of all the famous nations of the world who might have been distinguished from others with great advantage, and the most illustrious marks of honour and renown, as the Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, who all, in their turns, held the empire of the world, and were, with great ambition, the lords of mankind, yet these, even in their own countries, the seat of their ancient glory, are quite dissolved and sunk into the body of mankind; nor is there a person upon earth can boast he is descended from those renowned and imperial ancestors. Whereas a small nation, generally despised, and which was, both by Pagans and pretended Christians, for many ages harassed, persecuted, butchered, and distressed, as the most detestable of all people upon the face of the earth, (according to the prophecy of Moses, Deuteronomy 28:63, &c.; see Dr. Patrick’s commentary upon that place,) and which, therefore, one would imagine, every soul that belonged to it should have gladly disowned, and have been willing the odious name should be entirely extinguished; yet, I say, this hated nation has continued in a body quite distinct and separate from all other people, even in a state of dispersion and grievous persecution, for about 1700 years; agreeably to the prediction, Jeremiah 46:28: “I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee.” This demonstrates that the wisdom which so formed them into a peculiar body, and the providence which has so preserved them that they have almost ever since the deluge subsisted in a state divided from the rest of mankind, and are still likely to do so, is not human but Divine. For, no human wisdom nor power could form, or, however, could execute such a vast, extensive design. Thus the very being of the Jews, in their present circumstances, is a standing public proof of the truth of revelation.
§ II. The peculiar Honours and Privileges of the Jewish Nation, while they were the peculiar People of God, and the Terms signifying those Honours explained.
10. The nature and dignity of the foregoing scheme, and the state and privileges of the Jewish nation will be better understood if we carefully observe the particular phrases by which their relation to God and his favours to them are expressed in Scripture.
11. As God, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, was pleased to prefer them before any other nation, and to single them out for the purposes of revelation, and preserving the knowledge, worship, and obedience of the true God, he is said to choose them, and they are represented as his chosen or elect people. Deuteronomy 4:37; 7:6; 10:15: “The Lord had a delight in thy fathers-and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people.” 1 Kings 3:8: “Thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered.” 1 Chronicles 16:13: “O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen ones;” Psalm 105:6; 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance;” Psalm 105:43; 106:5: “That I may see the good of thy chosen or elect, that I may rejoice in the goodness of thy nation;” Psalm 135:4; Isaiah 41:8, 9; 43:20; 44:1, 2; 45:4: “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name.” Ezekiel 20:5: “Thus saith the Lord, in the day when I chose Israel, and lifted my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt.” Hence, reinstating them in their former privileges is expressed by choosing them again. Isaiah 14:1: “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land;” Zechariah 1:17; 2:12.
12. The first step he took in execution of his purpose of election, was to rescue them from their wretched situation, in the servitude and idolatry of Egypt; and to carry them, through all enemies and dangers, to the liberty and happy state to which he intended to advance them. With regard to which the language of Scripture is: 1. That he delivered; 2. Saved; 3. Bought, or purchased; 4. Redeemed them. Exodus 3:8: “And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them unto a good land.” So Exodus 18:8-10; Judges 6:8, 9; Exodus 6:6: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid (deliver) you out of their bondage. So Exodus 5:23; 1 Samuel 10:18.
13. As God brought them out of Egypt, invited them to the honours and happiness of his people, and by many express declarations and acts of mercy engaged them to adhere to him as their God, he is said to call them, and they were his called. Isaiah 41:8, 9: “But thou, Israel, art my servant,-thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof.” See Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 51:2; Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Isaiah 48:12: “Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called.”
14. And as he brought them out of the most abject slavery, and advanced them to a new and happy state of being, attended with distinguishing privileges, enjoyments, and marks of honour, he is said-1. to create, make, and form them; 2. to give them life; 3. to have begotten them. Isaiah 43:1: “But thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not.” Isaiah 43:5: “Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and will gather thee from the west.” Isaiah 43:7: “Even every one that is called by my name; for I have created him for my glory; I have formed him; yea I have made him.” Isaiah 43:15: “I am the Lord, your Holy One; the creator of Israel, your king.” Deuteronomy 32:6: “Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people?-Hath he not made thee, and established thee?” Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 149:2; Isaiah 27:11: “It is a people of no understanding; therefore, he that made them will have no mercy on them; and he that formed them will show them no favour;” Isaiah 43:21; 44:1, 2: “Yet hear now, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen.: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb.” Isaiah 44:21, 24: “Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb,” &c.
15. Thus, as God created the whole body of the Jews, and made them to live, they received a being or existence. Isaiah 63:19: “We are; thou hast never ruled over them; (the heathen;) they were not called by thy name.” Or rather thus: “We are of old; thou hast not ruled over them; thy name hath not been called upon them.” It is in the Hebrew, בם tlvm היינו מעולם לא hayinu me-olam, lo mashalla bam; and are therefore called by the apostle, “things that are,” in opposition to the Gentiles, who, as they were not formerly created in the same manner, were, “the things which are not;” 1 Corinthians 1:28: “God has chosen things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.” Farther:-
16. As he made them live, and begat them, (1) He sustains the character of a Father; and (2) they are his children, his sons and daughters, which were born to him. Deuteronomy 32:6: “Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people?-Is he not thy father that hath bought thee?” Isaiah 63:16: “Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer,” &c. Jeremiah 31:9: “For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.” Malachi 2:10: “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?”
17. And, as the whole body of the Jews were the children of one father, even of God, this naturally established among themselves the mutual and endearing relation of brethren, (including that of sisters,) and they were obliged to consider and to deal with each other accordingly. Leviticus 25:46; Deuteronomy 1:16; 2:8; 15:7: “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren-thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thine hand against thy poor brother;” Deuteronomy 17:15; 18:15; 19:19; 22:1; 23:19; 24:14; Judges 20:13; 1 Kings 12:24; [Acts 23:1.] And in many other places.
18. And the relation of God, as a father to the Jewish nation, and they his children, will lead our thoughts to a clear idea of their being, as they are frequently called, the house or family of God. Numbers 12:7: “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house.” 1 Chronicles 17:14: “I will settle him in my house, and in my kingdom for ever.” Jeremiah 12:7: “I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage.” Hosea 9:15: “For the wickedness of their (Ephraim’s) doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters; Zechariah 9:8; Psalm 93:5. And in other places; and, perhaps, frequently in the Psalms. See Psalm 23:6; 27:4, &c.
19. Farther; the Scripture directs us to consider the land of Canaan as the estate or inheritance belonging to this house or family. Numbers 26:53: “Unto these, (namely, all the children of Israel,) the land shall be divided for an inheritance.” Deuteronomy 21:23: “That thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” See the same in many other places.
20. Here it may not be improper to take notice that the land of Canaan, in reference to their trials, wanderings, and fatigues in the wilderness, is represented as their rest. Exodus 33:14: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Deuteronomy 3:20; 12:9: “For ye are not yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you;” Deuteronomy 12:10; 25:19. Psalm 95:11: “Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.”
21. Thus the Israelites were the house or family of God. Or we may conceive them formed into a nation, having the Lord Jehovah, the true God, at their head; who, on this account, is styled their God, governor, protector, or king; and they his people, subjects, or servants. Exodus 19:6: “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” Deuteronomy 4:34: “Hath God essayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation?” Isaiah 51:4: “Hearken unto me my people, and give ear unto me my nation.”
22. And it is in reference to their being a society peculiarly appropriated to God and under his special protection and government, that they are sometimes called the city, the holy city, the city of the Lord, of God. Psalm 46:4: “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.” Psalm 101:8: “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.” Isaiah 48:1, 2: “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel; for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel.”
23. Hence the whole community, or Church, is denoted by the city Jerusalem, and sometimes by Zion, Mount Zion, the city of David. Isaiah 62:1, 6, 7: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace-and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Isaiah 65:18, 19: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people;” Isaiah 66:10; Ezekiel 16:2, 3; Joel 3:17; Zechariah 1:14; 8:3, &c.; Zechariah 13:1. Isaiah 28:16: “Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,” &c.; Isaiah 61:3; Joel 2:32. Obadiah 1:17: “But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance,” &c.; Obadiah 1:21.
24. Hence, also, they are said to be written or enrolled in the book of God, as being citizens invested in the privileges and immunities of his kingdom. Exodus 32:32: “Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin; and, if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book thou hast written.” Exodus 32:33: “And the Lord said-Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book;” Ezekiel 13:9.
25. And it deserves our notice that, as the other nations of the world did not belong to this city, commonwealth, or kingdom of God, and so were not his subjects and people in the same peculiar sense as the Jews, for these reasons they are frequently represented as strangers and aliens, and as being not a people. And, as they served other gods, and were generally corrupt in their morals, they have the character of enemies. Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 25:47: “And if a sojourner, or a stranger, wax rich by thee, and thy brother sell himself to the stranger.” Deuteronomy 14:21: “Thou mayest sell it to an alien.” Isaiah 61:5: “And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen.” And in many other places Deuteronomy 32:21: “I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people;” Isaiah 7:8; Hosea 1:10; 2:23: “I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people: and they shall say, Thou art my God.” Psalm 74:4: “Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregation;” Psalm 78:66; 83:2; 89:10; Isaiah 42:13; 59:18. Romans 5:10: “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God;” Colossians 1:21.
26. The kind and particular regards of God for the Israelites, and their special relation to him, are also signified by that of husband and wife; and his making a covenant with them to be their God, is called espousals. Jeremiah 31:32: “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, (which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord;”) Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:31, 32. Hosea 2:2: “Plead (ye children of Judah, and children of Israel, Hosea 1:11) with your mother; plead, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband;” that is, for her wickedness I have divorced her, (Isaiah 62:4, 5.) Jeremiah 2:2: “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown.” Jeremiah 3:14: “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you;” Isaiah 62:4, 5.
27. Hence it is that the Jewish Church, or community, is represented as a mother; and particular members as her children. Isaiah 50:1: “Thus saith the Lord, where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement?” &c. Hosea 2:2, 5: “For their mother hath played the harlot.” Isaiah 49:17: “Thy children (O Zion) shall make haste,” &c.; Isaiah 49:22, 25; Jeremiah 5:7; Ezekiel 16:35, 36. Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge-seeing thou hast forgotten the law of God, I will also forget thy children.”
28. Hence, also, from the notion of the Jewish Church being a wife to God her husband, her idolatry, or worshipping of strange gods, comes under the name of adultery and whoredom, and she takes the character of a harlot. Jeremiah 3:8: “And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery.” Jeremiah 3:9: “And it came to pass, through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks;” Jeremiah 13:27; Ezekiel 16:15; 23:43; Jeremiah 3:6: “Backsliding Israel is gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.”
29. As God exercised a singular providence over them in supplying, guiding, and protecting them, he was their shepherd, and they his flock, his sheep. Psalm 77:20; 78:52; 80:1: “Give ear, O shepherd of Israel.” Isaiah 40:11: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.” Psalm 74:1: “O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?” Psalm 79:13; 95:7; Jeremiah 13:17: “Mine eye shall weep sore-because the Lord’s flock is carried captive.” See Ezekiel 34: throughout; and in many other places.
30. Upon nearly the same account, as God established them, provided proper means for their happiness, and improvement in knowledge and virtue, they are compared to a vine and a vineyard, and God to the husbandman who planted and dressed it; and particular members of the community are compared to branches. Psalm 80:8: “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it.” Psalm 80:14: “Return, we beseech thee, O Lord of hosts; look down from heaven; behold and visit this vine, and the vineyard which thy right hand has planted.” Isaiah 5:1, 2: “Now will I sing to my well beloved a song, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; and he fenced it,” &c. Isaiah 5:7: “For the vineyard of the Lord-is the house of Israel;” Exodus 15:17; Jeremiah 2:21. Psalm 80:11: “She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.” Isaiah 27:9-11: “By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;-yet the defenced city shall be desolate,-there shall the calf feed,-and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding; therefore, he that made them will have no mercy on them.” Jeremiah 11:16: “The Lord hath called thy name a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit,” &c.; Ezekiel 17:6; Hosea 14:5, 6; #Na 2:2; and in many other places. Romans 11:17-19: “And if some of the branches were broken off,” &c. “Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
31. As they were, by the will of God, set apart, and appropriated in a special manner to his honour and obedience, and furnished with extraordinary means and motives to holiness, so God is said to sanctify or hallow them. Exodus 31:13: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you, throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you;” Ezekiel 20:12; Leviticus 20:8: “And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them; for I am the Lord which sanctify you;” Leviticus 21:8; 22:9, 16, 32; Ezekiel 37:28.
32. Hence it is that they are styled a holy nation, or people, and saints. Exodus 19:6: “And ye shall be to me-a holy nation.” Deuteronomy 7:6: “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 14:2; 26:19; 33:3. 2 Chronicles 6:41: “Let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.” Psalm 34:9: “O fear the Lord, ye his saints.” Psalm 50:5: “Gather my saints together unto me.” Psalm 50:7: “Hear, O my people,” &c.; Psalm 79:2; 148:14: “He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of his saints; even of the children of Israel,” &c.
33. Farther, by his presence among them, and their being consecrated to him, they were made his house or building, the sanctuary which he built. And this is implied by his dwelling and walking amongst them. Psalm 114:2: “Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.” Isaiah 56:3-5: “Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people:-for thus saith the Lord-Even unto them will I give in my house, and within my walls, a place and a name.” Jeremiah 33:7: “And I will cause the captivity of Judah and of Israel to return,-and will build them as at the first.” #Amos 9:11: “I will raise up the tabernacle of David-I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.” Exodus 25:8: “And let them, (the children of Israel,) make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” Exodus 29:45, 46: “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will be their God,” &c. Leviticus 26:11, 12: “And I will set my tabernacle among you:-And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people;” Numbers 35:34; 2 Samuel 7:7. Ezekiel 43:7, 9: “And he said unto me-the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel,” &c. Hence we may gather that dwell, in such places, imports to reign, and may be applied figuratively to whatever governs in our hearts; Romans 7:17, 20; 8:9, 11.
34. And not only did God, as their king, dwell among them, as in his house, temple, or palace; but he also conferred upon them the honour of kings, as he redeemed them from servitude, and made them lords of themselves, and raised them above other nations, to reign over them; and of priests, too, as they were to attend upon God, from time to time, continually, in the solemn offices of religion, which he had appointed. Exodus 19:6: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, or a kingly priesthood.” Deuteronomy 26:19: “And to make thee high above all nations-in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 28:1; 15:6: “For the Lord thy God blesseth thee-and thou shalt reign over many nations.” Isaiah 61:6: “But ye, (the seed of Jacob,) shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God.”
35. Thus the whole body of the Jewish nation were separated unto God; and, as they were more nearly related to him than any other people, as they were joined to him in covenant, and felt access to him in the ordinances of worship, and, in virtue of his promise, had a particular title to his regards and blessings, he is said to be near unto them, and they unto him; Exodus 33:16. Leviticus 20:24: “I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people;” Leviticus 20:26; 1 Kings 8:52, 53. Deuteronomy 4:7: “For what nation is there so great, that hath God so near unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?” Psalm 148:14: “The children of Israel, a people near unto him.”
36. And here I may observe that, as the Gentiles were not then taken into the same peculiar covenant with the Jews, nor stood in the same special relation to God, nor enjoyed their extraordinary religious privileges, but lay out of the commonwealth of Israel, they are, on the other hand said to be far off. Isaiah 57:19: “I create the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him.” Zechariah 6:15: “And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple.” Ephesians 2:17: “And came and preached to you, (Gentiles,) which were afar off, and to them that were nigh, (the Jews.)
37. And as God had, in all these respects, distinguished them from all other nations, and sequestered them unto himself, they are styled his peculiar people. Deuteronomy 7:6: “The Lord has chosen thee to be a special (or peculiar) people unto himself.” Deuteronomy 14:2: “The Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth;” Deuteronomy 26:18.
38. As they were a body of men particularly related to God, instructed by him in the rules of wisdom, devoted to his service, and employed in his true worship, they are called his congregation or Church. Numbers 16:3; 27:17; Joshua 22:17. 1 Chronicles 28:8: “Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel the congregation, the Church, of the Lord;” Psalm 74:2.
39. For the same reason they are considered as God’s possession, inheritance, or heritage. Deuteronomy 9:26: “O Lord, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance;” Deuteronomy 9:29; Psalm 33:12; 106:40; Jeremiah 10:16; 12:7: “I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.” And in many other places.
§ III. Reflections on the foregoing Privileges and Honours.
40. Whether I have ranged the foregoing particulars in proper order, or given an exact account of each, let the studious of Scripture knowledge consider. What ought to be specially observed is this; that all the forementioned privileges, benefits, relations, and honours, did belong to ALL the children of Israel, without exception. The Lord Jehovah was the God, King, Saviour, Father, Husband, Shepherd, &c., to them ALL. He saved, bought, redeemed; he created, he begot, he made, he planted, &c., them ALL. And they were ALL his people, nation, heritage; his children, spouse, flock, vineyard, &c. They all had a right to the ordinances of worship, to the promises of God’s blessing, and especially to the promise of the land of Canaan; ALL enjoyed the protection and special favours of God in the wilderness, till they had forfeited them; ALL ate of the manna, and ALL drank of the water out of the rock, &c. That these privileges and benefits belonged to the whole body of the Israelitish nation is evident from all the texts I have already quoted; which he, who observes carefully, will find, do all of them speak of the whole nation, the whole community, without exception.
41. And that all these privileges, honours, and advantages were common to the whole nation, is confirmed by this farther consideration; that they were the effect of God’s free grace, without regard to any prior righteousness of theirs; and therefore they are assigned to God’s love as the spring from whence they flowed; and the donation of those benefits is expressed by God’s loving them: they are also assigned to God’s mercy, and the bestowing of them is expressed by God’s showing them mercy. Deuteronomy 9:4-6: “Speak not thou in thy heart, after that the Lord hath cast them out before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land.-Not for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thy heart dost thou go to possess their land,” &c. “Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people.”
42. Deuteronomy 7:7, 8: “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out” (of Egypt.) Deuteronomy 33:3: “He loved the people;” Isaiah 43:3, 4; Jeremiah 31:3; Hosea 3:1; 9:15.
43. It is on account of this general love to the Israelites, that they are honoured with the title of Beloved Psalm 60:5: “That thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and hear me;” Psalm 108:6. Jeremiah 11:15: “What hath my beloved to do in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many?” Jeremiah 12:7: “I have forsaken my house, I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of my enemies,” (and in their present condition at this day the Jews are still, in a sense, beloved, Romans 11:28.)
44. Exodus 15:13: “Thou, in thy mercy, hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed,” &c.; Psalm 98:3; Isaiah 54:10. Micah 7:20: “Thou shalt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” Luke 1:54, 55: “He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed for ever.” Agreeably to this he showed them mercy, as he continued them to be his people, when he might have cut them off. Exodus 33:19: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” And when, after their present state of rejection, they shall again be taken into the Church, this too is expressed by their “obtaining mercy,” Romans 11:31.
45. In these texts, and others of the same kind, it is evident the love and mercy of God hath respect not to particular persons among the Jews, but to the whole nation; and therefore it is to be understood of that general love and mercy whereby he singled them out to be a peculiar nation to himself, favoured with extraordinary blessings.
46. And it is with regard to this sentiment and manner of speech, that the GENTILES, who were not distinguished in the same manner, are said not to have obtained mercy. Hosea 2:23: “And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.”
47. Farther, it should be noted, as a very material and important circumstance, that all this mercy and love was granted and confirmed to the Israelites under the sanction of a covenant; the most solemn declaration and assurance, sworn to and ratified by the oath of God. Genesis 17:7, 8: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant; to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” Genesis 22:16-18: “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” This covenant with Abraham was the Magna Charta, the basis of the Jewish constitution, which was renewed afterwards with the whole nation; and is frequently referred to as the ground and security of all their blessings. Exodus 6:3-7: “I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac,” &c. “And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan. I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, and I have remembered my covenant, and will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God;” Deuteronomy 7:8. Psalm 105:8-10: “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting COVENANT;” Jeremiah 11:5; Ezekiel 16:8; 20:5.
48. But, what most of all deserves our attention is this, that the Jewish constitution was a scheme for promoting virtue, true religion, or a good and pious life. In all the forementioned instances they were very happy. But were they to rest in them? Because these blessings were the gift of love and mercy, without respect to their righteousness or obedience, was it therefore needless for them to be obedient? or, were they purely on account of benefits already received, secure of the favour and blessing of God for ever? By no means. And that I may explain this important point more clearly, I shall distinguish their blessings into antecedent and consequent, and show, from the Scriptures, how both stand in relation to their duty.
49. Antecedent blessings are all the benefits hitherto mentioned, which were given by the mere grace of God, antecedently to their obedience, and without respect to it; but yet so that they were intended to be motives to obedience. Which effect if they produced, then their election, redemption, and calling were confirmed; and they were entitled to all their blessings, promised in the covenant; which blessings I therefore call consequent, because they were given only in consequence of their obedience. But, on the other hand, if the antecedent blessings did not produce obedience to the will of God; if his chosen people, his children, did not obey his voice, then they forfeited all their privileges, all their honours, and relations to God, all his favours and promises, and fell under the severest threatenings of his wrath and displeasure. Thus life itself may be distinguished into-I. Antecedent, which God gives freely to all his creatures of his mere good will and liberality, before they can have done any thing to deserve it. II. Consequent life; which is the continuance of life in happy circumstances, and has relation to the good conduct of a rational creature. As he improves life antecedent, so he shall, through the favour of God, enjoy life consequent.
50. And that this was the very end and design of the dispensation of God’s extraordinary favours to the Jews, namely, to engage them to duty and obedience; or, that it was a scheme for promoting virtue, is clear, beyond all dispute, from every part of the Old Testament. Note: I shall make ANT. stand for antecedent love or motives; CONS. for consequent love or reward; and THR. for threatening. (Ant.) Genesis 17:1: “I am God, all-sufficient; (Duty) Walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Genesis 17:7-9: (Ant.) “I will be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and unto thy seed, the land of Canaan; and I will be their God. (Duty) Thou shall keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee.” Genesis 22:16, 18: (Duty) “Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, because thou hast obeyed my voice;” Genesis 22:16-18: (Cons.) “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
51. Here let it be noted, that the same blessings may be both consequent and antecedent with regard to different persons. With regard to Abraham, the blessings promised in this place (Genesis 22:16-18) are consequent, as they were the reward of his obedience, “because thou hast obeyed my voice.” But with regard to his posterity these same blessings were of the antecedent kind; because, though they had respect to Abraham’s obedience, yet; with regard to the Jews, they were given freely or antecedently to any obedience they had performed. So the blessings of redemption, with regard to our Lord’s obedience, are consequent; but, with regard to us, they are of free grace and antecedent, not owing to any obedience of ours, though granted in consequence of Christ’s obedience; Philippians 2:8, 9, &c.; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 5:8, 9. Nor doth the donation of blessings upon many, in consequence of the obedience of one, at all diminish the grace, but very much recommends the wisdom that bestows them.
(Ant.) “I am the Lord your God; I am the Lord which sanctify you. (Duty) Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; and ye shall keep my statutes and do them.” Deuteronomy 4:7-9:
(Ant.) “What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh them, as the Lord out God is? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous,” &c. (Duty) “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen.” Deuteronomy 4:20:
(Ant.) “The Lord hath taken you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are at this day.” Deuteronomy 4:23: (Duty) “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 4:24: (Thr.) “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire.” Deuteronomy 4:25: “When ye shall corrupt yourselves, and do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 4:26: “I call heaven and earth to witness, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land.” Deuteronomy 4:34: (Ant.) “Hath God assayed to go, and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by signs and wonders,” &c., &c. Deuteronomy 4:39, 40: (Duty) “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above,” &c. “Thou shalt keep, therefore, his statutes and his commandments, (Cons.) that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 5:6, 7: (Ant.) “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (Duty) “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” &c. Deuteronomy 5:29: “O that there were such a heart in them that they should fear me and keep all my commandments always, (Cons.) that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever.” Deuteronomy 5:33: (Duty) “You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, (Cons.) that ye may live, and that it may be well with you,” &c. Deuteronomy 6:21:
(Ant.) “We were Pharaoh’s bondmen, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt,” &c. Deuteronomy 6:24: (Duty) “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, (Cons.) for our good always, that he might preserve us alive,” &c. Deuteronomy 7:6-8: (Ant.) “Thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself: the Lord loved you and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen.” Deuteronomy 7:9: (Duty) “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God,” &c. Deuteronomy 7:11: “Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments which I command thee this day, to do them.” Deuteronomy 7:12, 13, 18: (Cons.) “Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers. And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 8:2:
(Ant.) “Thou shalt remember ail the way which the Lord thy God led thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 8:5: “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.” Deuteronomy 8:6: (Duty) “Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.” Deuteronomy 8:11: “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God,” &c. Deuteronomy 8:19: (Thr.) “And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, I testify against you this day, that ye shall surely perish.” Deuteronomy 10:15: (Ant.) “The Lord hath a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people.” Deuteronomy 10:12, 16: (Duty) “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart,” &c. Deuteronomy 10:22:
(Ant.) “Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons, and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.” Deuteronomy 11:1, 8: (Duty) “Therefore shalt thou love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge,” &c. Deuteronomy 11:13, 14: “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments,” &c., (Cons.) “that I will give you the rain of your land,” &c. Deuteronomy 11:26: “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord; and a curse, if ye will not obey,” &c. Deuteronomy 12:28: (Duty) “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, (Cons.) that it may go well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou hast done that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 13:17, 18; 15:4, 5; 27:9, 10:
(Ant.) “Take heed and hearken, O Israel: this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. (Duty) Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments,” &c. Deuteronomy 28:1: “And it shall come to pass, if thou hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do his commandments, (Cons.) that the Lord will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city,” &c. Deuteronomy 28:15: (Thr.) “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments and his statutes, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 28:45: “Moreover, all these curses shalt come upon thee till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 29:2, 10; 30:15-18: (Duty) “See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, (Cons.) that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. (Thr.) But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them, I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish.”
53. Whosoever peruses the first sixteen, and the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirtieth, thirty-first, and thirty-second chapters of Deuteronomy, will clearly see that all the privileges, honours, instructions, protections, &c., which were given them as a select body of men, were intended as motives to obedience; which, if thus wisely improved, would bring upon them still farther blessings. Thus God drew them to duty and virtue by his loving-kindness. Jeremiah 31:3: “He drew them with cords of a man, (such considerations as are apt to influence the rational nature,) and with the bands of love;” Hosea 11:4. But if they were disobedient, and did not make a right use of God’s benefits and favours, then they were subjected to a curse, and should perish. And this is so evident from this single book that I shall not need to heap together the numerous quotations which might be collected from other parts of Scripture, particularly the prophetic writings. Only I may farther establish this point by observing,-that, in fact, though all the Israelites in the wilderness were the people, children, and chosen of God; all entitled to the Divine blessing, and partakers of the several instances of his goodness; yet, notwithstanding all their advantages and honours, when they were disobedient to his will, distrustful of his power and providence, or revolted to the worship of idol gods, great numbers of them fell under the Divine vengeance; Exodus 32:8, 27, 28; Numbers 11:4-6, 33; 16:2, 3, 32, 35, 41, 49; 21:5, 6. And though they had all a promise of entering into the land of Canaan, yet the then generation, from twenty years old and upwards, for their unbelief, were, by the righteous judgment of God, excluded from the benefit of that promise: they forfeited their inheritance, and died in the wilderness; Numbers 14:28-36; Hebrews 3:7, &c.
54. From all this it appears that all the high privileges of the Jews before mentioned, and all the singular relations in which they stood to God, as they were saved, bought, redeemed by him; as they were his called and elect; as they were his children whom he begot, created, made, and formed; his sons and daughters, born to him; his heritage, church, house, and kingdom; his saints, whom he sanctified; his vine or vineyard, which he planted; his sheep and flock;-I say these, and such like honours, advantages, and relations, as they are assigned to the whole body, do not import an absolute final state of happiness and favour of any kind; but are to be considered as displays, instances, and descriptions of God’s love and goodness to them, which were to operate as a mean, a moral mean, upon their heart. They were, in truth, motives to oblige and excite to obedience; and only when so improved, became final and permanent blessings; but neglected, or misimproved, they were enjoyed in vain, they vanished and came to nothing; and wicked Israelites were no more the objects of God’s favour than wicked heathens. #Amos 9:7, speaking of the corrupt Jews: “Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord.”
55. And upon the whole, we may from the clearest evidence conclude that the selecting the Jewish nation from the rest of the world, and taking them into a peculiar relation to God, was a scheme for promoting true religion and virtue in all its principles and branches, upon motives adapted to rational nature; which principles and branches of true religion are particularly specified in their law. And to this end, no doubt, every part of their constitution, even the ceremonial, was wisely adapted, considering their circumstances, and the then state of the world.
56. The love of God, as it was the foundation and original of this scheme, so it was the prime motive in it. God began the work of salvation among them, antecedently to any thing which they might do, on their part, tn engage his goodness. They did not first love God; but God first loved them: their obedience did not first advance towards God; but his mercy first advanced towards them, and saved, bought, redeemed them; took them for his people, and gave them a part in the blessings of his covenant. And as for his displeasure, they were under that only consequentially; or after they had neglected his goodness, and abused the mercy and means, the privileges and honours, which they enjoyed. This, I think, must appears very evident to any one who closely and maturely deliberates upon the true state of the Jewish Church.
Thus, and for those ends, not excluding others before or afterwards mentioned, the Jewish constitution was erected.
§ IV. The Jewish peculiarity not prejudicial to the rest of Mankind; the Jewish Economy being established; for the Benefit of the World in general.
57. But although the Father of mankind was pleased, in his wisdom to erect the foregoing scheme, for promoting virtue and preserving true religion in one nation of the world, upon which he conferred particular blessings and privileges; this was no injury nor prejudice to the rest of mankind. For, as to original favours, or external advantages, God, who may do what he pleases with his own, bestows them in any kind or degree, as he thinks fit. Thus he makes a variety of creatures; some angels in a higher sphere of being, some men in a lower. And, among men, he distributes different faculties, stations, and opportunities in life. To one he gives ten talents, to another five, to another two, and to another one, severally as he pleases; without any impeachment of his justice, and to the glorious display and illustration of his wisdom. And so he may bestow different advantages and favours upon different nations, with as much justice and wisdom as he has placed them in different climates, or vouchsafed them various accommodations and conveniencies of life. But, whatever advantages some nations may enjoy above others, still God is the God and Father of all; and his extraordinary blessings to some are not intended to diminish his regards to others. He erected a scheme of polity and religion for promoting the knowledge of God, and the practice of virtue in one nation; but not with a design to withdraw his goodness or providential regards from the rest. God has made a variety of soils and situations; yet he cares for every part of the globe; and the inhabitants of the North Cape, where they conflict a good part of the year with night and extreme cold, are no more neglected by the universal Lord, than those who enjoy the perpetual summer and pleasures of the Canary Isles. At the same time God chose the children of Israel to be his peculiar people in a special covenant, he was the God of the rest of mankind, and regarded them as the objects of his care and benevolence. Exodus 19:5: “Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; xrah lk yl yk, although all the earth is mine.” So it should be rendered. Deuteronomy 10:14, 15: “Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth with all that therein are. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.” Deuteronomy 10:17, 18: “For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, (or is no respecter of persons, Acts 10:34, through partiality to one person or one nation more than another,) nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.” A stranger was one who was of any other nation beside the Jewish. Psalm 146:9: “The Lord preserveth the strangers;” Psalm 8:1; 19:1-4; 24:1; 33:5: “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” Psalm 33:8: “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Psalm 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” Psalm 33:13: “The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth; he fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.” Psalm 47:2, 8: “The Lord most high is a great king over all the earth. God reigneth over the heathen;” Psalm 46:7; 107:8, 15, 21; 145:9: “The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Many more passages might be brought out of the Scriptures of the Old Testament to show that all the nations of the earth were the object of the Divine care and goodness; at the same time that he vouchsafed a particular and extraordinary providence towards the Jewish nation.
58. And, agreeably to this, the Israelites were required to exercise all benevolence to the Gentiles, or strangers; to abstain from all injurious treatment; to permit them to dwell peaceably and comfortably among them; to partake of their blessings; to incorporate into the same happy body, if they thought fit; and to join in their religious solemnities. Exodus 22:21: “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him;” Exodus 22:9, 12. Leviticus 19:10: “Thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger; I am the Lord your God;” Leviticus 23:22; 19:33, 34: “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born amongst you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.” Leviticus 25:35: “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.” Numbers 15:14, 15: “And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; as ye do, so shall he do. One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations; as ye are, so shall the stranger be, before the Lord.” Deuteronomy 26:11, 12: “And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you;” Ezekiel 22:7, 29.
59. And not only were they required to treat strangers, or men of other nations, with kindness and humanity; but it appears from several parts of Scripture that the whole Jewish dispensation had respect to the nations of the world. Not, indeed, to bring them all into the Jewish Church, (that would have been impracticable as to the greatest part of the world,) but to spread the knowledge and obedience of God in the earth. Or, it was a scheme which was intended to have its good effects beyond the pale of the Jewish enclosure, and was established for the benefit of all mankind. Genesis 12:5: “And in thee (Abraham) shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 22:18: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Exodus 7:5: “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel.” Exodus 9:16: “And indeed for this very cause have I raised thee (Pharaoh) up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name shall be declared throughout all the earth;” Exodus 15:14; Leviticus 26:46; Numbers 14:13-15.
60. But though the Jewish peculiarity did not exclude the rest of the world from the care and beneficence of the universal Father; and though the Jews were commanded to exercise benevolence towards persons of other nations; yet, about the time when the Gospel was promulgated, the Jews were greatly elevated on account of their distinguishing privileges: they looked upon themselves as the only favourites of Heaven, and regarded the rest of mankind with a sovereign contempt, as nothing, as abandoned of God, and without a possibility of salvation, unless they should incorporate, in some degree or other, with their nation. Their constitution, they supposed, was established for ever, never to be altered, or in any respect abolished. They were the true and only Church, out of which no man could be accepted of God; and consequently, unless a man submitted to the law of Moses, how virtuous or good soever he were, it was their belief he could not be saved. He had no right to a place in the Church, nor could hereafter obtain life.
§ V. The Jewish peculiarity was to receive its perfection from the Gospel.
61. But the Jewish dispensation, as peculiar to that people, though superior to the mere light of nature, which it supposed and included, was but of a temporary duration, and of an inferior and imperfect kind, in comparison of that which was to follow, and which God from the beginning (when he entered into covenant with Abraham, and made the promise to him) intended to erect, and which he made several declarations under the Old Testament that he would erect, in the proper time, as successive to the Jewish dispensation, and, as a superstructure, perfective of it. And as the Jewish dispensation was erected by the ministry of a much nobler hand, even that of the SON of GOD, the Messiah, foreordained before the world was made, promised to Abraham, foretold by the prophets, and even expected by the Jews themselves, though under no just conceptions of the end of his coming into the world. He was to assume and live in a human body, to declare the truth and grace of God more clearly and expressly to the Jews, to exhibit a pattern of the most perfect obedience, and to be obedient even unto death in compliance with the will of God.* When Christ came into the world, the Jews were ripe for destruction: but he published a general indemnity for the transgressions of the former covenant, upon their repentance; and openly revealed a future state, as the true land of promise, even eternal life in heaven. Thus he confirmed the former covenant with the Jews as to the favour and blessing of God; and enlarged, or more clearly explained it, as to the blessings therein bestowed; instead of an earthly Canaan, revealing the resurrection from the dead, and everlasting happiness and glory in the world to come. * Yes, and thus to become a sacrifice for sin, that those who believe in him might have redemption in his blood. This is the light in which the New Testament places the death of Christ.-A. C.
62. That the Gospel is the Jewish scheme enlarged and improved, will evidently appear, if we consider that we, Gentiles, believing in Christ, are said to be incorporated into the same body with the Jews; and that believing Jews and Gentiles are now become one, one flock, one body in Christ. John 10:16: “And other sheep I have which are not of this (the Jewish) fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock, (so the word poimnh signifies, and so our translators have rendered it in all the other places where it is used in the New Testament. See Matthew 26:31; Luke 2:8; 1 Corinthians 9:7. And here also it should have been translated flock, not fold,) and one shepherd.” 1 Corinthians 12:12: “By one Spirit are we all baptized in one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.” Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all ONE in Christ Jesus;” that is, under the Gospel dispensation. Ephesians 2:14-16: “For he is our peace, who has made both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, (Jews and Gentiles.) Having abolished by his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”
63. And that this union or coalition between believing Jews and Gentiles is to be understood of the believing Gentiles being taken into that Church and covenant in which the Jews were before the Gospel dispensation was erected, and out of which the unbelieving Jews were cast, is evident from the following considerations.
64. First, that Abraham, the head or root of the Jewish nation, is the father of us all. Romans 4:16, 17: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, (the Jews,) but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, (the believing Gentiles,) who is the father of us all, (as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed;” that is to say, in the account and purpose of God, whom he believed, he is the father of US ALL. Abraham, when he stood before God and received the promise, did not, in the account of God, appear as a private person, but as the father of us all; as the head and father of the whole future Church of God, from whom we were all, believing Jews and Gentiles, to descend; as we were to be accepted and interested in the Divine blessing and covenant after the same manner as he was, namely, by faith. Galatians 3:6, &c.: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. For the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (would take into his Church and covenant) the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith (of what country soever they are, heathens as well as Jews) are blessed, (justified, taken into the kingdom and covenant of God,) together with believing Abraham,” (and into that very covenant which was made with him and his seed.)* In this covenant were the Jews during the whole period from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to Christ. For the covenant with Abraham was with him, and with his seed after him,” Genesis 17:7. “To Abraham and his seed were the promises made,” Galatians 3:16. And the apostle in the next verse tells us that (the promises or) the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was (given by Moses) four hundred and thirty years after could not disannul, that it should make the promise (or covenant with Abraham) of none effect; consequently the Jews, during the whole period of the law, or Mosaical dispensation, were under the covenant with Abraham; and into that same covenant the apostle argues, Rom 4, and Gal 3, that the believing Gentiles are taken. For which reason he affirms that they are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, that is, the patriarchs, &c. And that the great mystery, not understood in other ages, was this, That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body with his Church and children, the Jews, Ephesians 2:19; 3:5, 6. * Being justified does not merely signify being taken into covenant, so as to be incorporated with the visible Church of God; it is used repeatedly by St. Paul to signify that act of God’s mercy whereby a penitent sinner, believing on Christ as a sacrifice for sin, has his transgressions forgiven for Christ’s sake Romans 5:1, &c.
65. Secondly. Agreeably to this sentiment, the believing Gentiles are said to partake of all the spiritual privileges which the Jews enjoyed, and from which the unbelieving Jews fell; and to be taken into that kingdom and Church of God out of which they were cast. Several of the parables of our Lord are intended to point out this fact; and many passages in the epistles directly prove it.
66. Matthew 20:1-16. In this parable the vineyard is the kingdom of heaven, into which God, the householder, hired the Jews early in the morning; and into the same vineyard he hired the Gentiles at the eleventh hour, or an hour before sun-set.
67. Matthew 21:33, 34. The husbandmen to whom the vineyard was first let were the Jews; to whom God first sent his servants, the prophets, Matthew 21:34-36, and at last he sent his Son, whom they slew, Matthew 21:37-39, and then the vineyard was let out to other husbandmen; which our Saviour clearly explains, Matthew 21:43: “Therefore I say unto you, (Jews,) the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation (the believing Gentiles) bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Hence it appears that the very same kingdom of God, which the Jews once possessed, and in which the ancient prophets exercised their ministry, one after another, is now in our possession; for it was taken from them and given to us.
68. Romans 11:17-24. The Church or kingdom of God is compared to an olive-tree, and the members of it to the branches. “And if some of the branches (the unbelieving Jews) be broken off, and thou (Gentile Christian) wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree;” that is, the Jewish Church and covenant. Romans 11:24: “For if thou (Gentile Christian) wert cut out of the olive-tree, which is wild by nature, and wert grafted, contrary to nature, into the good olive-tree,” &c.
69. 1 Peter 2:7-10: “Unto you Gentiles who believe, he (Christ) is an honour, timh, but unto them which be disobedient, (the unbelieving Jews,) the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and also a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.* They stumbled at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed, (they are fallen from their privileges and honour, as God appointed they should, in case of their unbelief.) But ye (Gentiles, are raised into the high degree from which they are fallen, and so) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of the heathenish darkness into his marvellous light.”
* We render this passage thus: A stone of stumbling and rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, &c., as if it were one continued sentence. But, thus, violence is done to the text, and the apostle’s sense is thrown into obscurity and disorder, which is restored by putting a period after offence, and beginning a new sentence, thus: They stumble at the word, &c. For observe, the apostle runs a double antithesis between the unbelieving Jews and believing Gentiles.
70. Thirdly. The Jews vehemently opposed the admission of the uncircumcised Gentiles into the kingdom and covenant of God, at the first preaching of the Gospel. But if the Gentiles were not taken into the same Church and covenant in which the Jewish nation had so long gloried, why should they so zealously oppose their being admitted into it? Or why so strenuously insist that they ought to be circumcised in order to their being admitted? For what was it to them, if the Gentiles were called, and taken into another kingdom and covenant, distinct and quite different from that which they would have confined wholly to themselves, or to such only as were circumcised? It is plain the Gentiles might have been admitted into another kingdom and covenant without any offence to the Jews, as they would still have been left in the sole possession of their ancient privileges. And the apostles could not have failed in using this as an argument to pacify their incensed brethren, had they so understood it. But, seeing they never gave the least intimation of this, it shows they understood the affair as the unbelieving Jews did, namely, that the Gentiles, without being circumcised, were taken into the kingdom of God, in which they and their forefathers had so long stood.
71. Fourthly. It is upon this foundation, namely, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church and kingdom in which the Jews once stood, that the apostles drew parallels, for caution and instruction, between the state of the ancient Jews and that of the Christians. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses, and did all eat of the same spiritual meat, and did all drink of the same spiritual drink; but with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now those things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; neither let us provoke Christ, as some of them provoked,” &c. Hebrews 3:7, &c.: “Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day,* when or while you hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me: wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” Hebrews 4:1, 2: “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us hath the Gospel been preached, as well as to them,” that is, we have the joyful promise of a happy state, or of entering into rest, as well as the Jews of old. Hebrews 4:11: “Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
* shmeron, ean thv fwnhv autou akoushte. EAN, if, should here have been rendered when, as it is rendered, 1 John 3:2, and should have been rendered, John 12:32; 14:3; 16:7; 2 Corinthians 5:1. In like manner the particle אם, Psalm 95:7, (whence the place is quoted,) should have been translated WHEN or WHILE. For it is translated when, 1 Samuel 15:17; Proverbs 3:24; 4:12; Job 7:4; 17:16; Psalm 50:18; and might have been so translated in other places.
72. Fifthly. Hence also the scriptures of the Old Testament are represented as being written for our use and instruction, and to explain our dispensation as well as theirs. Matthew 5:17: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” And when our Saviour taught his disciples the things pertaining to his kingdom, he opened to them the Scriptures, which were then no other than the Old Testament; Luke 4:17-22; 18:31; 24:27: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:45: “Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures.” Thus the apostles were instructed in the things pertaining to the Gospel dispensation. And always, in their sermons in the Acts, they confirm their doctrine from the Scriptures of the Old Testament. And in their Epistles they not only do the same, but also expressly declare that those Scriptures were written as well for the benefit of the Christian as the Jewish Church. Romans 15:4: After a quotation out of the Old Testament, the apostle adds:-“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” 1 Corinthians 9:9: “It is written in the law of Moses, that thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.” 1 Corinthians 9:10: “For our sakes, no doubt, this is written.” 1 Corinthians 10:11: “Now all these things (namely, the before-mentioned privileges, sins, and punishments of the ancient Jews) happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the earth are come.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
73. Sixthly. Agreeably to this notion, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church or kingdom; out of which the unbelieving Jews are cast, the Christian Church, considered in a body, is called by the same general names as the Church under the Old Testament. Israel was the general name of the Jewish Church, so also of the Christian. Galatians 6:16: “As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” Revelation 7:3, 4: Speaking of the Christian Church, the angel said, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty-four thousand, of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Revelation 21:10-14: “He showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, (the Christian Church,) having the glory of God-and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, (as comprehending the whole Church.) And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Jews was another running title of the Church in our Saviour’s time, and this is also applied to Christians. Revelation 2:8, 9: “And unto the angel of the (Christian) Church in Smyrna, write, I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty; and I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews (members of the Church of Christ) and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” And again, Revelation 3:9.
§ VI. The particular honours and privileges of Christians, and the terms signifying these honours explained.
74. Seventhly. In conformity to this sentiment, (namely, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church, covenant, and kingdom, out of which the unbelieving Jews were cast,) the state, membership, privileges, honours, and relations of professed Christians, particularly of believing Gentiles, are expressed by the same phrases with those of the ancient Jewish Church; and therefore, unless we admit a very strange abuse of words, must convey the same general ideas of our present state, membership, honours, and relations to God, as we are professed Christians. For instance:-
75. I. As God chose his ancient people the Jews, and they were his chosen and elect, so now the whole body of Christians, Gentiles as well as Jews, are admitted to the same honour, as they are selected from the rest of the world, and taken into the kingdom of God, for the knowledge, worship, and obedience of God, in hopes of eternal life. Romans 8:33: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” &c. Ephesians 1:4: “According as he hath chosen us (Gentiles, Ephesians 2:11) in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love.” Colossians 3:12: “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,” &c. 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation; through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth.” Titus 1:1: “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.” 2 Timothy 2:10: “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” 1 Peter 1:1, 2: “Peter to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience.” 1 Peter 2:9: “Ye (Gentiles) are a chosen generation,” &c. 1 Peter 5:13: “The Church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you.”
76. II. The first step which the goodness of God took in execution of his purpose of election, with regard to the Gentile world, was to rescue them from their wretched situation in the sin and idolatry of their heathen state (by sending his son Jesus Christ into the world to die for mankind, and thus) to bring them into the light and privileges of the Gospel. With regard to which the language of Scripture is: 1st, that he delivered; 2nd, saved; 3rd, bought or purchased; 4th, redeemed them. Galatians 1:4: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world,” the vices and lusts in which the world is involved. Colossians 1:12, 13: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has delivered us from the power of (heathenish) darkness, (Acts 26:18; 1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 4:18; 5:8,) and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” And thus, consequentially, we are “delivered from the wrath to come;” 1 Thessalonians 1:10.*
* That is, through the redemption that is in Jesus we receive the remission of all our sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost to cleanse, purify, and refine our souls, and thus render them capable of enjoying the inheritance of the saints in light. Our justification, adoption, and sanctification, and finally our admission into the kingdom of glory, are most positively attributed to the sacrificial passion and death of Jesus and we are not consequentially delivered from the wrath to come, till our sins are blotted out and our hearts purified from sin; and these blessings we receive from God through Christ, i.e. for his sake, his worth or merit; for he has bought these blessings for mankind by his sacrificial passion and death. Justice required these to make way for mercy.-A. C. See No. 79.
77. 1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 7:16: “What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” that is, convert her to the Christian faith. 1 Corinthians 10:33: “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved, through faith.” 1 Thessalonians 2:16: “Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved.” 1 Timothy 2:4: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.” In this general sense, saved is in other places applied to both Jews and Gentiles; particularly to the Jews, Romans 9:27; 10:1; 11:26. Hence God is styled our Saviour. Titus 3:4, 5: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” 1 Timothy 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour;” 1 Timothy 2:3; Titus 1:3. Romans 11:11: “Through their (the Jews’) fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles.” And as this salvation is by Jesus Christ, he also is frequently called our Saviour.
78. Acts 20:28: “Feed the Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20: “And ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 7:23: “Ye are bought with a price.” 2 Peter 2:1: “False prophets shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.” Revelation 5:9: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed (bought) us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
79. Titus 2:14: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity.” 1 Peter 1:18: “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain (heathenish) conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ.” And at the same time he redeemed or bought us from death, or the curse of the law; Galatians 3:13; and the Jews, in particular, from the law, and the condemnation to which it subjected them; Galatians 4:5. Hence frequent mention is made of the redemption which is in Jesus Christ; Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12, 15. Hence also Christ is said to give himself a ransom for us; Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45. 1 Timothy 2:6: “Who gave himself a ransom for all.” That is, that he might redeem them unto God by the sacrificial shedding of his blood. See the note under 76.
80. III. As God sent the Gospel to bring Gentiles, Christians, out of heathenism, and invited and made them welcome to the honours and privileges of his people, he is said to call them, and they are his called. Romans 1:6, 7: “Among whom are ye also called of Jesus Christ. To all that are at Rome called saints;” Romans 8:28. 1 Corinthians 1:9: “God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son;” 1 Corinthians 7:20. Galatians 1:6: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you;” Galatians 5:13. Ephesians 4:1: “I beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called;” Ephesians 4:4. 1 Thessalonians 2:12: “That ye walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7: “God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling; not according to our works,” &c. 1 Peter 1:15: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” 1 Peter 2:9: “Ye (Gentile Christians) are a chosen generation-to show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
81. Note-The Jews also were called. Romans 9:24: “Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.” 1 Corinthians 1:24; 7:18: “Is any man called being circumcised;” Hebrews 9:15. But the calling of the Jews must be different from that of the Gentiles. The Gentiles were called into the kingdom of God as strangers and foreigners, who had never been in it before. But the Jews were then subjects of God’s kingdom, under the old form; and therefore could be called only to submit to it, as it was now modelled under the Messiah. Or they were called to repentance, to the faith, allegiance, and obedience of the Son of God, and to the hope of eternal life through him; whom rejecting, they were-cast out of God’s peculiar kingdom.
82. IV. And as we stand in the relation of children to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hence it is that we are his brethren, and he is considered as the first born among us. Matthew 28:10; John 20:17: “Jesus saith-Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God;” Hebrews 2:11, 17. Romans 8:29: “That he might be the first-born among many brethren.”
83. V. And the relation of God, as a Father, to us Christians, who are his children, will lead our thoughts to a clear idea of our being, as we are called, the house or family of God or of Christ. 1 Timothy 3:15; “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God.” Hebrews 3:6: “But Christ, as a Son over his own house, whose house are we, (Christians,) if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Hebrews 10:21: “And having a great high priest over the house of God,” &c. 1 Peter 4:17: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, (that is, when the Christian Church shall undergo sharp trials and sufferings;) and if it first begin at us, (Christians, who are the house or family of God,) what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel?” that is, of the infidel world, who lie out of the Church. See Romans 1:5; 15:18; 1 Peter 1:22. Ephesians 2:19: “We are of the household (domestics) of God.” Ephesians 3:14, 15: “I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,” &c.
84. VI. Farther, as the land of Canaan was the estate or inheritance belonging to the Jewish family or house, so the heavenly country is given to the Christian house or family for their inheritance. Acts 20:32: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Colossians 3:24: “Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance.” Hebrews 9:15: “He is the mediator of the New Testament, that they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” 1 Peter 1:3, 4: “God has begotten us again-to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us.” Hence we have the title of heirs. Titus 3:7: “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” James 2:5: “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?” See Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 3:7.
85. And as Canaan was considered as the rest of the Jews, so, in reference to our trials and afflictions in this world, heaven is considered as the rest of Christians. 2 Thessalonians 1:7: “And to you who are troubled, (he will give) rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.” Hebrews 4:1: “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us hath the Gospel been preached, as well as to them;” that is, we have the joyful promise of entering into rest as well as the Jews of old. Hebrews 4:9: “There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God;” that is, for Christians now in this world, as well as for the Jews formerly in the wilderness, which is the point the apostle is proving, from Hebrews 4:3-10.
86. VII. Thus Christians, as well as the ancient Jews, are the house or family of God: or we may conceive the whole body of Christians formed into a nation, having God at their head; who, on this account, is styled our God, governor, protector, or king; and we his people, subjects, or servants.
87. VIII. And it is in reference to our being a society peculiarly appropriated to God, and under his special protection and government, that we are called the city of God, the holy city. Hebrews 12:22: “Ye are come unto-the city of the living God.” Revelation 11:2: “And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” This city is described in some future happy state; Rev. 21, 26.
88. Hence the whole Christian community or Church is denoted by the city Jerusalem, and sometimes by Mount Zion. Galatians 4:26: “But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all.”-In her reformed, or future happy state, she is the New Jerusalem; Revelation 3:12; 21:2. Hebrews 12:22: “Ye are come unto Mount Zion,” &c.; Revelation 14:1.
89. Hence also we are said to be written or enrolled in the book of God, or, which comes to the same thing, of the Lamb, the Son of God. Revelation 3:5: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.” Revelation 22:19: “And if any man take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city,” &c.; which shows that the names of such as are in the book of life may be blotted out, consequently, that to be enrolled there is the privilege of all professed Christians.
90. And whereas the believing Gentiles were once strangers, aliens, not a people, enemies; now (Ephesians 2:19) “they are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints.” 1 Peter 2:10: “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.” Now “we are at peace with God;” Romans 5:1. Now “we are reconciled and become the servants of God,” the subjects of his kingdom; Romans 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19. [That is, all those who have turned to God by true repentance] [have received remission of sin, and are walking in the way of] [righteousness, with a believing, obedient, loving, and grateful] [heart.-A. C.]
91. On the other hand, the body of the Jewish nation, (having, through unbelief, rejected the Messiah, and the Gospel, and being therefore cast out of the city and kingdom of God,) are, in their turn, at present represented under the name and notion of enemies. Romans 11:28: “As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake.”
92. IX. The kind and particular regards of God to the converted Gentiles, and their relation to Jesus Christ, is also signified by that of a husband and wife; and his taking them into his covenant is represented by his espousing them. 2 Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
93. Hence the Christian Church or community is represented as a mother, and particular members as her children. Galatians 4:26-28: “But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Israel was, are the children of promise.” Galatians 4:31: “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free.”
94. Hence also, from the notion of the Christian Church being the spouse of God in Christ, her corruption and her idolatry come under the name of fornication and adultery.
95. X. As God, by Christ, exercises a particular providence over the Christian Church, in supplying them with all spiritual blessings, guiding them through all difficulties, and guarding them in all spiritual dangers, He is their shepherd, and they his flock, his sheep. John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd.” John 10:16: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd;” Acts 20:28, 29; Hebrews 13:20. 1 Peter 2:25: “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the shepherd and bishop (overseer) of your souls.” 1 Peter 5:2-4: “Feed the flock of God,” &c.
96. XI. Nearly on the same account as God, by Christ, has established the Christian Church, and provided all means for our happiness and improvement in knowledge and virtue, we are compared to a vine and a vineyard, and God to the husbandman, who planted and dresses it; and particular members of the community are compared to branches. John 15:1, 2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,” &c. John 15:5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” Matthew 15:13: “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.” Romans 6:5: “If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Matthew 20:1. The vineyard into which labourers were hired is the Christian as well as the Jewish Church: and so Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1; Luke 20:9. 1 Corinthians 3:9: “Ye are God’s husbandry.” Romans 11:17: “And if some of the branches (Jews) be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree,” &c. See also Romans 11:24.
97. XII. As Christians are, by the will of God, set apart and appropriated in a special manner to his honour, service, and obedience, and furnished with extraordinary means and motives to holiness, so they are said to be sanctified. 1 Corinthians 1:2: “Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 6:11: “And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Hebrews 2:11: “For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one;” Hebrews 10:10.
98. XIII. Farther; by the presence of God in the Christian Church, and our being by profession consecrated to him, we, as well as the ancient Jews, are made his house or temple, which God has built, and in which he dwells, or walks. 1 Peter 2:5: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house,” &c. 1 Corinthians 3:9: “Ye are God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17: “Know ye not that ye (Christians) are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you: if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 2 Corinthians 6:16: “And what agreement hath the temple of God (the Christian Church) with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said: I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” Ephesians 2:20-22: “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles, &c., Christ Jesus being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together, for a habitation of God through the Spirit.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4: “So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, SHOWING HIMSELF that he is God.”
99. XIV. And not only does God, as our king, dwell in the Christian Church, as in his house or temple; but he has also conferred on Christians the honours of kings; as he has redeemed us from the servitude of sin, made us lords of ourselves, and raised us above others, to sit on thrones, and to judge and reign over them. And he has made us priests too, as we are peculiarly consecrated to God, and obliged to attend upon him, from time to time continually, in the solemn offices of religion which he has appointed. 1 Peter 2:5: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.” 1 Peter 2:9: “But ye (Gentile Christians) are a chosen generation, a royal (or kingly) priesthood.” Revelation 1:5, 6: “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father,” &c.
100. XV. Thus the whole body of the Christian Church is separated unto God from the rest of the world. And whereas, before, the Gentile believers were afar off, lying out of the commonwealth of Israel, now they are nigh, as they are joined to God in covenant, have full access to him in the ordinances of worship, and, in virtue of his promise, a particular title to his regards and blessing. 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” Ephesians 2:13: “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh, by the blood of Christ.”
101. XVI. And as God, in all these respects, has distinguished the Christian Church, and sequestered them unto himself, they are styled his peculiar people. Titus 2:14: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” 1 Peter 2:9: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.”
102. XVII. As Christians are a body of men particularly related to God, instructed by him in the rules of wisdom, devoted to his service, and employed in his true worship, they are called his Church or congregation. Acts 20:28: “Feed the Church of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:32: “Giving none offence to the Church of God;” 1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; and elsewhere. Ephesians 1:22: “Head over all things to the Church:”-and particular societies are Churches. Romans 16:16: “The Churches of Christ salute you:”-and so in several other places.
103. XVIII. For the same reason they are considered as God’s possession or heritage. 1 Peter 5:3: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” The reader cannot well avoid observing that the words and phrases by which our Christian privileges are expressed in the New Testament are the very same with the words and phrases by which the privileges of the Jewish Church are expressed in the Old Testament; which makes good what St. Paul says concerning the language in which the apostles declared the things that are freely given to us of God. 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1:3: “We (apostles) have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are given to us of God;” namely, the fore-recited privileges and blessings. “Which things we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth,” not in philosophic terms of human invention, “but which the Holy Spirit teacheth,” in the writings of the Old Testament, the only Scriptures from which they took their ideas and arguments, “comparing spiritual things” under the Gospel.
Whence we may conclude: 1. That the holy Scriptures are admirably calculated to be understood in those things which we are most of all concerned to understand. Seeing the same language runs through the whole, and is set in such a variety of lights, that one part is well adapted to illustrate another: an advantage I reckon peculiar to the sacred writings above all others. 2. It follows that, to understand the sense of the Spirit in the New, it is essentially necessary that we understand its sense in the Old Testament.
§ VII. Reflections on the foregoing Honours and Privileges of the Christian Church.
From what has been said it appears,—
104. I. That the believing Gentiles are taken into that kingdom and covenant in which the Jews once stood, and out of which they were cast for their unbelief and rejection of the Son of God; and that we Christians ought to have the same general ideas of our present religious state, membership, privileges, honours, and relation to God, as the Jews had while they were in possession of the kingdom. Only in some things the kingdom of God under the Gospel dispensation differs much from the kingdom of God under the Mosaical. As, 1. That it is now so constituted that it admits, and is adapted to, men of all nations upon the earth, who believe in Christ. 2. That the law, as a ministration of condemnation, which was an appendage to the Jewish dispensation, is removed and annulled under the Gospel. [But the moral law, as a rule of life, is still in force.] 3. And so is the polity or civil state of the Jews, which was interwoven with their religion, but has no connection with the Christian religion. 4. The ceremonial part of the Jewish constitution is likewise abolished, for we are taught the spirit and duties of religion, not by figures and symbols, as sacrifices, offerings, watchings, &c., but by express and clear precepts. 5. The kingdom of God is now put under the special government of the Son of God, who is the head and king of the Church, to whom we owe faith and allegiance.*
* Add to this, that all the privileges under the Gospel are abundantly more spiritual than they were under the law-THAT being the shadow, THIS the substance. Hence, while we consider these privileges the same in kind, we must view them as differing widely in degree.-A. C.
105. II. From the above recited particulars it appears that the Christian Church is happy, and highly honoured with privileges of the most excellent nature; of which the apostles, who well understood this new constitution, were deeply sensible. Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 5:1-3, &c.: “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice (glory) in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also,” &c. Romans 5:11: “And not only so, but we also joy (glory) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” &c. Romans 8:31: “What shall we then say to these things, If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? Who is he that condemneth? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Romans 9:23, 24: “He has made known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even on us whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.” 2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Ephesians 1:3, 4, &c.: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him,” &c., &c.
106. And it is the duty of the whole body of Christians to rejoice in the goodness of God, to thank and praise him for all the benefits conferred upon them in the Gospel. Romans 15:10: “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.” Philippians 3:1: “My brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord alway; again I say, rejoice.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Rejoice evermore;” James 1:9; 1 Peter 1:6, 8. Colossians 1:12: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 2:7: “Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving;” 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Hebrews 13:15: “By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.” Ephesians 1:6: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved;” Ephesians 1:12, 14.
107. Farther, it is to be observed that all the foregoing privileges, benefits, relations, and honours belong to all professed Christians, without exception. God is the God, King, Saviour, Father, Husband, Shepherd, &c., of them all. He created, saved, bought, redeemed; he begot, he made, he planted, &c., them all. And they are all as created, redeemed, and begotten by him; his people, nation, heritage; his children, spouse, flock, vineyard, &c. We are all enriched with the blessings of the Gospel, Romans 11:12-14; all reconciled to God, Romans 11:15; all the seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise, Galatians 3:29; all partake of the root and fatness of the good olive, the Jewish Church; all the brethren of Christ and members of his body; all are under grace; all have a right to the ordinances of worship; all are golden candlesticks in the temple of God, Revelation 1:12, 13, 20; even those who, by reason of their misimprovement of their privileges, are threatened with having the candlestick removed out of its place, Revelation 2:5. Either every professed Christian is not in the Church, or all the forementioned privileges belong to every professed Christian; which will appear more evidently if we consider,-
108. III. That all the aforementioned privileges, honours, and advantages are the effects of God’s free grace, without regard to any prior righteousness, which deserved or procured the donation of them. It was not for any goodness or worthiness which God found in the heathen world, when the Gospel was first preached to them; not for any works of obedience or righteousness which we, in our Gentile state, had performed, whereby we had rendered ourselves deserving of the blessings of the Gospel, namely, to be taken into the family, kingdom, or Church of God; by no means. It was not thus of ourselves that we are saved, justified, &c. So far from that, the Gospel, when first preached to us Gentiles, found us sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, enemies through wicked works, disobedient; therefore, I say, all the forementioned privileges, blessings, honours, &c., are the effects of God’s free grace or favour, without regard to any prior works or righteousness in the Gentile world, which procured the donation of them. Accordingly, they are always in Scripture, assigned to the love, grace, and mercy of God, as the sole spring from whence they flow. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” Ephesians 2:4-9, 10: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he has loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us, through Jesus Christ. For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that (salvation is) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that* no man (nor Gentile nor Jew) can boast. For we (Christians, converted from heathenism) are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.” * JIna mh tiv kauchshtai, lest any man should boast. So we render it; as if the Gospel salvation were appointed to be not of works, to prevent our boasting; which supposes we might have boasted, had not God taken this method to preclude it. Whereas, in truth, we had nothing to boast of. Neither Jew nor Gentile could pretend to any prior righteousness, which might make them worthy to be taken into the house and kingdom of God under his Son; therefore the apostle’s meaning is: “We are not saved from heathenism, and translated into the Church and kingdom of Christ, for any prior goodness, obedience, or righteousness we had performed. For which reason, no man can boast, as if he had merited the blessing, &c.” This is the apostles sense; and the place should have been translated, so that no man can boast. For ina signifies so that. See Romans 3:19; 1 Corinthians 7:29; 2 Corinthians 1:17; 7:9; Galatians 5:17; Hebrews 2:17; 6:18; Mark 4:12.
109. It is on account of this general love that Christians are honoured with the title of beloved. Romans 1:7: “To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.” Romans 9:25: “I will call her (the Gentile Church) beloved, which was not beloved.” Colossians 3:12: “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,” &c.
110. Romans 3:23, 24: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” Romans 5:2. 1 Corinthians 1:4: “I thank my God-for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:6, 7: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, whereby he has made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Colossians 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:12. 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began;” Titus 2:11; Hebrews 12:15. Hence grace, and the grace of God, is sometimes put for the whole Gospel, and all its blessings. Acts 13:43: “Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to continue in the grace of God;” 2 Corinthians 6:1. 1 Peter 5:12: “Testifying that this is the true grace of God in which ye stand;” 1 Corinthians 1:4; Romans 5:2; 2 Corinthians 6:1; Titus 2:11; Jude 1:4. Romans 12:1: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies,” &c. Romans 15:9: “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” 1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope,” &c.
111. In these texts, and others of the same kind, it is evident that the love, grace, and mercy of God hath respect, not to particular persons in the Christian Church, but to the whole body, or whole societies, and therefore are to be understood of that general love, grace, and mercy whereby the whole body of Christians is separated unto God, to be his peculiar people, favoured with extraordinary blessings. And it is with regard to this sentiment and mode of speech that the Gentiles, who before lay out of the Church, and had not obtained mercy, are said now to have obtained mercy, Romans 11:30.
112. Hence also we may conclude that all the privileges and blessings of the Gospel, even the whole of our redemption and salvation, are the effect of God’s pure, free, original love and grace, to which he was inclined of his own motion, without any other motive besides his own goodness, in mere kindness and good will to a sinful, perishing world. These are the things that are freely given to us of God, 1 Corinthians 2:12. § VIII. All the grace of the Gospel is dispensed to us by, in, or through Christ Jesus.
113. Nevertheless, all the forementioned love, grace, and mercy is dispensed or conveyed to us, in, by, or through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord. To quote all the places to this purpose would be to transcribe a great part of the New Testament. But it may suffice, at present, to review the texts under the numbers 108 and 110. From which texts it is evident that “the grace (or favour) of God is given unto us by Jesus Christ;” that he has “shown the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness to us through Jesus Christ;” that he has “sent his Son into the world that we might live through him;” to be “the propitiation (or mercy seat) for our sins;” that he “died for us;” that “we who were afar off are made nigh by his blood;” that God has “made us accepted in the Beloved, (in his beloved Son,) in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins;” that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus;” that, “before the world began, the purpose and grace of God (relating to our calling and saltation) was given us in Christ Jesus;” “Before the foundation of the world God chose us in Christ,” Ephesians 1:4. “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access into this grace wherein we stand,” Romans 5:1, 2. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son,” 1 John 5:11. Nothing is clearer, from the whole current of Scripture, than that all the mercy and love of God, and all the blessings of the Gospel, from first to last, from the original purpose and grace of God to our final salvation in the possession of eternal life, are in, by, or through Christ; and particularly by his blood, by the redemption which is in him, as he is the propitiation (or atonement) for the sins of the whole world, 1 John 2:2. This can bear no dispute among Christians. The only difference that can be must relate to the manner-how these blessings are conveyed to us in, by, or through Christ. Doubtless they are conveyed through his hands, as he is the minister or agent, appointed of God to put us in possession of them. But his blood, death, and cross could be no ministering cause of blessings assigned to his blood, &c., before we were put in possession of them. See Romans 5:6, 8, 10, 19; Ephesians 2:13, 16; Colossians 1:20-29. Nor truly can his blood be possibly considered as a ministering or instrumental cause in any sense at all; for it is not an agent but an object, and therefore, though it may be a moving cause, or a reason for bestowing blessings, yet it can be no active or instrumental cause in conferring them. His blood and death is indeed to us an assurance of pardon; but it is evidently something more; for it is also considered as an offering and sacrifice to God, highly pleasing to him, to put away our sin, and to obtain eternal redemption; Hebrews 9:12, 14, 26; Ephesians 5:2.
114. But why should God choose to communicate his grace in this mediate way, by the interposition, obedience, and agency of his Son, who again employs subordinate agents and instruments under him? I answer: For the display of the glory of his nature and perfections. The Sovereign Disposer of all things may communicate his blessings by what means and in any way he thinks fit. But whatever he effects by the interposition of means, and a train of intermediate causes, he could produce by his own immediate power. He wants not clouds to distil rain; nor rain nor human industry to make the earth fruitful; nor the fruitfulness of the earth to supply food; nor food to sustain our life. He could do this by his own immediate power; but he chooses to manifest his providence, power, wisdom, and goodness in a variety of ways and dispositions; and yet his power and goodness are not only as much concerned and exercised in this way, as if he produced the end without the intervention of means, but even much more, because his power, wisdom and goodness are as much exerted and illustrated in every single intermediate step, as if he had done the thing at once, without any intermediate step at all. There is as much power and wisdom exercised in producing rain, or in making the earth fruitful, or in adapting food to the nourishment of our bodies-I say there is as much power in any one of these steps as there would be in nourishing our bodies by one immediate act without those intermediate means. Therefore, in this method of procedure, the displays of the Divine providence and perfections are multiplied and beautifully diversified, to arrest our attention, exercise our contemplation, and excite our admiration and thankfulness; for thus we see God in a surprising variety of instances. Nor, indeed, can we turn our eyes to any part of the visible creation, but we see his power, wisdom, and goodness in perpetual exercise, every where. In like manner, in the moral world, he chooses to work by means, the mediation of his Son, the influences of his Spirit, the teachings of his word, the endeavours of apostles and ministers; not to supply any defects of his power, wisdom, or goodness; but to multiply the instances of them; to show himself to us in a varied display of his glorious dispensations; to exercise the moral powers and virtues of all the subordinate agents employed in carrying on his great designs, and to set before our thoughts the most engaging subjects of meditation, and the most powerful motives of action. And this method, in the moral world, is still more necessary; because, without the attention of our minds, the end proposed, our sanctification, cannot be obtained.*
* But it certainly was not merely to display the various operations of Divine Providence, and to multiply the displays of the Divine perfections, that God required the sacrifice and death of his Son: as he was a sacrifice for sin-and the true notion of sacrifice is redeeming the life of a guilty creature by the death of one that is innocent-therefore Christ died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, 1 Peter 3:18. Consequently the justice and righteousness of God required this sacrifice: and justice must have required it, else such a sacrifice could not have taken place; for had not justice required it, no attribute of God could, without injustice, have demanded it.-A. C.
115. But how is it agreeable to the infinite distance there is between the most high God and creatures so low and imperfect, who are of no consideration when compared to the immensity of his nature, that he should so greatly concern himself about our redemption? Answer:-He who is all-present, all-knowing, all-powerful, attends to all the minutest affairs in the whole universe without the least confusion or difficulty. And, if it was not below his infinite greatness to make mankind, it cannot be so to take care of them, when created. For kind, he can produce no beings more excellent than the rational and intelligent; consequently, those must be most worthy of his regard. And when they are corrupted, as thereby the end of their being is frustrated, it must be as agreeable to his greatness to endeavour (when he sees fit) their reformation, or to restore them to the true ends for which they were created, as it was originally to create them.
116. And as for mankind being a mean and inconsiderable part of the creation, it may not be so easy to demonstrate as we may imagine. The sin that is or hath been in the world will not do it; for then the beings which we know stand in a much higher, and, perhaps, in a very high rank of natural perfection, will be proved to be as mean and inconsiderable as ourselves; seeing they in great numbers have sinned. Neither will our natural weakness and imperfection prove that we are a mean and inconsiderable part of God’s creation: for the Son of God, when clothed in our flesh, and encompassed with all our infirmities and temptations, lost nothing of the real excellency and worth he possessed when in a state of glory with the Father before the world was. Still he was the beloved Son of God, in whom he was well pleased. Besides, since God may bestow honours and privileges as he pleases, who will tell me what pre-eminence, in the purpose of God, this world may possibly have above any other part of the universe; or what relation it bears to the rest of the creation? We know that even angels have been ministering spirits to some part at least of mankind. Who will determine how far the scheme of redemption may exceed any scheme of Divine wisdom in other parts of the universe; or how far it may affect the improvement and happiness of other beings in the remotest regions? Ephesians 3:10, 11: “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 Peter 1:12: “Which things (that are reported by them that have preached the Gospel) the angels desire to look into.” It is therefore the sense of revelation, that the heavenly principalities and powers study the wisdom and grace of redemption, and even increase their stock of wisdom from the displays of the Divine love in the Gospel. Who can say how much our virtue is, more or less, severely proved, than in other worlds; or how far our virtue may excel that of other beings, who are not subjected to our long and heavy trials? May not a virtue, firm and steady under our present clogs, inconveniences, discouragements, persecutions, trials, and temptations, possibly surpass the virtue of the highest angel, whose state is not attended with such embarrassments? Do ye know how far such as shall have honourably passed through the trials of this life shall hereafter be dispersed through the creation? How much their capacities will be enlarged? How highly they shall be exalted? What power and trusts will be put into their hands? How far their influence shall extend, and how much they shall contribute to the good order and happiness of the universe? Possibly, the faithful soul, when disengaged from our present incumbrances, may blaze out into a degree of excellency equal to the highest honours, the most important and extensive services. Our Lord has made us kings and priests unto God and the Father, and we shall sit together in heavenly places, and reign with him. To him that overcomes the trials of this present state, he will give to sit with him in his throne. True, many from among mankind shall perish among the vile and worthless for ever: and so shall many of the angels. These considerations may satisfy us that, possibly, mankind are not so despicable as to be below the interposition of the Son of God. Rather, the surprising condescensions and sufferings of a being so glorious should be an argument that the scheme of redemption is of the utmost importance; and that, in the estimate of God, who alone confers dignity, we are creatures of very great consequence. Lastly: God by Christ created the world; and if it was not below his dignity to create, it is much less below his dignity to redeem the world, which, of the two, is the more honourable.
117. It is farther to be observed, that the whole scheme of the Gospel in Christ, and as it stands in relation to his blood, or obedience unto death, was formed in the council of God, before the calling of Abraham, and even before the beginning of the world. Acts 15:18: “Known unto God are all his works (the dispensations which he intended to advance) from the beginning of the world.” Ephesians 1:4: “According as he hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world” (pro katabolhv kosmou.) 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us and called us, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” 1 Peter 1:20: “Who (Christ) verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, (pro katabolhv kosmou.) but was manifest in these last times for you” (Gentiles.) Hence it appears that the whole plan of the Divine mercy in the Gospel, in relation to the method of communicating it, and the person through whose obedience it was to be dispensed, and by whose ministry it was to be executed, was formed in the mind and purpose of God before this earth was created. God, by his perfect and unerring knowledge, foreknew the future state of mankind, and so before appointed the means which he judged proper for their recovery: which foreknowledge is fully confirmed by the promise to Abraham, and very copiously by the repeated predictions of the prophets, in relation to our Lord’s work, and particularly to his death, with the end and design of it.
118. Again: it is to be noted, that all the forementioned mercy and love, privileges and blessings, are granted and confirmed to the Christian Church under the sanction of a covenant; which is a grant or donation of blessings confirmed by a proper authority. The Gospel covenant is established by the promise and oath of God, and ratified by the blood of Christ, as a pledge and assurance that it is a reality, and will certainly be made good. Matthew 26:28: “This is my blood of the new testament” (or covenant.) Luke 22:20: “This cup is the new testament (covenant) in my blood.” 2 Corinthians 3:6: “Made us able ministers of the new testament” (covenant.) Hebrews 7:22: “Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” Hebrews 8:6: “He is the mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises;” Hebrews 8:8; 9:15; 12:24; 13:20. Here observe: 1. Jesus is the surety, (egguov,) sponsor, and mediator (mesithv) of the new covenant, as he is the great agent appointed of God to negotiate, transact, secure, and execute all the blessings which are conferred by this covenant. Obs. 2. That as the covenant is a donation or grant of blessing, hence it is that the promise or promiser, is sometimes put for the covenant; as, Galatians 3:17, 18: “The covenant that was confirmed before (to Abraham) of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect: for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise;” and so, Galatians 3:19. Again Galatians 3:21: “Is the law then against the promises of God?” Galatians 3:22. Obs. 3. That the Gospel covenant was included in that made with Abraham, Genesis 17:1, &c.; Genesis 22:16-18; as appears from Galatians 3:17; and from Hebrews 6:13; “When God made the promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,” &c. Hebrews 6:17, 18: “He confirmed (emesiteusen, he mediatored) it by an oath; that by two immutable things (the promise and oath of God) we (Christians) might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.”
119. But what should carefully and specially be observed is this, that the Gospel constitution is a scheme, and the most perfect and effectual scheme, for restoring true religion, and for promoting virtue and happiness, that the world has ever yet seen. Upon faith in Christ, men of all nations were admitted into the Church, family, kingdom, and covenant of God by baptism; were all numbered among the justified, regenerate or born again, sanctified, saved, chosen, called, saints, and beloved; were all of the flock, Church, house, vine, and vineyard of God; and were entitled to the ordinances and privileges of the Church; had exceeding great and precious promises given unto them, especially that of entering into the rest of heaven. And in all these blessings and honours we are certainly very happy, as they are the things which are freely given to us of God, 1 Corinthians 2:12. But because these things are freely given, without respect to any obedience or righteousness of ours, prior to the donation of them, is our obedience and personal righteousness therefore unnecessary? Or are we, on account of benefits already received, secure of the favour and blessing of God in a future world and for ever? By no means.
120. To explain this important point more clearly, I shall proceed as before, and show that these privileges and blessings, given in general to the Christian Church, are ANTECEDENT blessings; given indeed freely, without any respect to the prior obedience of the Gentile world, before they were taken into the Church; but intended to be motives to the most upright obedience for the future, after they were joined to the family and kingdom of God. Which effect if they produce, then our election and calling, our redemption, adoption, &c., are made good: upon which account I shall call them CONSEQUENT blessings; because they are secured to us, and made ours for ever, only in consequence of our obedience. But, on the other hand, if the antecedent blessings do not produce obedience to the will of God; if we, his chosen people and children, do not obey the laws and rules of the Gospel; then we, as well as any other wicked persons, may expect tribulation and wrath; then we forfeit all our privileges, and all our honours and relations to God; all the favour and promises given freely to us are of no avail; we receive the grace of God in vain, and everlasting death will certainly be our wretched portion.
121. That this is the great end of the dispensation of God’s grace to the Christian Church-namely, to engage us to duty and obedience, and that it is a scheme for promoting virtue and true religion, is clear from every part of the New Testament, and requires a large and particular proof; not because the thing in itself is difficult or intricate, but because it is of great importance to the right understanding of the Gospel and the apostolic writings, and serves to explain several points which stand in close relation to it; as, particularly, that all the forementioned privileges belong to all professed Christians, even to those that shall perish eternally. For:-
1. If the apostles affirm them of all Christians, to whom they write;
2. If they declare some of those Christians who were favoured with those privileges to be wicked, or suppose they might be wicked;
3. If they declare those privileges are conferred by mere grace, without regard to prior works of righteousness;
4. If they plainly intimate those privileges are conferred in order to produce true holiness;
5. If they exhort all to use them to that purpose, as they will answer it to God at the last day;
6. If they declare they shall perish, if they do not improve them to the purifying their hearts, and the right ordering of their conversation; then it must be true that these privileges belong to all Christians, and are intended to induce them to a holy life. And the truth of all those six particulars will sufficiently appear, if we attend to the Gospels and epistles. § IX. Conclusions from the preceding Discourse.
122. Though, in the foregoing collection I have faithfully and impartially endeavoured to give the true sense of every text, yet possibly, in some few that are doubtful, I may have erred. But there are so many indisputably plain and full to the purpose as will, I am persuaded, sufficiently justify the following conclusions:—
123. I. That the Gospel is a scheme for restoring true religion, and for promoting virtue and happiness.
124. II. That election, adoption, vocation, salvation, justification, sanctification, regeneration, and the other blessings, honours, and privileges, which come under the head of ANTECEDENT blessings, do, in a sense, belong at present to all Christians, even those who, for their wickedness, may perish eternally.
125. III. That those antecedent blessings, as they are offered and assigned to the whole body of Christians, do not import an absolute final state of favour and happiness, but are to be considered as displays, instances, and descriptions of God’s love and goodness to us, which are to operate as a moral mean upon our hearts. They are a display of the love of God, who is the FATHER of the universe, who cannot but delight in the well being of his creatures, and, being perfect in goodness, possessed of all power, and the only original of all life and happiness, must be the prime author of all blessedness, and bestow his favours in the most free, generous, and disinterested manner; and therefore those blessings, as freely bestowed antecedently to our obedience, are perfectly consonant to the nature and moral character of God. He has freely, in our first birth and creation, given us a distinguished and eminent degree of being, and all the noble powers and advantage of reason: and what should stop the course of his liberality, or hinder his conferring new and higher blessings, even when we could pretend no title or claim to them? And as the blessings of the Gospel are of the most noble kind, raising us to high dignity, and the most delightful prospects of immortality, they are well adapted to engage the attention of men, to give the most pleasing ideas of God, to demonstrate most clearly, what nature itself discovers, that he is our FATHER, and to win and engage our hearts to him in love, who has, in a manner so surprising, loved us. By promising the remission of sins, protection and guidance through this world, and the hope of eternal life, every cloud, discouragement, and obstacle is removed; and the grace of God, in its brightest glory, shines full upon our minds, and is divinely powerful to support our patience and animate our obedience under temptations, trials, and difficulties; and to inspire peace of conscience, comfort, and joy.
126. IV. These principles ought to be admitted and claimed by all Christians, and firmly established in their hearts, as containing privileges and blessings in which they are all undoubtedly interested; otherwise it is evident they will be defective in the true principles of their religion, the only ground of their Christian joy and peace, and the proper motives of their Christian obedience. Now those principles (namely, our election, vocation, justification, regeneration, sanctification, &c., in Christ, through the free grace of God) are admitted and duly established in our hearts by FAITH. Faith, then, as exercised upon the blessings which God has gratuitously bestowed upon us, is, in our hearts, the foundation of the Christian life; and retaining and exercising this Christian virtue of faith is called tasting that the Lord is gracious, 1 Peter 2:3. Having* (or holding fast) grace, Hebrews 12:28. Growing in grace, 2 Peter 3:18. Being strong in the grace of Jesus Christ, 2 Timothy 2:1. Holding faith, 1 Timothy 1:19; 3:9. Continuing in the faith, grounded and settled, and not being moved away from the hope of the Gospel, Colossians 1:23. Holding fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope, Hebrews 3:6. Holding the beginning of our confidence steadfast, Hebrews 3:14. Having (holding) hope, 1 John 3:3. Hoping perfectly for the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:13. Giving earnest heed to the things we have heard, Hebrews 2:1. Having (holding) the Son, or Christ, 1 John 5:12. By these, and such-like phrases, the apostles express our being thoroughly persuaded of, and duly affected with, the blessings included in our election, vocation, justification, &c.: or, their being firmly established in our hearts as principles of obedience, to secure our perseverance and final happiness, through the mighty working of God’s power; to purify our hearts, and to guard us through all our spiritual dangers and conflicts; which power will always assuredly attend every one who holds faith, grace, and hope, 1 Peter 1:5. Here note, that the primary object of faith is not in ourselves, but in God. Not our own obedience or goodness, but the free grace of God, is the primary object of faith. But the fruit of faith must be in ourselves. The grace or free gift of God is the foundation of faith; and faith is the foundation of the whole life of a true Christian. 2 Peter 1:5-7: “Giving all diligence, add to your FAITH virtue,” &c. Jude 1:20: “Building up yourselves on your most holy FAITH,” &c. * Ecein, to have, in such passages signifies to keep or hold, as a property or principle for use. Matthew 13:12; 25:29; John 3:29; 5:42; 8:12; Romans 1:28; 15:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; 1 Timothy 1:19; 3:9; Hebrews 6:9; 9:4; 1 John 2:23; 3:3; 5:12; 2John 1:9.
127. These antecedent blessings are the first principles of the Christian religion; but the first principles of religion must be free from all doubt or scruple, otherwise the religion which is built upon them must sink, as having no foundation. The principles of natural religion-that I am endowed with a rational nature, that there is a God in whom I live, move, and have my being, and to whom I am accountable for my actions, are perfectly evident; otherwise the obligations of natural religion would be necessarily doubtful and uncertain. In like manner, the first principles of the Christian religion must be free from all perplexity, otherwise its obligations must be doubtful and perplexed. If it be doubtful whether ever Christ came into the world to redeem it, the whole Gospel is doubtful; and it is the same thing, if it be doubtful who are redeemed by him; for, if he has redeemed we know not whom, it is nearly the same thing, with regard to our improvement of redemption, as if he had redeemed no body at all.
128. Faith is the first act of the Christian life to which every Christian is obliged, and therefore it must have a sure and certain object to work upon; but if the love of God in our election, calling, adoption, justification, redemption, &c., be in itself uncertain to any persons in the Christian Church, then faith has no sure nor certain object to work upon with respect to some Christians; and consequently, some Christians are not obliged to believe; which is false.
129. Farther, the apostles make our election, calling, adoption, &c., motives to obedience and holiness. And therefore these (our election, calling, adoption, &c.) must have an existence antecedent to our obedience; otherwise they can be no motive to it. And if only an uncertain, unknown number of men be elected to eternal life, no individual can certainly know that he is of that number; and so, election can be no motive to obedience to any person in the Christian Church. To confine election, adoption, &c., to some few is unchurching the greatest part of the Church, and robbing them of common motives and comforts.
130. Our election, adoption, and other antecedent blessings, are not of works; consequently we are not to work for them, but upon them. They are not the effect of our good works, but our good works are the effect of them; they are not founded upon our holiness, but our holiness is founded upon them. We do not procure them by our obedience, for they are the effect of free grace; but they are motives and reasons exciting and encouraging our obedience; therefore our election is not proved by our sanctification, or real holiness. Our real holiness proves that our election is made sure; but our election itself is proved by the free grace of God.
131. From all this it follows that we, as well as the Christians of the first times, may claim and appropriate to ourselves all the forementioned antecedent blessings without any doubt or scruple. In confidence of hope and full assurance of faith we may boldly say, “the Lord is my helper,” and come with boldness to the throne of grace. Our life, even eternal life, is sure to every one of us in the promise of God, and the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the business of every Christian is, not to perplex himself with doubts and fears, and gloomy apprehensions, but to rejoice in the Lord, and to do the duties of his place cheerfully and faithfully, in the assured hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, to whom be everlasting glory and praise. Amen.*
* This is all right, when the sinner has been led, by a deep knowledge of his lost estate, to seek and find redemption in the blood of the Lamb: then it is his business to rejoice in the Lord and to do the duties of his place cheerfully and faithfully, in the assured hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But he must not presume, because he is in a Christian Church, and believes the doctrines of Christianity, that therefore he is safe. He cannot be safe unless Christ be formed in his heart, the hope of glory.-A. C.
132. V. From the preceding collection of texts we may gather that some of the expressions whereby the antecedent blessings are signified, such as elect, justify, sanctify, &c., may be used in a double sense; namely either as they are applied to all Christians in general, in relation to their being translated into the kingdom of God, and made his peculiar people, enjoying the privileges of the Gospel; or, as they signify the effects of those privileges. Wherever any blessing is assigned to all Christians, without exception; wherever it is said not to be of works; wherever Christians are expected to make a due improvement of it, and threatened with the loss of God’s blessing and of eternal life if they do not; there, the expressions which signify that blessing are to be understood in a general sense, as denoting a Gospel privilege, profession, or obligation. And in this general sense, saved, elect, chosen, justified, sanctified, are sometimes used; and calling, called, election, are, I think, always used in the New Testament. But when any blessing denotes real holiness as actually existing in the subject, then it may be understood in the special and eminent sense, and always must be understood in this sense when it implies the actual possession of eternal life; and in this sense, saved, elect, chosen, justify, sanctify, born of God, are sometimes used. Matthew 20:16: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (who make a worthy use of their calling.) Matthew 24:31: “He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect.” Matthew 12:36, 37: “In the day of judgment, by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” 1 Thessalonians 5:25: “The God of peace sanctify you wholly,” &c. 1 John 2:29: “Every one that doth righteousness is born of him.” 1 John 4:7: “Every one that loveth is born of God,” in the eminent sense.
133. The faith which gave a person a place or-standing in the Christian Church was a profession considered simply and separately from the fruits and effects of it; but it included a profession of repentance, of forsaking sin and idolatry, and of bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. And it is the continued profession of this faith in Christ which gives us a continued right to a place in the Church: for, if we cast off our first faith, we renounce our profession, we cease to be Christians, or we no longer continue to be the peculiar family of God.
134. Here it should be carefully observed that it is very common in the sacred writings to express not only our Christian privileges, but also the duty to which they oblige in the present or preterperfect tense; or to speak of that as done, which only ought to be done, and which, in fact, may possibly never be done. Malachi 1:6: “A son honours (ought to honour) his father.” Matthew 5:13: “Ye are (ought to be) the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour,” &c. Romans 2:4: “The goodness of God leads (ought to lead) thee to repentance;” Romans 6:2, 11; 8:9; Colossians 3:3. 1 Peter 1:6: “Wherein ye (ought) greatly (to) rejoice.” 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all with open face (enjoying the means of) beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are (ought to be-enjoy the means of being) changed into the same image, from glory to glory.” 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are (obliged by the Christian profession to be) unleavened.” Hebrews 13:14: “We seek (we ought to seek, or, according to our profession, we seek) a city to come;” 1 John 2:12, 15; 3:9; 5:4, 18, and in various other places.
135. The man of true goodness, courage, and greatness of soul, is he who has that faith which worketh by love; who lives the life he now lives by faith in the Son of God. Such a man is happy under all events. This is he, who while he despises a vain life, has the truest and highest enjoyment of all that can be enjoyed in it. This is the man who alone properly lives, for he has nothing but life and immortality before him; death itself giving no interruption to his life. Blessed, unspeakably blessed is this man. Such the Gospel is designed to make us all; and such we all may be, if we do not shamefully neglect the grace of God and our own happiness. But the knowledge and sense of these things are generally lost among those called Christians, to whom the words of the psalmist may be too truly applied: They are a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways, Psalm 95:10.
136. From all the preceding observations and arguments we may clearly see what is implied in preaching Christ. It is not teaching that only a small, uncertain number among Christians are ARBITRARILY redeemed, elected, called, adopted, born again, or regenerated; and that all the rest are, by a sovereign, absolute, eternal DECREE, passed by, or reprobated. These are no principles of Christianity, but stand in direct contradiction to them, and have drawn a dark veil over the grace of the Gospel, sunk the Christian world into an abject state of fear and a false superstitious humility; and thrown ministers into endless absurdities. “It is such doctrines as these that have misrepresented the Christian religion, harassed the Christian world endlessly, by blending and confounding men’s understandings and embittering their spirits; and have been the reason of calling in a false kind of learning, logic, metaphysics, and school divinity, in order to give a colour of reason to the grossest absurdities, and to enable divines to make a plausible show of supporting and defending palpable contradictions.”-See Dr. Taylor’s Key to the Apostolical Writings.
A General Survey of the Epistle to the Romans.
CLA_ROM.PDF, source PDF p. 71
A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE
ROMANS.
PAUL had never been at Rome when he wrote this letter, and therefore it cannot turn upon some particular points, to revive the remembrance of what he had more largely taught in person, or to satisfy the scrupulous in some things he might not have touched upon at all; but in it we may expect a full account of his Gospel, or those glad tidings of salvation which he preached among the Gentiles, seeing this epistle was intended to supply the total want of his preaching at Rome.
He understood perfectly well the system of religion he taught, for he was instructed in it by the immediate revelation of Jesus Christ, Galatians 1:11; Ephesians 3:3; 1 Corinthians 11:23; and being also endowed with the most eminent gifts of the Holy Spirit; a man disinterested and quite unbiassed by any temporal considerations, we may be sure he has given us the truth, as he received it from our Lord, after his ascension. On the other hand, he was also well acquainted with the sentiments and system of religion which he opposed, for he was well skilled in Jewish literature, having had the best education his country could afford, and having been once a most zealous advocate for Judaism. Having frequently disputed with the Jews he was thoroughly versed in the controversy, and knew very well what would be retorted upon every point: and therefore we may very reasonably suppose that the queries and objections, which the apostle in this epistle puts into the mouth of the Jews, were really such as had been advanced in opposition to his arguments. He was a great genius and a fine writer; and he seems to have exercised all his talents, as well as the most perfect Christian temper, in drawing up this epistle. The plan of it is very extensive; and it is surprising to see what a spacious field of knowledge he has comprised, and how many various designs, arguments, explications, instructions, and exhortations, he has executed in so small a compass.
This letter was sent to the world’s metropolis, where it might be exposed to all sorts of persons, Heathens, Jews, Christians, philosophers, magistrates, and the emperor himself: and I make no doubt that the apostle kept this in view while he was writing, and guarded and adapted it accordingly.
However, it is plain enough it was designed to confute the unbelieving and to instruct the believing Jew; to confirm the Christian and to convert the idolatrous Gentile. Those several designs he reduces to one scheme, by opposing and arguing with the infidel or unbelieving Jew in favour of the Christian or believing Gentile.
Upon this plan, if the unbelieving Jew escaped and remained unconvinced, yet the Christian Jew would be more inoffensively and more effectually instructed in the nature of the Gospel, and the kind brotherly regards he ought to have to the believing Gentiles, than if he had directed his discourse plainly and immediately to him. But if his arguments should fail in reference to the believing Jew, yet the believing Gentile would see his interest in the covenant and kingdom of God as solidly established, by a full confutation of the Jewish objections, (which were the only objections that could, with any show of reason, be advanced against it,) as if the epistle had been written for no other purpose. And thus it is of the greatest use to us at this day.
It is also at present exceeding useful, as it entirely demolishes the engrossing pretensions and imposing principles of the Church of Rome. For, a professed faith in Christ, and a subjection to him, is, in this epistle, fully shown to be the only Gospel condition of a place in his Church, an interest in the covenant of God, and of Christian fellowship. By this extensive principle God broke down the pales of his own ancient inclosure, the Jewish Church; and therefore, by the same principle, more strongly forbids the building any other partition wall of schemes and terms of Christian fellowship, devised by human wisdom or imposed by human authority. He then who professes faith in Christ and subjection to him is, by the apostle, allowed and demonstrated to be a member of the true visible Church, and to have a right to all its privileges. Both ancients and moderns make heavy complaints of the obscurity of this epistle, though all agree it is a great and useful performance. Origen, one of the fathers, compares our apostle to a person who leads a stranger into a magnificent palace, but, perplexed with various cross and intricate passages, and many remote and secret apartments, shows him some things at a distance, out of an opulent treasury; brings some things near to his view; conceals others from it; often enters in at one door, and comes out at another; so that the stranger is surprised, and wonders whence he came, where he is, and how he shall get out. But we shall have a tolerable idea of this princely structure if we observe that it consists of four grand parts or divisions. The first division contains the five first chapters; the second, the sixth, seventh, and eighth; the third, the ninth, tenth, and eleventh; the fourth, the five last chapters.
PART I.-Displays the riches of Divine grace, as free to all mankind. Jews and Gentiles are equally sinful and obnoxious to wrath; and, therefore, there was no way for the Jew to be continued in the kingdom of God, but by GRACE, through FAITH; and by grace and faith the Gentile might be admitted into it. To reject this way of justification was to reject the very method in which Abraham himself was justified, or interested in the covenant made with him: in which covenant believing Gentiles were included, as well as believing Jews, and had as great or greater privileges to glory in. But if the Jew should pertinaciously deny that, he could not deny that all mankind are interested in the grace of God, which removes the consequences of Adam’s offence. Through that offence all mankind were subjected to death; and through Christ’s obedience all mankind should be restored to life at the last day. The resurrection from the dead is, therefore, a part of the grace of God in the Redeemer; and if all mankind have an interest in this part of the grace of God, why not in the whole of it? If all mankind were subjected to death through Adam’s one offence, is it not much more reasonable that, through the opposite nobler cause, the obedience of the Son of God, all mankind should be interested in the whole of the grace which God has established upon it? And as for law, or the rule of right action, it was absurd for any part of mankind to expect pardon or any blessedness upon the foot of that, seeing all mankind had broken it; and it was still more absurd to seek pardon and life by the law of Moses, which condemned those that were under it to death for every transgression. PART II.-Having proved that believing Jews and Gentiles were pardoned, and interested in all the privileges and blessings of the Gospel, through mere grace, he next shows the obligations laid upon them to a life of virtue and piety under the new dispensation. And upon this subject he adapts this discourse to the Gentile Christians in the sixth chapter; and in the seventh, and part of the eighth, he turns himself to the Jewish Christians; then, from Romans 8:12 to the end of the eighth chapter, he addresses himself upon the same head to both Christian Jews and Gentiles; particularly giving them right notions of the sufferings to which they were exposed, and by which they might be deterred from the duties required in the Gospel; and concluding with a very strong and lively assertion of the certain perseverance of all who love God, notwithstanding any infirmities or trials in this world.
PART III.-Gives right sentiments concerning the rejection of the Jews, which was a matter of great moment to the due establishment of the Gentile converts.
PART IV.-Is filled with exhortations to several instances of Christian duty; and concludes with salutations to and from particular persons. It will be an advantage to the reader to have this sketch of the epistle ready in his thoughts.
Farther; we cannot enter into the spirit of this epistle unless we enter into the spirit of a Jew in those times, and have some just notion of his utter aversion to the Gentiles; his valuing and raising himself high upon his relation to God, and to Abraham; upon his law and pompous worship, circumcision, &c., as if the Jews were the only people in the world who had any manner of right to the favour of God.
And let it also be well noted, that the apostle in this epistle disputes with the whole body of the Jews, without respect to any particular sect or party among them, such as Pharisees, Sadducees, &c.; for the grand proposition or question in debate is, Are WE Jews better than THEY Gentiles? (Romans 3:9.) And one argument in proof of the negative which the apostle espouses is this (Romans 3:29:) “Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also.” These are the two points through which the line of the apostle’s discourse in the third chapter, and consequently in all the argumentative part of the epistle, must necessarily run: and as, both in the proposition and in the argument, he evidently means the whole body of the Jews, in opposition to the whole body of the Gentiles, he who doth not give such a sense of the apostle’s discourse throughout the argumentative part of the epistle as exactly hits and suits this general, collective notion of Jews and Gentiles, certainly misses his aim, and shoots wide of the mark.
Lastly, the whole epistle is to be taken in connection, or considered as one continued discourse; and the sense of every part must be taken from the drift of the whole. Every sentence, or verse, is not to be regarded as a distinct mathematical proposition or theorem, or as a sentence in the book of Proverbs, whose sense is absolute and independent of what goes before or comes after: but we must remember that every sentence, especially in the argumentative part, bears relation to, and is dependent upon, the whole discourse, and cannot be understood unless we understand the scope and drift of the whole; and therefore the whole epistle, or at least the eleven first chapters of it, ought to be read over at once, without stopping. As to the use and excellency of this epistle, I shall leave it to speak for itself when the reader has studied and well digested the contents of it. And methinks curiosity, if nothing else, should invite us to examine carefully the doctrine by which (accompanied with the gifts and operations of the Spirit of God) a few men, otherwise naked, weak, and contemptible, in opposition to the power, learning, and deep-rooted prejudices of the world, confronted and overthrew the Pagan religion and idolatry throughout the Roman empire: a victory far more difficult and surprising than all the achievements of Alexander and Cæsar. The fact cannot be denied. And surely the dignity and virtue of the cause must be proportionable to such an unusual and wonderful event. It is certain the world never, either before or since, has seen any thing equal to the writings of the New Testament. Never was the love of God, and the dignity to which he has raised the human nature, so clearly shown and demonstrated; never were motives so Divine and powerful proposed to induce us to the practice of all virtue and goodness. In short, there we find whatever ennobles and adorns the mind; whatever gives solid peace and joy; whatever renders us the most excellent and happy creatures; taught, recommended, and enforced by light and authority derived from the only fountain of truth and of all good. As to the apostle’s manner of writing, it is with great spirit and force, I may add, perspicuity too; for it will not be difficult to understand him if our minds are unprejudiced and at liberty to attend to the subject he is upon, and to the current Scriptural sense of the words he uses; for he keeps very strictly to the standard of Scripture phraseology. He takes great care to guard and explain every part of his subject; and I may venture to say he has left no part of it unexplained or unguarded. Never was author more exact and cautious in this than he. Sometimes he writes notes upon a sentence liable to exception and wanting explanation, as Romans 2:12-16; here the 13th and 15th verses are a comment upon the former part of it. Sometimes he comments upon a single word, as Romans 10:11-13; the 12th and 13th verses are a comment upon πας every one, in the 11th. He was studious of a perspicuous brevity. Romans 5:13, 14: “For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when law is not in being. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression.” Surely never was a greater variety of useful sentiments crowded into a smaller compass, and yet so skilfully, that one part very clearly explains another. Hence we learn: 1. That here imputing of sin means, men’s being subject to death for sin; for it follows, Nevertheless death reigned. 2. That law is the constitution that subjects the sinner to death; for he saith, Sin is not imputed when law is not in being. 3. That until the law, is the times before the law of Moses was given; for he saith, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses. Until the law, is the same as until Moses. 4. That law was not in being from Adam to Moses; for having said, when law is not in being, he immediately adds, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses. 5. That Adam was under the law; for if the law was not in being from Adam, or after the dispensation he was under, it is plain it was in being before; or, that law was the dispensation under which God placed Adam. 6. That the clause, even over those that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, is not to be understood only of some particular persons, as infants, but of all that lived from Adam to Moses; because none that lived from Adam to Moses were under the law, and so none could sin after the likeness of Adam’s transgression. 7. That the law was in being after Moses; for it was not in being from Adam to Moses, which evidently supposes it was in being afterwards; and that the Jews, from that time, sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, or were by the law condemned to death for every transgression. 8. Lastly, from the whole it is evident that from Adam to Moses men did not die for their own personal transgressions, but in consequence of Adam’s one transgression, which is the point to be proved. One shall hardly find in any other author an argument so justly managed, so fully established, attended with such a variety of instructive sentiments in the compass of thirty words; for setting aside the articles, there are no more in the Greek. It is by this unparalleled art that the apostle has brought such a variety of arguments, instructions, and sentiments, all stated, proved, and sufficiently guarded, explained, and defended, within the limits of this letter; which has made it a magazine of the most real, extensive, useful, and profitable knowledge. He treats his countrymen, the Jews, with great caution and tenderness. He had a natural affection for them, was very desirous of winning them over to the Gospel; he knew that their passions and prejudices were very strong for their own constitution; therefore, in his debates with them he avoids every thing harsh, introduces every kind and endearing sentiment, and is very nice in choosing soft and inoffensive expressions, so far as he honestly could, for he never flatters, nor dissembles the truth.
His transitions and advances to an ungrateful subject are very dexterous and apposite, as Romans 2:1-17; 8:17.
He often carries on a complicated design, and while he is teaching one thing, gives us an opportunity of learning one or two more. So, Romans 13:1-8, he teaches the duty of subjects, and at the same time instructs magistrates in their duty, and shows the true grounds of their authority.
He is a nervous reasoner and a close writer, who never loses sight of his subject, and who throws in every colour that may enliven it. He writes under a deep and lively sense of the truth and importance of the Gospel, as a man who clearly understood it, and in whose heart and affections it reigned far superior to all temporal considerations. See DR. TAYLOR’S Preface to the Romans.
There is so much good sense and sound criticism in the above remarks, that I cannot help considering them of high importance to a proper understanding of this epistle. The apostle’s manner of writing is here well vindicated, and proved to be close, nervous, and conclusive; and such a testimony from such a man as Dr. Taylor must, with every unprejudiced reader, outweigh the miserable sentiment of that philosopher who, while professing to hold the same creed with the above writer, has had the awful temerity to say that St. Paul was “an inconclusive reasoner.” By such a saying, a man fixes the broad seal to his own incompetency to Judge either of the apostle’s writings or doctrine.
In the preceding pages I have borrowed largely from the work of Dr. Taylor, on a full conviction that it is the best ever written upon this subject, that it is indispensably necessary to a proper understanding of the apostolic writings; and that I could not hope to equal it by any production of my own. Those parts of his Key which did not fall in with my plan I have taken the liberty to pass by; the rest I have greatly abridged, and only added a few notes where I thought there might be any danger of misapprehending the subject.*
A. C.
May 21, 1814.
* On this subject a learned and judicious friend wrote as follows:— “I find there is a hue and cry raised about Dr. Taylor. I have not yielded to my antagonists, and I will still dare to think for myself. I tell them I would go as far as I can with the pope, or any man; yea, with the devil, when he speaks truth, (which he sometimes does.) If these persons alluded to would attentively read and compare the texts in the Old Testament quoted by Dr. Taylor in his Key, it would lead them to a more clear understanding of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans than they ever had before. And I think this Key is better than any thing my friend himself could have written upon the subject. But the cry is, ‘An Arian, an Arian!’ Prejudice shuts up the mind against truth; but let truth be defended wherever it may be found. It is easy to perceive that a certain class of men would reject Dr. Taylor’s Key because it cuts up the very foundation of their system. Go on in the strength of God; and in all things act with a single eye to his glory. Vive valeque.
J. C.
“13th March, 1815.”
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS.
-Year of the Constantinopolitan Æra of the World, 5566.
-Year of the Alexandrian Æra of the World; 5560.
-Year of the Antiochian Æra of the World, 5550.
-Year of the Julian Period, 4768.
-Year of the Usherian Æra of the World, 4062.
-Year of the two hundred and ninth Olympiad, 2.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Roman account, 811. -Year of the Æra of the Seleucidæ, 370.
-Year of the Cæsarean Æra of Antioch, 106.
-Year of the Julian Æra, 103.
-Year of the Spanish Æra, 96.
-Year from the birth of Christ, 62.
-Year of the vulgar Æra of Christ’s nativity, 58.
-Year of the Dionysian Period, or Easter Cycle, 59.
-Year of the Grecian Cycle of nineteen years, 2, or the first embolismic. -Year of the Jewish Cycle of nineteen years, 18.
-Year of the Solar Cycle, 11.
-Dominical Letter, A.
-Epact, or the Moon’s age at the commencement of the year, 11. -Jewish Passover, Saturday, March 25.
-Easter Sunday, March 26.
-Year after Bissextile, or Leap-year, 2.
-Year of the reign of the Emperor Nero Cæsar, 5.
-Year of Claudius Felix, the Jewish Governor, 6.
-Year of the reign of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 9. -Year of Caius Numidius Quadratus, Governor of Syria, 8.
-High Priest of the Jews, Joseph.
-Consuls, Nero Augustus the third time, and Valerius Messala.
Joseph Benson
Preface
BEN_VOL7.PDF, source PDF p. 658
Editorial note: Source collation note — source PDF page 659: “But by faith; (verses 21-”. source PDF page 660: “31;) as appears by the”. Compared with BEN_VOL7.PDF PDF p. 659, BEN_VOL7.PDF PDF p. 660. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: the available separately digitized printed volumes were searched, but the corresponding passage was not securely located. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain; this search provides no basis for reconstructing or silently normalizing them. BEN_VOL7.PDF, PDF page 659; BEN_VOL7.PDF, PDF page 660.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
PREFACE
WITH respect to the order in which the epistles of St. Paul were written, it is worthy of observation, that although this epistle to the Romans is placed first, yet, as is observed by most of the ancient commentators, it was not the first which St. Paul wrote; the two epistles to the Thessalonians, and those to the Corinthians, the epistle to the Galatians, the first to Timothy, and that to Titus, being written before it. It is probable, therefore, that it was placed first, either because it was written to the imperial city, which then ruled almost the whole known world; or, as seems more likely, on account of its peculiar excellence, the great importance of the subjects discussed in it, and the comprehensiveness of its plan. It appears to have been written when Paul was travelling through Greece, probably from Corinth, after he had finished his tour in Macedonia, about A.D. 60. The chief arguments in proof of this have been intimated in the note on Acts 20:3. And, to what is there observed, it may be here added, that the salutations from Gaius, the apostle’s host, and from Erastus, chamberlain of the city, (Romans 16:23,) are further proofs that this epistle was written from Corinth. For that Gaius lived there seems plain from 1 Corinthians 1:14; as did Erastus likewise, 2 Timothy 2:14. Besides, Phœbe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, the eastern port of Corinth, having been the bearer of this letter, Corinth, by that circumstance also, is so plainly pointed out as the place where it was composed, that there was no occasion for the apostle to be more particular. It was written to the Christians at Rome, before he had seen them, (chap. 1:11,) and before he went up to Jerusalem; for he was then but going thither; (chap. 15:25;) and purposed from thence to go by Rome to Spain, verse 28.
Although the Scriptures do not inform us at what time, or by whom, the gospel was first preached at Rome, yet, from the following circumstances, it is probable that the church there was one of the first-planted Gentile churches, and that it soon became very numerous. “When St. Paul wrote this epistle to the Romans, their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world; (Romans 1:8;) and many of them possessed spiritual gifts; (Romans 12:6;) and their obedience was known to all men, Romans 16:19. Further: the fame of the church at Rome had reached the apostle long before he wrote this letter; for he told them, he had a desire for many years to come to them, Romans 15:23. The gospel, therefore, was introduced into Rome very early, perhaps by some of the disciples who were scattered abroad after Stephen’s death, in the end of the reign of Tiberius. Or the founding of the Roman church may have happened even before that period; for among the persons who heard Peter preach on the day of pentecost, and who were converted by him, ‘strangers of Rome’ are mentioned, Acts 2:10, 41. These Roman Jews, on their return home, no doubt preached Christ to their countrymen in the city, and probably converted some of them; so that the church of Rome, like most of the Gentile churches, began in the Jews. But it was soon enlarged by converts from among the religious proselytes; and, in process of time, was increased by the flowing in of the idolatrous Gentiles, who gave themselves to Christ in such numbers that, at the time St. Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, their conversion was much spoken of. These facts merit attention, because the opposers of our religion represent the first Christians as below the notice of the heathen magistrates, on account of the paucity of their numbers, and the obscurity with which they practised their religious rites. But if the faith of the Roman brethren was spoken of throughout the whole empire, at the time this letter was written, the disciples of Christ in Rome must have been numerous, and must have professed their religion openly; for the turning of a few obscure individuals in the city from the worship of idols, and their worshipping the true God clandestinely, could not be the subject of discourse in the provinces.” — Macknight.
St. Paul’s chief design in this epistle was to show, 1. That neither the Gentiles by the law of nature, nor the Jews by the law of Moses, could obtain justification before God; and that therefore it was necessary for both to seek it from the free mercy of God by faith. 2. That God has an absolute right to show mercy on what terms he pleases; and to withhold it from those who will not accept it on his own terms. The epistle consists of five parts: — I. The introduction, Romans 1:1-15. II. The proposition briefly proved: 50. Concerning faith and salvation; 2. Concerning the equality of believers, Jews or Gentiles, verses 16, 17. III. The treatise: 1. Concerning justification, which is, (1.) Not by works; (verse 18;) for the Gentiles; (Romans 2:1-10;) the Jews; (verses 11-29;) and both together, are under sin, Romans 3:1-20: (2.) But by faith; (verses 21- 31;) as appears by the example of Abraham and the testimony of David, Romans 4:1-25. 2. Concerning salvation, chap. 5.-8. 3. Concerning the equal privileges of Jewish and Gentile believers, chap. 9.-11. IV. The exhortation, Romans 12:1, 2: 1. Concerning faith and its fruits, love and practical holiness, verses 3-21; Romans 13:1-10. 2. Concerning salvation, verses 11-14. 3. Of the conjunction of the Jews and Gentiles, chap. 14:1; 15:13. V. The conclusion, verse 14; Romans 16:27. To express the design and contents of this epistle a little more at large: the apostle labours throughout to fix in those to whom he writes a deep sense of the excellence of the gospel, and to engage them to act suitably to it. For this purpose, after a general salutation, (Romans 1:1-7,) and profession of his affection for them, (verses 8-15,) he declares he shall not be ashamed openly to maintain the gospel at Rome, seeing it is the powerful instrument of salvation, both to Jews and Gentiles by means of faith, verses 16, 17. And, in order to demonstrate this, he shows,
1. That the world greatly needed such a dispensation, the Gentiles being in a most abandoned state, (verses 18-32,) and the Jews, though condemning others, being themselves no better; (Romans 2:1-29;) as, notwithstanding some cavils, which he obviates, (Romans 3:1-8,) their own Scriptures testify; (verses 9-19;) so that all were under a necessity of seeking justification by this method, verses 20-31. 2. That Abraham and David themselves sought justification by faith, and not by works, Romans 4:1-25. 3. That all who believe are brought into so happy a state as turns the greatest afflictions into matter of joy, Romans 5:1-11.
4. That the evils brought on mankind by Adam are abundantly recompensed to all that believe in Christ, verses 12-21. 5. That, far from dissolving the obligations to practical holiness, the gospel increases them by peculiar obligations, Romans 6:1-23.
In order to convince them of these things the more deeply, and to remove their fondness for the Mosaic law, now they were married to Christ by faith in him, (Romans 7:1-6,) he shows how unable the motives of the law were to produce that holiness which believers obtain by a living faith in the gospel; (Romans 7:7-25; 8:1, 2;) and then gives a more particular view of those things which rendered the gospel effectual to this great end, verses 3-39. That even the Gentiles, if they believed, should have a share in these blessings; and that the Jews, if they believed not, should be excluded from them; being a point of great importance, the apostle bestows the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters in settling it. He begins the ninth chapter by expressing his tender love and high esteem for the Jewish nation; (verses 1- 5;) and then shows, 1. That God’s rejecting a great part of the seed of Abraham, yea, and of Isaac too, was an undeniable fact, verses 6-13. 2. That God had not chosen them to such peculiar privileges for any kind of goodness, either in them or their fathers, verses 14-24. 3. That his accepting the Gentiles, and rejecting many of the Jews, had been foretold both by Hosea and Isaiah, verses 25-33. 4. That God had offered salvation to Jews and Gentiles on the same terms, though the Jews rejected it, Romans 10:1-21. 5. That, though the rejection of Israel for their obstinacy was general, yet it was not total; there being still a remnant among them who did embrace the gospel, Romans 11:1-10. 6. That the rejection of the rest was not final, but in the end all Israel should be saved, verses 11-31. That, meantime, even their obstinacy and rejection served to display the unsearchable wisdom and love of God, verses 32-36. The rest of the epistle contains practical instructions and exhortations. He particularly urges, 1. An entire consecration of themselves to God, and a care to glorify him by a faithful improvement of their several talents, Romans 12:1-11. 2. Devotion, patience, hospitality, mutual sympathy, humility, peace, and meekness, verses 12-21. 3. Obedience to magistrates, justice in all its branches, love, the fulfilling of the law, and universal holiness, chap. 13:1-14. 4. Mutual candour between those who differed in judgment, touching the observance of the Mosaic law; (Romans 14:1- 23; 15:1-17;) in enforcing which, he is led to mention the extent of his own labours, and his purpose of visiting the Romans, in the mean time recommending himself to their prayers, verses 18-33. And, after many salutations, (Romans 14:1-16,) and a caution against those who caused divisions, he concludes with a suitable blessing and doxology, verses 17- 27.
Joseph Sutcliffe
The Epistle to the Romans.
SUT_VOL4.PDF, source PDF p. 577
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
St. Paul is the most copious, profound, and luminous writer of all the holy apostles. He calls himself “less than the least of all saints,” but Chrysostom calls him the greatest of saints; and he was regarded by all mankind as a prodigy of talents. He has created a new world of happy and enlightened language for the church. Laying aside the rhetoric of the schools, he speaks with the sublime of eloquence and wisdom. He penetrates the depths of religion, developes the shadows of the law, and cites the prophets in a superior mode of argument. His heart and mind were fountains of eloquence, flowing with an impetuous stream. He supports himself in argument with admirable exuberance of thought, and closes with full conviction on the mind. Opposition is silent in his presence. Every battle with the pharisees was a victory, and every contest with gentile philosophy was a triumph. St. Peter attributes the divine wisdom of his epistles to the gift of God, for indeed when his epistles are weighed and studied, we must admit that no man could attain to that wisdom without divine inspiration. The chronological order of his epistles, as laid down in the Testament printed at Mons, under the papal sanction, is given in the first column, that of archbishop Usher in the second.
Mons. Usher.
1 To the Thessalonians A.D. 52 54
2 To the Thessalonians 52 54
To the Galatians 56 58
1 To the Corinthians 57 60
2 To the Corinthians 57 60
To the Romans 57 60
To the Philippians 62 64
To Philemon A.D. 62 64
To the Colossians 62 64
To the Ephesians 62 64
To the Hebrews 62 64
1 To Timothy 66 65
To Titus 66 65
2 To Timothy 66 66
The rabbins who arranged the parchments of Isaiah have put the strong and sublime words which he delivered when the two allied kings had invaded Judea, in the front of his prophecies, though delivered in the middle of his ministry. Jerome, who lived in Rome before he became bishop of Milan, has done the same with regard to the epistle to the Romans; and as Rome was the imperial city, he might do it with better grace. But to read these epistles in their chronological order may be done with some advantage.
Daniel Whedon
Introduction
WHD_CO12.PDF, source PDF p. 349
ROMANS
INTRODUCTION
SCOPE OF THE EPISTLE.
OUR first impression was that the proper division into volumes would bring the historical books of the New Testament into a separate classification. But a thorough survey of the ground reveals the fact not only that the book of Acts commences the new apostolic era, but that with it the epistles form a composite unit, separate from the unit of the Christ-history in the Gospels. The books of Acts and Romans are, indeed, very strikingly the complements of each other. The former unfolds the events, the latter the theology and morals, of the apostolic era. With great propriety, therefore, though out of the chronological order of their publication, have these two books stood in contact in the canon; and with equal, though with almost accidental propriety, they have, in our own arrangement, combined into a single volume.
The penetrative inquirer in the reading of Paul’s debates in the synagogues (for instance of Ephesus, of Thessalonica, of Corinth, and especially on that memorable day at Rome, Acts 23:17-29) desires to be present and listen to the sharp encounter. What were the issues, and the methods, and the terms of the discussion? To this query Romans furnishes the comprehensive reply. It every where presents the traces of struggle and battle. Compare it, on this point, with Philippians or Ephesians. And it explains many of the peculiarities of the style, and solves not a few of the difficulties of the argument to say: The Book of Romans is a summary of the hand-to-hand synagogue debates of Paul with the Jews of his day. This explains the eminently dialogue character of the style; the repeated “I say,” (I affirm, I maintain,) the thou wilt say, the O man! the Behold, thou art a Jew, the brethren, etc. The ever recurring second person, often the second person singular, shows us his co-disputant ever in his presence. By this the train of thought is varied and controlled into often unexpected and abrupt transitions. Objections, sometimes in the opponent’s own words, sometimes put for him in St. Paul’s words, are rapidly presented and rapidly overridden. So rapidly, elliptically, and almost incoherently is this sometimes done, that we are bound to suppose that St. Paul assumes that his contemporary readers are familiar with his argument, and so need not its fuller expansion. Many things were thus clear to them which axe obscure to us.
And this consideration has even its theological bearings. For instance, in the ninth chapter a false exposition is retained very much by the commentator’s insisting upon a false position. By forgetting the stand which St. Paul is maintaining against the altercating synagogue, a defence of God’s rectitude in superseding the Jewish theocracy by the open establishment of a broad and universal system of equalized free-agency, is, most illegitimately, transformed into an assertion of an absolute universal “divine sovereignty,” eternally foreordaining the sin and then damning the sinner! Alford, who insists on this theological transformation most persistently, also rejects in a very one-sided and unexegetical manner the real position in which St. Paul writes. Our apostle orally dictated this epistle to his penman, Tertius, and it is thus vividly startling with the spoken style throughout; a spoken style in which oratory, forensic (or rather synagogic) debate, and terse, abrupt dialogue take their turns; and nowhere are these living variations more graphically presented than in this very ninth chapter. Taking this standpoint with the apostle in the synagogue, and tracing his winding argument, we are then able truly and vividly to realize its living character.
But the Gentiles, in rows and clusters, were often sitting in the same synagogue, sick of worn-out polytheism, and yet hesitating fully to accept monotheism encumbered with the Jewish circumcision and ritual. They usually formed a large part of the assemblage at Corinth. Their moral position, therefore, in the kingdom of God must be unfolded. In the synagogue discussions this would be often more or less perfectly done. Thence, in a concise written summary, would arise just what we have in this book—the relations of Jews and Gentiles to God and to each other, both in the past and the future of the Divine government, as unfolded in the complete revelation of Christ. It thus becomes a most compressed yet most comprehensive SYSTEM OF THEOLOGY, in which every point of Christian doctrine takes its place with a most amazing completeness and symmetry; yet a treatise modified by contemporary circumstances, and, like the whole New Testament, wonderfully blending the traits of the temporary with the permanent.
THE ROMAN CHURCH.
When the Roman general Pompey conquered the Jewish nation and captured Jerusalem, a large body of Jewish prisoners were sent to Rome and sold as slaves. Their rigid adherence to the peculiarities of their faith rendering them very impracticable servants, their masters were glad to emancipate them, and, perhaps respecting their conscientiousness, assigned them a quarter beyond the Tiber as a residence. (See “Jews’ Quarter” on map.) As the residence of freedmen, exiled from aristocratic Rome, in a low ground, where the flat boats from the seaport at Ostia had their wharves, and low shops abounded, it was scarce a respectable section. It was a symbol of truth abased in the world. The worship of the true Jehovah dwelt in these humble abodes, overlooked by the haughty temple of the Capitoline Jove. How has history reversed the contrast! Yet even here the stately synagogue rose, the rabbi established his school, and a hierarchy ruled in power. Nor was monotheism without its influence on imperial Rome herself. So prevalent was the tendency of thoughtful persons toward Judaism as to become the subject of satire to more than one of the Roman poets. And so crowded were the synagogues on the Saturday-Sabbath with Roman ladies that one poet recommends the young men to go thither to get sight of the beauty and fashion of Rome!
The “strangers of Rome,” (Acts 2:16,) returning from Pentecost to this humble Jewish quarter, were probably the first germ of Roman Christianity. They were purely Jewish. The only probable fact we have of history is that such excitements arose among the Jews (about A.D. 50) as to attract the notice of the city government, which received intelligence that the disturbances came from one Chrestus, obviously a modification of the name of Christ. (See note on Acts 18:2.) This mythical Chrestus the police were never able to apprehend, but the government ordered the Jews in a body to leave Rome. By this decree it seems that the elements of the first Roman Church (as of the Pentecostal Church) were swept away. It is from this epistle to the Romans that we get our next glimpse of the Church at Rome. In this respect the catalogue of names in chapter xvi has a singular interest. The banished Aquila and Priscilla have returned. There is a goodly number of Paul’s friends there. And if we may judge of the whole from this catalogue we should say that the Church was almost entirely Gentile, and far more Greek than Roman. Of the twenty-eight names there but two are Jewish, and the Greek are twice as many as the Latin. The Church had existed there many years, (Acts 15:23;) they had attained a reputation through the Christian world, (Acts 1:8.) Though not founded by Paul, the Church recognises his apostleship; nor has he any misgivings that it is an anti-Pauline Church, nor does he recognise the existence of any opponents or maligners.
The next view we have is not so much of the Church as of the escort of friends who met Paul at Appii Forum to conduct him to Rome. (Acts 28:15.) The then existing aspect of things is treated in our notes. The career of the Church of Rome since that period is one of the wonders of history. Its spiritual empire, rising like the shadow of Rome’s past imperial power, has exercised a mightier sway over the civilized world. That Peter was once at Rome and suffered martyrdom there is probably true; but that he was founder or Bishop of its Church is supported by no adequate authority. And the stupendous despotism of Popery based its existence not upon the sacred canon, or upon primitive history, but upon forged documents that powerfully imposed upon the ignorance of the dark ages, but cannot claim to stand the test of modern criticism.
AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY.
That Romans was really dictated to Tertius by Paul is conceded by the most sceptical criticism of the present day. This is a most important concession; for it cannot be denied that the outlines of the evangelic Christ-history are affirmed or assumed in this epistle. That Jesus was a true hereditary prince descended from the royal line of David, that he lived a miraculous life, died by crucifixion as a ransom for sinners, that he rose again with authority to judge and power to save the world, are broad bold assumptions through the whole book. It founds the Gospel theology on the Gospel history. And when we recognise how familiar Paul was with Jerusalem, what advantages he had to know the Christ-history to be true or false, and then realize the most intense sincerity of his character, we may well style this epistle a fifth Gospel.
But the integrity, that is, the entirety of the epistle as Paul’s, has been questioned. Renan admits the whole to be Paul’s, but affirms the last chapter to have been really written by him to the Church at Ephesus. We have given brief replies to the supposed proofs in our notes. TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.
From Luke’s history of Paul in the Book of Acts we should not infer that the apostle ever wrote a letter. And yet, by comparing the history with the existing epistles, we are able, from the “undesigned coincidences” between the two, to state (as we have done in our notes on Acts) with great certainty the time and place of nearly every writing.
As to place, the epistle was written at Corinth. This appears from the fact that “Erastus, the chamberlain of the city,” namely, of Corinth, (2 Timothy 4:20,) joins in the salutations, (Acts 16:23;) that Phebe of Cenchrea (the port of Corinth) is bearer of the Epistle, (Acts 16:1;) and that Gaius, of Corinth, (1 Corinthians 1:14,) was his “host;” and so, perhaps, his house the place of the dictating of the Epistle to Tertius, (Acts 16:23.)
As to time, it was when Paul was on the point of starting from Corinth to Jerusalem, bearing the monies collected by him for the poor Christians at Jerusalem, (Acts 15:25.) This conclusively fixes it at Paul’s last departure from Corinth to Jerusalem, before his arrest by the Jews and rescue by the Romans. There we have placed it in our notes on Acts 20:3.
RHYTHM, PARALLELISM, AND NUMBER.
About a century ago Bishop Lowth revealed to the world the poetic parallelism of the Book of Psalms and other poetic parts of the Old Testament. Dr. Jebb disclosed the same fact in a less degree in the discourses of our Lord. But it was reserved for Dr. Forbes, of Edinburgh, to show, in his late Commentary on Romans, how prevalent this same phenomenon is in that book. We can give but a few specimens. In the Gospels the following instance will show how parallelism and correspondence of clauses appear in our Lord’s discourses:
1. Give not that which is holy to the dogs,
2. Nor cast ye your pearls before swine;
2. Lest they trample them under their feet,
1. And turn again and rend you.
It is clear that the lines here marked with the same figures, though in reverse order, correspond to each other. From this it is evident that a proper understanding of parallelism affects our understanding of the true meaning. Thus, the meaning is,
1. Give not that which is holy to the dogs,
1. Lest they turn again and rend you;
2. Cast not your pearls before swine,
2. Lest they trample them under their feet.
On a similar, but still more complex plan, are Paul’s words, Romans 11:33:
O the DEPTHS both of the riches,
and of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments,
And his ways past finding out.
3. For who hath known the mind of the Lord,
2. Or who hath been his counsellor,
Or who hath given to him,
1. And it shall be recompensed to him again.
Here is first the Unit DEPTHS in which the divine three, riches, wisdom, and knowledge, inhere; and then, in reverse order, is either a corresponding line or couplet. Unsearchable and past-finding-out correspond to depths, counsellor to wisdom, mind to knowledge, and recompensed to riches. We have thus the trinity in unity. And if any one doubts the trinitarian reference, let him well analyze the verse that immediately follows:
1. For of Him,
2. And through Him,
3. And to Him,
Are all things; to whom
1. Be glory
2. Forever,
3. Amen.
Compare also,
And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The love of God,
And the communion of the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 13:14. And also the thrice-three of the so-called Trisagion,
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord, God, Almighty,
Which was, and is, and is to come. Revelation 4:8. We submit that number, rhythm, and parallelism are here combined with a trinitarian import too clearly to be reasonably doubted. On the subject of “Sacred Number.” let our readers carefully consult our supplementary note, Luke 6:16, vol. ii, p. 77.
We have in Romans 2:6-10, a double trinal contrast describing the opposite sides of God’s judgment of men:
1. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing
2. Seek for glory and honour and immortality,
3. Eternal life.
1. But unto them that are contentious,
2. And obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
3. Indignation and wrath.
3. Tribulation and anguish
2. Upon every soul of man that doeth evil;
1. Of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.
3. But glory, honour, and peace
2. To every man that worketh good;
1. To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.
Is the trine number here adopted to symbolize that these opposite destinies to opposite characters come from the same triune God?
Dr. Forbes’ idea of Romans 2:17-20 we may, with slight modification, thus present: The ten qualifications of the Jews are
Five before God:
1. Rest in Law.
2. Boast in God.
3. Knowledge of Will.
4. Approves the excellent.
5. Instructed from the Law.
Five superiorities over Gentiles:
6. A guide to the blind.
7. Light to the dark.
Plan of the Epistle.
WHD_CO12.PDF, source PDF p. 356
Editorial note: Source collation note — paragraph 12: “—”. Compared with WHD_CO12.PDF PDF p. 356. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: the available separately digitized printed volumes were searched, but the corresponding passage was not securely located. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain; this search provides no basis for reconstructing or silently normalizing them. WHD_CO12.PDF, PDF page 356.
Editorial note: The supplied edition prints “Romans 6:7-25” here (WHD_CO12.PDF, physical PDF page 358). The surrounding discussion of the law and sin's operation corresponds to Romans 7:7–25 in the King James Version. The origin of the printed numbering is not established here; the historical wording is retained. WHD_CO12.PDF, PDF page 358.
8. Instruction of the foolish.
9. With form of knowledge.
10. Truth in the Law.
Of rhythm and parallelism we have but to read the very first sentence and paragraph of Romans to find a rich abundance. Take the first words: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
Called to be an apostle,
Separated unto the gospel of God,
Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord,
Which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, And declared the Son of God with power, etc.
This measurement and parallelism appear with different degrees of clearness; often too palpable to be mistaken, often doubtful, and shading off in degrees. It gives a fine majesty to Paul’s opening paragraph in Romans, and we suppose that in speaking he was often able to roll out the rhythmic clauses with the power and volume of an orator. Those who argue that “the apostle in those splendid outbursts could not have attended to these artificialities of rhythm and number,” would do well to fully realize, and then account for, the plain objective facts as they lie in the text of the epistle. Such was the mould and training of Paul’s Jewish mind that we doubt not that he produced a style with these peculiarities as spontaneously as we observe the rules of English grammar or modern rhetoric. Both Dr. Johnson and Dr. Parr could talk with the most perfect spontaneity in the same Latin and antithetic style in which they wrote. PLAN OF THE EPISTLE.
1. Condition of the Heathen world Romans 1:18-2:16 a) The depths to which human depravation can go Romans 1:18-32
Romans
b) The upper moral class, who have never descended to the depths Romans 2:1-10
c) The heathen of the upper class, who, without the law, keep natural law Romans 2:11-16
2. Condition of the Jewish race Romans 2:17-3:20 a) The Jew, under the law, breaking law Romans 2:17-29 b) Admitting the Jews’ advantage in God’s oracles, etc Romans 3:1, 2
c) Yet, without impeaching God’s faith, unbelieving Jews are damned Romans Romans 3:3, 4
d) Nor does glory denied to God from man’s overruled sin excuse the Jewish any more than the Gentile sinner Romans 3:5-8 e) And so the Jews are no better than the Gentiles, their own Old Testament being witness Romans 3:9-20
Conclusion—Under law all CONDEMNED Romans 3:20 II. THE REMEDY.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH THROUGH THE ATONEMENT BY CHRIST Romans 3:21-8:39
Gratuitous salvation by faith in Christ’s atoning death Romans comprehensively stated as THE REMEDY
Faith-Justification shown by Abraham’s case to be at the foundation of the Jewish, as well as of the Christian, Church 4 This Faith-Remedy illustrated—
1. In its progressive work in the individual soul Romans 5:1-11
2. In the grand antithesis between Adam and Christ Romans 5:12-21
3. In the steps of the Renovation—
Negative—
a Emancipation from necessity to sin Romans 6:1-23 b Emancipation from servility to law Romans 7:1-6 c (Although law is not to be blamed) Romans 6:7-25 Positive—
d Blessed (individual) process of Justified and Spirit-guided life Romans 8:1-17
e Advancing stages to final (collective) glorification of Church and Earth Romans 8:18-25
4. Gracious aids through the divinely foreseen and accomplished stages to the final renovation Romans 8:26-30
5. Paean of triumph over this scheme of Human Renovation Romans 8:31-39
III. THE DEFENCE.
AGAINST JEWISH CAVIL OF THIS GOD’S SCHEME OF IMPARTIAL FAITH-PROBATION, EVEN THOUGH RESULTING IN UNBELIEVING ISRAEL’S DOWNFALL 9-11
1) The Apostle’s deep grief at Jewish downfall 1-6 2) Yet God’s promise was not thereby broken; for the promisewas to the faith-seed rather than to the birth-seed 7-13
3) Nor His righteousness impeached; for, overriding all Jewish cavil, God’s rightful will to establish faith-probation is absolute 14-18 4) Nor can He be replied against; for all this accords with the laws of an equitable system of free-agency 19-23
5) And it all accords with Old Testament predictions 24-29 6) So that the Faith-condition underlies God’s whole system of Election and Rejection of Jew or Gentile Romans 9:30-33 7) The Jew has failed by preferring the birth-and-work-condition to that of Faith Romans 10:1-11
8) Which (faith-condition) is entirely impartial, embracing all accepting and proclaimed to all Romans 10:12-21
9) Nor is Israel quite cast away; for, 1. There is a faith remnant, Romans 11:1-10; 2. Israel stands equally with the Gentile on solemn faith-conditions, 11-24; and, 3. Israel will be finally restored to the Churchdom, 25-32 Romans 11:1-32
10) Doxology closing the Argument Romans 11:33-36 B. THE ETHICAL DEDUCTION AND PERSONAL CONCLUSION.
I. ETHICAL DEDUCTION.
In perfect logical deduction from the Doctrine of faith taught in the Epistle there must be, first, the complete fundamental Act of Faith; and thence all Christian duties spring.
1. The Act of basis Faith—Complete consecration to God, and all goodness and duty-doing Romans 12:1, 2
2. The Cycle of enumerated Duties springing from faith, namely: Duties,
1) To the blessed Unity of the Church, (the prime condition.) 3-16 2) To those without the Church 17-21
3) To the civil government 13:1-7
4) To our surrounding secular contemporaries 8-14
5) To weaklings in faith, Romans 14:1-6; who should not judge, in view of the Judgment day, 7-13; and who should be withheld from intolerance, 14-23; and tolerance should be extended toward all in unity, Romans 15:1-7; in the unity (especially) of Jew and Gentile, 8-14 Romans 14:1-15:14
II. PERSONAL CONCLUSION.
1. Paul’s Epistolary boldness based on his Apostolic mission Romans 15:15-21
2. His long-hindered visit to Rome will be on his way to Spain 22-33
3. Paul’s commendation (of Phebe) and various salutations Romans 16:1-16
4. Interposed warning against dividers and offenders 17-20
5. Salutations from Paul’s companions 21-24
6. CLOSING
DOXOLOGY
25-27
A close study of the above Plan will, we think, be a great aid to our readers, especially in verifying our exposition of some important disputed passages.
Joseph Agar Beet
Preface
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ROMANS
PREFACE
THIS volume is the ninth edition of a work which has been for some years out of print. Its republication has been delayed in order to give time for careful reconsideration of the whole subject. The whole has been rewritten; and embodies the writer’s mature thought about the greatest work of the greatest of the apostles of Christ.
My purpose in writing and rewriting is identical with that of the epistle annotated, as I understand it, viz. to set before the readers the Gospel of Christ as Paul understood it, in order that by intelligent faith they may embrace, or embrace more fully, the salvation announced by Christ, and thus find in Him eternal life: cp. John 20:31. In other words, my aim has been to bridge over nineteen centuries and to place modern English readers as nearly as possible in the position of those who first heard the epistle read at Rome.
It is therefore a contribution to Doctrinal Theology: for Paul wrote in order to set before the Christians at Rome an orderly, and within its limits complete, account of the Gospel. But it is in nowise dogmatic: for my statements and arguments rest, not on authority, but-on evidence adduced. My aim has been simply to learn and reproduce Paul’s own rational conception of Christ and the Gospel. And this is the highest aim of all Biblical research. This volume is also a contribution to Christian Evidences. For Paul wrote and argued in order to produce and strengthen in his readers an intelligent conviction of the truth of the Gospel: and I have endeavoured to reproduce and estimate his arguments.
Whatever is needful for these ends, I have, to the best of my ability, done. I have adduced decisive proof that this letter actually came from the pen of Paul; and that it is fairly reproduced, as he wrote it, in our modern copies, English and Greek. Where the ancient copies differ so as to affect theological teaching, and where serious doubt exists as to the true reading, I have discussed the difference, as in Romans 3:28; 5:1; 8:11. I have also carefully discussed the meaning and associations of thought of the words and phrases of the epistle. These are of utmost importance, as the very alphabet of theology. In the more important cases, the results of this study are embodied in separate notes. I have also endeavoured to trace the apostle’s line of thought and argument, which I have embodied in frequent recapitulations. Throughout the work, I have sought for the general theological conceptions underlying the epistle. This is needful even for correct exposition; for only in the light of a writer’s general conceptions can we understand his language. Moreover the thoughts of Paul, as expressed in his epistles, are one chief avenue of approach to the actual teaching of Christ and to the eternal realities underlying His Gospel. The results of this study, I have embodied in dissertations at the close of this volume.
My chief aid has been careful grammatical study of the Greek text. But it was needless to reprint it: for each student will use his own copy of the Greek Testament or English Bible. The English translation here given was needful in order to explain to scholars how I interpret Paul’s Greek words, and to give to all readers a consecutive text of the epistle. Although the whole work is based on the Greek text, there has been little need for Greek type: for all scholars will recognise my constant reference to the original. This will make my work more helpful to many intelligent men and women who are eager to follow as closely as possible the teaching of Paul but are not familiar with the niceties of Greek grammar. Where the Greek construction is difficult and important, it has been carefully discussed; as in Romans 5:1; 7:21; 9:5: and occasionally, e.g. on pp. 30, 132, {Romans 1:1; 4:9f} I have discussed the meaning of Greek particles. My aim has led me to give special attention to the doctrinal contents of the epistle, to the broad theological principles which underlay the thought of Paul, and to the historic facts and eternal realities which underlie the Christian faith. This explains the notes on pp. 65f {Romans 1:28f}, 113f {Romans 3:22f}, 119f {Romans 3:26f}, the note on Election on pp. 279-82 (Romans 9:33f}, and the careful argument in Diss. i. The whole work is a study in theology at the feet of the great apostle. In the Grammar of the New Testament, there has been comparatively little progress since the epoch-making work of Winer, first published in 1822, and re-edited in a seventh edition, after his death, by Lunemann in 1867: a recent edition by Schmiedel. We have however an attractive and able Grammar of New Testament Greek by Blass, published in 1896, and in English by Thackeray in 1898; also a most scholarly volume on New Testament Moods and Tenses by De Witt Burton of Chicago. This last is specially good on the meaning and use of the Greek Aorist. Of modern commentaries, I may still mention those of Fritzsche, 1836-43, and De Wette, 4th ed. 1847, scholarly and accurate expositions, but almost forgotten now. Still more valuable is the great commentary of Meyer, 5th ed. 1872, which is still, as Meyer left it, in my view on the whole the best exposition of the Epistle to the Romans.
Of commentaries published since the first appearance of this work in 1877, I may mention that of Godet, published in 1879, ‘80, marked by keen insight into the apostle’s meaning and great charm of style, but not always reliable in grammatical and critical details; and that of Oltramare, published in 1881, ‘82, careful and scholarly, especially in grammar, but, as I think, less in harmony with the thought of Paul. These works we owe to French Switzerland, their writers having been professors at Lausanne and Geneva respectively.
In 1881 appeared the sober and careful, rather than original, exposition of Gifford in The Speaker’s Commentary. Somewhat earlier, in 1879, came Moule’s attractive exposition in the Cambridge Bible for Schools; and this was followed in 1894 by a profitable and spiritual volume by the same author in The Expositor’s Bible. More recently, in 1895 was published a very attractive and scholarly volume in The International Critical Commentary by Sanday and Headlam, a valuable addition to the literature of the subject, but, like the others just mentioned, rather a careful reproduction of the work of others than an original exposition. I notice with interest that these last editors accept, if I correctly understand them, my exposition of Romans 5:1, an exposition overlooked by all earlier commentators known to me, and by the Westminster Revisers. Among recent German works, I may mention the re-issue of Meyer’s commentary, rewritten by Weiss, also a careful and scholarly work. The editor has the advantage of recent Textual Criticism; but otherwise I prefer the original. A new edition, the fourth edited by Weiss, appeared in 1899. The exposition by Lipsius, in Holzmann’s Handcommentar, is thoughtful, scholarly, accurate, and lucid. Its compactness leaves little room for statement of the reasons on which the expositor’s judgments are based: but they are always worthy of respectful consideration. On the whole, it is one of the very best works on this epistle.
While this edition was in the press, the second volume of The Expositor’s Greek Testament, containing Dr. Denney’s exposition of Romans, appeared. Within limits somewhat too narrow, he has given us a very accurate, attractive, and valuable work. With great pleasure I notice that, whereas for twenty-three years I have stood alone among English commentators in my exposition of Romans 9:5, except the note by Dr. Hort, in vol. ii. p. 110 of Westcott and Hort’s Greek Testament where he differs from Dr. Westcott, Dr. Denney now stands by my side. But he seems to me in serious error in his note on Romans 8:15, where he says, “The aorist refers to the time of their baptism, when they received the Spirit.” The English preterite suggests a definite time in the past, or at least a time definitely removed from the present. And in this sense Dr. Denney interprets here the Greek aorist. But this last “indefinite” tense has no such definite reference. By using it, Paul asserts only that at some time in the past, suddenly or gradually, his readers received the Spirit of adoption. This difference between the Greek and English tenses is recognised by our author under Romans 3:23: but it is overlooked under Romans 8:15; and the oversight is serious.
This work of mine was written, and is now republished, in hope that it may help students of the original text to understand and appreciate the great truths which underlie the grammatical forms of the New Testament, and help also that large and increasing number of men and women in every position in life who wish to drink the water of life as it flows from the pen of those commissioned by Christ to announce the salvation which He wrought out for all who believe Him.
WESLEYAN COLLEGE, RICHMOND,
25th August, 1900.
Contents
BEET_ROM.PDF, source PDF p. 7
ROMANS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Sec. 1. OUR STARTING-POINT AND OUR AIM.
Sec. 2. IS THE EPISTLE GENUINE?
Sec. 3. ARE OUR COPIES CORRECT ?
Sec. 4. WHEN, WHERE, TO WHOM, AND WITH WHAT PURPOSE, WAS IT WRITTEN?
Sec. 5. SUGGESTIONS FOR BIBLE STUDY.
EXPOSITION
Sec. 1. 1:1—7. Paul greets the Roman Christians. [HOLINESS.] Sec. 2. 1:8—15. He has long desired to preach to them: Sec. 3. 1:16, 17. For the Gospel is God’s power to save all that believe. DIV. I. ALL ARE GUILTY. 1:18—3:20.
Sec. 4.1:18—32. For God is angry with all sin. Sec. 5. 2:1—11 Without respect of persons.
Sec. 6. 2:12—24. Of this, the giving of the Law is no disproof; [DESTRUCTION.]
Sec. 7. 2:25—29. Nor is the rite of circumcision. Sec. 8. 3:1—9. Yet the Jews have real advantages; Sec. 9. 3:10—20. But are condenmed by their own Law. [THE LAW.] DIV. II. JUSTIFICATION AND ITS RESULTS. 3:21—5. Sec. 10. 3:21—26. Justification through faith and through Christ: [JUSTIFICATION.]
Sec. 11. 3:27—30. By which all boasting is shut out; Sec. 12. 3:31—4:17. But, as the case of Abraham proves, the Law is established.
Sec. 13. 4:18—25. Description of Abraham’s faith. [FAITH.] Sec. 14. 5:1—11. We have now a well-grounded hope; Sec. 15. 5:12—19. And the curse of Adam is reversed. [ORIGINAL SIN.] Sec. 16. 5:20, 21. The Law was given to prepare for this DIV. III. THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. 6.—8.
Sec. 17. 6:1—10. In the death of Christ we died to sin. Sec. 18. 6:11—14. Then serve sin no more:
Sec. 19. 6:15—23. For experience proves how bad its service is. Sec. 20. 7:1—6. Through Christ we died to the Law. Sec. 21. 7:7—12. Yet the Law is not bad;
Sec. 22. 7:13—25. But makes known the badness and power of sin. Sec. 23. 8:1—11. The Spirit and the flesh. [FLESH.] Sec. 24. 8:12—17. The guidance of the Spirit is a proof of coming glory; [SPIRIT.] [ASSURANCE OF JUSTIFICATION.]
Sec. 25. 8:18—27. A proof confirmed by the present position of Nature and of ourselves.
Sec. 26. 8:28—39. In all things we are more than conquerors. DIV. IV. HARMONY OF THE OLD AND NEW. 9—11.
Sec. 27. 9:1—5. Paul’s sorrow for the Jews. Sec. 28. 9:6—13. Yet God is not unfaithful; Sec. 29. 9:14—18. Nor unjust:
Sec. 30. 9:19--23. But has reason to find fault. Sec. 31. 9:24—29. The present position of Jews and Gentiles accords with prophecy.
Sec. 32. 9:30—33. Through unbelief the Jews have failed to obtain righteousness. [ELECTION, PREDESTINATION.]
Sec. 33. 10:1—13. Their unbelief is the result of ignorance: Sec. 34. 10:14—21. For the preached Gospel and Israel’s disbelief of it were foretold.
Sec. 35. 11:1—10. Yet God has not cast off His people. Sec. 36. 11:11—24. Israel’s fall has been the salvation of the Gentiles: and is not final. [FINAL PERSEVERANCE.]
Sec. 37. 11:25—36. Israel will be saved. Praise to God. DIV. V. PRACTICAL LESSONS. 12.—15:13.
Sec. 38. 12:1, 2. A consecrated body and renewed mind. Sec. 39. 12:3—8. Variety of gifts.
Sec. 40. 12:9—21. General maxims.
Sec. 41. 13:1—7. Obey the rulers of the State. Sec. 42. 13:8—10. Love thy neighbour.
Sec. 43. 13:11—14. Put off the works of darkness. Sec. 44. 14:1—12. Do not judge thy brother. Sec. 45. 14:13—23. Be careful not to injure thy brother. Sec. 46. 15:1—6. The strong ought to help the weak; Sec. 47. 15:7—13. That all may praise God together. CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. 15:14—16.
Sec. 48. 15:14—21. Paul’s apostolic office and work. Sec. 49. 15:22, 23. His plans for the future, and present business. Sec. 50. 16:1—16. Salutations to Rome.
Sec. 51. 16:17—20. A warning against divisions. Sec. 52. 16:21—27. Salutations from Corinth: and doxology. DOCTRINAL RESULTS
DISSERTATION 1. PAUL’S VIEW OF THE GOSPEL AND OF CHRIST, DISSERTATION 2. PAUL’S VIEW OF THE WAY OF SALVATION. DISSERTATION 3. PAUL’S VIEW OF THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES.
Section 1 — Our Starting-Point and Our Aim
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INTRODUCTION
SECTION 1 — OUR STARTING-POINT
AND OUR AIM
1. As this work is to some extent argumentative, I shall begin it by stating plainly the assumptions on which the argument rests. I do not wish to take for granted the divine authority or supernatural origin of any part of the Bible. The only admissions I require are matters of fact which no one will deny; especially that a letter exists professing to have been written by the apostle Paul to the Christians at Rome; that it exists in various languages, in millions of printed books bearing all dates from the invention of printing to our own day, and in many hundreds of manuscripts preserved in libraries and monasteries and giving various indications of age; and that it is quoted in many ancient writings of which copies have come down to us.
2. Assuming this, we will inquire whether we have sufficient proof that the epistle was actually written by Paul; and to what extent the letter written by him is correctly represented in our English Revised Version. We will consider certain indications in the epistle as to when, and where, and to whom it was written. We will then study the epistle itself. We will try to understand the meaning of the words used, and to trace the writer’s argument. We will carefully observe the facts and doctrines he takes for granted, and the conclusions to which he seeks to bring his readers. As we pass along, we will examine his opinions on several of the matters about which he writes. At the end of our work, we will try to delineate the writer’s view of Christ and the Gospel, as that view is reflected on the pages of this epistle. And, standing by Paul, we will endeavour to see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears the face and the teaching of Jesus.
3. The course of study here begun, I have in other volumes extended to seven other epistles, including all the most important, bearing the name of Paul. By this further study I have endeavoured to gain a still more comprehensive view of the Gospel and of Christ as understood and preached by him. In two other volumes entitled Through Christ to God and The New Life in Christ, I have attempted to give a connected view of the teaching of the Bible on personal religion: and, in another volume entitled The Last Things, I have endeavoured to set forth its teaching about the great events which will close the present order of things, and about the new order which will follow. The whole series is an attempt to gain, as accurately and fully as possible, a knowledge of the eternal realities which in Christ God has revealed to man.
Section 2 — Is the Epistle Genuine?
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SECTION 2 — IS THE EPISTLE GENUINE?
1. We now ask, What proof have we that this letter was actually written by the man whose name it bears? To answer this question, we will summon the witnesses at our command.
2. Of these witnesses, the epistle itself is the earliest and most trustworthy. As we study its pages, we are persuaded that the author, whatever his name and position, was a man of great mental power and moral worth. Everything within us bows down with respect in the presence of one far greater and better than ourselves. The writer claims to be Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Apart from the letters attributed to him and the Book of Acts, the name and fame of Paul prove his existence, ability, and influence. This letter, proved by its contents to be a work of a man of worth and power, professes to have been written by Paul, to the Church at Rome, while the author was engaged in active apostolic labour, and before he had been to Rome.
We are driven, by the fact that the epistle exists, to one of three suppositions; either that it was written by someone who deliberately attempted to palm it off as Paul’s; or that the beginning and end were added by a deceiver to a document written by an honest man; or that it is a genuine work of Paul. The impression made on us by the moral tone of the epistle makes the first supposition exceedingly difficult. The second is not quite so unlikely. To decide between the second and third, we must call other witnesses.
3. PRINTED BIBLES are found, in various languages, bearing all dates from the present time back to the invention of printing. All contain this epistle, and ascribe it to Paul.
4. Again, in the libraries of Europe are some 500 GREEK MANUSCRIPTS of epistles claiming to be Paul’s, of dates varying from the sixteenth to the fourth century. Some are mutilated, some entire; some contain all, some a part of, the epistles attributed in modern Bibles to Paul. Of these MSS., fragmentary though many of them are, a great majority contain this epistle. We find also a still larger number of LATIN MSS. of the same epistles. Some are as old as the sixth century. Most of them have this epistle. Going further from home, we meet in the East with scattered Churches which in the fifth century were broken off from the rest of Christendom. The Nestorians amid the lonely wilds of the Turko-Persian frontier and on the coasts of Southern India, the Jacobites in Egypt and Syria, and the Maronites on the slopes of Lebanon, have lingered to our day, separated from each other and from the rest of the Christian Church. Yet all have ancient MSS. of the Bible in the language of the early Syrian Christians. They all hold as genuine the Epistle to the Romans. Their long and melancholy isolation proves that, before their secession in the fifth century, the epistle existed, and was received as Paul’s. Similar testimony is borne by other ancient Churches in Egypt, Armenia, and Abyssinia. These MSS. prove that the epistle existed in the fourth century. The number of them proves that it was held in great esteem. This proof is strengthened by the fewness of written copies of other ancient works. Of the Epistle of Clement, the earliest Christian document after the New Testament, until recently only one mutilated copy was known, that contained in the Alexandrian MS. of the Bible: see below, § iii. 4. In A.D. 1875 another Greek MS., dated A.D. 1056, was found at Constantinople. Some months afterwards a Syriac version of the epistle was found. These three MSS. are the only ancient copies, known to us, of this valuable epistle. The immense number of ancient copies of the Epistle to the Romans reveals its importance in the early Church, and thus confirms its genuineness.
5. In order to continue our search into the ages preceding the oldest MSS., we will call another class of witnesses, the EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS. We have a Church History from the days of Christ to those of Constantine by EUSEBIUS, bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine. In bks. iii. 28, v. 28, vii. 26 he speaks of events in the reign of Gallienus (A.D. 259-270) as occurring in his own time. His testimony therefore carries us some years beyond the oldest existing MSS. In bk. iii. 3 we read, “The epistles of Paul are fourteen, all well known and beyond doubt. It should not, however, be concealed that some have set aside the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that it was disputed, as not being Paul’s… The same apostle, in the address at the close of the Epistle to the Romans, has among others made mention also of Hermas… Let this suffice for the present, to show what books were disputed, what admitted by all, in the Sacred Scriptures.” See also bk. iii.
25. Eusebius admits disputes about the authorship of some of the books of the N.T., but declares that there were none about this.
6. Of an earlier day we have the voluminous writings of ORIGEN, who lived in Egypt and Palestine, A.D. 186-253. He wrote a commentary on this epistle, as Paul’s, of which a Latin translation has come down to us.
7. Several works are extant of TERTULLIAN, who lived, about A.D. 160-240, at Carthage in North Africa. He frequently quotes this epistle as genuine. See especially his work Against Marcion bk. v. 13, 14. He says that Marcion rejected parts of the epistle, because they did not suit his teaching; and argues with him from what even he admitted to be genuine. In so doing, he quotes Romans 1:16, 18; 2:2, 12, 14, 16, 21, 24, 29; 5:1, 20, 21; Romans 7:4, 7, 8, 12, 14; 8:3, 10, 11; 10:2-4; 11:33-35; Romans 12:9, 12, 16-19; 13:10. Marcion held views utterly opposed to those taught in this epistle; yet he dared not deny its genuineness. Tertullian appeals (Presc. against Heretics § 36) to the Churches to which Paul wrote, as the present guardians of his letters. “With whom the authentic letters of the apostles are read, uttering the voice and representing the face of each one. Is Achaia near to thee? Thou hast Corinth. If thou art not far from Macedonia, thou hast Philippi, thou hast Thessalonica. If thou art able to go into Asia, thou hast Ephesus. If thou art near to Italy, thou hast Rome.” This appeal reveals the writer’s full confidence that these epistles came from the pen of Paul.
8. We go now to Alexandria, where, till about A.D. 220, we find CLEMENT, of whom we possess important works. He and his writings are mentioned in bks. v. 11, vi. 6, 13, 14 of Eusebius’ Church History. In his Misc. bk. i. 1, Clement tells us that he learnt the truth in Greece and Italy from noble men who handed to him the apostles’ teaching. Again and again he quotes this epistle as Paul’s. As examples I quote Misc. bk. iii. 3: “The divine apostle who says, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Also in ch. 4: “The apostle writes in the Epistle to the Romans, and not as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come. Whose condemnation is just.” Again, in ch. 11: “In the same way Paul writes in the Epistle to the Romans, We that are dead to sin, how shall we still live therein?… since our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, to neither present your members instruments of unrighteousness to sin.”
9. Let us now visit Gaul in A.D. 180. We find there IRENÆUS, who has just become bishop of Lyons. His predecessor, Pothinus, has lately been martyred at the age of ninety: Eusebius, Ch. Hist. bk. v. 1. Irenæus has been bearer to Rome of a letter from his own Church, of which a fragment has been (see ch. 4) preserved by Eusebius; and in which he is spoken of as a presbyter of the Church. From his pen we have a valuable work Against Heresies, which is referred to in ch. 5 of Tertullian’s treatise Against the Valentinians. In this work, Irenæus says (bk. iii. 3. 4) that in his youth he sat at the feet of Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John. Since Polycarp was martyred not later than A.D. 166, and Irenæus was bishop in A.D. 180, his birth cannot have been later, and was probably much earlier, than A.D. 150. He constantly quotes this epistle as Paul’s. Throughout his writings, there is no trace of doubt about its authorship. The reader may refer to bk. iii. 16. 3: “Paul writing to the Romans, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, predestined for the Gospel of God, which He promised by His prophets in Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made of the seed of David according to flesh, who was predestined Son of God in power. And again, writing to the Romans concerning Israel, he says, whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever.” Also in § 9: “Paul speaking to the Romans says, much more they who obtain the abundance of grace,” and quotes Romans 5:17; 6:3f; Romans 5:6-10; 8:34; 6:9; 8:11. See also chs. 18. 2, 3, 7; 20. 2, 3; 22. 1, 3. He agrees (in ch. 12. 12) with Tertullian that Marcion rejected parts of this epistle, but admitted the remainder as genuine.
The testimony of Irenæus carries us further back even than his own day. With Tertullian and Clement, he appeals to the unanimous teaching handed down from the apostles. In bk. iv. 27. 1, 2, he tells us that one of his teachers quoted this epistle thus, “and therefore Paul said, If God spared not the natural branches, etc.; “ and says that this teacher had himself listened to the apostles. He speaks (in bk, i. 26. 2) of the Ebionites as rejecting the writings of Paul on the ground that he was an apostate from the Law. From this we learn that some admitted the genuineness, while they denied the authority, of the letters which bore the name of Paul.
10. We have one more witness of the same date. A torn part of an ancient MS. is preserved in the Ambrosian Library at Milan; which from its discoverer is called the FRAGMENT OF MURATORI. Its date is fixed by a reference to Pius, who is said to have been “very lately” bishop of Rome. From Irenæus (bk. iii. 3. 3, 4) we learn that Pius was bishop in the middle of the second century. The fragment must therefore have been written by a contemporary of Irenæus. It gives a full list of Paul’s epistles; and in reference to this epistle says, “He described more fully to the Romans the order of the Scriptures, intimating however that Christ was the chief matter of them.”
11. We have no earlier quotations. An important earlier writer is JUSTIN. But he writes for unbelievers; and therefore does not appeal to books which for them had no authority. We find however, in § 23 of his Dialogue with Trypho, a passage so similar to this epistle that we cannot but think that Justin had seen it: “For also Abraham himself, being in uncircumcision, because of his faith with which he believed God, was justified and blessed, as the Scripture signifies. And he received circumcision for a sign, but not for righteousness.” CLEMENT, who was bishop of Rome at the end of the first century, writes, in ch. 35 of his epistle: “Having cast away from ourselves all unrighteousness and lawlessness, covetousness, debates, malignity and deceit, whisperings and backbitings, hatred of God, pride and boasting, vainglory and want of hospitality. For they who do these things are hateful to God. And not only those who do them, but also they who take pleasure in them.”
12. Such are our witnesses. What does their evidence prove? That in the latter half of the second century, in places so far apart as Carthage, Egypt, and Gaul-we may add by sure inference Greece and Rome-no one, friend or foe, doubted that Paul wrote this epistle. We stand by Irenæus in A.D.
180. He is bishop of Lyons. He has been presbyter under Pothinus: and Pothinus was born in the first century. He gives, in bk. iii. 3. 3, a list of the bishops of Rome from the days of the apostles; and thus reveals his familiarity with the history of that Church. He has himself been a delegate to Rome; and must therefore know the opinion there held about the authorship of this famous epistle. He has learnt the Christian doctrine from the lips of Polycarp and other Christian men. Yet he is utterly unconscious of any difference of opinion on this subject. He says not a word in defence of the genuineness of the epistle: for, where there is no attack, defence is needless. Standing by his side, we catch the words of ancient men on whose lips lingers the echo of an apostle’s voice. We hear the din of controversy which arose even in those early days, if not within, at least around, the sacred courts of the Church of Christ. The contention is hushed for a moment, that old and young, friends and foes, may proclaim with one voice that the Epistle to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul.
We now ask, Could this unanimity have been obtained for a writing partly or altogether forged? Suppose a case. The laws of causation have been set aside; and a bramble has produced the fruit of Paradise: a deceiver has written this epistle. Or, a great and good man has written it; and has left his unnamed offspring to the tender mercies of an ungrateful world. The foundling has escaped the notice of everyone else, and come into the hands of a deceiver; and by him has been wrapped up in the garments of Paul, and brought to Rome. When was it brought? Not during the apostle’s life. For a unanimous tradition asserts that he died at Rome: and his presence there was a safeguard against such imposture. It must then have been brought after his death. It is shown to the members of the Church. No one has heard of it before. Yet it professes to have been sent to them years ago, when Paul was in active work, and before he came to Rome. They ask at once, Where has the letter been all this time? Why have we not seen it before? The details given in Rom. 1: and 15: expose the fraud. That this important work is in the form of a letter to a prominent Church, is thus in some sense a voucher for its genuineness.
In short, we have two results for which we seek causes; the existence of the epistle, and its unanimous reception in the second century. In Paul we have an author worthy of the epistle; and in the epistle a work worthy of Paul. If it came from him, its universal reception is accounted for. If it did not, its reception is a fact for which no sufficient cause can be assigned.
13. As yet we have given only a part of the argument. In other volumes I have made out a case as strong as, or stronger than, the above for the genuineness of the Epistles to the Corinthians and the Galatians. And this evidence supports that which I have just adduced for the Epistle to the Romans. For the same spirit breathes in all. And innumerable coincidences, in phrase and thought, of the epistles one compared with the other and of all as compared with the Book of Acts testify strongly to the truth of all. If all are spurious, a stupendous miracle has been wrought for the deception of mankind. If the others are genuine, we have in them another argument for the genuineness of this.
The argument from the intellectual and moral worth of the epistle, from its coincidences with other epistles and with the Book of Acts, and from the oneness of Paul’s character as depicted in his writings, can be appreciated only by personal study of the New Testament. I have however sought to answer the question of this section at the beginning rather than at the end of the volume, in order that, in approaching the text of the epistle, we may do so with a reasonable certainty that it came from Paul. The reader will do well to refer to this subject after his study of the text. It is further discussed in my other volumes.
14. The strength of the case I have tried to defend has been universally felt. With exceptions unworthy of mention, this epistle has been received by all, from the Ebionites who detested the author but admitted the authorship to modern rationalists who accept the work as genuine but deny the sacred facts so fully believed by its acknowledged author. Of the latter, a conspicuous example is F. C. Baur, who, while denying the resurrection of Christ, admits (The Apostle Paul vol. i. p. 276) that “against these four epistles (see above) not even the slightest suspicion of spuriousness has ever been raised.” That such a writer accepts this epistle as genuine, affords strong presumption that its genuineness cannot be disputed. Questions of genuineness which have been severely contested are carefully discussed in my volume on the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
15. Let us now review the position gained. What have we proved? Simply that Paul wrote the epistle. By a similar argument we might have proved the authorship of the Dialogues of Plato and of the Koran. The inspiration of the writer and the authority of his writings have not been mentioned. We have however gained much. We began our study in order to come near to Christ, that we might learn what He actually taught. In our search we have found a man who professes to have been commissioned by Him to proclaim His Gospel. We can therefore now listen to an apostle’s voice. We stand among the disciples of Paul, and hear what he says about his Master.
We may push the argument one step further. As we listen to Paul, we shall be convinced of his sincerity. His thoughts are too intense to be feigned. The man may be deceived: he is not a deceiver. We shall therefore stand, not merely among the disciples, but within the heart, of Paul. We shall look at Christ as Paul saw Him.
Section 3 — Are Our Copies of the Epistle Correct?
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SECTION 3 — ARE OUR COPIES OF THE EPISTLE
CORRECT?
1. We now ask, Is the letter, as Paul wrote it, correctly reproduced in our English Revised Version?
On the title-page of the New Testament (A.V. and R.V.) we read that it was translated out of the Greek. I shall endeavour to show that this epistle was written by Paul in Greek; that, within limits which I shall specify, it is preserved, as he wrote it, in the Greek text underlying the Revised Version; and that the translation is on the whole correct.
2. It might be supposed that a letter to the Roman Church would be written in Latin: but indisputably this was not so. The Latin fathers never claim their own language as the original of any part of the Bible. Augustine complains that, in the early days of the Church, whoever obtained a Greek MS. and knew anything of Greek undertook a translation; and that therefore almost all the Latin copies were different. He adds, “but among the interpretations themselves, let the Italic be preferred before others:” Christian Doctrine bk. ii. chs. 11, 15. The best was therefore a translation. Such was the variety of the Latin copies that in A.D. 382 Damasus, bishop of Rome, committed to Jerome the task of revision. Jerome published the Gospels in A.D. 384. In his preface he says to Damasus, “Thou urgest me to make a new work out of an old one, to sit as arbiter on copies of the Scriptures scattered throughout the world; and, because they vary amongst themselves, to determine which are they which agree with the Greek truth.” This proves that the Greek copies were the standard with which the Latin were to be compared. Moreover, that the epistle was written not in Latin but in Greek, is put beyond doubt by a comparison of the Greek and Latin copies. In the Latin we constantly find the same thought expressed in different ways: in the Greek, the variations are nearly all such as would naturally arise from the mistakes of a copyist.
The use of the Greek language in this letter was justified by its great prevalence in Rome. This is testified by many writers; and by the MSS. found among the ruins of Herculaneum, which are, I believe, nearly all Greek. Most of the early bishops of Rome bear Greek names.
3. We now ask, To what extent does the Greek text underlying our Revised Version reproduce the epistle as Paul wrote it? To answer this question, we summon again the witnesses who gave evidence about the genuineness of the epistle. We have the Greek MSS., the ancient versions, and the many quotations from early Christian writers. If these witnesses, so various in origin and form, agree, their agreement is complete proof that they are correct copies of one original. If they differ, we must examine the kind and extent of their difference.
4. The GREEK MSS. are of two kinds; uncials in capital letters, and cursives in running hand. Roughly speaking, the uncials are earlier, and the cursives later, than A.D. 1000.
Eleven uncials of this epistle are known. The most famous are, the Vatican MS. at Rome; the Sinai MS. found by Tischendorf in A.D. 1859 in the monastery at Sinai, and now preserved at St. Petersburg; and the Alexandrian MS. presented in A.D. 1628 by the patriarch of Constantinople to Charles I., and now in the King’s Library at the British Museum. This last was written probably in the fifth, and the other two in the fourth, century. They are written on beautiful vellum, and each forms a thick 4to volume some 10 in. to 14 in. square. They have two, three, or four columns on a page. The letters follow each other without any separation into words; and there are very few stops. Corrections by later hands are found in all. Each of them contains a large part of the Old Testament and Apocrypha, all in Greek. The Alex. and Vat. MSS. contain the greater part, and the Sinai MS. the whole, of the New Testament. Not less interesting is the Ephraim MS., in the Imperial Library at Paris. By a strange sacrilege, the writing of the Scriptures was erased to make room for the works of Ephraim, a Syrian father. Fortunately, the erasure was not perfect. And, by the use of chemicals to restore the defaced writing, and by careful examination, the whole has been deciphered. It contains important fragments of the Old and New Testaments, including part of this epistle; and seems to have been written in the fifth century. Also of great interest is the Clermont MS., of the sixth century, with Greek and Latin on opposite pages. The others are of later date.
In addition to these are hundreds of cursives. Collectively they are of interest as reproducing a later text. But they are of little value as aids to reproduce the original.
5. Another test of the correctness of our copies is furnished by the various ancient VERSIONS. The Syriac, Latin, and Coptic are specially important. The former is written in the language called, in the N.T., Hebrew; of which we have specimens in Matthew 27:46; Mark 5:41; 7:34; 15:34; Romans 8:15; 1 Corinthians 16:22. To distinguish it from the tongue of Moses and Isaiah, we now call it Syriac or Aramaic. It was the mother-tongue of Christ and the apostles. Many MSS. preserved by scattered Syrian Churches have been brought to Europe and examined. The Latin copies are very many, and possess interest as being the only form in which the Bible was accessible to the Western Church during the middle ages. Also of great value is the Coptic or Memphitic version from Lower Egypt. Some other versions of less value have also been examined and compared.
6. The very numerous QUOTATIONS from early Christian writers also contribute to answer our question. They have been collected with more or less care. In most cases, their value as witnesses to the original text is not great. For we possess them only in a few late copies into which errors have crept even more than into the best copies of the New Testament. But there are quotations in which the correct reading is by the context made quite certain. And some of these are most valuable. Of all this, my note on Romans 5:1 supplies instances. Sometimes the writers tell us that the MSS. differed in their day; and not unfrequently they say which reading was then considered the best. Of this, Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:51 are examples. Such references are always valuable.
7. The testimony of the more important of these witnesses has been carefully weighed and recorded. The earliest Greek copies have been reprinted word for word. And of a larger number we have collations, i.e. published lists of their variations from a commonly accepted standard. Of the Alexandrian and Vatican MSS., there have been published photographs of every page, an almost exact reproduction of the original. These enable the student to become familiar with two of the oldest sacred documents extant. We have also Critical Editions of the Greek Testament, giving not only a revised text, but under each verse the variations of the chief manuscripts and versions, and the more important quotations. Of these, passing over those of an earlier day, I may mention the editions of Lachmann, in A.D. 1842-50, Tischendorf, 8th ed. 1869-72, Tregelles, 1857-70, and of Westcott and Hort in 1881.
8. What then is the testimony of these various witnesses thus carefully interrogated? They reveal, in almost every verse, variations in the ancient copies of the New Testament. But of these a large proportion affect the meaning very slightly or not at all. And very many are proved by the overwhelming weight of contrary testimony to be mere mistakes of copyists. In the edition of Westcott and Hort, vol. i. p. 561, we read: “If comparative trivialities, such as changes of order, the insertion or omission of the article with proper names, and the like, be laid aside, the words in our opinion still subject to doubt can hardly amount to more than a thousandth part of the whole New Testament.”
There are, however, important passages in which our earliest copies vary; and some in which they are almost equally divided This proves that into even these earliest copies errors have crept; and makes possible that the reading found in the larger number is not always correct. In Romans 5:1, some able scholars have ventured to set aside the unanimous verdict of our oldest copies. To detect, amid these variations, the author’s own words, is the important and difficult task of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. The critic endeavours to retrace the steps by which error has crept into the ancient copies, by searching for the reading most likely to have given rise to existing variations. With this aim, various critics have propounded various modes of procedure, arrived at by their comparison of existing documents, principles which I cannot here expound. The results attained are embodied in the Critical Editions of the Greek Testament, mentioned above, and in other works on the same subject. Where the evidence is not decisive, all editors except Tischendorf put the more probable reading in their text and the less probable in the margin. They thus indicate a preference where confident decision is impossible.
9. From the following lists, which contain all the passages in which the Critical Editors propose or suggest changes of any importance from the text underlying our A.V., the reader may learn how close is the agreement between the results attained in this branch of sacred scholarship, and how narrow is the area still open to doubt.
The following corrections, the Editors propose, without marginal note indicating doubt:—
All the above changes are accepted by the English Revisers, and without note except that in Nos. 3 and 23 they tell us, in my view needlessly, that “some ancient authorities add” or “insert” the rejected words. They may all be accepted with complete confidence.
In the following list, the Editors differ, or express doubt in their margin:—
25. Romans 14:21: insert or omit or is ensnared or is weak.
26. Romans 15:19: Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, or Spirit. Of the above passages, all except ten are noted in the Revisers margin. Of these ten, eight, viz. Nos. 1, 3, 9, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, are so unimportant or so slightly attested as to be unworthy of mention in a popular version. The other two, No. 11 and still more No. 22, seem to me to deserve mention. The readings overlooked are much better attested than many in the Revisers’ margin: and they affect perceptibly the course of thought. No. 7, noted in R.V. margin as read by some authorities, has exceedingly slight documentary evidence; but is rightly placed there because of the great interest attaching to it: see my note. Five other variations, Nos. 8, 13b, 14, 16, 20, noted in the margin as read by some ancient authorities, are unimportant or slightly attested. Ten other passages, Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13a, 21, 24, 25, noted as read by many ancient authorities, contain, with Nos. 7, 11, 22, all the variations worthy of serious consideration. On each of these, see my note. The rest of the text underlying the R.V. may be accepted with reasonable confidence as reproducing the actual words of the apostle.
The reading noted by the Revisers in Romans 7:25 is of no importance. In Romans 3:22; 12:11; 14:23; 16:25-27, they seem to me to have needlessly expressed doubt by putting in their margin very weakly supported readings rejected without note by all Critical Editors.
10. Our question is answered. We have examined witnesses from the solitude of the Egyptian desert and from the monasteries of western Europe, from the coast of Malabar and from the shadow of Sinai. Their testimonies agree. Just as the superscription of Pilate, in different languages, yet with one voice, proclaimed the royalty of Christ, so, in the same three languages, these many witnesses proclaim in one great harmony the one Gospel of Peace.
11. Some may ask, If the differences are so small, is not the Textual Criticism of the New Testament a needless study? If the labour spent had done nothing more than prove that the differences are so small, it would be well repaid. But it has produced other results. The corrections of the text, small as they appear, are important. No. 5 of List 1. and Nos. 5 and 6 of List 2. make the argument more clear or the words more forceful. No. 19 of List 1. detects an unfair argument for the divinity of Christ. In other parts of the New Testament, still more important variations are found. In one case, a question of authorship is affected by the changes we are compelled to adopt. In short, every word of Holy Scripture is more precious than gold; and no labour is lost which removes from it a particle of alloy.
12. One question remains. Do our modern versions fairly reproduce the text translated? In asking this question, we must remember that every translation is imperfect. It is a lens which absorbs and deflects, while it transmits, the light. This is specially true of languages far removed in time and circumstances. The words do not correspond: phrases correspond still less. Even such common English words as for and but have no exact equivalents in Greek. In every translation, something is lost in accuracy, clearness, and force. And translations often err, not merely in failing to give the writer’s full meaning, but by putting other thoughts in place of his. We ask then, To what extent does our English Revised Version put before us Paul’s thoughts?
13. A partial answer to our question may be derived from comparison of the Revised Version with its predecessors, especially with the Roman Catholic Version published at Rheims in A.D. 1582 and the Authorised Version published In A.D. 1611. Here are three translations of very different origin. Yet in the main they agree. We find in all the same epistle, the same arguments, the same teaching. The same spirit breathes in all. It is therefore the spirit not of the translator but of the original writer. Those familiar with Latin or German will do still better by comparing the Vulgate as sanctioned by Popes Sixtus V. and Clement VIII. and Luther’s version. The same results will follow. The Trinitarian Bible Society printed a leaflet containing a list of corruptions of the Roman Catholic translations published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The shortness and unimportance of the list are complete proof that the versions referred to accord substantially with the Protestant versions. And the theological differences of Roman Catholics and Protestants are vouchers for the comparative correctness of that which they agree to accept. I do not say that where these witnesses agree we may rely absolutely upon them; but that they agree in the main, and in the main may be accepted.
14. It is nevertheless true that readers and even writers have not unfrequently fallen into serious errors of doctrine by using only one version of the Bible, e.g. the English Authorised Version. A dangerous mistranslation, only in part corrected in the R.V., is found in A.V. of Hebrews 6:4-6. A good safeguard against such error is the use of various translations. As a second and better translation to put beside the familiar Authorised Version, the Revised Version is of immense value. Another safeguard is the constant comparison of Scripture with Scripture. Hold with great caution any doctrine not frequently taught in the Bible. The Spirit of Inspiration has made provision for defects of translation by giving us the vital truths in many and various forms. A third safeguard is found in the argumentative form of much of the New Testament. The meaning of one statement is often determined by another given in proof. By tracing the line of thought, we shall for the most part be saved from serious error and guided aright. Moreover, all careful study will make us more familiar with the sacred writer’s modes of thought and style of writing. There is no limit to the extent to which a student of the English Bible may lessen the disadvantage of using a translation. This is especially true of those who, desiring to know His will, seek in their study of the Bible the guidance of the Spirit of God. In approaching the Book, they approach God; and through the written word God speaks to them. They recognise each deeper insight into its meaning as a revelation from Him who unveils to the humblest who sit at His feet much which lies concealed from others more educated. In many cases, even the difficulties of the Bible will be an occasion of gratitude to Him who makes the darkness to be light about us.
15. The translation here given is no rival to the Revised Version. Indeed, I have not been careful to give always good idiomatic English. I have sought merely to reproduce in modern English, at any cost of elegance or good grammar, as accurately and as fully as possible the sense of the Greek words used by Paul. Moreover, a translation was needful in order to convey to the reader, especially to those familiar with the original, my interpretation of the grammatical forms there used. It would have been useless to reprint or revise another version. Yet, without a continuous text of the epistle, the volume would have been incomplete. The use of various translations is helpful by teaching us to lean not on the outward form of the Bible but on its inner sense.
Section 4 — When, Where, to Whom, and For What Purpose, Was The
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SECTION 4 — WHEN, WHERE, TO WHOM, AND
FOR WHAT PURPOSE, WAS THE EPISTLE
WRITTEN
1. Of these questions, the first three are less important than those discussed in the foregoing sections. To answer them is no essential part of my argument. Our proof that this epistle expresses the mind of Paul would remain even if we knew not when and where and to whom it was written. At the same time we shall find information on these topics which we cannot afford to neglect. Moreover, to sift details, gives us closer contact with the men and facts of the Bible and a firmer conviction of their reality. It will be so in this case.
2. We may fix the date of a book in reference either to some common era such as the year of our Lord or to other events in the life of the writer. The former method tells us what was taking place in the world at the same time; the latter will connect this letter with whatever else we know of Paul. This latter method we now adopt. The place of the epistle in the Christian era is carefully discussed in Diss. iii. of my volume on Corinthians.
3. Paul tells us, in Romans 1:8-15; 15:23-33, that he has not yet been at Rome, that he is free, on his way to Jerusalem with money collected for the Christians there by those in Macedonia and Achaia. He looks forward to Jerusalem with fear; but hopes to be saved from the Jews and then to go through Rome to Spain. Let us compare this with what he says elsewhere about himself. In 1 Corinthians 16:1ff (written apparently from Ephesus: see 1 Corinthians 16:8) Paul speaks of the collection as not yet made at Corinth, but hopes to find it ready when he arrives there: he expects to spend some time at Corinth, and then to either take or send the money to Jerusalem. In 2 Corinthians 2:12f, we find that Paul has left Ephesus and come through Troas to Macedonia. The Macedonian collection is made; that of Achaia, of which province Corinth was the capital, is not yet made: 2 Corinthians 8:1-4; 9:1-6. And Paul is on his way to Corinth: 2 Corinthians 9:4; 12:20; 13:1. Thus, although this epistle does not mention those to Corinth, nor the converse, the three epistles are bound together by a matter common to all. The letter to Rome is evidently later than those to Corinth; but was written while Paul was engaged in the same business.
4. We turn now to the Book of Acts, written probably by a companion of Paul: see Diss. ii. of my Corinthians. It makes no mention of these epistles, nor directly of the collection; and may therefore be looked upon as an independent witness. We will compare the account it gives with the facts already gathered from Paul’s letters. The proposed visit to Jerusalem cannot be later than that recorded in Acts 21:15, which was followed by his arrest. Let us trace his previous course. In Acts 19:21; 20:1, we find him at Ephesus, intending to go through Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem, and then to Rome. He goes through Macedonia to Greece, which formed the Roman province of Achaia. After spending three months there, he goes through Macedonia and Miletus to Jerusalem, a circuitous route occasioned by a plot of the Jews. He has been warned of danger at Jerusalem: Acts 20:23. In Acts 24:17, he tells Felix that he came to Jerusalem bringing alms for his nation. Here we have the details gathered from the epistles. We therefore infer that the Epistle to the Romans was written during the journey narrated in Acts 20.
Since, as we learn from Romans 15:26, the collection was already made, Paul must have arrived in Achaia. And it is much more likely that this letter, which bears marks of deliberation, was written during Paul’s three months’ sojourn there than on his journey from Greece to Jerusalem. Now Corinth was the capital of Achaia; the letters to Corinth say that Paul was going there; and communication with Rome was more easy from Corinth than from any other point in Paul’s course. We therefore infer that the epistle was written from Corinth. And this is confirmed by the mention in Romans 16:1 of Cenchreæ, the port of Corinth. From Acts 20:6 we learn that Paul sailed from Philippi shortly after Easter on his way from Corinth to Jerusalem. He must therefore have been at Corinth during the winter. Romans 15:25 implies that the letter was written almost at the close of his sojourn there. From all this we infer as probable that the Epistle to the Romans was written from Corinth, in the early part of the year in which Paul was arrested at Jerusalem. In Diss. iii. of my Corinthians, I have adduced reasons for believing that the year referred to was A.D. 59, and clear proof that the letter was written early in the reign of Nero.
Notice also that, of the men with Paul when writing, (see Romans 16:21,) Timothy and Sosipater (or Sopater) are mentioned in Acts 20:4 as his companions on his journey towards Jerusalem. Gaius, his host, (see Romans 16:23,) was perhaps the man mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14 as belonging to the Church at Corinth. The same name is found in Acts 20:4. But the frequency of the name leaves us uncertain whether it refers to the same man.
5. If the above inferences be correct, this epistle stands in close relation to 1 and 2 Corinthians. That this is actually so, I have proved at some length in Diss. i. of my Corinthians.
A study of these details greatly confirms the genuineness of all three epistles. The coincidences prove that we have here real persons; and that the collection of money and the journey were actually made. All possibility of fraud is taken away by the incidental nature of the references.
6. About the Christians at Rome, to whom the epistle was written, our earliest information is derived from the letter itself. And it is very scanty. The number of persons greeted in Rom 16:, probably a small part of the whole, suggests a community of some size. The appeal in Romans 2:17 implies a Jewish element; but the general tone of the letter, e.g. Romans 1:6, 13; 11:13, suggests a majority of Gentiles. The Church was famous everywhere: Romans 1:8. But this is partly accounted for by the fact that from every place there was a road to Rome. Some of the members had been long in the faith: Romans 16:7. There are no traces of error among the people. Had there been serious error, it would, from the conspicuous position of the Church, have been known to Paul, and probably referred to in the epistle. The letter suggests a Church of some years’ standing, of stability and importance. This is confirmed by the Roman historian Tacitus, who tells us (Annuals bk. xv. 44) that six years later “an immense multitude” were convicted in Rome of being Christians, and put to death.
7. The origin of the Church at Rome is unknown. During the ministry of Christ, many thousands of Jews lived there. So Josephus, Antiquities bk. xvii. 11. 1: “The number of the ambassadors sent by the authority of the nation was fifty, to which they joined eight thousand Jews that were at Rome already.7” Similarly Philo, On the Virtues of Ambassadors § 23: “The great division of Rome which is on the other side of the Tiber, which was occupied and inhabited by the Jews. And they were mostly Roman citizens, having been emancipated: for, having been brought as captives into Italy, they were emancipated by those who had bought them for slaves… They were in the habit of contributing sacred sums of money from their firstfruits, and sending them to Jerusalem by the hands of those who were to conduct the sacrifices.” They also made proselytes. So Josephus, Antiquities bk. xviii. 3. 5: “Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one who had embraced the Jewish religion.”
In Acts 2:10, we find Roman Jews and proselytes at a feast at Jerusalem. It must have been so during our Lord’s lifetime. These pilgrims would probably hear His preaching: and in this way the good seed may have been early carried to Rome. The close connection of the metropolis with other parts of the empire would bring Romans, both Jews and Gentiles, into contact with the Gospel. Of this, the case of Cornelius is an example. Some converted in other places would probably sojourn or settle at Rome. So probably Aquila, one of the Jews banished from Rome by Claudius. For, when Paul first met him, he is spoken of only as “a Jew :” Acts 18:2. In Romans 16:3, 4 we find him again in Rome, holding Christian meetings in his house. Of all places, it was most likely that in Rome the (Gospel would take root even without apostolic help. And this is the simplest explanation of the origin of the Church there. Irenæus (bk. iii. 3. 2) speaks of “the Church founded and constituted at Rome by the two most glorious apostles Peter and Paul.” But this epistle is complete proof that the Christian community at Rome was not founded by Paul: and this disproof weakens greatly the above statement as proof that it was founded by Peter. All that we can infer is that these apostles laboured at Rome, and thus contributed to the establishment of the Church. The argument, from the silence of the epistle about him, that Peter had not been at Rome when Paul wrote is weakened by the absence in 1 Peter, written to Churches founded by Paul, of any mention of him.
8. We notice that in this epistle Paul lays aside the tone of authority with which he had recently addressed the Churches in Corinth and Galatia, founded by himself. His maxim not to build on another’s foundation (Romans 15:20) seems to have kept him from Rome. He could not go there until he went on his way to countries beyond. This is however no proof that the Church there was founded by another apostle. Other men, apostles, elders, or private Christians, had preached there; and had thus laid a foundation. Paul preferred to preach where Christ was not yet known.
9. We cannot detect in this epistle, as we can in those to the Corinthians and Galatians, any definite occasion prompting its composition. It does not seem to have been written to correct any special error, or to give information on any special subject. But we can easily understand the writer’s purpose. For years he has watched with interest the Roman Church. He sees its importance in relation to the Western world. Many friends at Rome increase this interest. At length he has a prospect of visiting them, but only for a short time. A deaconess of a neighbouring Church is going to Rome. And Paul takes the opportunity of sending a letter which will be an outline, and an authoritative standard, of his teaching, and thus a forerunner of himself. Consequently, this is, of all his letters, the most general and complete. It is the Gospel according to Paul. The exact aim must be gathered from the epistle itself. An outline is given in the table of contents at the beginning of this volume. Paul’s purpose, as I understand it, is, To-assert, and logically develop, as an organic whole, the good news of salvation announced by Christ, especially in view of the distinction of Jew and Gentile; to show that this good news is in harmony with God’s declarations and conduct as recorded in the Old Testament; and to apply it to matters of secular and of church life.
Section 5 — Suggestions For Bible Study
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SECTION 5 — SUGGESTIONS FOR BIBLE STUDY
A few suggestions for method of study may be helpful to the young student.
1. First determine the text of the epistle, i.e. the words actually written by Paul. For the Greek text, note the different readings of the Critical Editions, both where one differs from another and where an editor records his doubt by putting an alternative reading in the margin. This may be easily done by using the editions of Scrivener or Gebhardt or the Stutgard edition. The student of the English Bible may do the same by carefully observing the marginal notes of the Revised Version, especially those marked “Many ancient authorities read.” In § 3, I have given lists of all various readings worthy of consideration.
2. The next step should be to read consecutively and carefully the whole epistle, noting specially its various turning-points. These last are indicated by a manifestly new topic, by a change of tone, and sometimes by the entrance of a new word or by a new grammatical construction. They admit of many gradations of importance, noting primary, secondary, or subordinate divisions of the epistle. For example, in Romans 1:8 Paul passes from a Christian greeting in the third person to matters between himself and his readers in the first person singular and the second person plural. In Romans 1:16, he passes on from these to the great matter of the epistle, viz. the Gospel of salvation for every believer. In Romans 1:18, he turns suddenly from the Gospel to God’s anger against sin which made it needful; and in Romans 3:21 returns to a fuller exposition of the Gospel. These two transitions mark off Romans 1:18-3:20 as an integral part of the epistle. Within this last, we note minor transitions, e.g. in Romans 2:1 from men who worship idols, spoken of in the third person plural, to a man who though equally guilty hopes to escape punishment, whom Paul accosts in the second person singular. At Romans 2:12 the word law introduces a new thought, as does circumcision in Romans 2:25. In Romans 3:1, and again in Romans 3:9, a new subordinate topic is introduced by a sudden question.
For an intelligent view of the epistle as a whole, and of each part in its relation to the whole, this analysis of it into primary and subordinate divisions is of utmost importance. An aid to it will be found in the table of contents at the beginning of this volume. The student will notice the beginning and the end, and the main body, of the epistle. In this last, I have marked five divisions. Their titles form a rudimentary outline of it. The titles of the subordinate sections form a longer outline of the whole epistle.
3. After this preliminary survey, the student will concentrate his attention on one section. In so doing, the meaning of its words claims first attention. These are the very alphabet of exposition and of theology. Only by learning the sense in which the sacred writers use their own words, can we follow their thoughts. The meaning of the Greek words must be learnt from their use by earlier Greek writers, still more from their use in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, in which we find Hebrew thought clothed in Greek forms, and lastly from their use in the New Testament. For all this, a good concordance, English or Greek, is indispensable. A careful comparison of the use of words in the Revised Version of the Old and New Testaments with the help of a concordance will give a wonderfully accurate knowledge of the meaning of Bible words.
The meaning of the words of this epistle has received special attention in this volume. The results are embodied in special notes scattered through my exposition.
After the words, the phrases need careful study. Indeed the teaching of the whole epistle is coloured by the meaning of a phrase used in Romans 1:17; 3:21, 22; 10:3.
Our next work is to trace the apostle’s line of thought. For this difficult task we shall need every resource at our disposal, the meaning of the words, inflections, phrases, and a grammatical and logical analysis of sentences. His arguments deserve special study. We must carefully note and distinguish the facts and principles taken for granted, and the inferences drawn from them. From these last we must endeavour to reproduce Paul’s conception of the Gospel and of Christ: and this conception thus reproduced will shed light upon the various parts of the epistle.
4. At the close of this work, in Diss. i., I sum up the results of our study and endeavour to estimate the practical worth of the conception of the Gospel embodied in this epistle. We shall find that the facts and doctrines here assumed are assumed also, in other forms, by the other writers of the New Testament; that the facts assumed will bear the most searching tests of historical criticism; and that the doctrines may be traced by reliable documentary evidence to the lips of Christ. Thus will our study contribute to the exposition and the proof of the Gospel.
A careful study of the words and arguments of this epistle will enrich greatly the student’s own spiritual life. And this spiritual enrichment will shed important light on the meaning of the apostle’s words. For it will enable us to see the matters about which he writes from his own point of view. Access to the inmost sanctuary of Holy Scripture is granted only to those who come to worship.
Dissertation 1 — Paul’s View of the Gospel and of Christ
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DOCTRINAL RESULTS
DISSERTATION 1 — PAUL’S VIEW OF THE
GOSPEL AND OF CHRIST
1. In Introd. iii., we found proof that the Epistle to the Romans as we have it in Greek and English is a copy or translation, correct within certain specified limits, of a letter actually written by Paul. Therefore, while studying it, we have been in the presence, and have listened to the voice, of an apostle. We shall now consider his claims to our confidence, and the practical worth of his testimony touching the teaching and the dignity of Christ.
2. We notice Paul’s wide range of thought, and his careful observation of men and things. He sees in the material universe a revelation of God to all men; and in the inborn moral sense of the Gentiles he finds a divine law by which they will be judged: Romans 1:19, 20; 2:14, 15. In the groans of the lower creatures, he hears an unconscious prophecy of coming deliverance: Romans 8:19-22. The folly and shame of the heathen are to him a proof of God’s anger against them: Romans 1:21-32. Yet he is prepared to admit excellence among them acceptable to God: Romans 2:26, 27. He has considered the claims of the rulers of the State, and the origin of their authority: Romans 13:1-7. All this betrays, not merely a man born and for many years living among Gentiles, but one who has not thought it beneath him to make them an object of study.
We notice also his complete freedom from Jewish, and from Anti-Jewish, prejudice. He gives the Gentiles credit for occasional morality, and shows that in many cases the greater knowledge of the Jews did but increase their guilt: Romans 2:17-29. He recognises the great advantages of Israel, but declares that the Gentiles are without excuse: Romans 3:1; 9:4, 5; 1:20. We observe the impartiality with which he looks at both sides of a question, and gives to each man his due; e.g. his words in Ro 14: to the weak and to the strong. And we notice his readiness, while claiming apostolic authority, to reason out the matters brought before his readers. Even his outbursts of exultation take the form of argument. We are strongly impressed, not only with Paul’s fairness and intellectual power, but with his moral worth and his intense earnestness. Everything in the epistle bears the stamp of reality. The writer is evidently a good man; and believes, and is deeply moved by, all he says. It is equally certain that he has had abundant means of information: for he has been a colleague both of the murderers, and of the chosen disciples, of Christ. In the noonday of life, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:5; 1 Timothy 1:13, he found reason for leaving the former and joining the latter.
We have therefore in Paul a witness who has had ample opportunities of knowing that about which he writes, a man of keen observation and impartial judgment, and of undoubted honesty. What does he say about the teaching and the claims of Jesus?
3. On p. 250 {See Beet “Romans 8:38”} we saw that the whole epistle is an assertion, defence, and development of five great doctrines, viz. Justification through Faith, and through the Death of the Son of God, Sanctification in Christ, through Faith, and in the Holy Spirit. Of these doctrines, the first is the most prominent. It is formally asserted in Romans 1:16, 17, at the beginning of the epistle; is supported in Romans 1:18-3:20 by proof that apart from the Gospel all men are exposed to punishment; is reasserted in Romans 3:21, 22; and is supplemented in Romans 3:24-26 and in Romans 6:1-8:39. by the doctrines of Justification through Christ’s Death and Sanctification in Christ, which harmonize Justification through Faith with the justice and the holiness of God. Of this primal doctrine, Sanctification through Faith is a development. Sanctification in the Spirit is made needful by man’s felt inward bondage to sin. In Romans 9:1-11:36, the primal doctrine and its consequences are shown to be in harmony with the earlier revelations to Abraham and through Moses to Israel. The chapters following are an application of the above doctrines to sundry matters in practical life. Thus the whole epistle is a development, in view of the character of God and the facts of human nature, of one great fundamental doctrine. This doctrine, thus developed, is the Gospel of Paul; the good news he everywhere announced, and for which he claimed the belief of all men.
4. No one who reads this epistle can doubt for a moment that Paul himself fully believed these great doctrines. And it is evident that they aroused the deepest emotions of his heart, and were the directive principle of his life. This is proved by the bright and peaceful hope and the exultant joy which gild these pages, a joy undimmed by the hardship and peril (see Romans 8:35, 36; 15:31, 32) which have left their mark on this epistle. For, evidently, Paul’s belief of these doctrines was the ground of all his hope and the source of all his joy. Of the sincerity of his belief, he gave proof by passing, in the midst of a public career, from the ranks of the persecutors to those of the persecuted.
5. We now ask, How came Paul to believe these doctrines, and on what grounds did his belief rest? Since the Gospel proclaims pardon from God, nothing less than a revelation from God is sufficient ground for belief of it. And we have not in this case a universal revelation like that which makes known to every man the eternal principles of right and wrong. John the Baptist needed no proof (cp. John 10:41) for his moral teaching: because he did but re-echo a voice of authority which speaks in every heart. But the Gospel rather contradicts than re-echoes the voice within. For it proclaims life for men whose conscience condemns them as worthy to die. Therefore no intelligent man will believe the good news of life unless it be supported by an authority equal to that which has already proclaimed his condemnation.
We have seen that Paul accepts these doctrines with perfect confidence, but gives no proof of them. That such a man accepted such doctrines, is a well-attested mental fact which requires explanation. We ask again, On what grounds did he accept them?
6. Paul teaches frequently that Christ is the personal object of saving faith: e.g. Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16, 20. This implies that the glad tidings of salvation came through His lips and were accepted by Paul on His authority. This is also expressly asserted in Galatians 1:11, 12. And it is the only explanation, and a complete explanation, of the serene confidence with which in this epistle Paul asserts without proof the doctrines of the Gospel. Consequently, the intensity of his conviction that these doctrines are divinely-revealed truth is a measure of his confidence that they were actually taught by Jesus. This evidence is confirmed, and the proof thereby afforded raised to absolute certainty, by the fact that these doctrines or doctrines equivalent are taught more or less definitely, and are directly attributed to Christ, by other N.T. writers: see pages 113, {See Beet “Romans 3:22”}, 119 {See Beet “Romans 3:26”}. Therefore, whatever we may think of the teaching and the claims of Christ, we are compelled to admit as historic fact that the above doctrines, assumed with complete confidence by Paul, were actually taught by Jesus of Nazareth.
7. We now ask, How came Paul to accept the simple authority of Jesus as sufficient proof of the truth of these important doctrines? To answer this question, I shall endeavour to reproduce Paul’s conception of Jesus. Throughout the epistle, Paul betrays perfect confidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, by using the word Christ as His proper name.
Jesus Christ is, in Paul’s view, the channel of blessing from God to man, blessing designed for all and actually received by many: Romans 5:15-19. Through Christ, Paul was reconciled to God, made an object of His favour, and called to be an apostle: Romans 1:5; 5:1, 11. Through Christ, he now exults in God and will hereafter reign in life: Romans 5:11, 17. He bids his readers reckon themselves to be, in Christ, dead to sin and living for God; and in Him he has been made free from the power of sin: Romans 6:11; 8:2. Hence it is in or through Christ that God manifests His infinite wisdom and love; and through Christ Paul’s praises go up to God: Romans 16:27; 8:39; 1:8; 7:25. Through Christ, God will judge the world: Romans 2:16. Justification is attributed specially to the death of Christ: Romans 3:25; 5:9, 10. The mention of “blood” implies a violent death; and Romans 6:6 reminds us that the violence took the form of crucifixion. To this death Christ submitted deliberately, by the will of God, for our good and to make us servants of Christ: Romans 3:25; 5:6-8; 14:9, 15. The need for so costly a means of salvation lay in our sins; looked at in the light of the justice of God: Romans 4:25; 3:26.
The above teaching implies that Christ’s relation to God differs in kind from ours, and therefore puts Him infinitely above us. That Christ’s death saves us from the consequences of our sins, implies that, while all others have sinned, He is sinless. This is confirmed by Romans 8:3, “in the likeness of the flesh of sin.” Again, that the death of one man made it consistent with the justice of God to offer salvation to all men, implies that in essential worth the one Man surpassed the entire race. The difference between Christ and ourselves is further seen in the frequently-recurring words in Christ. Speaking of a man of flesh and blood who lived in his own day, and is now dead and gone, Paul declares Him to be the vital element in which His servants are, and live, and exult, and speak, and write, and work: Romans 16:7, 11; 6:11; 15:17; 9:1; 16:22, 3, 12. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ; and the presence of the Spirit of God is the life-giving presence within us of Christ Himself: Romans 8:9, 10. Absent in body, Christ is still the Master whom we obey and before whom we stand: Romans 14:8; 16:18.
Having learnt that Jesus is infinitely above us, we are not surprised to find Him placed by Paul infinitely near to God. That one man died to save a race of men, is said in Romans 5:6-8 to be a wonderful proof of God’s love to the race. This implies that the one Man stands infinitely nearer to God than does the race He came to save.
We notice that five times Christ is called, in distinction from others, and as a mark of great and peculiar dignity, the Son of God, and twice more by the still more definite term His own Son; and that this relation to God is appealed to as proof of God’s love to us and of the earnestness of His purpose to bless us: see Romans 1:3, 4; 5:10; 8:3, 29, 32. This implies that Jesus is the Son of God in a sense which marks Him off from us as holding a nearer relation to God which raises Him infinitely above us, and made Him an appropriate channel of unique and infinite blessing from God to all men.
The word Son suggests the idea of origin. Consequently the term Son of God suggests that this infinite difference lies in a different mode of derivation from the common Father of Him and of us.
Again, the unique position held by Christ in this epistle, and His unique relation to God arising from His unique mode of derivation from Him, suggest at once and irresistibly that the title Son of God marks Him off-not only from us sinners but from the loftiest of the creatures of God. That God sent His own Son into the world, implies His pre-existence as, though not yet incarnate, holding a unique relation to God as derived from Him. The only explanation of this difference is that, whereas all they were created, He is without beginning, the eternal Son of God. The word Son implies not only derivation but subordination. And throughout this epistle we find absolute subordination of the Son to the Father. The word God designates the Father, even in distinction from Christ: Romans 5:8, 11, etc. It is by the Father, and to accomplish His purpose, that Jesus was “set forth in His blood:” Romans 3:25. It is to the Father that we are reconciled through the Son: Romans 5:1, 10. He it is that raised Christ, and to Him Paul’s songs of praise go up: Romans 4:24; 6:4; 10:9; 11:33-36; 16:25-27. In all these places the Father is described by the simple term God.
Similar teaching is abundant in all the epistles bearing the name of Paul. See especially Colossians 1:15-18, where he speaks of “the Son of His love” as “Firstborn before every creature,” because “in Him” and “through Him and for Him were created” the various and shining ranks of the celestial hierarchy. All this leaves no room to doubt that across the infinite gulf which separates the Creator from even the noblest and earliest of His creatures, and infinitely near and dear to the Father, Paul’s faith beheld his Master, Christ.
The title Son of God is given to Christ as a mark of special dignity in John 1:34, 50; 5:25; 11:4; 19:7; 20:31; 1 John 1:3, 7; 3:8, 23; 4:10, 15; 5:5, 9-11, 13, 20. That it denotes a unique relation to God, is made conspicuous in the title Only-begotten Son, in John 3:16, 18, 1 John 4:9. The Son declares that He does whatever the Father does, has whatever the Father has, and is one with the Father: John 5:19; 16:15; 10:30. The Jews understood that by so speaking He was claiming to be equal to God. Yet the writer, careful at other times (cp. John 2:21; 21:23) to guard his Master’s words from misinterpretation, does not say that in this case they were misunderstood. In John 1:1-3, we read that the Word was in the beginning with God, and was God, and that through Him all things were made: and John 1:14 leaves no room to doubt that the Word became incarnate as Jesus. In John 20:28, He is represented as accepting from Thomas the august title “my Lord and my God.”
That the being of the Son is derived from the Father, is plainly taught in John 5:26: “Just as the Father has life in Himself, so also to the Son has He given to have life in Himself.” So John 6:57: “I live because of the Father.” From John 5:19, 30; 14:28, we learn that this derivation involves subordination: “the Son can do nothing from Himself, nothing except what He sees the Father doing;” as He hears He judges, seeking not his own will but the will of Him that sent Him; “My Father is greater than I.” All this by no means implies inferiority or later origin; but only that the Son is an infinite Outflow of an infinite Source, and His whole life a life of devotion to the Father.
The superiority of the Son even to the brightest in heaven is very conspicuous in Revelation 1:5, 6; 5:6-14: contrast Revelation 19:10; 22:9, where an angel refuses worship and bids John to “worship God.”
The title Son of God is given to Christ as one of great and unique dignity in Matthew 3:17; 4:3; 14:33; 16:16; Mark 1:11; 3:11; 5:7; 9:7; 12:6; 14:61; Luke 1:32; 3:22; 4:3; 8:28; 9:35; 10:22; Acts 9:20; Hebrews 1:2-8; 4:14; 5:5, 8; 6:6; 7:3, 28; 10:29; Revelation 2:18. In Matthew 7:23; 13:41; 16:27; 25:31; Acts 10:42; 17:31, we are taught that Christ will judge the world.
The above quotations prove that Paul’s conception of Christ was shared by the various writers of the New Testament, i.e. by all His early followers whose opinions have come down to us. This whole subject I have discussed at length on pp. 215-300 of my volume entitled Through Christ to God.
To resume our argument. We have seen that Paul accepted, in the noonday of life, the great fundamental doctrines of this epistle; and that they took hold of his mind and heart so firmly that they carried him with a song of triumph through a life of hardship and peril. We saw that Paul’s belief of these doctrines rested entirely on the authority of Jesus. And we sought to know something of the Teacher whose word was sufficient to inspire a man like Paul with confidence so complete. Paul’s firm belief of the Gospel is now explained by his equally firm belief that Jesus is the Son of God.
8. This explanation, however, sufficient as it is for the point in question, by no means satisfies us: for it has brought us face to face with a far more wonderful mental fact which also demands explanation. How came it that Jesus stamped on the mind of Paul the profound impression which we have just traced as reflected on the pages of this epistle? We have before us a man of the highest mental power and moral worth, a man of the class least prone to hero-worship. Yet before Jesus of Nazareth, a fellow-countryman who in his own day and his own city had died in the prime of life, he bows down with humble submission as to One the latchet of whose shoe he is not worthy to stoop down and unloose. This absolute submission to Jesus made itself felt while we were but on the threshold of the epistle, and it breathes in every page. There is no trace of familiarity, or of that equality of manhood which no human distinctions can altogether efface. But there is everywhere a consciousness of the honour of being a servant of a Master so illustrious. In 2 Corinthians 2:14, Paul counts it an honour to be led as a captive in the triumphal procession of so mighty and benign a conqueror.
For this profound submission, I seek an explanation. Who was Jesus? how came He to obtain such ascendency over such a man? Certainly Christ did something infinitely greater than anything Paul could do; and thus compelled him to bow as in the presence of One infinitely greater than himself.
Our wonder is increased by the fact that Jesus and Paul never met on earth. Only by hearsay did Paul know Jesus. Consequently the influence of Jesus over Paul cannot be attributed to the divine purity and beauty of the life of Jesus. For an impression thus produced could not, by words, be conveyed in force sufficient to produce the effects we see in Paul. The question returns, What had Jesus done, surpassing utterly all that Paul could do, to lead captive, in complete and willing submission, the author of this wonderful epistle? The devotion of Paul to Jesus is an historic fact resting on evidence most conclusive which demands explanation. It is a known effect; and implies a sufficient cause.
9. Paul himself gives the explanation and points to the cause. He began his letter by saying that Jesus was marked out as Son of God by resurrection of the dead. His resurrection is the ground and matter of saving faith: Romans 4:24, 25; 10:9. Our new life is a union with the life of the Risen One, and is therefore a result of His resurrection: Romans 6:4, 9-11; 7:4; 14:9. That He rose, is a pledge that none can tear us from His arms, and that our own dead body will rise: Romans 8:34, 11. In 1 Corinthians 15:13-21, the faith and hope of Paul and his companions are made to rest on the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ: and in all his epistles it occupies a chief place.
All this proves, not only that Paul fully believed that Jesus rose, but that this belief exerted a great influence on his inward and outward life. It is easy to believe with confidence, even upon slight evidence, a matter of no moment to us. But the mind of an intelligent man will not be at rest in a matter vital to him unless he have what his judgment pronounces to be sufficient proof. To Paul, everything hung upon the fact of Christ’s resurrection: for this was the ground of his confidence in Jesus and of his belief of the Gospel. Consequently, his absolute devotion to Christ, the perfect peace which reigns over the entire epistle, and the glowing exultation which irradiates every page attest that he had what he thought to be sufficient evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.
The absence of any attempt to prove that Christ rose implies that Paul’s confidence was shared by the men around him. Writing to Christians at a distance whom he has never seen, he takes for granted this great article of the Christian faith. We have thus in this epistle an indirect proof of the unanimity of the disciples of Jesus that their Master rose from the dead. And this proof is confirmed by the confidence with which the various N.T. writers speak of the resurrection of Christ as undoubted fact. Paul’s profound submission to Jesus is now explained. If he believed that He whom the thousands of Jerusalem saw dead upon the cross had come back in triumph from the grave, that He had trampled under foot the tremendous conqueror before whose approach the mightiest on earth tremble and bow, we wonder not that in His presence Paul bowed with humble reverence as before One far greater than man. And, if he believed that Jesus came back from the grave in order that through its shattered portal there might shine upon His murderers and upon the world the smile of a pardoning God, we wonder not that his profound submission was raised to rapturous devotion. It may be that in this belief we are unable to share. It may be that we look on the apostle as a dupe and a fanatic. But indisputably we have in this belief an explanation, the only conceivable explanation, of Paul’s supreme and undeniable devotion to Jesus.
10. We have now before us three mental, but in a correct sense historic, facts; viz. Paul’s belief that the Gospel is true, his belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and his belief that Jesus rose from the dead. Each of these beliefs rests, as a mental fact, on unquestionable historic evidence. The first is accounted for by the second; the second, by the third; and the third, bearing the weight of the first and second, now demands explanation. Only two suppositions are possible. If Jesus actually rose, the fact of His resurrection will abundantly account for Paul’s confident belief that He rose. In this case, we can easily conceive that, even while persecuting the Church, the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus pressed with increasing weight upon his mind; that his contact with Christians, hostile though it was, furnished additional evidence day by day; that he was unable, even by reckless loyalty to Judaism, to shake off the growing conviction which the evidence produced; and that the appearance of the Risen One on the way to Damascus broke down at last every barrier which prejudice and interest had erected, and brought him in humble penitence to the feet of Jesus. It may be objected that this explanation is impossible, that it involves an interruption of the unvarying action of natural forces, and thus disturbs an assumption underlying all human thought. But the resurrection of Jesus does not imply any such suspension of natural forces: it implies only that, just as in living bodies certain chemical forces are constantly neutralised by the presence of animal life, so in the dead body of Jesus a higher Power neutralised natural forces which reduce other dead bodies to dust, and that thus what in others would have been a final separation of body and soul was in Him but a transient sleep.
If we reject this supposition, we are compelled to believe that a man whose last words were spoken in agony from a cross produced with or without design, in the minds of thousands of Jews a full conviction that He had trampled death under foot and risen in triumph to the skies; and that He produced this conviction in the mind of a friend of His murderers, a citizen of Jerusalem, a man of accurate observation and calm judgment. Nay more. So thorough was the conviction thus produced that it became the mainspring of a life of unwearied toil and beneficence. For indisputably Paul’s belief that Christ rose from the dead was the ground of the confidence which moved him to preach the Gospel. The results of his preaching and of that of others who shared his belief are before us to-day. All the effects which Christ and Christianity have produced in the world have been brought about by men who believed that He rose from the dead, and who, but for this belief, would have achieved nothing. But no one can deny that Christianity, in spite of the corruptions with which it has been soiled and therefore weakened by contact with a corrupt world, nevertheless saved the world from the utter dissolution into which in Paul’s day society was sinking. Consequently, if we deny the resurrection of Christ, we are compelled to believe that a delusion has saved the world. Mark now the alternative. We must believe either that there was present in the human body of Jesus a life mightier than the life which lives in us, and that this mightier life rescued His body from the corruption to which all other bodies succumb, or that the eternal law which compels us to believe that to know the truth is for man’s highest good has been, not merely suspended, but for centuries set aside, and that a delusion has saved the world. Renan says that the passionate love of a demented woman (Mary of Magdala) gave to the world a resuscitated God. He might have said that she gave to the world a resuscitated humanity.
The above argument is further developed on pp. 301-359 of my Through Christ to God.
11. If we accept the historic fact that Jesus rose from the dead, we shall not hesitate to acknowledge that He is the Son of God: for none can deny that He claimed to be such. If we acknowledge His claim, we shall believe with perfect and well-grounded confidence the great doctrines of this epistle: for indisputably they came from His lips. And, if we accept these doctrines, Paul’s argument will compel us to accept the teaching of the whole epistle: for the whole is a logical development of these great doctrines. Thus, as asserted in 1 Corinthians 15:17, the Christian hope rests on the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ. In our defence of this hope, we pass by other miracles and take up an impregnable position by our Master’s empty grave.
12. Such is the historic evidence for the great doctrines assumed in this epistle. But it is not the whole evidence. Indeed, our verdict on its sufficiency will probably be determined by other evidence found in our own hearts and lives. This we may call the subjective, the former the objective, evidence for the Gospel. It is true that the good news of salvation is not, like the name of God, written on the open page of the material universe, nor, like the Law, on the inner tables of man’s heart. Its manifestation was reserved for the coming of Christ. But it nevertheless receives confirmation from both these sources. For it reconciles God’s goodness towards mankind as revealed (Acts 14:17) in Nature with His anger against sinners as revealed in the Law.
Do as we will, we cannot silence the voice of authority which speaks in our hearts and forbids us to be at rest while we continue in sin. Nor can we save ourselves from sin, or wipe out the condemnation written within. Of this universal consciousness of guilt and shame, the heathen world ancient and modern gives abundant proof. Yet Nature tells us that God is good. But, left to ourselves, we cannot think of Him without fear. All this prepares us for a Gospel which proclaims salvation from the penalty and power of sin, by the free gift and the power of God. Moreover, so sacred do we feel the sequence of sin and suffering to be that we are not surprised to hear that the announcement of pardon, which seems to break this sequence, is accompanied by a proof, the most tremendous we can conceive, of the essential deadliness of sin. It is easier to believe the story of the cross than to believe that it was invented by man. And, when we have found by experience that we cannot be saved from sin except by a moral power infinitely greater than our own moral strength, we are prepared to hear that this mightier power has taken historic form in the resurrection of Jesus. But, if we have never felt our need of a saviour greater than ourselves, we shall accept any explanation, however absurd, rather than believe that God has put forth on our behalf a power altogether needless. In this case, however, the apostles’ belief that Christ rose, and the results of their belief, will remain phenomena unparalleled in history, an enigma which no one can solve.
Many of my readers have still better inward proof. They have dared to believe these doctrines; and have found, in proportion to their belief, an inward moral power carrying them onwards and upwards along the path marked out by the principles of morality written within. To them, not only has the Law been, by revealing their moral weakness and their danger, a guardian-slave (Galatians 3:24) which has led them to Christ, but it each day affords, by marking out authoritatively the right path, an abiding proof of the divine origin of the Gospel which gives them moral strength to walk in the path thus marked out. They have thus, in a very real sense, put to the test the assertions of the Gospel, and have found them to be true. The evidence on which they at first believed the Gospel and accepted Christ as a Saviour from sin was rational, and sufficient for their need then. And the fuller evidence they have since received, evidence increasing day by day as each fresh trial reveals the sufficient grace and power of God, will enable them to approach the last great foe, the dread conqueror of man but himself conquered by the Son of Man, without fear and with a shout of triumph and a song of praise to Him who has given them the victory.
Dissertation 2 — Paul’s View of the Way of Salvation
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ROMANS
DISSERTATION 2 — PAUL’S VIEW OF THE WAY
OF SALVATION
Since the practical effect of the objective evidences for the Gospel depends on our own inner life, we will now reproduce in outline the picture of the Christian life given in this epistle.
1. MAN UNSAVED. Paul justifies the proclamation of pardon by saying that all men have sinned: Romans 3:9, 19, 23. He singles out a man and tells him that he not only has sinned but is still sinning, and that by judging others he condemns himself: Romans 2:1. Sin is a burden under which all lie, and from which none can save himself by future obedience: Romans 3:9, 20. Consequently the whole world stands before God without excuse, and condemned: Romans 3:19. Paul and his readers were themselves formerly sinners, and enemies needing to be reconciled to God: Romans 5:8-11. What he says of them must, in his view, be true of all mankind.
Again, sin is not only an act committed but a hostile power to which sinners are given up by God: Romans 1:24, 26, 28. It is a master to whose service they once devoted their powers to do what the Law forbids: Romans 6:17, 19. This now covers them with shame: Romans 6:21. While committing sin, they knew and approved the right; but the master they served was a power dwelling within them and forcing them to do what their better self detested: Romans 7:18-23. In their own bodies sin had set up its throne; and so complete was its sway that the appetites of the body controlled their thought, and led them along a path leading to destruction: Romans 6:12; 8:5, 6; 6:21, 23. From this fatal bondage, they could not save themselves: Romans 7:24. All this was, in Paul’s view, consistent with occasional and praiseworthy obedience: Romans 2:26, 27.
2. THE LAW. As a means of leading men to take the first steps in the way of salvation, God gave the Law. The Jews read it in the Old Testament; the Gentiles read it as written in their own hearts: Romans 2:14, 15. But the Law only revealed the tremendous and universal power of sin: Romans 3:20. It was given in order to reveal to all men the punishment which God will inflict on all sinners, and to which therefore all men are exposed: Romans 3:19. God thus exerts on all men an influence leading them towards repentance: Romans 2:4. The Law gives to the inborn principle of sin a living power, and thus becomes an instrument by which sin brings us under condemnation to death: Romans 7:11. For this end, it was given: Romans 5:20; 7:13. It commends itself to that which is noblest within us, and thus evokes efforts after obedience; but the repeated failure of these efforts reveals the awful truth that we are powerless to obey, that we are in the grasp of an enemy who is also an enemy of God and who dwells in our own bodies: Romans 7:22, 23. The Law thus extorts a cry for deliverance: Romans 7:24. When it has done this, it has attained its purpose. Henceforth salvation, in its successive steps, will be a realisation, not only of God’s purpose of mercy, but of man’s eager and intelligent desire.
3. JUSTIFICATION. To men thus repentant, God speaks again. He proclaims in the Gospel that He accepts as righteous all who believe: Romans 3:22. He thus reveals, to men who cannot obtain righteousness by their own effort, a righteousness which is His gift. This gift of righteousness is practically pardon. To make it consistent with His own justice, God gave Christ to die: Romans 3:26. And, as a proof of the divine authority of the proclamation and as a rational ground for the faith which He requires, God raised Him from the dead: Romans 4:24, 25.
Paul assumes that his readers have already a secure place in the favour of God, are already justified and reconciled: Romans 5:2, 9-11. That they exult in hope of the glory of God, implies that they are conscious of forgiveness. And this consciousness is involved in the nature of faith. Paul proves by argument, in Romans 5:5-11, that this hope rests on a solid foundation.
4. Paul assumes that his readers have the indwelling presence of THE HOLY SPIRIT: Romans 5:5; 8:9-16. The absence of the Spirit would be a proof that they do not belong to Christ: Romans 8:9. Hence we infer that the Spirit was given to them together with justification, when they believed and were baptized: cp. Galatians 3:14, Acts 2:38. He proves Himself to be the Spirit of God, by enabling them to fulfil the Law and to conquer sin: Romans 8:4, 13. He reveals to them, by means of the historic fact of the death of Christ, God’s infinite love, the sure ground of their hope of final salvation: Romans 5:5-10. He calls forth within them, by this revelation of God’s fatherly love, the confidence of sons, and calls forth from that in them which is most akin to Himself, their own spirit, the cry Father. They know that this is no earth-born cry, but the voice of God’s Spirit in them; and they therefore accept it as a divine testimony that they are God’s sons and heirs of life eternal: Romans 8:16, 17.
5. HOLINESS. We pass now from blessings which Paul everywhere assumes that his readers possess to others which he urges them at once to claim. He recalls their baptism, the outward and visible gate through which they entered the Christian life, and the form in which the rite was administered. It was the funeral service of their old life: in it they were formally and publicly laid in the grave of Christ: Romans 6:4. This implies that God designs them to be dead and risen with Christ, i.e. to be sharers with Him of the results of His own death and sharers of His resurrection life. Now by His death Christ escaped from the curse of our sin: and His life is one absolutely devoted to God. God’s purpose is that His servants, by inward contact with Christ, be made free from sin and live a life of unreserved consecration to God. Since Christ’s burial and their own baptism are past, Paul speaks of their former life as already ended and themselves as buried in Christ’s grave. But he finds it needful to urge them to appropriate, by the reckoning of faith, this full salvation: Romans 6:11. In urging this, he uses sacrificial language, in Romans 6:13; 12:11; and in Romans 13:14, represents Christ as a holy garment to be put on. All this implies that not all the justified are actually dead to sin and living only for God: and the exhortation to appropriate by faith the new life implies that it is a work and gift of God. Thus is realised in us, by the agency (Romans 15:16) of the Holy Spirit, that subjective holiness (Romans 1:4) which is a conspicuous feature of the Son of God, the normal relation (Romans 11:36) of the creature to the Creator, and the due complement of (Romans 1:7) the objective holiness conferred by the Gospel call on all who obey it.
6. PROGRESS. The above initial blessings must be followed by growth in Christ: but of this Paul has little to say. Day by day our mind is being restored to the original clearness lost (Romans 1:21) by sin; and thus day by day our entire character is changed in a direction opposite to that of the world around: Romans 12:2. This renewal gives to us increasing power to distinguish what is, from what is not, pleasing to God. To aid this growth in spiritual intelligence, Paul wrote DIV. V. of this epistle. Since unreserved devotion to God implies constant victory over sin, and since the force of habit is weakened by contrary action, our life is a gradual and progressive destruction of the surviving power of our past actions: for these, though daily overcome, are still a power against which we have to contend: Romans 8:13. By spiritual growth, this opposing power is daily weakened.
7. OUR ENVIRONMENT. Though already sons and heirs of God, and rejoicing in hope of the coming glory, we are surrounded by hostile influences But this need not surprise us: for our present state is one of hope, and hope implies absence of the good things hoped for: Romans 8:24. Our adversaries cannot make us afraid: for, before they existed and before the world was, we were predestined by God to be sharers of the glory of His Son: Romans 8:29. From this we infer that our afflictions are permitted only in order that they may work out for us God’s eternal purpose of mercy: Romans 8:28. We find it to be so. Our afflictions afford proof of the faithfulness of God, who daily delivers us, and thus confirm our hope: Romans 5:3, 4. The contrast between our circumstances and the aspirations put within us by the Spirit assures us that our present position is but for a time: and this assurance is confirmed by the state of Nature around us; Romans 8:19-27. God has given us, by the death of His Son, abundant proof that He is on our side; and, if so, nothing can harm us: Romans 8:31-39.
8. THE CHURCH. Throughout the exposition of the Gospel we have no mention of the Church or of church-officers. Paul deals only with the individual believer, in his relation to God, to Christ, and to the Spirit of God. This suggests irresistibly that the salvation announced by Christ is not conditioned by any order of men or visible organization as its sole channel. In this respect this epistle presents a marked contrast to Ex 28 and 29, where an order of priests is a conspicious feature of the new order of religious worship.
We have however been more than once reminded that we stand within the precincts of the Church. Paul assumes that his readers have been baptized, and speaks of confession with the mouth as a condition of salvation: Romans 6:4; 10:9, 10. This implies that saving faith is accompanied by outward confession. Believers are twigs of an olive tree, drawing nourishment from its root: Romans 11:17-24. They are compared to a living body consisting of various and variously-endowed members animated and bound together by one life-giving Spirit, each helping and needing the others. Our brotherhood in the Gospel binds us to consider, not merely our own welfare, but that of others, even at the cost of self-denial: Romans 14:19-15:2. The strong may strengthen and encourage others, and the reckless may injure and destroy others: Romans 1:11, 12; 14:15.
Phœbe was apparently an officer of the church in Cenchreæ: Romans 16:1. We read in Romans 16:5, 16 of the churches of the Gentiles and of Christ. There was a church in the house of Aquila: and Gaius was host “of the whole church.” All this reveals communities more or less organized.
9. THE CIVIL POWER. That the Roman Christians were members of the Church, does not lessen, but sanctifies, their obligation as citizens of the State. Civil Government is a divine institution: and earthly rulers are men to whom, for our good, God has given authority to punish and reward. Consequently, obedience to them is, to us, a matter of conscience.
10. THE FUTURE. As Paul stands by the empty grave of Christ, he looks forward with confidence to the rescue of his own body from the hand of death: Romans 8:11, 23. Already a son of God, he looks forward to a share of the inheritance and the glory of the Firstborn Son: Romans 8:17. The present life is but a night of watching. The night is almost gone, and will soon give place to the eternal day which, to Paul’s expectant gaze, is already dawning: Romans 13:12.
Dissertation 3 — Paul’s View of the Jewish Scriptures
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ROMANS
DISSERTATION 3 — PAUL’S VIEW OF THE
JEWISH SCRIPTURES
1. The argument of this volume is now complete. By comparison of various existing documents, we found decisive proof that the Epistle to the Romans was written or dictated by Paul, and that it is correctly reproduced in our copies. From the epistle itself we learnt that he confidently believed that Christ announced forgiveness of sins and a new life in the Spirit of God for all who put trust in Him, that He claimed to be in a unique sense the Son of God, and that in proof of this claim God raised Him from the dead. We found that this belief was shared by the various writers of the New Testament. For this unanimous belief of the early disciples of Jesus, and for its effect upon them and through them upon the world, we could find no explanation or sufficient cause except that Christ actually rose from the dead, that He actually claimed to be the Son of God, and actually announced salvation for all who put faith in Him. Thus in the documents examined, read in the light of undoubted facts, we found a full and reliable statement of the Gospel and decisive proof of the great facts on which rests the Christian hope.
Throughout our inquiry, we did not ascribe to any part of the Bible infallible or special authority. We merely accepted this epistle as written by an honest and intelligent man. Although we referred to other N.T. writings, we did not take for granted even their historic correctness, but simply accepted their unanimous testimony as proof that Paul’s belief was shared by the other early disciples of Jesus. Owing to the number and variety of these witnesses, their testimony, estimated as we should estimate any other testimony, would remain unshaken, in reference to the matters discussed in this volume, even if some of their statements contradicted each other, or contradicted reliable contemporary history. For their unanimity can be accounted for only by the truth of that in which they agree.
2. At the same time, we can gather from this epistle Paul’s view of the authority of the Old Testament; and we shall do well to study it. He accepts, without a shadow of doubt, its narratives as historic fact; e.g. the story of Abraham, of Rebecca’s children, of Pharaoh, of Moses at Sinai, and of Elijah: Romans 4:1-25; 9:8, 9; 9:10, 17, 15; 11:2. In Romans 5:12-14, he calls attention to analogy resting on the story of the Fall, thus showing that he accepted that story as a correct account of the spiritual history of the early morning of our race. He accepts, in Romans 4:3, a statement in Genesis 15:6 of what took place in the heart of Abraham and in the mind of God, and makes it a basis of important argument. In Romans 4:9-11, he builds an argument upon the order in time of Genesis 15:6 and Genesis 17:10. Words expressly attributed to God in the O.T. are accepted by Paul as the voice of God in Romans 4:17, 18; 7:7; 9:7, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17, 25, 26, 33; Romans 10:5, 11, 13, 20, 21; 11:4, 26; 13:9; 14:11. Of the many quotations from the Pentateuch, Paul attributes to Moses only Leviticus 18:5, containing God’s words to Moses, and Deuteronomy 32:21, from the song of Moses. We have therefore no right to say that he accepted the whole Pentateuch as written by him. Psalms 32: and 69: are attributed to David: and we notice that both have superscriptions attributing them to him. Isaiah 1:9; 10:22; 11:10; 53:1; 65:1 are ascribed to Isaiah; Hosea 1:10; 2:23 to Hosea. Elsewhere the authors are not mentioned.
In all these quotations, Paul’s one thought is to educe their spiritual significance, and especially their bearing on the Gospel of Christ. Every detail with this bearing is important: all else is left out of sight. This forbids us to claim Paul as asserting or assuming the historic truth of such details as have no bearing on the spiritual life; or to attempt to settle questions of O.T. authorship by casual allusions in the letters of Paul. See further on pp. 89-91 {See Beet “Galatians 3:18”} of my volume on Galatians.
3. Again, Paul not only receives the Old Testament as a reliable narrative of facts but accepts ordinary words of its writers as the Law of God: so Romans 3:19, where foregoing quotations from the Psalms and the Book of Isaiah are so accepted. He thus separates the books quoted and all others which stand on the same level from all other literature as a declaration of the will of God. Just so, the written laws of a nation stand apart from its other literature. In Romans 11:9, a prayer of David is quoted as setting forth the principles of God’s moral government. In harmony with this, Paul often attributes to the O.T. writings a purpose far beyond their writer’s thought: e.g. descriptions of bad men are in Romans 3:19 said to have been spoken in order to bring the whole world silent and guilty before the bar of God. The story of Abraham was written in order to lead us to justification through faith; and the Scriptures as a whole were written for our instruction and encouragement: Romans 4:24; 15:4; cp. Galatians 3:8, 22. With this agrees Paul’s habit of quoting without the author’s name, and quoting the O.T. as a final authority. This explains the august title given to the Jewish Scriptures in Romans 1:2, at the beginning of the epistle: Holy Writings: similarly 2 Timothy 3:15, 16, Sacred Letters… God-breathed. Paul thus puts the Jewish Scriptures among the holy objects of the Old Covenant, as standing in special relation to God and thus separated from all other books. This we can now understand. If the O.T. be true, it is a record of supernatural revelations given by God to men before the coming of Christ: and, if so, its lofty spiritual tone, helpful even to the disciples of Christ, and the absence of all polytheism reveal, even in the record, the guiding hand of the Spirit of God.
From the confidence with which Paul quotes the O.T. as decisive, we infer that these opinions were held by both his readers and opponents. This is confirmed by the fact that similar honour is paid to the Old Testament throughout the New Testament: so John 5:46, 47; 10:35; Matthew 19:7; Acts 4:25; Hebrews 10:15-17. The same honour is paid by Jewish contemporaries. So Josephus, in bk. i. 7, 8 of his work Against Apion, says that the O.T. was written by prophets led by an “inbreathing from God:” similarly Philo, Life of Moses bk. iii. 23. The historic truthfulness of the O.T., as of the N.T., must be tested and measured by the methods of sound historic criticism. In such inquiry, we must take into calculation the harmonious account given by the O.T. writers of the civil and religious history of their race; the clear knowledge of a personal God, the Creator and Ruler of the world, the righteous and loving friend of all men, so much superior to that possessed by any other ancient people; and the glowing pictures of blessing to come, which are in part receiving fulfilment to-day in the spreading blessings of Christianity, which took its rise in Israel. In my view, the only explanation of all the facts of the case is that God, who gave to men in Christ a final revelation of His purpose of mercy, gave to Abraham and through Moses to Israel earlier revelations preparatory to the Gospel of Christ; and that in the Old and New Testaments respectively we have, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, prompting and controlling the writers, records of these revelations sufficiently extensive and accurate for the spiritual needs of men. The above judgment may, I believe, be accepted with full confidence. But I observe with gratitude that the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ, the justice of His claim to be in a unique sense the Son of God, and the truth of the great fundamental doctrines asserted, expounded, and defended in this epistle, all which are far more important to us than the precise nature of the authority of the Bible-I observe that these rest upon evidence still broader and firmer. Consequently, our belief of the facts and doctrines of the Gospel will not be disturbed by any perplexity about the authorship of some parts of the Bible or the correctness of some of its statements. In another volume I have expounded the Epistles to the Corinthians, which give us a wonderful picture of Paul’s apostolic activity and pastoral care and of one of the churches planted by him: and in a third volume I have expounded the Epistle to the Galatians, a letter most closely related to the epistle before us, but dealing with the same topics in a more practical and personal manner. These three volumes cover the second group of Paul’s letters, those written in the noonday of his apostolic activity. In a fourth volume I have expounded the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and to Philemon; all written in prison, apparently from Rome, and embodying the maturest thought of the great apostle. These two groups include four-fifths of his writings. In addition to them we have only two Epistles to the Thessalonians written much earlier than those mentioned above; and those to Timothy and Titus, written near the close of Paul’s life. These earliest and latest epistles do not modify the conception of Christ and the Gospel embodied in the epistles I have annotated. But the earlier group gives much greater prominence to the return of Christ to judge the world, and the later one to the duties of the officers of the apostolic Churches.
In these four groups of letters we have a full and permanent embodiment of Paul’s conception of the Gospel and of Christ. This conception, thus recorded, is an all-important component part of the documentary evidence for the Gospel of Christ. Its infinite value reveals, in these letters of Paul to the Christians of his own day, a gift of God to His Church in all ages.
John Wesley
Notes on St Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
WES_NTN1.PDF, source PDF p. 462
Editorial note: The supplied edition prints “Romans 1:18-4” here (WES_NTN1.PDF, physical PDF page 463). The surrounding outline uses an abbreviated range from Romans 1:18 through chapter 4; the last number names a chapter, not a verse in the starting chapter. The historical wording is retained. WES_NTN1.PDF, PDF page 463.
NOTES ON ST PAUL'S EPISTLE
TO THE ROMANS.
Many of the writings of the New Testament are written in the form of epistles. Such are not only those of St. Paul, James, Peter, Jude, but also both the treatises of St. Luke, and all the writings of St. John. Nay, we have seven epistles herein which the Lord Jesus himself sent by the hand of John to the seven churches; yea, the whole Revelation is no other than an epistle from Him.
Concerning the epistles of St. Paul, we may observe, he writes in a very different manner to those churches which he had planted himself, and to those who had not seen his face in the flesh. In his letters to the former, a loving or sharp familiarity appears, as their behaviour was more or less suitable to the gospel. To the latter, he proposes the pure, unmixed gospel, in a more general and abstract manner.
As to the time wherein he wrote his epistles, it is probable he wrote about the year of Christ, according to the common reckoning,
48 From Corinth, The Epistle to the Thessalonians.
49 From Phrygia, To the Galatians.
52 From Ephesus, The First to the Corinthians. From Troas, The First Epistle to Timothy. From Macedonia, The Second to the Corinthians, and that to Titus. From Corinth, To the Romans.
57 From Rome, To the Philippians, to Philemon, the Ephesians, and Colossians.
53 From Italy, To the Hebrews.
66 From Rome, The Second to Timothy.
As to the general epistles, it seems, St. James wrote a little before his death, which was A. D. 63. St. Peter, who was martyred in the year 67, wrote his latter epistle a little before his death, and not long after his former. St. Jude wrote after him, when the mystery of iniquity was gaining ground swiftly. St. John is believed to have wrote all his epistles a little before his departure. The Revelation he wrote A. D. 96. That St. Paul wrote this epistle from Corinth we may learn from his commending to the Romans Phebe, a servant of the church of Cenchrea, Romans 16:1, a port of Corinth; and from his mentioning the salutations of Caius and Erastus, Romans 16:23, who were both Corinthians. Those to whom he wrote seem to have been chiefly foreigners, both Jews and Gentiles, whom business drew from other provinces; as appears, both by his writing in Greek, and by his salutations of several former acquaintance. His chief design herein is to show, 1, That neither the Gentiles by the law of nature, nor the Jews by the law of Moses, could obtain justification before God; and that therefore it was necessary for both to seek it from the free mercy of God by faith. 2, That God has an absolute right to show mercy on what terms he pleases, and to withhold it from those who will not accept it on his own terms.
THIS EPISTLE CONSISTS OF FIVE PARTS.
I. The introduction, Romans 1:1-15
II. The proposition briefly proved,
1. Concerning faith and justification,
2. Concerning salvation,
3. Concerning the equality of believers, Jews or Gentiles, 16-17 To these three parts, whereof The first is treated of, Romans 1:18-4. The second, Romans 5-8. The third, Romans 9.-11
Not only the treatise itself, but also the exhortation, answers in the same order.
III. The treatise,
1. Concerning justification, which is,
1. Not by works, for Romans 1:18 The Gentiles, Romans 2:1-10 The Jews, and 11-29 Both together are under sin,
Romans 3:1-20
2. But by faith, 21-31 As appears by the example of Abraham, and the testimony of David, Romans 4:1-25
2. Concerning salvation, Romans 5-8.
3. Concerning the equal privileges of Jewish and Gentile believers, Romans 9.-11.
IV. The exhortation, Romans 12:1-2
1. Concerning faith and its fruits, love and practical holiness, 3-21 Romans 13:1-10
2. Concerning salvation, 11-14
3. Of the conjunction of Jews and Gentiles, Romans 14:1-15:13 V. The conclusion, 14- Romans 16:25
To express the design and contents of this epistle a little more at large: The apostle labours throughout to fix in those to whom he writes a deep sense of the excellency of the gospel, and to engage them to act suitably to it. For this purpose, after a general salutation, Romans 1:1-7, and profession of his affection for them, Romans 1:8-15, he declares he shall not be ashamed openly to maintain the gospel at Rome, seeing it is the powerful instrument of salvation, both to Jews and Gentiles, by means of faith, Romans 1:16,17. And, in order to demonstrate this, he shows,-
1. That the world greatly needed such a dispensation, the Gentiles being in a most abandoned state, Romans 1:18-32, and the Jews, though condemning others, being themselves no better, Romans 2:1-29; as, not withstanding some cavils, which he obviates, Romans 3:1-8, their own scriptures testify, Romans 3:9-19. So that all were under a necessity of seeking justification by this method, Romans 3:20-31.
2. That Abraham and David themselves sought justification by faith, and not by works, Romans 4:1-25.
3. That all who believe are brought into so happy a state, as turns the greatest afflictions into a matter of joy, Romans 5:1-11.
4. That the evils brought on mankind by Adam are abundantly recompensed to all that believe in Christ, Romans 5:12-21.
5. That, far from dissolving the obligations to practical holiness, the gospel increases them by peculiar obligations, Romans 6:1-23. In order to convince them of these things the more deeply, and to remove their fondness for the Mosaic law, now they were married to Christ by faith in him, Romans 7:1-6, he shows how unable the motives of the law were to produce that holiness which believers obtain by a living faith in the gospel, Romans 7:7-25; 8:1, 2, and then gives a more particular view of those things which rendered the gospel effectual to this great end, Romans 8:3-39.
That even the Gentiles, if they believed, should have a share in these blessings, and that the Jews, if they believed not, should be excluded from them, being a point of great importance, the apostle bestows the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters in settling it. He begins the ninth chapter by expressing his tender love and high esteem for the Jewish nation, Romans 9:1-5, and then shows,—
1. That God's rejecting great part of the seed of Abraham, yea, and of Isaac too, was undeniable fact, Romans 9:6-13.
2. That God had not chosen them to such peculiar privileges for any kind of goodness either in them or their fathers, Romans 9:14-24.
3. That his accepting the Gentiles, and rejecting many of the Jews, had been foretold both by Hosea and Isaiah, Romans 9:25-33.
4. That God had offered salvation to Jews and Gentiles on the same terms, though the Jews had rejected it, Romans 10:1-21.
5. That though the rejection of Israel for their obstinacy was general, yet it was not total; there being still a remnant among them who did embrace the gospel, Romans 11:1-10.
6. That the rejection of the rest was not final, but in the end all Israel should be saved, Romans 11:11-31.
7. That, meantime, even their obstinacy and rejection served to display the unsearchable wisdom and love of God, Romans 11:32-36. The rest of the epistle contains practical instructions and exhortations. He particularly urges,
1. An entire consecration of themselves to God, and a care to glorify Him by a faithful improvement of their several talents, Romans 7:1-11.
2. Devotion, patience, hospitality, mutual sympathy, humility, peace, and meekness, Romans 7:12-21.
3. Obedience to magistrates, justice in all its branches, love the fulfilling of the law, and universal holiness, Romans 8:1-14.
4. Mutual candour between those who differed in judgment, touching the observance of the Mosaic law, Romans 14:1-23; 15:1-17; in enforcing which he is led to mention the extent of his own labours, and his purpose of visiting the Romans; in the mean time recommending himself to their prayers, Romans 15:18-33. And, after many salutations, Romans 16:1-16, and a caution against those who caused divisions, he concludes with a suitable blessing and doxology, Romans 16:17-27.
Adam Clarke
Preface to the Epistle to the Romans.
CLA_ROM.PDF, source PDF p. 3
Editorial note: Source collation note — paragraph 53: “is in the hebrew, בם tlvm היינו מעולם לא hayinu meolam, lo mashalla”. source PDF page 18: “is in the Hebrew בם משלת לא מעולם היינו hayinu me-olam, lo mashalla”. Compared with CLA_ROM.PDF PDF p. 3, CLA_ROM.PDF PDF p. 18. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: an automated comparison of surrounding English text located possible corresponding passages in OCR from separately digitized printed volumes. The linked scan pages are research locators; their images have not been collated for this note's flagged readings. OCR agreement does not verify Greek or Hebrew letters, diacritics, word order, or table layout. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain. CLA_ROM.PDF, PDF page 3; CLA_ROM.PDF, PDF page 18; Additional printed-scan page locator (OCR context only; flagged reading unverified).
PREFACE TO THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
THAT ST. PAUL was the author of this epistle, and that it possesses every evidence of authenticity that any work of the kind can possess, or that even the most fastidious skepticism can require, has been most amply proved by Dr. W. Paley, Archdeacon of Carlisle, in his work entitled “Horæ Paulinæ; or, the Truth of the Scripture History of St. Paul evinced, by a comparison of the Epistles which bear his name with the Acts of the Apostles, and with one another.”
Of this apostle I have spoken at large in the notes on the preceding book, and especially in the observations at the close of the ninth chapter, to which I beg leave to refer the reader. It will be sufficient to state here, that Saul, (afterwards called Paul,) was born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, of Jewish parents, who possessed the right of Roman citizens; (see the note on Acts 22:28;) that, when young, he was sent to Jerusalem for the purpose of receiving a Jewish education; that he was there put under the tuition of the famous Rabbi Gamaliel, and was incorporated with the sect of the Pharisees, of whose system he imbibed all the pride, self-confidence, and intolerance; and distinguished himself as one of the most inveterate enemies of the Christian cause; but, being converted by a most singular interposition of Divine Providence and grace, he became one of the most zealous promoters and successful defenders of the cause which he had before so inveterately persecuted.
Though this epistle is directed to the Romans, yet we are not to suppose that Romans, in the proper sense of the word, are meant; but rather those who dwelt at Rome, and composed the Christian Church in that city: that there were among these Romans, properly such, that is heathens who had been converted to the Christian faith, there can be no doubt; but the principal part of the Church in that city seems to have been formed from Jews, sojourners at Rome, and from such as were proselytes to the Jewish religion.
When, or by whom, the Gospel was first preached at Rome cannot be ascertained. Those who assert that St. Peter was its founder, can produce no solid reason for the support of their opinion. Had this apostle first preached the Gospel in that city, it is not likely that such an event would have been unnoticed in the Acts of the Apostles, where the labours of St. Peter are particularly detailed with those of St. Paul, which indeed form the chief subject of this book. Nor is it likely that the author of this epistle should have made no reference to this circumstance, had it been true. Those who say that this Church was founded by these two apostles conjointly, have still less reason on their side; for it is evident, from Romans 1:8, &c., that St. Paul had never been at Rome previously to his writing this epistle. It is most likely that no apostle was employed in this important work, and that the Gospel was first preached there by some of those persons who were converted at Jerusalem on the day of pentecost; for we find, from Acts 2:10, that there were at Jerusalem strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes; and these, on their return, would naturally declare the wonders they had witnessed, and proclaim that truth by which they themselves had received salvation. Of ROME itself, then the metropolis of the world, a particular account has been given in the note on Acts 28:16; to which the reader is requested to refer. The occasion of writing this epistle may be easily collected from the epistle itself. It appears that St. Paul had been made acquainted with all the circumstances of the Christians at Rome, by Aquila and Priscilla, (see Romans 16:3,) and by other Jews who had been expelled from Rome by the decree of Claudius, (mentioned Acts 18:2;) and, finding that they consisted partly of heathens converted to Christianity, and partly of Jews who had, with many remaining prejudices, believed in Jesus as the true Messiah, and that many contentions arose from the claims of the Gentile converts to equal privileges with the Jews, and from the absolute refusal of the Jews to admit these claims unless the Gentile converts became circumcised, he wrote to adjust and settle these differences. Dr. Paley, with his usual perspicuity, has shown that the principal object of the argumentative part of the epistle is “to to place the Gentile convert upon a parity of situation with the Jewish, in respect of his religious condition, and his rank in the Divine favour.” The epistle supports this point by a variety of arguments; such as, that no man of either description was justified by the works of the law-or this plain reason, that no man had performed them; that it became therefore necessary to appoint another medium, or condition of justification, in which new medium the Jewish peculiarity was merged and lost; that Abraham’s own justification was antecedent to the law, and independent of it; that the Jewish converts were to consider the law as now dead, and themselves as married to another; that what the law in truth could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God had done by sending his Son; that God had rejected the unbelieving Jews, and had substituted in their place a society of believers in Christ, collected indifferently from Jews and Gentiles. Therefore, in an epistle directed to Roman believers, the point to be endeavoured after by St. Paul was to reconcile tho Jewish converts to the opinion that the Gentiles were admitted by God to a parity of religious situation with themselves, and that without their being obliged to keep the law of Moses. In this epistle, though directed to the Roman Church in general, it is, in truth, a Jew writing to Jews. Accordingly, as often as his argument leads him to say any thing derogatory from the Jewish institution, he constantly follows it by a softening clause. Having, Romans 2:28, 29, pronounced “that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,” he adds immediately, “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way.” Having in Romans 3:28, brought his argument to this formal conclusion, “that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law,” he presently subjoins, Romans 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the law.” In the seventh chapter, when in Romans 7:6 he had advanced the bold assertion, “that now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held;” in the next verse he comes in with this healing question, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin but by the law.” Having, in the following words, more than insinuated the inefficacy of the Jewish law, Romans 8:3: “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;” after a digression indeed, but that sort of a digression which he could never resist, a rapturous contemplation of his Christian hope, and which occupies the latter part of this chapter; we find him in the next, as if sensible that he had said something which would give offence, returning to his Jewish brethren in terms of the warmest affection and respect: “I say the truth in Christ Jesus, I lie not; my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart; for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers; and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.” When, in the 31st and 32d verses of the ninth chapter, he represented to the Jews the error of even the best of their nation, by telling them that “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of righteousness, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;” he takes care to annex to this declaration these conciliating expressions: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved; for I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Lastly, having, Romans 10:20, 21, by the application of a passage in Isaiah, insinuated the most ungrateful of all propositions to a Jewish ear, the rejection of the Jewish nation as God’s peculiar people; he hastens, as it were, to qualify the intelligence of their fall by this interesting exposition: “I say then, hath God cast away his people, (i.e. wholly and entirely?) God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew;” and follows this throughout the whole of the eleventh chapter, in a series of reflections calculated to soothe the Jewish converts, as well as to procure from their Gentile brethren respect to the Jewish institution. Dr. Paley, drawing an argument from this manner of writing, in behalf of the genuineness of this epistle, adds, “Now all this is perfectly natural. In a real St. Paul writing to real converts, it is what anxiety to bring them over to his persuasion would naturally produce; but there is an earnestness and a personality, if I may so call it, in the manner, which a cold forgery, I apprehend, would neither have conceived nor supported.” Horæ Paulinæ, p. 49, &c.
From a proper consideration of the design of the apostle in writing this epistle, and from the nature and circumstances of the persons to whom it was directed, much light may be derived for a proper understanding of the epistle itself. When the reader considers that the Church at Rome was composed of heathens and Jews, that the latter were taught to consider themselves the only people on earth to whom the Divine favour extended; that these alone had a right to all the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom; that the giving them the law and the prophets, which had not been given to any other people, was the fullest proof that these privileges did not extend to the nations of the earth; and that, though it was possible for the Gentiles to be saved, yet it must be in consequence of their becoming circumcised, and taking on them the yoke of the law:-when, on the other hand, the reader considers the Roman Gentiles, who formed the other part of the Church at Rome, as educated in the most perfect contempt of Judaism and of the Jews, who were deemed to be haters of all mankind, and degraded with the silliest superstitions, and now evidently rejected and abandoned by that God in whom they professed to trust; it is no wonder if, from these causes, many contentions and scandals arose, especially at a time when the spirit of Christianity was but little understood, and among a people, too, who do not appear to have had any apostolic authority established among them to compose feuds and settle religious differences.
That the apostle had these things particularly in his eye is evident from the epistle itself. His first object is to confound the pride of the Jews and the Gentiles; and this he does by showing the former that they had broken their own law, and, consequently, forfeited all the privileges which the obedient had a right to expect. He shows the latter that, however they might boast of eminent men, who had been an honour to their country, nevertheless, the Gentiles, as a people, were degraded by the basest of crimes, and the lowest idolatry; that, in a word, the Gentiles had as little cause to boast in their philosophers as the Jews had to boast in the faith and piety of their ancestors; “for all had sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This subject is particularly handled in the five first chapters, and often referred to in other places.
Concerning the time in which this epistle was written, there is not much difference of opinion: it is most likely that it was written about A. D. 58, when Paul was at Corinth: see Romans 16:23, conferred with 1 Corinthians 1:14; and Romans 16:1, conferred with 2 Timothy 4:20. It appears, from Romans 16:22, that Paul did not write this epistle with his own hand, but used a person called Tertius as his amanuensis; and that it was sent by the hands of Phoebe, a deaconess, (δια φοιβης της διακυνου,) of the Church of Cenchrea, which was the eastern port on the Isthmus of Corinth.
From internal evidence Dr. Paley has demonstrated the authenticity of this epistle; and its existence in the ancient Antehieronymian versions and the Syriac, as well as its being mentioned by the Apostolic Fathers, Barnabas, chap. xii. 13; Clemens Romanus, Ep. i. c. i. 30, 32, 35, 46; Ignatius, Epist. ad Ephes. 20, ad Smyrn. 1, ad Trall. 8; and Polycarp, 3 and 6, and by all succeeding writers, puts it beyond all dispute.
Of the fourteen epistles attributed to St. Paul, (thirteen only of which bear his name,) this has been reckoned the first in importance, though certainly not in order of time; for there is every reason to believe that both the epistles to the Thessalonians, that to the Galatians, those to the Corinthians, the first to Timothy, and that to Titus, were all written before the epistle to the Romans. See the dates of the books of the New Testament at the end of the introduction to the Gospels, &c. In the arrangement of the epistles nothing seems to have been consulted besides the length of the epistle, the character of the writer, and the importance of the place to which it was sent. ROME, being the mistress of the world, the epistle to that city was placed first. Those to the Corinthians, because of the great importance of their city, next. Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessalonica, follow in graduated order. Timothy, Titus, and Philemon succeed in the same way: and the epistle to the Hebrews, because the author of it was long in dispute, was placed at the end of the epistles of Paul, as being probably written by him. James, as Bp. of Jerusalem, precedes Peter, Peter precedes John, as the supposed chief of the apostles; and John the beloved disciple, Jude. The book of the Revelation, as being long disputed in the Christian Church, was thrown to the conclusion of the New Testament Scriptures. The surats or chapters of the Koran were disposed in the same sort of order; the longest being put first, and all the short ones thrown to the end, without any regard to the times in which it was pretended they were revealed.
There have been some doubts concerning the language in which this epistle was written. John Adrian Bolten endeavoured to prove that St. Paul wrote it in Syriac, and that it was translated into Greek by Tertius: but this supposition has been amply refuted by Griesbach. Others think that it must have been written originally in Latin, the language of the people to whom it was addressed; “for although the Greek tongue was well known in Rome, yet it was the language of the great and the learned; and it is more natural to suppose that the apostle would write in the language of the common people, as those were most likely to be his chief readers, than that of the great and the learned.” This argument is more specious than solid.-1. It is certain that at this time the Greek language was very generally cultivated in Rome, as it was in most parts of the Roman empire. Cicer., pro Arch. 10, says Græca leguntur in omnibus fere gentibus: Latina, suis finibus, exiguis sane continentur. “The Greek writings are read in almost all nations: those of the Latin within their own narrow limits.” Tacitus, Orator. 29, observes, Nunc natus infans delegatur Græculæ alicui ancillæ. “Now the new-born child is put under the care of some Greek maid;” and this undoubtedly for the purpose of its learning to speak the Greek tongue. And Juvenal, Sat. vi. ver. 184, ridicules this affectation of his countrymen, which in his time appears to have been carried to a most extravagant excess.
Nam quid rancidius, quam quod se non putat ulla
Formosam, nisi quæ de Tusca Græcula facta est?
De Sulmonensi mera Cecropis? OMNIA GRÆCE,
Cum sit turpe magis nostris nescire Latine.
Hoc sermone pavent, hoc Iram, Gaudia, Curas,
Hoc cuncta effundunt animi secreta. Quid ultræ
“For what so nauseous and affected too,
As those that think they due perfection want
Who have not learned to lisp the Grecian cant?
In Greece their whole accomplishments they seek:
Their fashion, breeding, language must be Greek,
But raw in all that does to Rome belong,
They scorn to cultivate their mother-tongue,
In Greek they flatter, all their fears they speak,
Tell all their secrets, nay they scold in Greek.”
DRYDEN.
From these testimonies it is evident that the Greek was a common language in Rome in the days of the apostle; and that in writing in this language, which he probably understood better than he did Latin, he consulted the taste and propensity of the Romans, as well as the probability of his epistle being more extensively read in consequence of its being written in Greek.
2. But were these arguments wanting, there are others of great weight that evince the propriety of choosing this language in preference to any other. The sacred writings of the Old Testament were, at that time, confined to two languages, the Hebrew and the Greek. The former was known only within the confines of Palestine; the latter over the whole Roman empire: and the Latin tongue appears to have been as much confined to Italy as the Hebrew was to Judea. The epistle, therefore, being designed by the Spirit of God to be of general use to the Christian Churches, not only in Italy, but through Greece and all Asia Minor, where the Greek language was spoken and understood, it was requisite that the instructions to be conveyed by it should be put in a language the most generally known; and a language too which was then in high and in daily increasing credit.
3. As the Jews were the principal objects of the epistle, and they must be convinced of the truth of Christianity from the evidence of their own Scriptures; and as the Greek version of the Septuagint was then their universal text-book, in all their dispersions, it was absolutely requisite that the epistle should be written in a tongue with which they were best acquainted, and in which their acknowledged Scriptures were contained. These arguments seem conclusive for a Greek and not a Latin original of this epistle.
From the manner in which this epistle has been interpreted and applied, various most discordant and conflicting opinions have originated. Many commentators, forgetting the scope and design of it, have applied that to men in general which most obviously belongs to the Jews, as distinguished from the Gentiles, and to them only. From this one mistake the principal controversies that have agitated and divided the Church of Christ concerning the doctrines of unconditional reprobation and election have arisen. Men, eminent for their talents, learning, and piety, have interpreted and applied the whole on this mistaken ground. They have been opposed by others, not at all their inferiors either in religion or learning, who, not attending properly to the scope of the apostle, have rather argued from the perfections of the Divine nature, and the general concurrent sense of Scripture, and thus proved that such doctrines cannot comport with those perfections, nor with the analogy of faith; and that the apostle is to be interpreted according to these, and not according to the apparent grammatical import of the phraseology which he employs. On both sides the disputes have run high; the cause of truth has gained little, and Christian charity and candour have been nearly lost. Dispassionate men, on seeing this, have been obliged to exclaim:-
———tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ!
Can such fierce zeal in heavenly bosoms dwell!
To compose these differences, and do justice to the apostle, and set an important portion of the word of God in its true and genuine light, Dr. John Taylor of Norwich, a divine who yielded to few in command of temper, benevolent feeling, and deep acquaintance with the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, undertook the elucidation of this much-controverted epistle. The result of his labours was a paraphrase and notes on the whole book, to which is prefixed “A KEY to the Apostolic Writings; or, an essay to explain the Gospel scheme, and the principal words and phrases the apostles have used in describing it.” 4to. 1769, fourth edition. This KEY, in the main, is a most invaluable work, and has done great justice to the subject. Christians, whether advocates for general or particular redemption, might have derived great service from this work, in explaining the Epistle to the Romans; but the author’s creed, who was an Arian, (for he certainly cannot be ranked with modern Unitarians,) has prevented many from consulting his book.
To bring the subject of this epistle before the reader, into the fairest and most luminous point of view in my power, I think it right to make a large extract from this Key, steering as clear as possible of those points in which my own creed is certainly at variance with that of my author; especially in the articles of Original Sin, the Atonement, and Deity of Christ; but as these points are seldom directly touched in this introductory key, the reader need be under no apprehension that he shall meet with any thing in hostility to the orthodoxy of his own creed.
A KEY TO THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS; or, an Essay to explain the Gospel Scheme, and the principal words and phrases which the apostles have used in describing it.
§ 1. On the Original and Nature of the Jewish Constitution of Religion.
1. God, the Father of the universe, who has exercised his boundless wisdom, power, and goodness, in producing various beings of different capacities; who created the earth, and appointed divers climates, soils, and situations in it; hath, from the beginning of the world, introduced several schemes and dispensations for promoting the virtue and happiness of his rational creatures, for curing their corruption, and preserving among them the knowledge and worship of himself, the true God, the possessor of all being, and the fountain of all good.
2. In pursuance of this grand and gracious design, when, about four hundred years after the flood, the generality of mankind were fallen into idolatry, (a vice which in those times made its first appearance in the world,) and served other gods, thereby renouncing allegiance to the one God, the maker and governor of heaven and earth, He, to counteract this new and prevailing corruption, was pleased, in his infinite wisdom, to select one family of the earth to be a repository of true knowledge and the pattern of obedience and reward among the nations; that, as mankind were propagated, and idolatry took its rise and was dispersed from one part of the world into various countries, so also the knowledge, worship, and obedience of the true God might be propagated and spread from nearly the same quarter; or, however, from those parts which then were most famous and distinguished. To this family he particularly revealed himself, visited them with several public and remarkable dispensations of providence, and at last formed them into a nation under his special protection, and governed them by laws delivered from himself; placing them in the open view of the world, first in Egypt, and afterwards in the land of Canaan.
3. The head or root of this family was Abraham, the son of Terah, who lived in Ur of the Chaldees, beyond Euphrates. His family was infected with the common contagion of idolatry, as appears from Joshua, Joshua 24:2, 3: “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood (or river Euphrates) in old time; even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, &c.” And the Apostle Paul intimates as much, Romans 4:3-5: “For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Abraham is the person he is discoursing about; and he plainly hints, though he did not care to speak out, that even Abraham was chargeable with not paying due reverence and worship to God; as the word ASEBHS, which we render ungodly, properly imports.
4. But, though Abraham had been an idolater, God was pleased, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, to single him out to be the head or root of that family or nation which he intended to separate to himself from the rest of mankind for the forementioned purposes. Accordingly he appeared to him in his native country, and ordered him to leave it and his idolatrous kindred, and to remove into a distant land to which he would direct and conduct him, declaring at the same time his covenant or grant of mercy to him, in these words, Genesis 12:1-3: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” So certainly did God make himself known to Abraham, that he was satisfied this was a revelation from the one true God, and that it was his duty to pay an implicit obedience to it. Accordingly, upon the foot of this faith, he went out, though he did not know whither he was to go. The same covenant, or promise of blessings, God afterwards at sundry times repeated to him; particularly when it is said, Genesis 15:5: “And the Lord brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.” Here again he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. Also, Genesis 17:1-8, he repeats and establishes the same covenant, to be a God unto him and his seed after him; promising him the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and appointing circumcision as a perpetual token of the certainty and perpetuity of this covenant. Thus Abraham was taken into God’s covenant, and became entitled to the blessings it conveyed; not because he was not chargeable before God with impiety, irreligion, and idolatry; but because God, on his part, freely forgave his prior transgressions, and because Abraham, on his part, believed in the power and goodness of God; without which belief or persuasion that God was both true and able to perform what he had promised, he could have paid no regard to the Divine manifestations; and consequently must have been rejected as a person altogether improper to be the head of that family which God intended to set apart to himself.
5. And as Abraham, so likewise his seed or posterity, were at the same time, and before they had a being, taken into God’s covenant, and entitled to the blessings of it. Genesis 17:7: “I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy SEED AFTER thee, &c.” Not all his posterity, but only those whom God intended in the promise; namely, first, the nation of the Jews, who hereby became particularly related to God, and invested in sundry invaluable privileges; and, after them, the believing Gentiles, who were reckoned the children of Abraham, as they should believe in God as Abraham did.
6. For about two hundred and fifteen years from the time God ordered Abraham to leave his native country, he, and his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, sojourned in the land of Canaan, under the special protection of Heaven, till infinite wisdom thought fit to send the family into Egypt, the then head-quarters of idolatry, with a design they should there increase into a nation; and there, notwithstanding the cruel oppression they long groaned under, they multiplied to a surprising number. At length God delivered them from the servitude of Egypt, by the most dreadful displays of his almighty power; whereby he demonstrated himself to be the one true God, in a signal and complete triumph over idols, even in their metropolis, and in a country of fame and eminence among all the nations round about. Thus freed from the vilest bondage, God formed them into a kingdom, of which he himself was king; gave them a revelation of his nature and will; instituted sundry ordinances of worship; taught them the way of truth and life; set before them various motives to duty, promising singular blessings to their obedience and fidelity, and threatening disobedience and apostasy, or revolt from his government, with very heavy judgments, especially that of being expelled from the land of Canaan and “scattered among all people from one end of the earth unto the other,” in a wretched, persecuted state; Deuteronomy 28:63-68; Leviticus 26:3, 4, &c. Having settled their constitution, he led them through the wilderness, where he disciplined them for forty years together, made all opposition fall before them, and at last brought them to the promised land.
7. Here I may observe that God did not choose the Israelites out of any partial regard to that nation, nor because they were better than other people, (Deuteronomy 9:4, 5,) and would always observe his laws. It is plain he knew the contrary, (Deuteronomy 31:29;32:5,6,15.) It was indeed with great propriety that, among other advantages, he gave them also that of being descended from progenitors illustrious for piety and virtue and that he grounded the extraordinary favours they enjoyed upon Abraham’s faith and obedience; Genesis 22:16-18. But it was not out of regard to the moral character of the Jewish nation that God chose them; any other nation would have served as well on that account; but, as he thought fit to select one nation of the world, he selected them out of respect to the piety and virtue of their ancestors; Exodus 3:15; 6:3-5, Deuteronomy 4:37.
8. It should also be carefully observed that God selected the Israelitish nation, and manifested himself to them by various displays of his power and goodness, not principally for their own sakes, to make them a happy and flourishing people, but to be subservient to his own high and great designs with regard to all mankind. And we shall entertain a very wrong, low, and narrow idea of this select nation, and of the dispensations of God towards it, if we do not consider it as a beacon, or a light set upon a hill, as raised up to be a public voucher of the being and providence of God, and of the truth of the revelation delivered to them in all ages and in all parts of the world; and, consequently, that the Divine scheme, in relation to the Jewish polity, had reference to other people, and even to us at this day, as well as to the Jews themselves. The situation of this nation, lying upon the borders of Asia, Europe, and Africa, was very convenient for such a general purpose.
9. It is farther observable that this scheme was wisely calculated to answer great ends under all events. If this nation continued obedient, their visible prosperity, under the guardianship of an extraordinary Providence, would be a very proper and extensive instruction to the nations of the earth; and no doubt was so; for, as they were obedient, and favoured with the signal interpositions of the Divine power, their case was very useful to their neighbours. On the other hand, if they were disobedient, then their calamities, and especially their dispersions, would nearly answer the same purpose, by spreading the knowledge of the true God and of revelation in the countries where before they were not known. And so wisely was this scheme laid at first, with regard to the laws of the nation, both civil and religious, and so carefully has it all along been conducted by the Divine providence, that it still holds good, even at this day, full 3600 years from the time when it first took place, and is still of public use for confirming the truth of revelation. I mean, not only as the Christian profession spread over a great part of the world has grown out of this scheme, but as the Jews themselves, in virtue thereof, after a dispersion of about 1700 years over all the face of the earth, every where in a state of ignominy and contempt, have, notwithstanding, subsisted in great numbers, distinct and separate from all other nations. This seems to me a standing miracle; nor can I assign it to any other cause but the will and the extraordinary interposal of Heaven, when I consider that, of all the famous nations of the world who might have been distinguished from others with great advantage, and the most illustrious marks of honour and renown, as the Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, who all, in their turns, held the empire of the world, and were, with great ambition, the lords of mankind, yet these, even in their own countries, the seat of their ancient glory, are quite dissolved and sunk into the body of mankind; nor is there a person upon earth can boast he is descended from those renowned and imperial ancestors. Whereas a small nation, generally despised, and which was, both by Pagans and pretended Christians, for many ages harassed, persecuted, butchered, and distressed, as the most detestable of all people upon the face of the earth, (according to the prophecy of Moses, Deuteronomy 28:63, &c.; see Dr. Patrick’s commentary upon that place,) and which, therefore, one would imagine, every soul that belonged to it should have gladly disowned, and have been willing the odious name should be entirely extinguished; yet, I say, this hated nation has continued in a body quite distinct and separate from all other people, even in a state of dispersion and grievous persecution, for about 1700 years; agreeably to the prediction, Jeremiah 46:28: “I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee.” This demonstrates that the wisdom which so formed them into a peculiar body, and the providence which has so preserved them that they have almost ever since the deluge subsisted in a state divided from the rest of mankind, and are still likely to do so, is not human but Divine. For, no human wisdom nor power could form, or, however, could execute such a vast, extensive design. Thus the very being of the Jews, in their present circumstances, is a standing public proof of the truth of revelation.
§ II. The peculiar Honours and Privileges of the Jewish Nation, while they were the peculiar People of God, and the Terms signifying those Honours explained.
10. The nature and dignity of the foregoing scheme, and the state and privileges of the Jewish nation will be better understood if we carefully observe the particular phrases by which their relation to God and his favours to them are expressed in Scripture.
11. As God, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, was pleased to prefer them before any other nation, and to single them out for the purposes of revelation, and preserving the knowledge, worship, and obedience of the true God, he is said to choose them, and they are represented as his chosen or elect people. Deuteronomy 4:37; 7:6; 10:15: “The Lord had a delight in thy fathers-and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people.” 1 Kings 3:8: “Thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered.” 1 Chronicles 16:13: “O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen ones;” Psalm 105:6; 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance;” Psalm 105:43; 106:5: “That I may see the good of thy chosen or elect, that I may rejoice in the goodness of thy nation;” Psalm 135:4; Isaiah 41:8, 9; 43:20; 44:1, 2; 45:4: “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name.” Ezekiel 20:5: “Thus saith the Lord, in the day when I chose Israel, and lifted my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt.” Hence, reinstating them in their former privileges is expressed by choosing them again. Isaiah 14:1: “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land;” Zechariah 1:17; 2:12.
12. The first step he took in execution of his purpose of election, was to rescue them from their wretched situation, in the servitude and idolatry of Egypt; and to carry them, through all enemies and dangers, to the liberty and happy state to which he intended to advance them. With regard to which the language of Scripture is: 1. That he delivered; 2. Saved; 3. Bought, or purchased; 4. Redeemed them. Exodus 3:8: “And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them unto a good land.” So Exodus 18:8-10; Judges 6:8, 9; Exodus 6:6: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid (deliver) you out of their bondage. So Exodus 5:23; 1 Samuel 10:18.
13. As God brought them out of Egypt, invited them to the honours and happiness of his people, and by many express declarations and acts of mercy engaged them to adhere to him as their God, he is said to call them, and they were his called. Isaiah 41:8, 9: “But thou, Israel, art my servant,-thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof.” See Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 51:2; Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Isaiah 48:12: “Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called.”
14. And as he brought them out of the most abject slavery, and advanced them to a new and happy state of being, attended with distinguishing privileges, enjoyments, and marks of honour, he is said-1. to create, make, and form them; 2. to give them life; 3. to have begotten them. Isaiah 43:1: “But thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not.” Isaiah 43:5: “Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and will gather thee from the west.” Isaiah 43:7: “Even every one that is called by my name; for I have created him for my glory; I have formed him; yea I have made him.” Isaiah 43:15: “I am the Lord, your Holy One; the creator of Israel, your king.” Deuteronomy 32:6: “Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people?-Hath he not made thee, and established thee?” Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 149:2; Isaiah 27:11: “It is a people of no understanding; therefore, he that made them will have no mercy on them; and he that formed them will show them no favour;” Isaiah 43:21; 44:1, 2: “Yet hear now, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen.: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb.” Isaiah 44:21, 24: “Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb,” &c.
15. Thus, as God created the whole body of the Jews, and made them to live, they received a being or existence. Isaiah 63:19: “We are; thou hast never ruled over them; (the heathen;) they were not called by thy name.” Or rather thus: “We are of old; thou hast not ruled over them; thy name hath not been called upon them.” It is in the Hebrew, בם tlvm היינו מעולם לא hayinu me-olam, lo mashalla bam; and are therefore called by the apostle, “things that are,” in opposition to the Gentiles, who, as they were not formerly created in the same manner, were, “the things which are not;” 1 Corinthians 1:28: “God has chosen things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.” Farther:-
16. As he made them live, and begat them, (1) He sustains the character of a Father; and (2) they are his children, his sons and daughters, which were born to him. Deuteronomy 32:6: “Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people?-Is he not thy father that hath bought thee?” Isaiah 63:16: “Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer,” &c. Jeremiah 31:9: “For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.” Malachi 2:10: “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?”
17. And, as the whole body of the Jews were the children of one father, even of God, this naturally established among themselves the mutual and endearing relation of brethren, (including that of sisters,) and they were obliged to consider and to deal with each other accordingly. Leviticus 25:46; Deuteronomy 1:16; 2:8; 15:7: “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren-thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thine hand against thy poor brother;” Deuteronomy 17:15; 18:15; 19:19; 22:1; 23:19; 24:14; Judges 20:13; 1 Kings 12:24; [Acts 23:1.] And in many other places.
18. And the relation of God, as a father to the Jewish nation, and they his children, will lead our thoughts to a clear idea of their being, as they are frequently called, the house or family of God. Numbers 12:7: “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house.” 1 Chronicles 17:14: “I will settle him in my house, and in my kingdom for ever.” Jeremiah 12:7: “I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage.” Hosea 9:15: “For the wickedness of their (Ephraim’s) doings, I will drive them out of my house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters; Zechariah 9:8; Psalm 93:5. And in other places; and, perhaps, frequently in the Psalms. See Psalm 23:6; 27:4, &c.
19. Farther; the Scripture directs us to consider the land of Canaan as the estate or inheritance belonging to this house or family. Numbers 26:53: “Unto these, (namely, all the children of Israel,) the land shall be divided for an inheritance.” Deuteronomy 21:23: “That thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” See the same in many other places.
20. Here it may not be improper to take notice that the land of Canaan, in reference to their trials, wanderings, and fatigues in the wilderness, is represented as their rest. Exodus 33:14: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Deuteronomy 3:20; 12:9: “For ye are not yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you;” Deuteronomy 12:10; 25:19. Psalm 95:11: “Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.”
21. Thus the Israelites were the house or family of God. Or we may conceive them formed into a nation, having the Lord Jehovah, the true God, at their head; who, on this account, is styled their God, governor, protector, or king; and they his people, subjects, or servants. Exodus 19:6: “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” Deuteronomy 4:34: “Hath God essayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation?” Isaiah 51:4: “Hearken unto me my people, and give ear unto me my nation.”
22. And it is in reference to their being a society peculiarly appropriated to God and under his special protection and government, that they are sometimes called the city, the holy city, the city of the Lord, of God. Psalm 46:4: “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.” Psalm 101:8: “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.” Isaiah 48:1, 2: “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel; for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel.”
23. Hence the whole community, or Church, is denoted by the city Jerusalem, and sometimes by Zion, Mount Zion, the city of David. Isaiah 62:1, 6, 7: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace-and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Isaiah 65:18, 19: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people;” Isaiah 66:10; Ezekiel 16:2, 3; Joel 3:17; Zechariah 1:14; 8:3, &c.; Zechariah 13:1. Isaiah 28:16: “Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,” &c.; Isaiah 61:3; Joel 2:32. Obadiah 1:17: “But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance,” &c.; Obadiah 1:21.
24. Hence, also, they are said to be written or enrolled in the book of God, as being citizens invested in the privileges and immunities of his kingdom. Exodus 32:32: “Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin; and, if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book thou hast written.” Exodus 32:33: “And the Lord said-Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book;” Ezekiel 13:9.
25. And it deserves our notice that, as the other nations of the world did not belong to this city, commonwealth, or kingdom of God, and so were not his subjects and people in the same peculiar sense as the Jews, for these reasons they are frequently represented as strangers and aliens, and as being not a people. And, as they served other gods, and were generally corrupt in their morals, they have the character of enemies. Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 25:47: “And if a sojourner, or a stranger, wax rich by thee, and thy brother sell himself to the stranger.” Deuteronomy 14:21: “Thou mayest sell it to an alien.” Isaiah 61:5: “And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen.” And in many other places Deuteronomy 32:21: “I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people;” Isaiah 7:8; Hosea 1:10; 2:23: “I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people: and they shall say, Thou art my God.” Psalm 74:4: “Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregation;” Psalm 78:66; 83:2; 89:10; Isaiah 42:13; 59:18. Romans 5:10: “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God;” Colossians 1:21.
26. The kind and particular regards of God for the Israelites, and their special relation to him, are also signified by that of husband and wife; and his making a covenant with them to be their God, is called espousals. Jeremiah 31:32: “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, (which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord;”) Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:31, 32. Hosea 2:2: “Plead (ye children of Judah, and children of Israel, Hosea 1:11) with your mother; plead, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband;” that is, for her wickedness I have divorced her, (Isaiah 62:4, 5.) Jeremiah 2:2: “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown.” Jeremiah 3:14: “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you;” Isaiah 62:4, 5.
27. Hence it is that the Jewish Church, or community, is represented as a mother; and particular members as her children. Isaiah 50:1: “Thus saith the Lord, where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement?” &c. Hosea 2:2, 5: “For their mother hath played the harlot.” Isaiah 49:17: “Thy children (O Zion) shall make haste,” &c.; Isaiah 49:22, 25; Jeremiah 5:7; Ezekiel 16:35, 36. Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge-seeing thou hast forgotten the law of God, I will also forget thy children.”
28. Hence, also, from the notion of the Jewish Church being a wife to God her husband, her idolatry, or worshipping of strange gods, comes under the name of adultery and whoredom, and she takes the character of a harlot. Jeremiah 3:8: “And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery.” Jeremiah 3:9: “And it came to pass, through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks;” Jeremiah 13:27; Ezekiel 16:15; 23:43; Jeremiah 3:6: “Backsliding Israel is gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.”
29. As God exercised a singular providence over them in supplying, guiding, and protecting them, he was their shepherd, and they his flock, his sheep. Psalm 77:20; 78:52; 80:1: “Give ear, O shepherd of Israel.” Isaiah 40:11: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.” Psalm 74:1: “O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?” Psalm 79:13; 95:7; Jeremiah 13:17: “Mine eye shall weep sore-because the Lord’s flock is carried captive.” See Ezekiel 34: throughout; and in many other places.
30. Upon nearly the same account, as God established them, provided proper means for their happiness, and improvement in knowledge and virtue, they are compared to a vine and a vineyard, and God to the husbandman who planted and dressed it; and particular members of the community are compared to branches. Psalm 80:8: “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it.” Psalm 80:14: “Return, we beseech thee, O Lord of hosts; look down from heaven; behold and visit this vine, and the vineyard which thy right hand has planted.” Isaiah 5:1, 2: “Now will I sing to my well beloved a song, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; and he fenced it,” &c. Isaiah 5:7: “For the vineyard of the Lord-is the house of Israel;” Exodus 15:17; Jeremiah 2:21. Psalm 80:11: “She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.” Isaiah 27:9-11: “By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;-yet the defenced city shall be desolate,-there shall the calf feed,-and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding; therefore, he that made them will have no mercy on them.” Jeremiah 11:16: “The Lord hath called thy name a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit,” &c.; Ezekiel 17:6; Hosea 14:5, 6; #Na 2:2; and in many other places. Romans 11:17-19: “And if some of the branches were broken off,” &c. “Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
31. As they were, by the will of God, set apart, and appropriated in a special manner to his honour and obedience, and furnished with extraordinary means and motives to holiness, so God is said to sanctify or hallow them. Exodus 31:13: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you, throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you;” Ezekiel 20:12; Leviticus 20:8: “And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them; for I am the Lord which sanctify you;” Leviticus 21:8; 22:9, 16, 32; Ezekiel 37:28.
32. Hence it is that they are styled a holy nation, or people, and saints. Exodus 19:6: “And ye shall be to me-a holy nation.” Deuteronomy 7:6: “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 14:2; 26:19; 33:3. 2 Chronicles 6:41: “Let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.” Psalm 34:9: “O fear the Lord, ye his saints.” Psalm 50:5: “Gather my saints together unto me.” Psalm 50:7: “Hear, O my people,” &c.; Psalm 79:2; 148:14: “He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of his saints; even of the children of Israel,” &c.
33. Farther, by his presence among them, and their being consecrated to him, they were made his house or building, the sanctuary which he built. And this is implied by his dwelling and walking amongst them. Psalm 114:2: “Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.” Isaiah 56:3-5: “Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people:-for thus saith the Lord-Even unto them will I give in my house, and within my walls, a place and a name.” Jeremiah 33:7: “And I will cause the captivity of Judah and of Israel to return,-and will build them as at the first.” #Amos 9:11: “I will raise up the tabernacle of David-I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.” Exodus 25:8: “And let them, (the children of Israel,) make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” Exodus 29:45, 46: “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will be their God,” &c. Leviticus 26:11, 12: “And I will set my tabernacle among you:-And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people;” Numbers 35:34; 2 Samuel 7:7. Ezekiel 43:7, 9: “And he said unto me-the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel,” &c. Hence we may gather that dwell, in such places, imports to reign, and may be applied figuratively to whatever governs in our hearts; Romans 7:17, 20; 8:9, 11.
34. And not only did God, as their king, dwell among them, as in his house, temple, or palace; but he also conferred upon them the honour of kings, as he redeemed them from servitude, and made them lords of themselves, and raised them above other nations, to reign over them; and of priests, too, as they were to attend upon God, from time to time, continually, in the solemn offices of religion, which he had appointed. Exodus 19:6: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, or a kingly priesthood.” Deuteronomy 26:19: “And to make thee high above all nations-in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 28:1; 15:6: “For the Lord thy God blesseth thee-and thou shalt reign over many nations.” Isaiah 61:6: “But ye, (the seed of Jacob,) shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God.”
35. Thus the whole body of the Jewish nation were separated unto God; and, as they were more nearly related to him than any other people, as they were joined to him in covenant, and felt access to him in the ordinances of worship, and, in virtue of his promise, had a particular title to his regards and blessings, he is said to be near unto them, and they unto him; Exodus 33:16. Leviticus 20:24: “I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people;” Leviticus 20:26; 1 Kings 8:52, 53. Deuteronomy 4:7: “For what nation is there so great, that hath God so near unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?” Psalm 148:14: “The children of Israel, a people near unto him.”
36. And here I may observe that, as the Gentiles were not then taken into the same peculiar covenant with the Jews, nor stood in the same special relation to God, nor enjoyed their extraordinary religious privileges, but lay out of the commonwealth of Israel, they are, on the other hand said to be far off. Isaiah 57:19: “I create the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him.” Zechariah 6:15: “And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple.” Ephesians 2:17: “And came and preached to you, (Gentiles,) which were afar off, and to them that were nigh, (the Jews.)
37. And as God had, in all these respects, distinguished them from all other nations, and sequestered them unto himself, they are styled his peculiar people. Deuteronomy 7:6: “The Lord has chosen thee to be a special (or peculiar) people unto himself.” Deuteronomy 14:2: “The Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth;” Deuteronomy 26:18.
38. As they were a body of men particularly related to God, instructed by him in the rules of wisdom, devoted to his service, and employed in his true worship, they are called his congregation or Church. Numbers 16:3; 27:17; Joshua 22:17. 1 Chronicles 28:8: “Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel the congregation, the Church, of the Lord;” Psalm 74:2.
39. For the same reason they are considered as God’s possession, inheritance, or heritage. Deuteronomy 9:26: “O Lord, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance;” Deuteronomy 9:29; Psalm 33:12; 106:40; Jeremiah 10:16; 12:7: “I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.” And in many other places.
§ III. Reflections on the foregoing Privileges and Honours.
40. Whether I have ranged the foregoing particulars in proper order, or given an exact account of each, let the studious of Scripture knowledge consider. What ought to be specially observed is this; that all the forementioned privileges, benefits, relations, and honours, did belong to ALL the children of Israel, without exception. The Lord Jehovah was the God, King, Saviour, Father, Husband, Shepherd, &c., to them ALL. He saved, bought, redeemed; he created, he begot, he made, he planted, &c., them ALL. And they were ALL his people, nation, heritage; his children, spouse, flock, vineyard, &c. They all had a right to the ordinances of worship, to the promises of God’s blessing, and especially to the promise of the land of Canaan; ALL enjoyed the protection and special favours of God in the wilderness, till they had forfeited them; ALL ate of the manna, and ALL drank of the water out of the rock, &c. That these privileges and benefits belonged to the whole body of the Israelitish nation is evident from all the texts I have already quoted; which he, who observes carefully, will find, do all of them speak of the whole nation, the whole community, without exception.
41. And that all these privileges, honours, and advantages were common to the whole nation, is confirmed by this farther consideration; that they were the effect of God’s free grace, without regard to any prior righteousness of theirs; and therefore they are assigned to God’s love as the spring from whence they flowed; and the donation of those benefits is expressed by God’s loving them: they are also assigned to God’s mercy, and the bestowing of them is expressed by God’s showing them mercy. Deuteronomy 9:4-6: “Speak not thou in thy heart, after that the Lord hath cast them out before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land.-Not for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thy heart dost thou go to possess their land,” &c. “Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people.”
42. Deuteronomy 7:7, 8: “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out” (of Egypt.) Deuteronomy 33:3: “He loved the people;” Isaiah 43:3, 4; Jeremiah 31:3; Hosea 3:1; 9:15.
43. It is on account of this general love to the Israelites, that they are honoured with the title of Beloved Psalm 60:5: “That thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and hear me;” Psalm 108:6. Jeremiah 11:15: “What hath my beloved to do in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many?” Jeremiah 12:7: “I have forsaken my house, I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of my enemies,” (and in their present condition at this day the Jews are still, in a sense, beloved, Romans 11:28.)
44. Exodus 15:13: “Thou, in thy mercy, hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed,” &c.; Psalm 98:3; Isaiah 54:10. Micah 7:20: “Thou shalt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” Luke 1:54, 55: “He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed for ever.” Agreeably to this he showed them mercy, as he continued them to be his people, when he might have cut them off. Exodus 33:19: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” And when, after their present state of rejection, they shall again be taken into the Church, this too is expressed by their “obtaining mercy,” Romans 11:31.
45. In these texts, and others of the same kind, it is evident the love and mercy of God hath respect not to particular persons among the Jews, but to the whole nation; and therefore it is to be understood of that general love and mercy whereby he singled them out to be a peculiar nation to himself, favoured with extraordinary blessings.
46. And it is with regard to this sentiment and manner of speech, that the GENTILES, who were not distinguished in the same manner, are said not to have obtained mercy. Hosea 2:23: “And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.”
47. Farther, it should be noted, as a very material and important circumstance, that all this mercy and love was granted and confirmed to the Israelites under the sanction of a covenant; the most solemn declaration and assurance, sworn to and ratified by the oath of God. Genesis 17:7, 8: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant; to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” Genesis 22:16-18: “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” This covenant with Abraham was the Magna Charta, the basis of the Jewish constitution, which was renewed afterwards with the whole nation; and is frequently referred to as the ground and security of all their blessings. Exodus 6:3-7: “I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac,” &c. “And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan. I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, and I have remembered my covenant, and will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God;” Deuteronomy 7:8. Psalm 105:8-10: “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting COVENANT;” Jeremiah 11:5; Ezekiel 16:8; 20:5.
48. But, what most of all deserves our attention is this, that the Jewish constitution was a scheme for promoting virtue, true religion, or a good and pious life. In all the forementioned instances they were very happy. But were they to rest in them? Because these blessings were the gift of love and mercy, without respect to their righteousness or obedience, was it therefore needless for them to be obedient? or, were they purely on account of benefits already received, secure of the favour and blessing of God for ever? By no means. And that I may explain this important point more clearly, I shall distinguish their blessings into antecedent and consequent, and show, from the Scriptures, how both stand in relation to their duty.
49. Antecedent blessings are all the benefits hitherto mentioned, which were given by the mere grace of God, antecedently to their obedience, and without respect to it; but yet so that they were intended to be motives to obedience. Which effect if they produced, then their election, redemption, and calling were confirmed; and they were entitled to all their blessings, promised in the covenant; which blessings I therefore call consequent, because they were given only in consequence of their obedience. But, on the other hand, if the antecedent blessings did not produce obedience to the will of God; if his chosen people, his children, did not obey his voice, then they forfeited all their privileges, all their honours, and relations to God, all his favours and promises, and fell under the severest threatenings of his wrath and displeasure. Thus life itself may be distinguished into-I. Antecedent, which God gives freely to all his creatures of his mere good will and liberality, before they can have done any thing to deserve it. II. Consequent life; which is the continuance of life in happy circumstances, and has relation to the good conduct of a rational creature. As he improves life antecedent, so he shall, through the favour of God, enjoy life consequent.
50. And that this was the very end and design of the dispensation of God’s extraordinary favours to the Jews, namely, to engage them to duty and obedience; or, that it was a scheme for promoting virtue, is clear, beyond all dispute, from every part of the Old Testament. Note: I shall make ANT. stand for antecedent love or motives; CONS. for consequent love or reward; and THR. for threatening. (Ant.) Genesis 17:1: “I am God, all-sufficient; (Duty) Walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Genesis 17:7-9: (Ant.) “I will be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and unto thy seed, the land of Canaan; and I will be their God. (Duty) Thou shall keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee.” Genesis 22:16, 18: (Duty) “Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, because thou hast obeyed my voice;” Genesis 22:16-18: (Cons.) “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”
51. Here let it be noted, that the same blessings may be both consequent and antecedent with regard to different persons. With regard to Abraham, the blessings promised in this place (Genesis 22:16-18) are consequent, as they were the reward of his obedience, “because thou hast obeyed my voice.” But with regard to his posterity these same blessings were of the antecedent kind; because, though they had respect to Abraham’s obedience, yet; with regard to the Jews, they were given freely or antecedently to any obedience they had performed. So the blessings of redemption, with regard to our Lord’s obedience, are consequent; but, with regard to us, they are of free grace and antecedent, not owing to any obedience of ours, though granted in consequence of Christ’s obedience; Philippians 2:8, 9, &c.; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 5:8, 9. Nor doth the donation of blessings upon many, in consequence of the obedience of one, at all diminish the grace, but very much recommends the wisdom that bestows them.
52. Isaiah 43:7, 21: (Ant.) “This people have I made for myself: (Duty) They shall show forth my praise;” Jeremiah 13:11; Leviticus 20:7, 8:
(Ant.) “I am the Lord your God; I am the Lord which sanctify you. (Duty) Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; and ye shall keep my statutes and do them.” Deuteronomy 4:7-9:
(Ant.) “What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh them, as the Lord out God is? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous,” &c. (Duty) “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen.” Deuteronomy 4:20:
(Ant.) “The Lord hath taken you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are at this day.” Deuteronomy 4:23: (Duty) “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 4:24: (Thr.) “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire.” Deuteronomy 4:25: “When ye shall corrupt yourselves, and do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 4:26: “I call heaven and earth to witness, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land.” Deuteronomy 4:34: (Ant.) “Hath God assayed to go, and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by signs and wonders,” &c., &c. Deuteronomy 4:39, 40: (Duty) “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above,” &c. “Thou shalt keep, therefore, his statutes and his commandments, (Cons.) that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 5:6, 7: (Ant.) “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (Duty) “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” &c. Deuteronomy 5:29: “O that there were such a heart in them that they should fear me and keep all my commandments always, (Cons.) that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever.” Deuteronomy 5:33: (Duty) “You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, (Cons.) that ye may live, and that it may be well with you,” &c. Deuteronomy 6:21:
(Ant.) “We were Pharaoh’s bondmen, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt,” &c. Deuteronomy 6:24: (Duty) “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, (Cons.) for our good always, that he might preserve us alive,” &c. Deuteronomy 7:6-8: (Ant.) “Thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself: the Lord loved you and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen.” Deuteronomy 7:9: (Duty) “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God,” &c. Deuteronomy 7:11: “Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments which I command thee this day, to do them.” Deuteronomy 7:12, 13, 18: (Cons.) “Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers. And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 8:2:
(Ant.) “Thou shalt remember ail the way which the Lord thy God led thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 8:5: “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.” Deuteronomy 8:6: (Duty) “Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.” Deuteronomy 8:11: “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God,” &c. Deuteronomy 8:19: (Thr.) “And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, I testify against you this day, that ye shall surely perish.” Deuteronomy 10:15: (Ant.) “The Lord hath a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people.” Deuteronomy 10:12, 16: (Duty) “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart,” &c. Deuteronomy 10:22:
(Ant.) “Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons, and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.” Deuteronomy 11:1, 8: (Duty) “Therefore shalt thou love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge,” &c. Deuteronomy 11:13, 14: “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments,” &c., (Cons.) “that I will give you the rain of your land,” &c. Deuteronomy 11:26: “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord; and a curse, if ye will not obey,” &c. Deuteronomy 12:28: (Duty) “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, (Cons.) that it may go well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou hast done that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 13:17, 18; 15:4, 5; 27:9, 10:
(Ant.) “Take heed and hearken, O Israel: this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. (Duty) Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments,” &c. Deuteronomy 28:1: “And it shall come to pass, if thou hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do his commandments, (Cons.) that the Lord will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city,” &c. Deuteronomy 28:15: (Thr.) “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments and his statutes, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee,” &c. Deuteronomy 28:45: “Moreover, all these curses shalt come upon thee till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God;” Deuteronomy 29:2, 10; 30:15-18: (Duty) “See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, (Cons.) that thou mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. (Thr.) But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them, I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish.”
53. Whosoever peruses the first sixteen, and the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirtieth, thirty-first, and thirty-second chapters of Deuteronomy, will clearly see that all the privileges, honours, instructions, protections, &c., which were given them as a select body of men, were intended as motives to obedience; which, if thus wisely improved, would bring upon them still farther blessings. Thus God drew them to duty and virtue by his loving-kindness. Jeremiah 31:3: “He drew them with cords of a man, (such considerations as are apt to influence the rational nature,) and with the bands of love;” Hosea 11:4. But if they were disobedient, and did not make a right use of God’s benefits and favours, then they were subjected to a curse, and should perish. And this is so evident from this single book that I shall not need to heap together the numerous quotations which might be collected from other parts of Scripture, particularly the prophetic writings. Only I may farther establish this point by observing,-that, in fact, though all the Israelites in the wilderness were the people, children, and chosen of God; all entitled to the Divine blessing, and partakers of the several instances of his goodness; yet, notwithstanding all their advantages and honours, when they were disobedient to his will, distrustful of his power and providence, or revolted to the worship of idol gods, great numbers of them fell under the Divine vengeance; Exodus 32:8, 27, 28; Numbers 11:4-6, 33; 16:2, 3, 32, 35, 41, 49; 21:5, 6. And though they had all a promise of entering into the land of Canaan, yet the then generation, from twenty years old and upwards, for their unbelief, were, by the righteous judgment of God, excluded from the benefit of that promise: they forfeited their inheritance, and died in the wilderness; Numbers 14:28-36; Hebrews 3:7, &c.
54. From all this it appears that all the high privileges of the Jews before mentioned, and all the singular relations in which they stood to God, as they were saved, bought, redeemed by him; as they were his called and elect; as they were his children whom he begot, created, made, and formed; his sons and daughters, born to him; his heritage, church, house, and kingdom; his saints, whom he sanctified; his vine or vineyard, which he planted; his sheep and flock;-I say these, and such like honours, advantages, and relations, as they are assigned to the whole body, do not import an absolute final state of happiness and favour of any kind; but are to be considered as displays, instances, and descriptions of God’s love and goodness to them, which were to operate as a mean, a moral mean, upon their heart. They were, in truth, motives to oblige and excite to obedience; and only when so improved, became final and permanent blessings; but neglected, or misimproved, they were enjoyed in vain, they vanished and came to nothing; and wicked Israelites were no more the objects of God’s favour than wicked heathens. #Amos 9:7, speaking of the corrupt Jews: “Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord.”
55. And upon the whole, we may from the clearest evidence conclude that the selecting the Jewish nation from the rest of the world, and taking them into a peculiar relation to God, was a scheme for promoting true religion and virtue in all its principles and branches, upon motives adapted to rational nature; which principles and branches of true religion are particularly specified in their law. And to this end, no doubt, every part of their constitution, even the ceremonial, was wisely adapted, considering their circumstances, and the then state of the world.
56. The love of God, as it was the foundation and original of this scheme, so it was the prime motive in it. God began the work of salvation among them, antecedently to any thing which they might do, on their part, tn engage his goodness. They did not first love God; but God first loved them: their obedience did not first advance towards God; but his mercy first advanced towards them, and saved, bought, redeemed them; took them for his people, and gave them a part in the blessings of his covenant. And as for his displeasure, they were under that only consequentially; or after they had neglected his goodness, and abused the mercy and means, the privileges and honours, which they enjoyed. This, I think, must appears very evident to any one who closely and maturely deliberates upon the true state of the Jewish Church.
Thus, and for those ends, not excluding others before or afterwards mentioned, the Jewish constitution was erected.
§ IV. The Jewish peculiarity not prejudicial to the rest of Mankind; the Jewish Economy being established; for the Benefit of the World in general.
57. But although the Father of mankind was pleased, in his wisdom to erect the foregoing scheme, for promoting virtue and preserving true religion in one nation of the world, upon which he conferred particular blessings and privileges; this was no injury nor prejudice to the rest of mankind. For, as to original favours, or external advantages, God, who may do what he pleases with his own, bestows them in any kind or degree, as he thinks fit. Thus he makes a variety of creatures; some angels in a higher sphere of being, some men in a lower. And, among men, he distributes different faculties, stations, and opportunities in life. To one he gives ten talents, to another five, to another two, and to another one, severally as he pleases; without any impeachment of his justice, and to the glorious display and illustration of his wisdom. And so he may bestow different advantages and favours upon different nations, with as much justice and wisdom as he has placed them in different climates, or vouchsafed them various accommodations and conveniencies of life. But, whatever advantages some nations may enjoy above others, still God is the God and Father of all; and his extraordinary blessings to some are not intended to diminish his regards to others. He erected a scheme of polity and religion for promoting the knowledge of God, and the practice of virtue in one nation; but not with a design to withdraw his goodness or providential regards from the rest. God has made a variety of soils and situations; yet he cares for every part of the globe; and the inhabitants of the North Cape, where they conflict a good part of the year with night and extreme cold, are no more neglected by the universal Lord, than those who enjoy the perpetual summer and pleasures of the Canary Isles. At the same time God chose the children of Israel to be his peculiar people in a special covenant, he was the God of the rest of mankind, and regarded them as the objects of his care and benevolence. Exodus 19:5: “Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; xrah lk yl yk, although all the earth is mine.” So it should be rendered. Deuteronomy 10:14, 15: “Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth with all that therein are. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.” Deuteronomy 10:17, 18: “For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, (or is no respecter of persons, Acts 10:34, through partiality to one person or one nation more than another,) nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.” A stranger was one who was of any other nation beside the Jewish. Psalm 146:9: “The Lord preserveth the strangers;” Psalm 8:1; 19:1-4; 24:1; 33:5: “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” Psalm 33:8: “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Psalm 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” Psalm 33:13: “The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth; he fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.” Psalm 47:2, 8: “The Lord most high is a great king over all the earth. God reigneth over the heathen;” Psalm 46:7; 107:8, 15, 21; 145:9: “The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Many more passages might be brought out of the Scriptures of the Old Testament to show that all the nations of the earth were the object of the Divine care and goodness; at the same time that he vouchsafed a particular and extraordinary providence towards the Jewish nation.
58. And, agreeably to this, the Israelites were required to exercise all benevolence to the Gentiles, or strangers; to abstain from all injurious treatment; to permit them to dwell peaceably and comfortably among them; to partake of their blessings; to incorporate into the same happy body, if they thought fit; and to join in their religious solemnities. Exodus 22:21: “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him;” Exodus 22:9, 12. Leviticus 19:10: “Thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger; I am the Lord your God;” Leviticus 23:22; 19:33, 34: “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born amongst you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.” Leviticus 25:35: “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.” Numbers 15:14, 15: “And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; as ye do, so shall he do. One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations; as ye are, so shall the stranger be, before the Lord.” Deuteronomy 26:11, 12: “And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you;” Ezekiel 22:7, 29.
59. And not only were they required to treat strangers, or men of other nations, with kindness and humanity; but it appears from several parts of Scripture that the whole Jewish dispensation had respect to the nations of the world. Not, indeed, to bring them all into the Jewish Church, (that would have been impracticable as to the greatest part of the world,) but to spread the knowledge and obedience of God in the earth. Or, it was a scheme which was intended to have its good effects beyond the pale of the Jewish enclosure, and was established for the benefit of all mankind. Genesis 12:5: “And in thee (Abraham) shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 22:18: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Exodus 7:5: “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel.” Exodus 9:16: “And indeed for this very cause have I raised thee (Pharaoh) up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name shall be declared throughout all the earth;” Exodus 15:14; Leviticus 26:46; Numbers 14:13-15.
60. But though the Jewish peculiarity did not exclude the rest of the world from the care and beneficence of the universal Father; and though the Jews were commanded to exercise benevolence towards persons of other nations; yet, about the time when the Gospel was promulgated, the Jews were greatly elevated on account of their distinguishing privileges: they looked upon themselves as the only favourites of Heaven, and regarded the rest of mankind with a sovereign contempt, as nothing, as abandoned of God, and without a possibility of salvation, unless they should incorporate, in some degree or other, with their nation. Their constitution, they supposed, was established for ever, never to be altered, or in any respect abolished. They were the true and only Church, out of which no man could be accepted of God; and consequently, unless a man submitted to the law of Moses, how virtuous or good soever he were, it was their belief he could not be saved. He had no right to a place in the Church, nor could hereafter obtain life.
§ V. The Jewish peculiarity was to receive its perfection from the Gospel.
61. But the Jewish dispensation, as peculiar to that people, though superior to the mere light of nature, which it supposed and included, was but of a temporary duration, and of an inferior and imperfect kind, in comparison of that which was to follow, and which God from the beginning (when he entered into covenant with Abraham, and made the promise to him) intended to erect, and which he made several declarations under the Old Testament that he would erect, in the proper time, as successive to the Jewish dispensation, and, as a superstructure, perfective of it. And as the Jewish dispensation was erected by the ministry of a much nobler hand, even that of the SON of GOD, the Messiah, foreordained before the world was made, promised to Abraham, foretold by the prophets, and even expected by the Jews themselves, though under no just conceptions of the end of his coming into the world. He was to assume and live in a human body, to declare the truth and grace of God more clearly and expressly to the Jews, to exhibit a pattern of the most perfect obedience, and to be obedient even unto death in compliance with the will of God.* When Christ came into the world, the Jews were ripe for destruction: but he published a general indemnity for the transgressions of the former covenant, upon their repentance; and openly revealed a future state, as the true land of promise, even eternal life in heaven. Thus he confirmed the former covenant with the Jews as to the favour and blessing of God; and enlarged, or more clearly explained it, as to the blessings therein bestowed; instead of an earthly Canaan, revealing the resurrection from the dead, and everlasting happiness and glory in the world to come. * Yes, and thus to become a sacrifice for sin, that those who believe in him might have redemption in his blood. This is the light in which the New Testament places the death of Christ.-A. C.
62. That the Gospel is the Jewish scheme enlarged and improved, will evidently appear, if we consider that we, Gentiles, believing in Christ, are said to be incorporated into the same body with the Jews; and that believing Jews and Gentiles are now become one, one flock, one body in Christ. John 10:16: “And other sheep I have which are not of this (the Jewish) fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock, (so the word poimnh signifies, and so our translators have rendered it in all the other places where it is used in the New Testament. See Matthew 26:31; Luke 2:8; 1 Corinthians 9:7. And here also it should have been translated flock, not fold,) and one shepherd.” 1 Corinthians 12:12: “By one Spirit are we all baptized in one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.” Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all ONE in Christ Jesus;” that is, under the Gospel dispensation. Ephesians 2:14-16: “For he is our peace, who has made both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, (Jews and Gentiles.) Having abolished by his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”
63. And that this union or coalition between believing Jews and Gentiles is to be understood of the believing Gentiles being taken into that Church and covenant in which the Jews were before the Gospel dispensation was erected, and out of which the unbelieving Jews were cast, is evident from the following considerations.
64. First, that Abraham, the head or root of the Jewish nation, is the father of us all. Romans 4:16, 17: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, (the Jews,) but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, (the believing Gentiles,) who is the father of us all, (as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed;” that is to say, in the account and purpose of God, whom he believed, he is the father of US ALL. Abraham, when he stood before God and received the promise, did not, in the account of God, appear as a private person, but as the father of us all; as the head and father of the whole future Church of God, from whom we were all, believing Jews and Gentiles, to descend; as we were to be accepted and interested in the Divine blessing and covenant after the same manner as he was, namely, by faith. Galatians 3:6, &c.: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. For the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (would take into his Church and covenant) the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith (of what country soever they are, heathens as well as Jews) are blessed, (justified, taken into the kingdom and covenant of God,) together with believing Abraham,” (and into that very covenant which was made with him and his seed.)* In this covenant were the Jews during the whole period from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to Christ. For the covenant with Abraham was with him, and with his seed after him,” Genesis 17:7. “To Abraham and his seed were the promises made,” Galatians 3:16. And the apostle in the next verse tells us that (the promises or) the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was (given by Moses) four hundred and thirty years after could not disannul, that it should make the promise (or covenant with Abraham) of none effect; consequently the Jews, during the whole period of the law, or Mosaical dispensation, were under the covenant with Abraham; and into that same covenant the apostle argues, Rom 4, and Gal 3, that the believing Gentiles are taken. For which reason he affirms that they are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, that is, the patriarchs, &c. And that the great mystery, not understood in other ages, was this, That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body with his Church and children, the Jews, Ephesians 2:19; 3:5, 6. * Being justified does not merely signify being taken into covenant, so as to be incorporated with the visible Church of God; it is used repeatedly by St. Paul to signify that act of God’s mercy whereby a penitent sinner, believing on Christ as a sacrifice for sin, has his transgressions forgiven for Christ’s sake Romans 5:1, &c.
65. Secondly. Agreeably to this sentiment, the believing Gentiles are said to partake of all the spiritual privileges which the Jews enjoyed, and from which the unbelieving Jews fell; and to be taken into that kingdom and Church of God out of which they were cast. Several of the parables of our Lord are intended to point out this fact; and many passages in the epistles directly prove it.
66. Matthew 20:1-16. In this parable the vineyard is the kingdom of heaven, into which God, the householder, hired the Jews early in the morning; and into the same vineyard he hired the Gentiles at the eleventh hour, or an hour before sun-set.
67. Matthew 21:33, 34. The husbandmen to whom the vineyard was first let were the Jews; to whom God first sent his servants, the prophets, Matthew 21:34-36, and at last he sent his Son, whom they slew, Matthew 21:37-39, and then the vineyard was let out to other husbandmen; which our Saviour clearly explains, Matthew 21:43: “Therefore I say unto you, (Jews,) the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation (the believing Gentiles) bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Hence it appears that the very same kingdom of God, which the Jews once possessed, and in which the ancient prophets exercised their ministry, one after another, is now in our possession; for it was taken from them and given to us.
68. Romans 11:17-24. The Church or kingdom of God is compared to an olive-tree, and the members of it to the branches. “And if some of the branches (the unbelieving Jews) be broken off, and thou (Gentile Christian) wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree;” that is, the Jewish Church and covenant. Romans 11:24: “For if thou (Gentile Christian) wert cut out of the olive-tree, which is wild by nature, and wert grafted, contrary to nature, into the good olive-tree,” &c.
69. 1 Peter 2:7-10: “Unto you Gentiles who believe, he (Christ) is an honour, timh, but unto them which be disobedient, (the unbelieving Jews,) the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and also a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.* They stumbled at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed, (they are fallen from their privileges and honour, as God appointed they should, in case of their unbelief.) But ye (Gentiles, are raised into the high degree from which they are fallen, and so) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of the heathenish darkness into his marvellous light.”
* We render this passage thus: A stone of stumbling and rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, &c., as if it were one continued sentence. But, thus, violence is done to the text, and the apostle’s sense is thrown into obscurity and disorder, which is restored by putting a period after offence, and beginning a new sentence, thus: They stumble at the word, &c. For observe, the apostle runs a double antithesis between the unbelieving Jews and believing Gentiles.
70. Thirdly. The Jews vehemently opposed the admission of the uncircumcised Gentiles into the kingdom and covenant of God, at the first preaching of the Gospel. But if the Gentiles were not taken into the same Church and covenant in which the Jewish nation had so long gloried, why should they so zealously oppose their being admitted into it? Or why so strenuously insist that they ought to be circumcised in order to their being admitted? For what was it to them, if the Gentiles were called, and taken into another kingdom and covenant, distinct and quite different from that which they would have confined wholly to themselves, or to such only as were circumcised? It is plain the Gentiles might have been admitted into another kingdom and covenant without any offence to the Jews, as they would still have been left in the sole possession of their ancient privileges. And the apostles could not have failed in using this as an argument to pacify their incensed brethren, had they so understood it. But, seeing they never gave the least intimation of this, it shows they understood the affair as the unbelieving Jews did, namely, that the Gentiles, without being circumcised, were taken into the kingdom of God, in which they and their forefathers had so long stood.
71. Fourthly. It is upon this foundation, namely, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church and kingdom in which the Jews once stood, that the apostles drew parallels, for caution and instruction, between the state of the ancient Jews and that of the Christians. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses, and did all eat of the same spiritual meat, and did all drink of the same spiritual drink; but with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now those things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; neither let us provoke Christ, as some of them provoked,” &c. Hebrews 3:7, &c.: “Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day,* when or while you hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me: wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” Hebrews 4:1, 2: “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us hath the Gospel been preached, as well as to them,” that is, we have the joyful promise of a happy state, or of entering into rest, as well as the Jews of old. Hebrews 4:11: “Let us labour, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
* shmeron, ean thv fwnhv autou akoushte. EAN, if, should here have been rendered when, as it is rendered, 1 John 3:2, and should have been rendered, John 12:32; 14:3; 16:7; 2 Corinthians 5:1. In like manner the particle אם, Psalm 95:7, (whence the place is quoted,) should have been translated WHEN or WHILE. For it is translated when, 1 Samuel 15:17; Proverbs 3:24; 4:12; Job 7:4; 17:16; Psalm 50:18; and might have been so translated in other places.
72. Fifthly. Hence also the scriptures of the Old Testament are represented as being written for our use and instruction, and to explain our dispensation as well as theirs. Matthew 5:17: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” And when our Saviour taught his disciples the things pertaining to his kingdom, he opened to them the Scriptures, which were then no other than the Old Testament; Luke 4:17-22; 18:31; 24:27: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:45: “Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures.” Thus the apostles were instructed in the things pertaining to the Gospel dispensation. And always, in their sermons in the Acts, they confirm their doctrine from the Scriptures of the Old Testament. And in their Epistles they not only do the same, but also expressly declare that those Scriptures were written as well for the benefit of the Christian as the Jewish Church. Romans 15:4: After a quotation out of the Old Testament, the apostle adds:-“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” 1 Corinthians 9:9: “It is written in the law of Moses, that thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.” 1 Corinthians 9:10: “For our sakes, no doubt, this is written.” 1 Corinthians 10:11: “Now all these things (namely, the before-mentioned privileges, sins, and punishments of the ancient Jews) happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the earth are come.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
73. Sixthly. Agreeably to this notion, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church or kingdom; out of which the unbelieving Jews are cast, the Christian Church, considered in a body, is called by the same general names as the Church under the Old Testament. Israel was the general name of the Jewish Church, so also of the Christian. Galatians 6:16: “As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” Revelation 7:3, 4: Speaking of the Christian Church, the angel said, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty-four thousand, of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Revelation 21:10-14: “He showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, (the Christian Church,) having the glory of God-and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, (as comprehending the whole Church.) And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Jews was another running title of the Church in our Saviour’s time, and this is also applied to Christians. Revelation 2:8, 9: “And unto the angel of the (Christian) Church in Smyrna, write, I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty; and I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews (members of the Church of Christ) and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” And again, Revelation 3:9.
§ VI. The particular honours and privileges of Christians, and the terms signifying these honours explained.
74. Seventhly. In conformity to this sentiment, (namely, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church, covenant, and kingdom, out of which the unbelieving Jews were cast,) the state, membership, privileges, honours, and relations of professed Christians, particularly of believing Gentiles, are expressed by the same phrases with those of the ancient Jewish Church; and therefore, unless we admit a very strange abuse of words, must convey the same general ideas of our present state, membership, honours, and relations to God, as we are professed Christians. For instance:-
75. I. As God chose his ancient people the Jews, and they were his chosen and elect, so now the whole body of Christians, Gentiles as well as Jews, are admitted to the same honour, as they are selected from the rest of the world, and taken into the kingdom of God, for the knowledge, worship, and obedience of God, in hopes of eternal life. Romans 8:33: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” &c. Ephesians 1:4: “According as he hath chosen us (Gentiles, Ephesians 2:11) in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love.” Colossians 3:12: “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,” &c. 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation; through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth.” Titus 1:1: “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.” 2 Timothy 2:10: “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” 1 Peter 1:1, 2: “Peter to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience.” 1 Peter 2:9: “Ye (Gentiles) are a chosen generation,” &c. 1 Peter 5:13: “The Church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you.”
76. II. The first step which the goodness of God took in execution of his purpose of election, with regard to the Gentile world, was to rescue them from their wretched situation in the sin and idolatry of their heathen state (by sending his son Jesus Christ into the world to die for mankind, and thus) to bring them into the light and privileges of the Gospel. With regard to which the language of Scripture is: 1st, that he delivered; 2nd, saved; 3rd, bought or purchased; 4th, redeemed them. Galatians 1:4: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world,” the vices and lusts in which the world is involved. Colossians 1:12, 13: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has delivered us from the power of (heathenish) darkness, (Acts 26:18; 1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 4:18; 5:8,) and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” And thus, consequentially, we are “delivered from the wrath to come;” 1 Thessalonians 1:10.*
* That is, through the redemption that is in Jesus we receive the remission of all our sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost to cleanse, purify, and refine our souls, and thus render them capable of enjoying the inheritance of the saints in light. Our justification, adoption, and sanctification, and finally our admission into the kingdom of glory, are most positively attributed to the sacrificial passion and death of Jesus and we are not consequentially delivered from the wrath to come, till our sins are blotted out and our hearts purified from sin; and these blessings we receive from God through Christ, i.e. for his sake, his worth or merit; for he has bought these blessings for mankind by his sacrificial passion and death. Justice required these to make way for mercy.-A. C. See No. 79.
77. 1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 7:16: “What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” that is, convert her to the Christian faith. 1 Corinthians 10:33: “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved, through faith.” 1 Thessalonians 2:16: “Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved.” 1 Timothy 2:4: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.” In this general sense, saved is in other places applied to both Jews and Gentiles; particularly to the Jews, Romans 9:27; 10:1; 11:26. Hence God is styled our Saviour. Titus 3:4, 5: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” 1 Timothy 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour;” 1 Timothy 2:3; Titus 1:3. Romans 11:11: “Through their (the Jews’) fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles.” And as this salvation is by Jesus Christ, he also is frequently called our Saviour.
78. Acts 20:28: “Feed the Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20: “And ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 7:23: “Ye are bought with a price.” 2 Peter 2:1: “False prophets shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.” Revelation 5:9: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed (bought) us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
79. Titus 2:14: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity.” 1 Peter 1:18: “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain (heathenish) conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ.” And at the same time he redeemed or bought us from death, or the curse of the law; Galatians 3:13; and the Jews, in particular, from the law, and the condemnation to which it subjected them; Galatians 4:5. Hence frequent mention is made of the redemption which is in Jesus Christ; Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12, 15. Hence also Christ is said to give himself a ransom for us; Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45. 1 Timothy 2:6: “Who gave himself a ransom for all.” That is, that he might redeem them unto God by the sacrificial shedding of his blood. See the note under 76.
80. III. As God sent the Gospel to bring Gentiles, Christians, out of heathenism, and invited and made them welcome to the honours and privileges of his people, he is said to call them, and they are his called. Romans 1:6, 7: “Among whom are ye also called of Jesus Christ. To all that are at Rome called saints;” Romans 8:28. 1 Corinthians 1:9: “God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son;” 1 Corinthians 7:20. Galatians 1:6: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you;” Galatians 5:13. Ephesians 4:1: “I beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called;” Ephesians 4:4. 1 Thessalonians 2:12: “That ye walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7: “God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling; not according to our works,” &c. 1 Peter 1:15: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” 1 Peter 2:9: “Ye (Gentile Christians) are a chosen generation-to show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
81. Note-The Jews also were called. Romans 9:24: “Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.” 1 Corinthians 1:24; 7:18: “Is any man called being circumcised;” Hebrews 9:15. But the calling of the Jews must be different from that of the Gentiles. The Gentiles were called into the kingdom of God as strangers and foreigners, who had never been in it before. But the Jews were then subjects of God’s kingdom, under the old form; and therefore could be called only to submit to it, as it was now modelled under the Messiah. Or they were called to repentance, to the faith, allegiance, and obedience of the Son of God, and to the hope of eternal life through him; whom rejecting, they were-cast out of God’s peculiar kingdom.
82. IV. And as we stand in the relation of children to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hence it is that we are his brethren, and he is considered as the first born among us. Matthew 28:10; John 20:17: “Jesus saith-Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God;” Hebrews 2:11, 17. Romans 8:29: “That he might be the first-born among many brethren.”
83. V. And the relation of God, as a Father, to us Christians, who are his children, will lead our thoughts to a clear idea of our being, as we are called, the house or family of God or of Christ. 1 Timothy 3:15; “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God.” Hebrews 3:6: “But Christ, as a Son over his own house, whose house are we, (Christians,) if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Hebrews 10:21: “And having a great high priest over the house of God,” &c. 1 Peter 4:17: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, (that is, when the Christian Church shall undergo sharp trials and sufferings;) and if it first begin at us, (Christians, who are the house or family of God,) what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel?” that is, of the infidel world, who lie out of the Church. See Romans 1:5; 15:18; 1 Peter 1:22. Ephesians 2:19: “We are of the household (domestics) of God.” Ephesians 3:14, 15: “I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,” &c.
84. VI. Farther, as the land of Canaan was the estate or inheritance belonging to the Jewish family or house, so the heavenly country is given to the Christian house or family for their inheritance. Acts 20:32: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Colossians 3:24: “Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance.” Hebrews 9:15: “He is the mediator of the New Testament, that they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” 1 Peter 1:3, 4: “God has begotten us again-to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us.” Hence we have the title of heirs. Titus 3:7: “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” James 2:5: “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?” See Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 3:7.
85. And as Canaan was considered as the rest of the Jews, so, in reference to our trials and afflictions in this world, heaven is considered as the rest of Christians. 2 Thessalonians 1:7: “And to you who are troubled, (he will give) rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.” Hebrews 4:1: “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us hath the Gospel been preached, as well as to them;” that is, we have the joyful promise of entering into rest as well as the Jews of old. Hebrews 4:9: “There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God;” that is, for Christians now in this world, as well as for the Jews formerly in the wilderness, which is the point the apostle is proving, from Hebrews 4:3-10.
86. VII. Thus Christians, as well as the ancient Jews, are the house or family of God: or we may conceive the whole body of Christians formed into a nation, having God at their head; who, on this account, is styled our God, governor, protector, or king; and we his people, subjects, or servants.
87. VIII. And it is in reference to our being a society peculiarly appropriated to God, and under his special protection and government, that we are called the city of God, the holy city. Hebrews 12:22: “Ye are come unto-the city of the living God.” Revelation 11:2: “And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” This city is described in some future happy state; Rev. 21, 26.
88. Hence the whole Christian community or Church is denoted by the city Jerusalem, and sometimes by Mount Zion. Galatians 4:26: “But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all.”-In her reformed, or future happy state, she is the New Jerusalem; Revelation 3:12; 21:2. Hebrews 12:22: “Ye are come unto Mount Zion,” &c.; Revelation 14:1.
89. Hence also we are said to be written or enrolled in the book of God, or, which comes to the same thing, of the Lamb, the Son of God. Revelation 3:5: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.” Revelation 22:19: “And if any man take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city,” &c.; which shows that the names of such as are in the book of life may be blotted out, consequently, that to be enrolled there is the privilege of all professed Christians.
90. And whereas the believing Gentiles were once strangers, aliens, not a people, enemies; now (Ephesians 2:19) “they are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints.” 1 Peter 2:10: “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.” Now “we are at peace with God;” Romans 5:1. Now “we are reconciled and become the servants of God,” the subjects of his kingdom; Romans 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19. [That is, all those who have turned to God by true repentance] [have received remission of sin, and are walking in the way of] [righteousness, with a believing, obedient, loving, and grateful] [heart.-A. C.]
91. On the other hand, the body of the Jewish nation, (having, through unbelief, rejected the Messiah, and the Gospel, and being therefore cast out of the city and kingdom of God,) are, in their turn, at present represented under the name and notion of enemies. Romans 11:28: “As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake.”
92. IX. The kind and particular regards of God to the converted Gentiles, and their relation to Jesus Christ, is also signified by that of a husband and wife; and his taking them into his covenant is represented by his espousing them. 2 Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
93. Hence the Christian Church or community is represented as a mother, and particular members as her children. Galatians 4:26-28: “But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Israel was, are the children of promise.” Galatians 4:31: “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free.”
94. Hence also, from the notion of the Christian Church being the spouse of God in Christ, her corruption and her idolatry come under the name of fornication and adultery.
95. X. As God, by Christ, exercises a particular providence over the Christian Church, in supplying them with all spiritual blessings, guiding them through all difficulties, and guarding them in all spiritual dangers, He is their shepherd, and they his flock, his sheep. John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd.” John 10:16: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd;” Acts 20:28, 29; Hebrews 13:20. 1 Peter 2:25: “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the shepherd and bishop (overseer) of your souls.” 1 Peter 5:2-4: “Feed the flock of God,” &c.
96. XI. Nearly on the same account as God, by Christ, has established the Christian Church, and provided all means for our happiness and improvement in knowledge and virtue, we are compared to a vine and a vineyard, and God to the husbandman, who planted and dresses it; and particular members of the community are compared to branches. John 15:1, 2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,” &c. John 15:5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” Matthew 15:13: “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.” Romans 6:5: “If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Matthew 20:1. The vineyard into which labourers were hired is the Christian as well as the Jewish Church: and so Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1; Luke 20:9. 1 Corinthians 3:9: “Ye are God’s husbandry.” Romans 11:17: “And if some of the branches (Jews) be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree,” &c. See also Romans 11:24.
97. XII. As Christians are, by the will of God, set apart and appropriated in a special manner to his honour, service, and obedience, and furnished with extraordinary means and motives to holiness, so they are said to be sanctified. 1 Corinthians 1:2: “Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 6:11: “And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Hebrews 2:11: “For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one;” Hebrews 10:10.
98. XIII. Farther; by the presence of God in the Christian Church, and our being by profession consecrated to him, we, as well as the ancient Jews, are made his house or temple, which God has built, and in which he dwells, or walks. 1 Peter 2:5: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house,” &c. 1 Corinthians 3:9: “Ye are God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17: “Know ye not that ye (Christians) are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you: if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 2 Corinthians 6:16: “And what agreement hath the temple of God (the Christian Church) with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said: I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” Ephesians 2:20-22: “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles, &c., Christ Jesus being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together, for a habitation of God through the Spirit.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4: “So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, SHOWING HIMSELF that he is God.”
99. XIV. And not only does God, as our king, dwell in the Christian Church, as in his house or temple; but he has also conferred on Christians the honours of kings; as he has redeemed us from the servitude of sin, made us lords of ourselves, and raised us above others, to sit on thrones, and to judge and reign over them. And he has made us priests too, as we are peculiarly consecrated to God, and obliged to attend upon him, from time to time continually, in the solemn offices of religion which he has appointed. 1 Peter 2:5: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.” 1 Peter 2:9: “But ye (Gentile Christians) are a chosen generation, a royal (or kingly) priesthood.” Revelation 1:5, 6: “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father,” &c.
100. XV. Thus the whole body of the Christian Church is separated unto God from the rest of the world. And whereas, before, the Gentile believers were afar off, lying out of the commonwealth of Israel, now they are nigh, as they are joined to God in covenant, have full access to him in the ordinances of worship, and, in virtue of his promise, a particular title to his regards and blessing. 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” Ephesians 2:13: “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh, by the blood of Christ.”
101. XVI. And as God, in all these respects, has distinguished the Christian Church, and sequestered them unto himself, they are styled his peculiar people. Titus 2:14: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” 1 Peter 2:9: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.”
102. XVII. As Christians are a body of men particularly related to God, instructed by him in the rules of wisdom, devoted to his service, and employed in his true worship, they are called his Church or congregation. Acts 20:28: “Feed the Church of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:32: “Giving none offence to the Church of God;” 1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; and elsewhere. Ephesians 1:22: “Head over all things to the Church:”-and particular societies are Churches. Romans 16:16: “The Churches of Christ salute you:”-and so in several other places.
103. XVIII. For the same reason they are considered as God’s possession or heritage. 1 Peter 5:3: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” The reader cannot well avoid observing that the words and phrases by which our Christian privileges are expressed in the New Testament are the very same with the words and phrases by which the privileges of the Jewish Church are expressed in the Old Testament; which makes good what St. Paul says concerning the language in which the apostles declared the things that are freely given to us of God. 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1:3: “We (apostles) have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are given to us of God;” namely, the fore-recited privileges and blessings. “Which things we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth,” not in philosophic terms of human invention, “but which the Holy Spirit teacheth,” in the writings of the Old Testament, the only Scriptures from which they took their ideas and arguments, “comparing spiritual things” under the Gospel.
Whence we may conclude: 1. That the holy Scriptures are admirably calculated to be understood in those things which we are most of all concerned to understand. Seeing the same language runs through the whole, and is set in such a variety of lights, that one part is well adapted to illustrate another: an advantage I reckon peculiar to the sacred writings above all others. 2. It follows that, to understand the sense of the Spirit in the New, it is essentially necessary that we understand its sense in the Old Testament.
§ VII. Reflections on the foregoing Honours and Privileges of the Christian Church.
From what has been said it appears,—
104. I. That the believing Gentiles are taken into that kingdom and covenant in which the Jews once stood, and out of which they were cast for their unbelief and rejection of the Son of God; and that we Christians ought to have the same general ideas of our present religious state, membership, privileges, honours, and relation to God, as the Jews had while they were in possession of the kingdom. Only in some things the kingdom of God under the Gospel dispensation differs much from the kingdom of God under the Mosaical. As, 1. That it is now so constituted that it admits, and is adapted to, men of all nations upon the earth, who believe in Christ. 2. That the law, as a ministration of condemnation, which was an appendage to the Jewish dispensation, is removed and annulled under the Gospel. [But the moral law, as a rule of life, is still in force.] 3. And so is the polity or civil state of the Jews, which was interwoven with their religion, but has no connection with the Christian religion. 4. The ceremonial part of the Jewish constitution is likewise abolished, for we are taught the spirit and duties of religion, not by figures and symbols, as sacrifices, offerings, watchings, &c., but by express and clear precepts. 5. The kingdom of God is now put under the special government of the Son of God, who is the head and king of the Church, to whom we owe faith and allegiance.*
* Add to this, that all the privileges under the Gospel are abundantly more spiritual than they were under the law-THAT being the shadow, THIS the substance. Hence, while we consider these privileges the same in kind, we must view them as differing widely in degree.-A. C.
105. II. From the above recited particulars it appears that the Christian Church is happy, and highly honoured with privileges of the most excellent nature; of which the apostles, who well understood this new constitution, were deeply sensible. Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 5:1-3, &c.: “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice (glory) in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also,” &c. Romans 5:11: “And not only so, but we also joy (glory) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” &c. Romans 8:31: “What shall we then say to these things, If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? Who is he that condemneth? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Romans 9:23, 24: “He has made known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even on us whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.” 2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Ephesians 1:3, 4, &c.: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him,” &c., &c.
106. And it is the duty of the whole body of Christians to rejoice in the goodness of God, to thank and praise him for all the benefits conferred upon them in the Gospel. Romans 15:10: “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.” Philippians 3:1: “My brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord alway; again I say, rejoice.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Rejoice evermore;” James 1:9; 1 Peter 1:6, 8. Colossians 1:12: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 2:7: “Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving;” 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Hebrews 13:15: “By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.” Ephesians 1:6: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved;” Ephesians 1:12, 14.
107. Farther, it is to be observed that all the foregoing privileges, benefits, relations, and honours belong to all professed Christians, without exception. God is the God, King, Saviour, Father, Husband, Shepherd, &c., of them all. He created, saved, bought, redeemed; he begot, he made, he planted, &c., them all. And they are all as created, redeemed, and begotten by him; his people, nation, heritage; his children, spouse, flock, vineyard, &c. We are all enriched with the blessings of the Gospel, Romans 11:12-14; all reconciled to God, Romans 11:15; all the seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise, Galatians 3:29; all partake of the root and fatness of the good olive, the Jewish Church; all the brethren of Christ and members of his body; all are under grace; all have a right to the ordinances of worship; all are golden candlesticks in the temple of God, Revelation 1:12, 13, 20; even those who, by reason of their misimprovement of their privileges, are threatened with having the candlestick removed out of its place, Revelation 2:5. Either every professed Christian is not in the Church, or all the forementioned privileges belong to every professed Christian; which will appear more evidently if we consider,-
108. III. That all the aforementioned privileges, honours, and advantages are the effects of God’s free grace, without regard to any prior righteousness, which deserved or procured the donation of them. It was not for any goodness or worthiness which God found in the heathen world, when the Gospel was first preached to them; not for any works of obedience or righteousness which we, in our Gentile state, had performed, whereby we had rendered ourselves deserving of the blessings of the Gospel, namely, to be taken into the family, kingdom, or Church of God; by no means. It was not thus of ourselves that we are saved, justified, &c. So far from that, the Gospel, when first preached to us Gentiles, found us sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, enemies through wicked works, disobedient; therefore, I say, all the forementioned privileges, blessings, honours, &c., are the effects of God’s free grace or favour, without regard to any prior works or righteousness in the Gentile world, which procured the donation of them. Accordingly, they are always in Scripture, assigned to the love, grace, and mercy of God, as the sole spring from whence they flow. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” Ephesians 2:4-9, 10: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he has loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us, through Jesus Christ. For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that (salvation is) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that* no man (nor Gentile nor Jew) can boast. For we (Christians, converted from heathenism) are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.” * JIna mh tiv kauchshtai, lest any man should boast. So we render it; as if the Gospel salvation were appointed to be not of works, to prevent our boasting; which supposes we might have boasted, had not God taken this method to preclude it. Whereas, in truth, we had nothing to boast of. Neither Jew nor Gentile could pretend to any prior righteousness, which might make them worthy to be taken into the house and kingdom of God under his Son; therefore the apostle’s meaning is: “We are not saved from heathenism, and translated into the Church and kingdom of Christ, for any prior goodness, obedience, or righteousness we had performed. For which reason, no man can boast, as if he had merited the blessing, &c.” This is the apostles sense; and the place should have been translated, so that no man can boast. For ina signifies so that. See Romans 3:19; 1 Corinthians 7:29; 2 Corinthians 1:17; 7:9; Galatians 5:17; Hebrews 2:17; 6:18; Mark 4:12.
109. It is on account of this general love that Christians are honoured with the title of beloved. Romans 1:7: “To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.” Romans 9:25: “I will call her (the Gentile Church) beloved, which was not beloved.” Colossians 3:12: “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,” &c.
110. Romans 3:23, 24: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” Romans 5:2. 1 Corinthians 1:4: “I thank my God-for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:6, 7: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, whereby he has made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Colossians 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:12. 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began;” Titus 2:11; Hebrews 12:15. Hence grace, and the grace of God, is sometimes put for the whole Gospel, and all its blessings. Acts 13:43: “Paul and Barnabas persuaded them to continue in the grace of God;” 2 Corinthians 6:1. 1 Peter 5:12: “Testifying that this is the true grace of God in which ye stand;” 1 Corinthians 1:4; Romans 5:2; 2 Corinthians 6:1; Titus 2:11; Jude 1:4. Romans 12:1: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies,” &c. Romans 15:9: “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” 1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope,” &c.
111. In these texts, and others of the same kind, it is evident that the love, grace, and mercy of God hath respect, not to particular persons in the Christian Church, but to the whole body, or whole societies, and therefore are to be understood of that general love, grace, and mercy whereby the whole body of Christians is separated unto God, to be his peculiar people, favoured with extraordinary blessings. And it is with regard to this sentiment and mode of speech that the Gentiles, who before lay out of the Church, and had not obtained mercy, are said now to have obtained mercy, Romans 11:30.
112. Hence also we may conclude that all the privileges and blessings of the Gospel, even the whole of our redemption and salvation, are the effect of God’s pure, free, original love and grace, to which he was inclined of his own motion, without any other motive besides his own goodness, in mere kindness and good will to a sinful, perishing world. These are the things that are freely given to us of God, 1 Corinthians 2:12. § VIII. All the grace of the Gospel is dispensed to us by, in, or through Christ Jesus.
113. Nevertheless, all the forementioned love, grace, and mercy is dispensed or conveyed to us, in, by, or through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord. To quote all the places to this purpose would be to transcribe a great part of the New Testament. But it may suffice, at present, to review the texts under the numbers 108 and 110. From which texts it is evident that “the grace (or favour) of God is given unto us by Jesus Christ;” that he has “shown the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness to us through Jesus Christ;” that he has “sent his Son into the world that we might live through him;” to be “the propitiation (or mercy seat) for our sins;” that he “died for us;” that “we who were afar off are made nigh by his blood;” that God has “made us accepted in the Beloved, (in his beloved Son,) in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins;” that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus;” that, “before the world began, the purpose and grace of God (relating to our calling and saltation) was given us in Christ Jesus;” “Before the foundation of the world God chose us in Christ,” Ephesians 1:4. “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access into this grace wherein we stand,” Romans 5:1, 2. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son,” 1 John 5:11. Nothing is clearer, from the whole current of Scripture, than that all the mercy and love of God, and all the blessings of the Gospel, from first to last, from the original purpose and grace of God to our final salvation in the possession of eternal life, are in, by, or through Christ; and particularly by his blood, by the redemption which is in him, as he is the propitiation (or atonement) for the sins of the whole world, 1 John 2:2. This can bear no dispute among Christians. The only difference that can be must relate to the manner-how these blessings are conveyed to us in, by, or through Christ. Doubtless they are conveyed through his hands, as he is the minister or agent, appointed of God to put us in possession of them. But his blood, death, and cross could be no ministering cause of blessings assigned to his blood, &c., before we were put in possession of them. See Romans 5:6, 8, 10, 19; Ephesians 2:13, 16; Colossians 1:20-29. Nor truly can his blood be possibly considered as a ministering or instrumental cause in any sense at all; for it is not an agent but an object, and therefore, though it may be a moving cause, or a reason for bestowing blessings, yet it can be no active or instrumental cause in conferring them. His blood and death is indeed to us an assurance of pardon; but it is evidently something more; for it is also considered as an offering and sacrifice to God, highly pleasing to him, to put away our sin, and to obtain eternal redemption; Hebrews 9:12, 14, 26; Ephesians 5:2.
114. But why should God choose to communicate his grace in this mediate way, by the interposition, obedience, and agency of his Son, who again employs subordinate agents and instruments under him? I answer: For the display of the glory of his nature and perfections. The Sovereign Disposer of all things may communicate his blessings by what means and in any way he thinks fit. But whatever he effects by the interposition of means, and a train of intermediate causes, he could produce by his own immediate power. He wants not clouds to distil rain; nor rain nor human industry to make the earth fruitful; nor the fruitfulness of the earth to supply food; nor food to sustain our life. He could do this by his own immediate power; but he chooses to manifest his providence, power, wisdom, and goodness in a variety of ways and dispositions; and yet his power and goodness are not only as much concerned and exercised in this way, as if he produced the end without the intervention of means, but even much more, because his power, wisdom and goodness are as much exerted and illustrated in every single intermediate step, as if he had done the thing at once, without any intermediate step at all. There is as much power and wisdom exercised in producing rain, or in making the earth fruitful, or in adapting food to the nourishment of our bodies-I say there is as much power in any one of these steps as there would be in nourishing our bodies by one immediate act without those intermediate means. Therefore, in this method of procedure, the displays of the Divine providence and perfections are multiplied and beautifully diversified, to arrest our attention, exercise our contemplation, and excite our admiration and thankfulness; for thus we see God in a surprising variety of instances. Nor, indeed, can we turn our eyes to any part of the visible creation, but we see his power, wisdom, and goodness in perpetual exercise, every where. In like manner, in the moral world, he chooses to work by means, the mediation of his Son, the influences of his Spirit, the teachings of his word, the endeavours of apostles and ministers; not to supply any defects of his power, wisdom, or goodness; but to multiply the instances of them; to show himself to us in a varied display of his glorious dispensations; to exercise the moral powers and virtues of all the subordinate agents employed in carrying on his great designs, and to set before our thoughts the most engaging subjects of meditation, and the most powerful motives of action. And this method, in the moral world, is still more necessary; because, without the attention of our minds, the end proposed, our sanctification, cannot be obtained.*
* But it certainly was not merely to display the various operations of Divine Providence, and to multiply the displays of the Divine perfections, that God required the sacrifice and death of his Son: as he was a sacrifice for sin-and the true notion of sacrifice is redeeming the life of a guilty creature by the death of one that is innocent-therefore Christ died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, 1 Peter 3:18. Consequently the justice and righteousness of God required this sacrifice: and justice must have required it, else such a sacrifice could not have taken place; for had not justice required it, no attribute of God could, without injustice, have demanded it.-A. C.
115. But how is it agreeable to the infinite distance there is between the most high God and creatures so low and imperfect, who are of no consideration when compared to the immensity of his nature, that he should so greatly concern himself about our redemption? Answer:-He who is all-present, all-knowing, all-powerful, attends to all the minutest affairs in the whole universe without the least confusion or difficulty. And, if it was not below his infinite greatness to make mankind, it cannot be so to take care of them, when created. For kind, he can produce no beings more excellent than the rational and intelligent; consequently, those must be most worthy of his regard. And when they are corrupted, as thereby the end of their being is frustrated, it must be as agreeable to his greatness to endeavour (when he sees fit) their reformation, or to restore them to the true ends for which they were created, as it was originally to create them.
116. And as for mankind being a mean and inconsiderable part of the creation, it may not be so easy to demonstrate as we may imagine. The sin that is or hath been in the world will not do it; for then the beings which we know stand in a much higher, and, perhaps, in a very high rank of natural perfection, will be proved to be as mean and inconsiderable as ourselves; seeing they in great numbers have sinned. Neither will our natural weakness and imperfection prove that we are a mean and inconsiderable part of God’s creation: for the Son of God, when clothed in our flesh, and encompassed with all our infirmities and temptations, lost nothing of the real excellency and worth he possessed when in a state of glory with the Father before the world was. Still he was the beloved Son of God, in whom he was well pleased. Besides, since God may bestow honours and privileges as he pleases, who will tell me what pre-eminence, in the purpose of God, this world may possibly have above any other part of the universe; or what relation it bears to the rest of the creation? We know that even angels have been ministering spirits to some part at least of mankind. Who will determine how far the scheme of redemption may exceed any scheme of Divine wisdom in other parts of the universe; or how far it may affect the improvement and happiness of other beings in the remotest regions? Ephesians 3:10, 11: “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 1 Peter 1:12: “Which things (that are reported by them that have preached the Gospel) the angels desire to look into.” It is therefore the sense of revelation, that the heavenly principalities and powers study the wisdom and grace of redemption, and even increase their stock of wisdom from the displays of the Divine love in the Gospel. Who can say how much our virtue is, more or less, severely proved, than in other worlds; or how far our virtue may excel that of other beings, who are not subjected to our long and heavy trials? May not a virtue, firm and steady under our present clogs, inconveniences, discouragements, persecutions, trials, and temptations, possibly surpass the virtue of the highest angel, whose state is not attended with such embarrassments? Do ye know how far such as shall have honourably passed through the trials of this life shall hereafter be dispersed through the creation? How much their capacities will be enlarged? How highly they shall be exalted? What power and trusts will be put into their hands? How far their influence shall extend, and how much they shall contribute to the good order and happiness of the universe? Possibly, the faithful soul, when disengaged from our present incumbrances, may blaze out into a degree of excellency equal to the highest honours, the most important and extensive services. Our Lord has made us kings and priests unto God and the Father, and we shall sit together in heavenly places, and reign with him. To him that overcomes the trials of this present state, he will give to sit with him in his throne. True, many from among mankind shall perish among the vile and worthless for ever: and so shall many of the angels. These considerations may satisfy us that, possibly, mankind are not so despicable as to be below the interposition of the Son of God. Rather, the surprising condescensions and sufferings of a being so glorious should be an argument that the scheme of redemption is of the utmost importance; and that, in the estimate of God, who alone confers dignity, we are creatures of very great consequence. Lastly: God by Christ created the world; and if it was not below his dignity to create, it is much less below his dignity to redeem the world, which, of the two, is the more honourable.
117. It is farther to be observed, that the whole scheme of the Gospel in Christ, and as it stands in relation to his blood, or obedience unto death, was formed in the council of God, before the calling of Abraham, and even before the beginning of the world. Acts 15:18: “Known unto God are all his works (the dispensations which he intended to advance) from the beginning of the world.” Ephesians 1:4: “According as he hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world” (pro katabolhv kosmou.) 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us and called us, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” 1 Peter 1:20: “Who (Christ) verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, (pro katabolhv kosmou.) but was manifest in these last times for you” (Gentiles.) Hence it appears that the whole plan of the Divine mercy in the Gospel, in relation to the method of communicating it, and the person through whose obedience it was to be dispensed, and by whose ministry it was to be executed, was formed in the mind and purpose of God before this earth was created. God, by his perfect and unerring knowledge, foreknew the future state of mankind, and so before appointed the means which he judged proper for their recovery: which foreknowledge is fully confirmed by the promise to Abraham, and very copiously by the repeated predictions of the prophets, in relation to our Lord’s work, and particularly to his death, with the end and design of it.
118. Again: it is to be noted, that all the forementioned mercy and love, privileges and blessings, are granted and confirmed to the Christian Church under the sanction of a covenant; which is a grant or donation of blessings confirmed by a proper authority. The Gospel covenant is established by the promise and oath of God, and ratified by the blood of Christ, as a pledge and assurance that it is a reality, and will certainly be made good. Matthew 26:28: “This is my blood of the new testament” (or covenant.) Luke 22:20: “This cup is the new testament (covenant) in my blood.” 2 Corinthians 3:6: “Made us able ministers of the new testament” (covenant.) Hebrews 7:22: “Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” Hebrews 8:6: “He is the mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises;” Hebrews 8:8; 9:15; 12:24; 13:20. Here observe: 1. Jesus is the surety, (egguov,) sponsor, and mediator (mesithv) of the new covenant, as he is the great agent appointed of God to negotiate, transact, secure, and execute all the blessings which are conferred by this covenant. Obs. 2. That as the covenant is a donation or grant of blessing, hence it is that the promise or promiser, is sometimes put for the covenant; as, Galatians 3:17, 18: “The covenant that was confirmed before (to Abraham) of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect: for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise;” and so, Galatians 3:19. Again Galatians 3:21: “Is the law then against the promises of God?” Galatians 3:22. Obs. 3. That the Gospel covenant was included in that made with Abraham, Genesis 17:1, &c.; Genesis 22:16-18; as appears from Galatians 3:17; and from Hebrews 6:13; “When God made the promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,” &c. Hebrews 6:17, 18: “He confirmed (emesiteusen, he mediatored) it by an oath; that by two immutable things (the promise and oath of God) we (Christians) might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.”
119. But what should carefully and specially be observed is this, that the Gospel constitution is a scheme, and the most perfect and effectual scheme, for restoring true religion, and for promoting virtue and happiness, that the world has ever yet seen. Upon faith in Christ, men of all nations were admitted into the Church, family, kingdom, and covenant of God by baptism; were all numbered among the justified, regenerate or born again, sanctified, saved, chosen, called, saints, and beloved; were all of the flock, Church, house, vine, and vineyard of God; and were entitled to the ordinances and privileges of the Church; had exceeding great and precious promises given unto them, especially that of entering into the rest of heaven. And in all these blessings and honours we are certainly very happy, as they are the things which are freely given to us of God, 1 Corinthians 2:12. But because these things are freely given, without respect to any obedience or righteousness of ours, prior to the donation of them, is our obedience and personal righteousness therefore unnecessary? Or are we, on account of benefits already received, secure of the favour and blessing of God in a future world and for ever? By no means.
120. To explain this important point more clearly, I shall proceed as before, and show that these privileges and blessings, given in general to the Christian Church, are ANTECEDENT blessings; given indeed freely, without any respect to the prior obedience of the Gentile world, before they were taken into the Church; but intended to be motives to the most upright obedience for the future, after they were joined to the family and kingdom of God. Which effect if they produce, then our election and calling, our redemption, adoption, &c., are made good: upon which account I shall call them CONSEQUENT blessings; because they are secured to us, and made ours for ever, only in consequence of our obedience. But, on the other hand, if the antecedent blessings do not produce obedience to the will of God; if we, his chosen people and children, do not obey the laws and rules of the Gospel; then we, as well as any other wicked persons, may expect tribulation and wrath; then we forfeit all our privileges, and all our honours and relations to God; all the favour and promises given freely to us are of no avail; we receive the grace of God in vain, and everlasting death will certainly be our wretched portion.
121. That this is the great end of the dispensation of God’s grace to the Christian Church-namely, to engage us to duty and obedience, and that it is a scheme for promoting virtue and true religion, is clear from every part of the New Testament, and requires a large and particular proof; not because the thing in itself is difficult or intricate, but because it is of great importance to the right understanding of the Gospel and the apostolic writings, and serves to explain several points which stand in close relation to it; as, particularly, that all the forementioned privileges belong to all professed Christians, even to those that shall perish eternally. For:-
1. If the apostles affirm them of all Christians, to whom they write;
2. If they declare some of those Christians who were favoured with those privileges to be wicked, or suppose they might be wicked;
3. If they declare those privileges are conferred by mere grace, without regard to prior works of righteousness;
4. If they plainly intimate those privileges are conferred in order to produce true holiness;
5. If they exhort all to use them to that purpose, as they will answer it to God at the last day;
6. If they declare they shall perish, if they do not improve them to the purifying their hearts, and the right ordering of their conversation; then it must be true that these privileges belong to all Christians, and are intended to induce them to a holy life. And the truth of all those six particulars will sufficiently appear, if we attend to the Gospels and epistles. § IX. Conclusions from the preceding Discourse.
122. Though, in the foregoing collection I have faithfully and impartially endeavoured to give the true sense of every text, yet possibly, in some few that are doubtful, I may have erred. But there are so many indisputably plain and full to the purpose as will, I am persuaded, sufficiently justify the following conclusions:—
123. I. That the Gospel is a scheme for restoring true religion, and for promoting virtue and happiness.
124. II. That election, adoption, vocation, salvation, justification, sanctification, regeneration, and the other blessings, honours, and privileges, which come under the head of ANTECEDENT blessings, do, in a sense, belong at present to all Christians, even those who, for their wickedness, may perish eternally.
125. III. That those antecedent blessings, as they are offered and assigned to the whole body of Christians, do not import an absolute final state of favour and happiness, but are to be considered as displays, instances, and descriptions of God’s love and goodness to us, which are to operate as a moral mean upon our hearts. They are a display of the love of God, who is the FATHER of the universe, who cannot but delight in the well being of his creatures, and, being perfect in goodness, possessed of all power, and the only original of all life and happiness, must be the prime author of all blessedness, and bestow his favours in the most free, generous, and disinterested manner; and therefore those blessings, as freely bestowed antecedently to our obedience, are perfectly consonant to the nature and moral character of God. He has freely, in our first birth and creation, given us a distinguished and eminent degree of being, and all the noble powers and advantage of reason: and what should stop the course of his liberality, or hinder his conferring new and higher blessings, even when we could pretend no title or claim to them? And as the blessings of the Gospel are of the most noble kind, raising us to high dignity, and the most delightful prospects of immortality, they are well adapted to engage the attention of men, to give the most pleasing ideas of God, to demonstrate most clearly, what nature itself discovers, that he is our FATHER, and to win and engage our hearts to him in love, who has, in a manner so surprising, loved us. By promising the remission of sins, protection and guidance through this world, and the hope of eternal life, every cloud, discouragement, and obstacle is removed; and the grace of God, in its brightest glory, shines full upon our minds, and is divinely powerful to support our patience and animate our obedience under temptations, trials, and difficulties; and to inspire peace of conscience, comfort, and joy.
126. IV. These principles ought to be admitted and claimed by all Christians, and firmly established in their hearts, as containing privileges and blessings in which they are all undoubtedly interested; otherwise it is evident they will be defective in the true principles of their religion, the only ground of their Christian joy and peace, and the proper motives of their Christian obedience. Now those principles (namely, our election, vocation, justification, regeneration, sanctification, &c., in Christ, through the free grace of God) are admitted and duly established in our hearts by FAITH. Faith, then, as exercised upon the blessings which God has gratuitously bestowed upon us, is, in our hearts, the foundation of the Christian life; and retaining and exercising this Christian virtue of faith is called tasting that the Lord is gracious, 1 Peter 2:3. Having* (or holding fast) grace, Hebrews 12:28. Growing in grace, 2 Peter 3:18. Being strong in the grace of Jesus Christ, 2 Timothy 2:1. Holding faith, 1 Timothy 1:19; 3:9. Continuing in the faith, grounded and settled, and not being moved away from the hope of the Gospel, Colossians 1:23. Holding fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope, Hebrews 3:6. Holding the beginning of our confidence steadfast, Hebrews 3:14. Having (holding) hope, 1 John 3:3. Hoping perfectly for the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:13. Giving earnest heed to the things we have heard, Hebrews 2:1. Having (holding) the Son, or Christ, 1 John 5:12. By these, and such-like phrases, the apostles express our being thoroughly persuaded of, and duly affected with, the blessings included in our election, vocation, justification, &c.: or, their being firmly established in our hearts as principles of obedience, to secure our perseverance and final happiness, through the mighty working of God’s power; to purify our hearts, and to guard us through all our spiritual dangers and conflicts; which power will always assuredly attend every one who holds faith, grace, and hope, 1 Peter 1:5. Here note, that the primary object of faith is not in ourselves, but in God. Not our own obedience or goodness, but the free grace of God, is the primary object of faith. But the fruit of faith must be in ourselves. The grace or free gift of God is the foundation of faith; and faith is the foundation of the whole life of a true Christian. 2 Peter 1:5-7: “Giving all diligence, add to your FAITH virtue,” &c. Jude 1:20: “Building up yourselves on your most holy FAITH,” &c. * Ecein, to have, in such passages signifies to keep or hold, as a property or principle for use. Matthew 13:12; 25:29; John 3:29; 5:42; 8:12; Romans 1:28; 15:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; 1 Timothy 1:19; 3:9; Hebrews 6:9; 9:4; 1 John 2:23; 3:3; 5:12; 2John 1:9.
127. These antecedent blessings are the first principles of the Christian religion; but the first principles of religion must be free from all doubt or scruple, otherwise the religion which is built upon them must sink, as having no foundation. The principles of natural religion-that I am endowed with a rational nature, that there is a God in whom I live, move, and have my being, and to whom I am accountable for my actions, are perfectly evident; otherwise the obligations of natural religion would be necessarily doubtful and uncertain. In like manner, the first principles of the Christian religion must be free from all perplexity, otherwise its obligations must be doubtful and perplexed. If it be doubtful whether ever Christ came into the world to redeem it, the whole Gospel is doubtful; and it is the same thing, if it be doubtful who are redeemed by him; for, if he has redeemed we know not whom, it is nearly the same thing, with regard to our improvement of redemption, as if he had redeemed no body at all.
128. Faith is the first act of the Christian life to which every Christian is obliged, and therefore it must have a sure and certain object to work upon; but if the love of God in our election, calling, adoption, justification, redemption, &c., be in itself uncertain to any persons in the Christian Church, then faith has no sure nor certain object to work upon with respect to some Christians; and consequently, some Christians are not obliged to believe; which is false.
129. Farther, the apostles make our election, calling, adoption, &c., motives to obedience and holiness. And therefore these (our election, calling, adoption, &c.) must have an existence antecedent to our obedience; otherwise they can be no motive to it. And if only an uncertain, unknown number of men be elected to eternal life, no individual can certainly know that he is of that number; and so, election can be no motive to obedience to any person in the Christian Church. To confine election, adoption, &c., to some few is unchurching the greatest part of the Church, and robbing them of common motives and comforts.
130. Our election, adoption, and other antecedent blessings, are not of works; consequently we are not to work for them, but upon them. They are not the effect of our good works, but our good works are the effect of them; they are not founded upon our holiness, but our holiness is founded upon them. We do not procure them by our obedience, for they are the effect of free grace; but they are motives and reasons exciting and encouraging our obedience; therefore our election is not proved by our sanctification, or real holiness. Our real holiness proves that our election is made sure; but our election itself is proved by the free grace of God.
131. From all this it follows that we, as well as the Christians of the first times, may claim and appropriate to ourselves all the forementioned antecedent blessings without any doubt or scruple. In confidence of hope and full assurance of faith we may boldly say, “the Lord is my helper,” and come with boldness to the throne of grace. Our life, even eternal life, is sure to every one of us in the promise of God, and the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the business of every Christian is, not to perplex himself with doubts and fears, and gloomy apprehensions, but to rejoice in the Lord, and to do the duties of his place cheerfully and faithfully, in the assured hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, to whom be everlasting glory and praise. Amen.*
* This is all right, when the sinner has been led, by a deep knowledge of his lost estate, to seek and find redemption in the blood of the Lamb: then it is his business to rejoice in the Lord and to do the duties of his place cheerfully and faithfully, in the assured hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But he must not presume, because he is in a Christian Church, and believes the doctrines of Christianity, that therefore he is safe. He cannot be safe unless Christ be formed in his heart, the hope of glory.-A. C.
132. V. From the preceding collection of texts we may gather that some of the expressions whereby the antecedent blessings are signified, such as elect, justify, sanctify, &c., may be used in a double sense; namely either as they are applied to all Christians in general, in relation to their being translated into the kingdom of God, and made his peculiar people, enjoying the privileges of the Gospel; or, as they signify the effects of those privileges. Wherever any blessing is assigned to all Christians, without exception; wherever it is said not to be of works; wherever Christians are expected to make a due improvement of it, and threatened with the loss of God’s blessing and of eternal life if they do not; there, the expressions which signify that blessing are to be understood in a general sense, as denoting a Gospel privilege, profession, or obligation. And in this general sense, saved, elect, chosen, justified, sanctified, are sometimes used; and calling, called, election, are, I think, always used in the New Testament. But when any blessing denotes real holiness as actually existing in the subject, then it may be understood in the special and eminent sense, and always must be understood in this sense when it implies the actual possession of eternal life; and in this sense, saved, elect, chosen, justify, sanctify, born of God, are sometimes used. Matthew 20:16: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (who make a worthy use of their calling.) Matthew 24:31: “He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect.” Matthew 12:36, 37: “In the day of judgment, by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” 1 Thessalonians 5:25: “The God of peace sanctify you wholly,” &c. 1 John 2:29: “Every one that doth righteousness is born of him.” 1 John 4:7: “Every one that loveth is born of God,” in the eminent sense.
133. The faith which gave a person a place or-standing in the Christian Church was a profession considered simply and separately from the fruits and effects of it; but it included a profession of repentance, of forsaking sin and idolatry, and of bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. And it is the continued profession of this faith in Christ which gives us a continued right to a place in the Church: for, if we cast off our first faith, we renounce our profession, we cease to be Christians, or we no longer continue to be the peculiar family of God.
134. Here it should be carefully observed that it is very common in the sacred writings to express not only our Christian privileges, but also the duty to which they oblige in the present or preterperfect tense; or to speak of that as done, which only ought to be done, and which, in fact, may possibly never be done. Malachi 1:6: “A son honours (ought to honour) his father.” Matthew 5:13: “Ye are (ought to be) the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour,” &c. Romans 2:4: “The goodness of God leads (ought to lead) thee to repentance;” Romans 6:2, 11; 8:9; Colossians 3:3. 1 Peter 1:6: “Wherein ye (ought) greatly (to) rejoice.” 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all with open face (enjoying the means of) beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are (ought to be-enjoy the means of being) changed into the same image, from glory to glory.” 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are (obliged by the Christian profession to be) unleavened.” Hebrews 13:14: “We seek (we ought to seek, or, according to our profession, we seek) a city to come;” 1 John 2:12, 15; 3:9; 5:4, 18, and in various other places.
135. The man of true goodness, courage, and greatness of soul, is he who has that faith which worketh by love; who lives the life he now lives by faith in the Son of God. Such a man is happy under all events. This is he, who while he despises a vain life, has the truest and highest enjoyment of all that can be enjoyed in it. This is the man who alone properly lives, for he has nothing but life and immortality before him; death itself giving no interruption to his life. Blessed, unspeakably blessed is this man. Such the Gospel is designed to make us all; and such we all may be, if we do not shamefully neglect the grace of God and our own happiness. But the knowledge and sense of these things are generally lost among those called Christians, to whom the words of the psalmist may be too truly applied: They are a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways, Psalm 95:10.
136. From all the preceding observations and arguments we may clearly see what is implied in preaching Christ. It is not teaching that only a small, uncertain number among Christians are ARBITRARILY redeemed, elected, called, adopted, born again, or regenerated; and that all the rest are, by a sovereign, absolute, eternal DECREE, passed by, or reprobated. These are no principles of Christianity, but stand in direct contradiction to them, and have drawn a dark veil over the grace of the Gospel, sunk the Christian world into an abject state of fear and a false superstitious humility; and thrown ministers into endless absurdities. “It is such doctrines as these that have misrepresented the Christian religion, harassed the Christian world endlessly, by blending and confounding men’s understandings and embittering their spirits; and have been the reason of calling in a false kind of learning, logic, metaphysics, and school divinity, in order to give a colour of reason to the grossest absurdities, and to enable divines to make a plausible show of supporting and defending palpable contradictions.”-See Dr. Taylor’s Key to the Apostolical Writings.
A General Survey of the Epistle to the Romans.
CLA_ROM.PDF, source PDF p. 71
A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE
ROMANS.
PAUL had never been at Rome when he wrote this letter, and therefore it cannot turn upon some particular points, to revive the remembrance of what he had more largely taught in person, or to satisfy the scrupulous in some things he might not have touched upon at all; but in it we may expect a full account of his Gospel, or those glad tidings of salvation which he preached among the Gentiles, seeing this epistle was intended to supply the total want of his preaching at Rome.
He understood perfectly well the system of religion he taught, for he was instructed in it by the immediate revelation of Jesus Christ, Galatians 1:11; Ephesians 3:3; 1 Corinthians 11:23; and being also endowed with the most eminent gifts of the Holy Spirit; a man disinterested and quite unbiassed by any temporal considerations, we may be sure he has given us the truth, as he received it from our Lord, after his ascension. On the other hand, he was also well acquainted with the sentiments and system of religion which he opposed, for he was well skilled in Jewish literature, having had the best education his country could afford, and having been once a most zealous advocate for Judaism. Having frequently disputed with the Jews he was thoroughly versed in the controversy, and knew very well what would be retorted upon every point: and therefore we may very reasonably suppose that the queries and objections, which the apostle in this epistle puts into the mouth of the Jews, were really such as had been advanced in opposition to his arguments. He was a great genius and a fine writer; and he seems to have exercised all his talents, as well as the most perfect Christian temper, in drawing up this epistle. The plan of it is very extensive; and it is surprising to see what a spacious field of knowledge he has comprised, and how many various designs, arguments, explications, instructions, and exhortations, he has executed in so small a compass.
This letter was sent to the world’s metropolis, where it might be exposed to all sorts of persons, Heathens, Jews, Christians, philosophers, magistrates, and the emperor himself: and I make no doubt that the apostle kept this in view while he was writing, and guarded and adapted it accordingly.
However, it is plain enough it was designed to confute the unbelieving and to instruct the believing Jew; to confirm the Christian and to convert the idolatrous Gentile. Those several designs he reduces to one scheme, by opposing and arguing with the infidel or unbelieving Jew in favour of the Christian or believing Gentile.
Upon this plan, if the unbelieving Jew escaped and remained unconvinced, yet the Christian Jew would be more inoffensively and more effectually instructed in the nature of the Gospel, and the kind brotherly regards he ought to have to the believing Gentiles, than if he had directed his discourse plainly and immediately to him. But if his arguments should fail in reference to the believing Jew, yet the believing Gentile would see his interest in the covenant and kingdom of God as solidly established, by a full confutation of the Jewish objections, (which were the only objections that could, with any show of reason, be advanced against it,) as if the epistle had been written for no other purpose. And thus it is of the greatest use to us at this day.
It is also at present exceeding useful, as it entirely demolishes the engrossing pretensions and imposing principles of the Church of Rome. For, a professed faith in Christ, and a subjection to him, is, in this epistle, fully shown to be the only Gospel condition of a place in his Church, an interest in the covenant of God, and of Christian fellowship. By this extensive principle God broke down the pales of his own ancient inclosure, the Jewish Church; and therefore, by the same principle, more strongly forbids the building any other partition wall of schemes and terms of Christian fellowship, devised by human wisdom or imposed by human authority. He then who professes faith in Christ and subjection to him is, by the apostle, allowed and demonstrated to be a member of the true visible Church, and to have a right to all its privileges. Both ancients and moderns make heavy complaints of the obscurity of this epistle, though all agree it is a great and useful performance. Origen, one of the fathers, compares our apostle to a person who leads a stranger into a magnificent palace, but, perplexed with various cross and intricate passages, and many remote and secret apartments, shows him some things at a distance, out of an opulent treasury; brings some things near to his view; conceals others from it; often enters in at one door, and comes out at another; so that the stranger is surprised, and wonders whence he came, where he is, and how he shall get out. But we shall have a tolerable idea of this princely structure if we observe that it consists of four grand parts or divisions. The first division contains the five first chapters; the second, the sixth, seventh, and eighth; the third, the ninth, tenth, and eleventh; the fourth, the five last chapters.
PART I.-Displays the riches of Divine grace, as free to all mankind. Jews and Gentiles are equally sinful and obnoxious to wrath; and, therefore, there was no way for the Jew to be continued in the kingdom of God, but by GRACE, through FAITH; and by grace and faith the Gentile might be admitted into it. To reject this way of justification was to reject the very method in which Abraham himself was justified, or interested in the covenant made with him: in which covenant believing Gentiles were included, as well as believing Jews, and had as great or greater privileges to glory in. But if the Jew should pertinaciously deny that, he could not deny that all mankind are interested in the grace of God, which removes the consequences of Adam’s offence. Through that offence all mankind were subjected to death; and through Christ’s obedience all mankind should be restored to life at the last day. The resurrection from the dead is, therefore, a part of the grace of God in the Redeemer; and if all mankind have an interest in this part of the grace of God, why not in the whole of it? If all mankind were subjected to death through Adam’s one offence, is it not much more reasonable that, through the opposite nobler cause, the obedience of the Son of God, all mankind should be interested in the whole of the grace which God has established upon it? And as for law, or the rule of right action, it was absurd for any part of mankind to expect pardon or any blessedness upon the foot of that, seeing all mankind had broken it; and it was still more absurd to seek pardon and life by the law of Moses, which condemned those that were under it to death for every transgression. PART II.-Having proved that believing Jews and Gentiles were pardoned, and interested in all the privileges and blessings of the Gospel, through mere grace, he next shows the obligations laid upon them to a life of virtue and piety under the new dispensation. And upon this subject he adapts this discourse to the Gentile Christians in the sixth chapter; and in the seventh, and part of the eighth, he turns himself to the Jewish Christians; then, from Romans 8:12 to the end of the eighth chapter, he addresses himself upon the same head to both Christian Jews and Gentiles; particularly giving them right notions of the sufferings to which they were exposed, and by which they might be deterred from the duties required in the Gospel; and concluding with a very strong and lively assertion of the certain perseverance of all who love God, notwithstanding any infirmities or trials in this world.
PART III.-Gives right sentiments concerning the rejection of the Jews, which was a matter of great moment to the due establishment of the Gentile converts.
PART IV.-Is filled with exhortations to several instances of Christian duty; and concludes with salutations to and from particular persons. It will be an advantage to the reader to have this sketch of the epistle ready in his thoughts.
Farther; we cannot enter into the spirit of this epistle unless we enter into the spirit of a Jew in those times, and have some just notion of his utter aversion to the Gentiles; his valuing and raising himself high upon his relation to God, and to Abraham; upon his law and pompous worship, circumcision, &c., as if the Jews were the only people in the world who had any manner of right to the favour of God.
And let it also be well noted, that the apostle in this epistle disputes with the whole body of the Jews, without respect to any particular sect or party among them, such as Pharisees, Sadducees, &c.; for the grand proposition or question in debate is, Are WE Jews better than THEY Gentiles? (Romans 3:9.) And one argument in proof of the negative which the apostle espouses is this (Romans 3:29:) “Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also.” These are the two points through which the line of the apostle’s discourse in the third chapter, and consequently in all the argumentative part of the epistle, must necessarily run: and as, both in the proposition and in the argument, he evidently means the whole body of the Jews, in opposition to the whole body of the Gentiles, he who doth not give such a sense of the apostle’s discourse throughout the argumentative part of the epistle as exactly hits and suits this general, collective notion of Jews and Gentiles, certainly misses his aim, and shoots wide of the mark.
Lastly, the whole epistle is to be taken in connection, or considered as one continued discourse; and the sense of every part must be taken from the drift of the whole. Every sentence, or verse, is not to be regarded as a distinct mathematical proposition or theorem, or as a sentence in the book of Proverbs, whose sense is absolute and independent of what goes before or comes after: but we must remember that every sentence, especially in the argumentative part, bears relation to, and is dependent upon, the whole discourse, and cannot be understood unless we understand the scope and drift of the whole; and therefore the whole epistle, or at least the eleven first chapters of it, ought to be read over at once, without stopping. As to the use and excellency of this epistle, I shall leave it to speak for itself when the reader has studied and well digested the contents of it. And methinks curiosity, if nothing else, should invite us to examine carefully the doctrine by which (accompanied with the gifts and operations of the Spirit of God) a few men, otherwise naked, weak, and contemptible, in opposition to the power, learning, and deep-rooted prejudices of the world, confronted and overthrew the Pagan religion and idolatry throughout the Roman empire: a victory far more difficult and surprising than all the achievements of Alexander and Cæsar. The fact cannot be denied. And surely the dignity and virtue of the cause must be proportionable to such an unusual and wonderful event. It is certain the world never, either before or since, has seen any thing equal to the writings of the New Testament. Never was the love of God, and the dignity to which he has raised the human nature, so clearly shown and demonstrated; never were motives so Divine and powerful proposed to induce us to the practice of all virtue and goodness. In short, there we find whatever ennobles and adorns the mind; whatever gives solid peace and joy; whatever renders us the most excellent and happy creatures; taught, recommended, and enforced by light and authority derived from the only fountain of truth and of all good. As to the apostle’s manner of writing, it is with great spirit and force, I may add, perspicuity too; for it will not be difficult to understand him if our minds are unprejudiced and at liberty to attend to the subject he is upon, and to the current Scriptural sense of the words he uses; for he keeps very strictly to the standard of Scripture phraseology. He takes great care to guard and explain every part of his subject; and I may venture to say he has left no part of it unexplained or unguarded. Never was author more exact and cautious in this than he. Sometimes he writes notes upon a sentence liable to exception and wanting explanation, as Romans 2:12-16; here the 13th and 15th verses are a comment upon the former part of it. Sometimes he comments upon a single word, as Romans 10:11-13; the 12th and 13th verses are a comment upon πας every one, in the 11th. He was studious of a perspicuous brevity. Romans 5:13, 14: “For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when law is not in being. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression.” Surely never was a greater variety of useful sentiments crowded into a smaller compass, and yet so skilfully, that one part very clearly explains another. Hence we learn: 1. That here imputing of sin means, men’s being subject to death for sin; for it follows, Nevertheless death reigned. 2. That law is the constitution that subjects the sinner to death; for he saith, Sin is not imputed when law is not in being. 3. That until the law, is the times before the law of Moses was given; for he saith, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses. Until the law, is the same as until Moses. 4. That law was not in being from Adam to Moses; for having said, when law is not in being, he immediately adds, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses. 5. That Adam was under the law; for if the law was not in being from Adam, or after the dispensation he was under, it is plain it was in being before; or, that law was the dispensation under which God placed Adam. 6. That the clause, even over those that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, is not to be understood only of some particular persons, as infants, but of all that lived from Adam to Moses; because none that lived from Adam to Moses were under the law, and so none could sin after the likeness of Adam’s transgression. 7. That the law was in being after Moses; for it was not in being from Adam to Moses, which evidently supposes it was in being afterwards; and that the Jews, from that time, sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, or were by the law condemned to death for every transgression. 8. Lastly, from the whole it is evident that from Adam to Moses men did not die for their own personal transgressions, but in consequence of Adam’s one transgression, which is the point to be proved. One shall hardly find in any other author an argument so justly managed, so fully established, attended with such a variety of instructive sentiments in the compass of thirty words; for setting aside the articles, there are no more in the Greek. It is by this unparalleled art that the apostle has brought such a variety of arguments, instructions, and sentiments, all stated, proved, and sufficiently guarded, explained, and defended, within the limits of this letter; which has made it a magazine of the most real, extensive, useful, and profitable knowledge. He treats his countrymen, the Jews, with great caution and tenderness. He had a natural affection for them, was very desirous of winning them over to the Gospel; he knew that their passions and prejudices were very strong for their own constitution; therefore, in his debates with them he avoids every thing harsh, introduces every kind and endearing sentiment, and is very nice in choosing soft and inoffensive expressions, so far as he honestly could, for he never flatters, nor dissembles the truth.
His transitions and advances to an ungrateful subject are very dexterous and apposite, as Romans 2:1-17; 8:17.
He often carries on a complicated design, and while he is teaching one thing, gives us an opportunity of learning one or two more. So, Romans 13:1-8, he teaches the duty of subjects, and at the same time instructs magistrates in their duty, and shows the true grounds of their authority.
He is a nervous reasoner and a close writer, who never loses sight of his subject, and who throws in every colour that may enliven it. He writes under a deep and lively sense of the truth and importance of the Gospel, as a man who clearly understood it, and in whose heart and affections it reigned far superior to all temporal considerations. See DR. TAYLOR’S Preface to the Romans.
There is so much good sense and sound criticism in the above remarks, that I cannot help considering them of high importance to a proper understanding of this epistle. The apostle’s manner of writing is here well vindicated, and proved to be close, nervous, and conclusive; and such a testimony from such a man as Dr. Taylor must, with every unprejudiced reader, outweigh the miserable sentiment of that philosopher who, while professing to hold the same creed with the above writer, has had the awful temerity to say that St. Paul was “an inconclusive reasoner.” By such a saying, a man fixes the broad seal to his own incompetency to Judge either of the apostle’s writings or doctrine.
In the preceding pages I have borrowed largely from the work of Dr. Taylor, on a full conviction that it is the best ever written upon this subject, that it is indispensably necessary to a proper understanding of the apostolic writings; and that I could not hope to equal it by any production of my own. Those parts of his Key which did not fall in with my plan I have taken the liberty to pass by; the rest I have greatly abridged, and only added a few notes where I thought there might be any danger of misapprehending the subject.*
A. C.
May 21, 1814.
* On this subject a learned and judicious friend wrote as follows:— “I find there is a hue and cry raised about Dr. Taylor. I have not yielded to my antagonists, and I will still dare to think for myself. I tell them I would go as far as I can with the pope, or any man; yea, with the devil, when he speaks truth, (which he sometimes does.) If these persons alluded to would attentively read and compare the texts in the Old Testament quoted by Dr. Taylor in his Key, it would lead them to a more clear understanding of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans than they ever had before. And I think this Key is better than any thing my friend himself could have written upon the subject. But the cry is, ‘An Arian, an Arian!’ Prejudice shuts up the mind against truth; but let truth be defended wherever it may be found. It is easy to perceive that a certain class of men would reject Dr. Taylor’s Key because it cuts up the very foundation of their system. Go on in the strength of God; and in all things act with a single eye to his glory. Vive valeque.
J. C.
“13th March, 1815.”
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS.
-Year of the Constantinopolitan Æra of the World, 5566.
-Year of the Alexandrian Æra of the World; 5560.
-Year of the Antiochian Æra of the World, 5550.
-Year of the Julian Period, 4768.
-Year of the Usherian Æra of the World, 4062.
-Year of the two hundred and ninth Olympiad, 2.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Roman account, 811. -Year of the Æra of the Seleucidæ, 370.
-Year of the Cæsarean Æra of Antioch, 106.
-Year of the Julian Æra, 103.
-Year of the Spanish Æra, 96.
-Year from the birth of Christ, 62.
-Year of the vulgar Æra of Christ’s nativity, 58.
-Year of the Dionysian Period, or Easter Cycle, 59.
-Year of the Grecian Cycle of nineteen years, 2, or the first embolismic. -Year of the Jewish Cycle of nineteen years, 18.
-Year of the Solar Cycle, 11.
-Dominical Letter, A.
-Epact, or the Moon’s age at the commencement of the year, 11. -Jewish Passover, Saturday, March 25.
-Easter Sunday, March 26.
-Year after Bissextile, or Leap-year, 2.
-Year of the reign of the Emperor Nero Cæsar, 5.
-Year of Claudius Felix, the Jewish Governor, 6.
-Year of the reign of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 9. -Year of Caius Numidius Quadratus, Governor of Syria, 8.
-High Priest of the Jews, Joseph.
-Consuls, Nero Augustus the third time, and Valerius Messala.
Joseph Benson
Preface
BEN_VOL7.PDF, source PDF p. 658
Editorial note: Source collation note — source PDF page 659: “But by faith; (verses 21-”. source PDF page 660: “31;) as appears by the”. Compared with BEN_VOL7.PDF PDF p. 659, BEN_VOL7.PDF PDF p. 660. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: the available separately digitized printed volumes were searched, but the corresponding passage was not securely located. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain; this search provides no basis for reconstructing or silently normalizing them. BEN_VOL7.PDF, PDF page 659; BEN_VOL7.PDF, PDF page 660.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
PREFACE
WITH respect to the order in which the epistles of St. Paul were written, it is worthy of observation, that although this epistle to the Romans is placed first, yet, as is observed by most of the ancient commentators, it was not the first which St. Paul wrote; the two epistles to the Thessalonians, and those to the Corinthians, the epistle to the Galatians, the first to Timothy, and that to Titus, being written before it. It is probable, therefore, that it was placed first, either because it was written to the imperial city, which then ruled almost the whole known world; or, as seems more likely, on account of its peculiar excellence, the great importance of the subjects discussed in it, and the comprehensiveness of its plan. It appears to have been written when Paul was travelling through Greece, probably from Corinth, after he had finished his tour in Macedonia, about A.D. 60. The chief arguments in proof of this have been intimated in the note on Acts 20:3. And, to what is there observed, it may be here added, that the salutations from Gaius, the apostle’s host, and from Erastus, chamberlain of the city, (Romans 16:23,) are further proofs that this epistle was written from Corinth. For that Gaius lived there seems plain from 1 Corinthians 1:14; as did Erastus likewise, 2 Timothy 2:14. Besides, Phœbe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, the eastern port of Corinth, having been the bearer of this letter, Corinth, by that circumstance also, is so plainly pointed out as the place where it was composed, that there was no occasion for the apostle to be more particular. It was written to the Christians at Rome, before he had seen them, (chap. 1:11,) and before he went up to Jerusalem; for he was then but going thither; (chap. 15:25;) and purposed from thence to go by Rome to Spain, verse 28.
Although the Scriptures do not inform us at what time, or by whom, the gospel was first preached at Rome, yet, from the following circumstances, it is probable that the church there was one of the first-planted Gentile churches, and that it soon became very numerous. “When St. Paul wrote this epistle to the Romans, their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world; (Romans 1:8;) and many of them possessed spiritual gifts; (Romans 12:6;) and their obedience was known to all men, Romans 16:19. Further: the fame of the church at Rome had reached the apostle long before he wrote this letter; for he told them, he had a desire for many years to come to them, Romans 15:23. The gospel, therefore, was introduced into Rome very early, perhaps by some of the disciples who were scattered abroad after Stephen’s death, in the end of the reign of Tiberius. Or the founding of the Roman church may have happened even before that period; for among the persons who heard Peter preach on the day of pentecost, and who were converted by him, ‘strangers of Rome’ are mentioned, Acts 2:10, 41. These Roman Jews, on their return home, no doubt preached Christ to their countrymen in the city, and probably converted some of them; so that the church of Rome, like most of the Gentile churches, began in the Jews. But it was soon enlarged by converts from among the religious proselytes; and, in process of time, was increased by the flowing in of the idolatrous Gentiles, who gave themselves to Christ in such numbers that, at the time St. Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, their conversion was much spoken of. These facts merit attention, because the opposers of our religion represent the first Christians as below the notice of the heathen magistrates, on account of the paucity of their numbers, and the obscurity with which they practised their religious rites. But if the faith of the Roman brethren was spoken of throughout the whole empire, at the time this letter was written, the disciples of Christ in Rome must have been numerous, and must have professed their religion openly; for the turning of a few obscure individuals in the city from the worship of idols, and their worshipping the true God clandestinely, could not be the subject of discourse in the provinces.” — Macknight.
St. Paul’s chief design in this epistle was to show, 1. That neither the Gentiles by the law of nature, nor the Jews by the law of Moses, could obtain justification before God; and that therefore it was necessary for both to seek it from the free mercy of God by faith. 2. That God has an absolute right to show mercy on what terms he pleases; and to withhold it from those who will not accept it on his own terms. The epistle consists of five parts: — I. The introduction, Romans 1:1-15. II. The proposition briefly proved: 50. Concerning faith and salvation; 2. Concerning the equality of believers, Jews or Gentiles, verses 16, 17. III. The treatise: 1. Concerning justification, which is, (1.) Not by works; (verse 18;) for the Gentiles; (Romans 2:1-10;) the Jews; (verses 11-29;) and both together, are under sin, Romans 3:1-20: (2.) But by faith; (verses 21- 31;) as appears by the example of Abraham and the testimony of David, Romans 4:1-25. 2. Concerning salvation, chap. 5.-8. 3. Concerning the equal privileges of Jewish and Gentile believers, chap. 9.-11. IV. The exhortation, Romans 12:1, 2: 1. Concerning faith and its fruits, love and practical holiness, verses 3-21; Romans 13:1-10. 2. Concerning salvation, verses 11-14. 3. Of the conjunction of the Jews and Gentiles, chap. 14:1; 15:13. V. The conclusion, verse 14; Romans 16:27. To express the design and contents of this epistle a little more at large: the apostle labours throughout to fix in those to whom he writes a deep sense of the excellence of the gospel, and to engage them to act suitably to it. For this purpose, after a general salutation, (Romans 1:1-7,) and profession of his affection for them, (verses 8-15,) he declares he shall not be ashamed openly to maintain the gospel at Rome, seeing it is the powerful instrument of salvation, both to Jews and Gentiles by means of faith, verses 16, 17. And, in order to demonstrate this, he shows,
1. That the world greatly needed such a dispensation, the Gentiles being in a most abandoned state, (verses 18-32,) and the Jews, though condemning others, being themselves no better; (Romans 2:1-29;) as, notwithstanding some cavils, which he obviates, (Romans 3:1-8,) their own Scriptures testify; (verses 9-19;) so that all were under a necessity of seeking justification by this method, verses 20-31. 2. That Abraham and David themselves sought justification by faith, and not by works, Romans 4:1-25. 3. That all who believe are brought into so happy a state as turns the greatest afflictions into matter of joy, Romans 5:1-11.
4. That the evils brought on mankind by Adam are abundantly recompensed to all that believe in Christ, verses 12-21. 5. That, far from dissolving the obligations to practical holiness, the gospel increases them by peculiar obligations, Romans 6:1-23.
In order to convince them of these things the more deeply, and to remove their fondness for the Mosaic law, now they were married to Christ by faith in him, (Romans 7:1-6,) he shows how unable the motives of the law were to produce that holiness which believers obtain by a living faith in the gospel; (Romans 7:7-25; 8:1, 2;) and then gives a more particular view of those things which rendered the gospel effectual to this great end, verses 3-39. That even the Gentiles, if they believed, should have a share in these blessings; and that the Jews, if they believed not, should be excluded from them; being a point of great importance, the apostle bestows the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters in settling it. He begins the ninth chapter by expressing his tender love and high esteem for the Jewish nation; (verses 1- 5;) and then shows, 1. That God’s rejecting a great part of the seed of Abraham, yea, and of Isaac too, was an undeniable fact, verses 6-13. 2. That God had not chosen them to such peculiar privileges for any kind of goodness, either in them or their fathers, verses 14-24. 3. That his accepting the Gentiles, and rejecting many of the Jews, had been foretold both by Hosea and Isaiah, verses 25-33. 4. That God had offered salvation to Jews and Gentiles on the same terms, though the Jews rejected it, Romans 10:1-21. 5. That, though the rejection of Israel for their obstinacy was general, yet it was not total; there being still a remnant among them who did embrace the gospel, Romans 11:1-10. 6. That the rejection of the rest was not final, but in the end all Israel should be saved, verses 11-31. That, meantime, even their obstinacy and rejection served to display the unsearchable wisdom and love of God, verses 32-36. The rest of the epistle contains practical instructions and exhortations. He particularly urges, 1. An entire consecration of themselves to God, and a care to glorify him by a faithful improvement of their several talents, Romans 12:1-11. 2. Devotion, patience, hospitality, mutual sympathy, humility, peace, and meekness, verses 12-21. 3. Obedience to magistrates, justice in all its branches, love, the fulfilling of the law, and universal holiness, chap. 13:1-14. 4. Mutual candour between those who differed in judgment, touching the observance of the Mosaic law; (Romans 14:1- 23; 15:1-17;) in enforcing which, he is led to mention the extent of his own labours, and his purpose of visiting the Romans, in the mean time recommending himself to their prayers, verses 18-33. And, after many salutations, (Romans 14:1-16,) and a caution against those who caused divisions, he concludes with a suitable blessing and doxology, verses 17- 27.
Joseph Sutcliffe
The Epistle to the Romans.
SUT_VOL4.PDF, source PDF p. 577
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
St. Paul is the most copious, profound, and luminous writer of all the holy apostles. He calls himself “less than the least of all saints,” but Chrysostom calls him the greatest of saints; and he was regarded by all mankind as a prodigy of talents. He has created a new world of happy and enlightened language for the church. Laying aside the rhetoric of the schools, he speaks with the sublime of eloquence and wisdom. He penetrates the depths of religion, developes the shadows of the law, and cites the prophets in a superior mode of argument. His heart and mind were fountains of eloquence, flowing with an impetuous stream. He supports himself in argument with admirable exuberance of thought, and closes with full conviction on the mind. Opposition is silent in his presence. Every battle with the pharisees was a victory, and every contest with gentile philosophy was a triumph. St. Peter attributes the divine wisdom of his epistles to the gift of God, for indeed when his epistles are weighed and studied, we must admit that no man could attain to that wisdom without divine inspiration. The chronological order of his epistles, as laid down in the Testament printed at Mons, under the papal sanction, is given in the first column, that of archbishop Usher in the second.
Mons. Usher.
1 To the Thessalonians A.D. 52 54
2 To the Thessalonians 52 54
To the Galatians 56 58
1 To the Corinthians 57 60
2 To the Corinthians 57 60
To the Romans 57 60
To the Philippians 62 64
To Philemon A.D. 62 64
To the Colossians 62 64
To the Ephesians 62 64
To the Hebrews 62 64
1 To Timothy 66 65
To Titus 66 65
2 To Timothy 66 66
The rabbins who arranged the parchments of Isaiah have put the strong and sublime words which he delivered when the two allied kings had invaded Judea, in the front of his prophecies, though delivered in the middle of his ministry. Jerome, who lived in Rome before he became bishop of Milan, has done the same with regard to the epistle to the Romans; and as Rome was the imperial city, he might do it with better grace. But to read these epistles in their chronological order may be done with some advantage.
Daniel Whedon
Introduction
WHD_CO12.PDF, source PDF p. 349
ROMANS
INTRODUCTION
SCOPE OF THE EPISTLE.
OUR first impression was that the proper division into volumes would bring the historical books of the New Testament into a separate classification. But a thorough survey of the ground reveals the fact not only that the book of Acts commences the new apostolic era, but that with it the epistles form a composite unit, separate from the unit of the Christ-history in the Gospels. The books of Acts and Romans are, indeed, very strikingly the complements of each other. The former unfolds the events, the latter the theology and morals, of the apostolic era. With great propriety, therefore, though out of the chronological order of their publication, have these two books stood in contact in the canon; and with equal, though with almost accidental propriety, they have, in our own arrangement, combined into a single volume.
The penetrative inquirer in the reading of Paul’s debates in the synagogues (for instance of Ephesus, of Thessalonica, of Corinth, and especially on that memorable day at Rome, Acts 23:17-29) desires to be present and listen to the sharp encounter. What were the issues, and the methods, and the terms of the discussion? To this query Romans furnishes the comprehensive reply. It every where presents the traces of struggle and battle. Compare it, on this point, with Philippians or Ephesians. And it explains many of the peculiarities of the style, and solves not a few of the difficulties of the argument to say: The Book of Romans is a summary of the hand-to-hand synagogue debates of Paul with the Jews of his day. This explains the eminently dialogue character of the style; the repeated “I say,” (I affirm, I maintain,) the thou wilt say, the O man! the Behold, thou art a Jew, the brethren, etc. The ever recurring second person, often the second person singular, shows us his co-disputant ever in his presence. By this the train of thought is varied and controlled into often unexpected and abrupt transitions. Objections, sometimes in the opponent’s own words, sometimes put for him in St. Paul’s words, are rapidly presented and rapidly overridden. So rapidly, elliptically, and almost incoherently is this sometimes done, that we are bound to suppose that St. Paul assumes that his contemporary readers are familiar with his argument, and so need not its fuller expansion. Many things were thus clear to them which axe obscure to us.
And this consideration has even its theological bearings. For instance, in the ninth chapter a false exposition is retained very much by the commentator’s insisting upon a false position. By forgetting the stand which St. Paul is maintaining against the altercating synagogue, a defence of God’s rectitude in superseding the Jewish theocracy by the open establishment of a broad and universal system of equalized free-agency, is, most illegitimately, transformed into an assertion of an absolute universal “divine sovereignty,” eternally foreordaining the sin and then damning the sinner! Alford, who insists on this theological transformation most persistently, also rejects in a very one-sided and unexegetical manner the real position in which St. Paul writes. Our apostle orally dictated this epistle to his penman, Tertius, and it is thus vividly startling with the spoken style throughout; a spoken style in which oratory, forensic (or rather synagogic) debate, and terse, abrupt dialogue take their turns; and nowhere are these living variations more graphically presented than in this very ninth chapter. Taking this standpoint with the apostle in the synagogue, and tracing his winding argument, we are then able truly and vividly to realize its living character.
But the Gentiles, in rows and clusters, were often sitting in the same synagogue, sick of worn-out polytheism, and yet hesitating fully to accept monotheism encumbered with the Jewish circumcision and ritual. They usually formed a large part of the assemblage at Corinth. Their moral position, therefore, in the kingdom of God must be unfolded. In the synagogue discussions this would be often more or less perfectly done. Thence, in a concise written summary, would arise just what we have in this book—the relations of Jews and Gentiles to God and to each other, both in the past and the future of the Divine government, as unfolded in the complete revelation of Christ. It thus becomes a most compressed yet most comprehensive SYSTEM OF THEOLOGY, in which every point of Christian doctrine takes its place with a most amazing completeness and symmetry; yet a treatise modified by contemporary circumstances, and, like the whole New Testament, wonderfully blending the traits of the temporary with the permanent.
THE ROMAN CHURCH.
When the Roman general Pompey conquered the Jewish nation and captured Jerusalem, a large body of Jewish prisoners were sent to Rome and sold as slaves. Their rigid adherence to the peculiarities of their faith rendering them very impracticable servants, their masters were glad to emancipate them, and, perhaps respecting their conscientiousness, assigned them a quarter beyond the Tiber as a residence. (See “Jews’ Quarter” on map.) As the residence of freedmen, exiled from aristocratic Rome, in a low ground, where the flat boats from the seaport at Ostia had their wharves, and low shops abounded, it was scarce a respectable section. It was a symbol of truth abased in the world. The worship of the true Jehovah dwelt in these humble abodes, overlooked by the haughty temple of the Capitoline Jove. How has history reversed the contrast! Yet even here the stately synagogue rose, the rabbi established his school, and a hierarchy ruled in power. Nor was monotheism without its influence on imperial Rome herself. So prevalent was the tendency of thoughtful persons toward Judaism as to become the subject of satire to more than one of the Roman poets. And so crowded were the synagogues on the Saturday-Sabbath with Roman ladies that one poet recommends the young men to go thither to get sight of the beauty and fashion of Rome!
The “strangers of Rome,” (Acts 2:16,) returning from Pentecost to this humble Jewish quarter, were probably the first germ of Roman Christianity. They were purely Jewish. The only probable fact we have of history is that such excitements arose among the Jews (about A.D. 50) as to attract the notice of the city government, which received intelligence that the disturbances came from one Chrestus, obviously a modification of the name of Christ. (See note on Acts 18:2.) This mythical Chrestus the police were never able to apprehend, but the government ordered the Jews in a body to leave Rome. By this decree it seems that the elements of the first Roman Church (as of the Pentecostal Church) were swept away. It is from this epistle to the Romans that we get our next glimpse of the Church at Rome. In this respect the catalogue of names in chapter xvi has a singular interest. The banished Aquila and Priscilla have returned. There is a goodly number of Paul’s friends there. And if we may judge of the whole from this catalogue we should say that the Church was almost entirely Gentile, and far more Greek than Roman. Of the twenty-eight names there but two are Jewish, and the Greek are twice as many as the Latin. The Church had existed there many years, (Acts 15:23;) they had attained a reputation through the Christian world, (Acts 1:8.) Though not founded by Paul, the Church recognises his apostleship; nor has he any misgivings that it is an anti-Pauline Church, nor does he recognise the existence of any opponents or maligners.
The next view we have is not so much of the Church as of the escort of friends who met Paul at Appii Forum to conduct him to Rome. (Acts 28:15.) The then existing aspect of things is treated in our notes. The career of the Church of Rome since that period is one of the wonders of history. Its spiritual empire, rising like the shadow of Rome’s past imperial power, has exercised a mightier sway over the civilized world. That Peter was once at Rome and suffered martyrdom there is probably true; but that he was founder or Bishop of its Church is supported by no adequate authority. And the stupendous despotism of Popery based its existence not upon the sacred canon, or upon primitive history, but upon forged documents that powerfully imposed upon the ignorance of the dark ages, but cannot claim to stand the test of modern criticism.
AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY.
That Romans was really dictated to Tertius by Paul is conceded by the most sceptical criticism of the present day. This is a most important concession; for it cannot be denied that the outlines of the evangelic Christ-history are affirmed or assumed in this epistle. That Jesus was a true hereditary prince descended from the royal line of David, that he lived a miraculous life, died by crucifixion as a ransom for sinners, that he rose again with authority to judge and power to save the world, are broad bold assumptions through the whole book. It founds the Gospel theology on the Gospel history. And when we recognise how familiar Paul was with Jerusalem, what advantages he had to know the Christ-history to be true or false, and then realize the most intense sincerity of his character, we may well style this epistle a fifth Gospel.
But the integrity, that is, the entirety of the epistle as Paul’s, has been questioned. Renan admits the whole to be Paul’s, but affirms the last chapter to have been really written by him to the Church at Ephesus. We have given brief replies to the supposed proofs in our notes. TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.
From Luke’s history of Paul in the Book of Acts we should not infer that the apostle ever wrote a letter. And yet, by comparing the history with the existing epistles, we are able, from the “undesigned coincidences” between the two, to state (as we have done in our notes on Acts) with great certainty the time and place of nearly every writing.
As to place, the epistle was written at Corinth. This appears from the fact that “Erastus, the chamberlain of the city,” namely, of Corinth, (2 Timothy 4:20,) joins in the salutations, (Acts 16:23;) that Phebe of Cenchrea (the port of Corinth) is bearer of the Epistle, (Acts 16:1;) and that Gaius, of Corinth, (1 Corinthians 1:14,) was his “host;” and so, perhaps, his house the place of the dictating of the Epistle to Tertius, (Acts 16:23.)
As to time, it was when Paul was on the point of starting from Corinth to Jerusalem, bearing the monies collected by him for the poor Christians at Jerusalem, (Acts 15:25.) This conclusively fixes it at Paul’s last departure from Corinth to Jerusalem, before his arrest by the Jews and rescue by the Romans. There we have placed it in our notes on Acts 20:3.
RHYTHM, PARALLELISM, AND NUMBER.
About a century ago Bishop Lowth revealed to the world the poetic parallelism of the Book of Psalms and other poetic parts of the Old Testament. Dr. Jebb disclosed the same fact in a less degree in the discourses of our Lord. But it was reserved for Dr. Forbes, of Edinburgh, to show, in his late Commentary on Romans, how prevalent this same phenomenon is in that book. We can give but a few specimens. In the Gospels the following instance will show how parallelism and correspondence of clauses appear in our Lord’s discourses:
1. Give not that which is holy to the dogs,
2. Nor cast ye your pearls before swine;
2. Lest they trample them under their feet,
1. And turn again and rend you.
It is clear that the lines here marked with the same figures, though in reverse order, correspond to each other. From this it is evident that a proper understanding of parallelism affects our understanding of the true meaning. Thus, the meaning is,
1. Give not that which is holy to the dogs,
1. Lest they turn again and rend you;
2. Cast not your pearls before swine,
2. Lest they trample them under their feet.
On a similar, but still more complex plan, are Paul’s words, Romans 11:33:
O the DEPTHS both of the riches,
and of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments,
And his ways past finding out.
3. For who hath known the mind of the Lord,
2. Or who hath been his counsellor,
Or who hath given to him,
1. And it shall be recompensed to him again.
Here is first the Unit DEPTHS in which the divine three, riches, wisdom, and knowledge, inhere; and then, in reverse order, is either a corresponding line or couplet. Unsearchable and past-finding-out correspond to depths, counsellor to wisdom, mind to knowledge, and recompensed to riches. We have thus the trinity in unity. And if any one doubts the trinitarian reference, let him well analyze the verse that immediately follows:
1. For of Him,
2. And through Him,
3. And to Him,
Are all things; to whom
1. Be glory
2. Forever,
3. Amen.
Compare also,
And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The love of God,
And the communion of the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 13:14. And also the thrice-three of the so-called Trisagion,
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord, God, Almighty,
Which was, and is, and is to come. Revelation 4:8. We submit that number, rhythm, and parallelism are here combined with a trinitarian import too clearly to be reasonably doubted. On the subject of “Sacred Number.” let our readers carefully consult our supplementary note, Luke 6:16, vol. ii, p. 77.
We have in Romans 2:6-10, a double trinal contrast describing the opposite sides of God’s judgment of men:
1. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing
2. Seek for glory and honour and immortality,
3. Eternal life.
1. But unto them that are contentious,
2. And obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
3. Indignation and wrath.
3. Tribulation and anguish
2. Upon every soul of man that doeth evil;
1. Of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.
3. But glory, honour, and peace
2. To every man that worketh good;
1. To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.
Is the trine number here adopted to symbolize that these opposite destinies to opposite characters come from the same triune God?
Dr. Forbes’ idea of Romans 2:17-20 we may, with slight modification, thus present: The ten qualifications of the Jews are
Five before God:
1. Rest in Law.
2. Boast in God.
3. Knowledge of Will.
4. Approves the excellent.
5. Instructed from the Law.
Five superiorities over Gentiles:
6. A guide to the blind.
7. Light to the dark.
Plan of the Epistle.
WHD_CO12.PDF, source PDF p. 356
Editorial note: Source collation note — paragraph 12: “—”. Compared with WHD_CO12.PDF PDF p. 356. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: the available separately digitized printed volumes were searched, but the corresponding passage was not securely located. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain; this search provides no basis for reconstructing or silently normalizing them. WHD_CO12.PDF, PDF page 356.
Editorial note: The supplied edition prints “Romans 6:7-25” here (WHD_CO12.PDF, physical PDF page 358). The surrounding discussion of the law and sin's operation corresponds to Romans 7:7–25 in the King James Version. The origin of the printed numbering is not established here; the historical wording is retained. WHD_CO12.PDF, PDF page 358.
8. Instruction of the foolish.
9. With form of knowledge.
10. Truth in the Law.
Of rhythm and parallelism we have but to read the very first sentence and paragraph of Romans to find a rich abundance. Take the first words: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
Called to be an apostle,
Separated unto the gospel of God,
Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord,
Which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, And declared the Son of God with power, etc.
This measurement and parallelism appear with different degrees of clearness; often too palpable to be mistaken, often doubtful, and shading off in degrees. It gives a fine majesty to Paul’s opening paragraph in Romans, and we suppose that in speaking he was often able to roll out the rhythmic clauses with the power and volume of an orator. Those who argue that “the apostle in those splendid outbursts could not have attended to these artificialities of rhythm and number,” would do well to fully realize, and then account for, the plain objective facts as they lie in the text of the epistle. Such was the mould and training of Paul’s Jewish mind that we doubt not that he produced a style with these peculiarities as spontaneously as we observe the rules of English grammar or modern rhetoric. Both Dr. Johnson and Dr. Parr could talk with the most perfect spontaneity in the same Latin and antithetic style in which they wrote. PLAN OF THE EPISTLE.
A. THE ARGUMENT.
INTRODUCTION
—
1. Superscription 1-7
2. The Direct Address (closing with Thesis) 8-17
I. THE RUIN.
FALLEN MAN WITHOUT THE SALVATION BY CHRIST
Romans 1:18-3:20
1. Condition of the Heathen world Romans 1:18-2:16 a) The depths to which human depravation can go Romans 1:18-32
Romans
b) The upper moral class, who have never descended to the depths Romans 2:1-10
c) The heathen of the upper class, who, without the law, keep natural law Romans 2:11-16
2. Condition of the Jewish race Romans 2:17-3:20 a) The Jew, under the law, breaking law Romans 2:17-29 b) Admitting the Jews’ advantage in God’s oracles, etc Romans 3:1, 2
c) Yet, without impeaching God’s faith, unbelieving Jews are damned Romans Romans 3:3, 4
d) Nor does glory denied to God from man’s overruled sin excuse the Jewish any more than the Gentile sinner Romans 3:5-8 e) And so the Jews are no better than the Gentiles, their own Old Testament being witness Romans 3:9-20
Conclusion—Under law all CONDEMNED Romans 3:20 II. THE REMEDY.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH THROUGH THE ATONEMENT BY CHRIST Romans 3:21-8:39
Gratuitous salvation by faith in Christ’s atoning death Romans comprehensively stated as THE REMEDY
Romans 3:21-31
Faith-Justification shown by Abraham’s case to be at the foundation of the Jewish, as well as of the Christian, Church 4 This Faith-Remedy illustrated—
1. In its progressive work in the individual soul Romans 5:1-11
2. In the grand antithesis between Adam and Christ Romans 5:12-21
3. In the steps of the Renovation—
Negative—
a Emancipation from necessity to sin Romans 6:1-23 b Emancipation from servility to law Romans 7:1-6 c (Although law is not to be blamed) Romans 6:7-25 Positive—
d Blessed (individual) process of Justified and Spirit-guided life Romans 8:1-17
e Advancing stages to final (collective) glorification of Church and Earth Romans 8:18-25
4. Gracious aids through the divinely foreseen and accomplished stages to the final renovation Romans 8:26-30
5. Paean of triumph over this scheme of Human Renovation Romans 8:31-39
III. THE DEFENCE.
AGAINST JEWISH CAVIL OF THIS GOD’S SCHEME OF IMPARTIAL FAITH-PROBATION, EVEN THOUGH RESULTING IN UNBELIEVING ISRAEL’S DOWNFALL 9-11
1) The Apostle’s deep grief at Jewish downfall 1-6 2) Yet God’s promise was not thereby broken; for the promisewas to the faith-seed rather than to the birth-seed 7-13
3) Nor His righteousness impeached; for, overriding all Jewish cavil, God’s rightful will to establish faith-probation is absolute 14-18 4) Nor can He be replied against; for all this accords with the laws of an equitable system of free-agency 19-23
5) And it all accords with Old Testament predictions 24-29 6) So that the Faith-condition underlies God’s whole system of Election and Rejection of Jew or Gentile Romans 9:30-33 7) The Jew has failed by preferring the birth-and-work-condition to that of Faith Romans 10:1-11
8) Which (faith-condition) is entirely impartial, embracing all accepting and proclaimed to all Romans 10:12-21
9) Nor is Israel quite cast away; for, 1. There is a faith remnant, Romans 11:1-10; 2. Israel stands equally with the Gentile on solemn faith-conditions, 11-24; and, 3. Israel will be finally restored to the Churchdom, 25-32 Romans 11:1-32
10) Doxology closing the Argument Romans 11:33-36 B. THE ETHICAL DEDUCTION AND PERSONAL CONCLUSION.
I. ETHICAL DEDUCTION.
In perfect logical deduction from the Doctrine of faith taught in the Epistle there must be, first, the complete fundamental Act of Faith; and thence all Christian duties spring.
1. The Act of basis Faith—Complete consecration to God, and all goodness and duty-doing Romans 12:1, 2
2. The Cycle of enumerated Duties springing from faith, namely: Duties,
1) To the blessed Unity of the Church, (the prime condition.) 3-16 2) To those without the Church 17-21
3) To the civil government 13:1-7
4) To our surrounding secular contemporaries 8-14
5) To weaklings in faith, Romans 14:1-6; who should not judge, in view of the Judgment day, 7-13; and who should be withheld from intolerance, 14-23; and tolerance should be extended toward all in unity, Romans 15:1-7; in the unity (especially) of Jew and Gentile, 8-14 Romans 14:1-15:14
II. PERSONAL CONCLUSION.
1. Paul’s Epistolary boldness based on his Apostolic mission Romans 15:15-21
2. His long-hindered visit to Rome will be on his way to Spain 22-33
3. Paul’s commendation (of Phebe) and various salutations Romans 16:1-16
4. Interposed warning against dividers and offenders 17-20
5. Salutations from Paul’s companions 21-24
6. CLOSING
DOXOLOGY
25-27
A close study of the above Plan will, we think, be a great aid to our readers, especially in verifying our exposition of some important disputed passages.
Joseph Agar Beet
Preface
BEET_ROM.PDF, source PDF p. 3
ROMANS
PREFACE
THIS volume is the ninth edition of a work which has been for some years out of print. Its republication has been delayed in order to give time for careful reconsideration of the whole subject. The whole has been rewritten; and embodies the writer’s mature thought about the greatest work of the greatest of the apostles of Christ.
My purpose in writing and rewriting is identical with that of the epistle annotated, as I understand it, viz. to set before the readers the Gospel of Christ as Paul understood it, in order that by intelligent faith they may embrace, or embrace more fully, the salvation announced by Christ, and thus find in Him eternal life: cp. John 20:31. In other words, my aim has been to bridge over nineteen centuries and to place modern English readers as nearly as possible in the position of those who first heard the epistle read at Rome.
It is therefore a contribution to Doctrinal Theology: for Paul wrote in order to set before the Christians at Rome an orderly, and within its limits complete, account of the Gospel. But it is in nowise dogmatic: for my statements and arguments rest, not on authority, but-on evidence adduced. My aim has been simply to learn and reproduce Paul’s own rational conception of Christ and the Gospel. And this is the highest aim of all Biblical research. This volume is also a contribution to Christian Evidences. For Paul wrote and argued in order to produce and strengthen in his readers an intelligent conviction of the truth of the Gospel: and I have endeavoured to reproduce and estimate his arguments.
Whatever is needful for these ends, I have, to the best of my ability, done. I have adduced decisive proof that this letter actually came from the pen of Paul; and that it is fairly reproduced, as he wrote it, in our modern copies, English and Greek. Where the ancient copies differ so as to affect theological teaching, and where serious doubt exists as to the true reading, I have discussed the difference, as in Romans 3:28; 5:1; 8:11. I have also carefully discussed the meaning and associations of thought of the words and phrases of the epistle. These are of utmost importance, as the very alphabet of theology. In the more important cases, the results of this study are embodied in separate notes. I have also endeavoured to trace the apostle’s line of thought and argument, which I have embodied in frequent recapitulations. Throughout the work, I have sought for the general theological conceptions underlying the epistle. This is needful even for correct exposition; for only in the light of a writer’s general conceptions can we understand his language. Moreover the thoughts of Paul, as expressed in his epistles, are one chief avenue of approach to the actual teaching of Christ and to the eternal realities underlying His Gospel. The results of this study, I have embodied in dissertations at the close of this volume.
My chief aid has been careful grammatical study of the Greek text. But it was needless to reprint it: for each student will use his own copy of the Greek Testament or English Bible. The English translation here given was needful in order to explain to scholars how I interpret Paul’s Greek words, and to give to all readers a consecutive text of the epistle. Although the whole work is based on the Greek text, there has been little need for Greek type: for all scholars will recognise my constant reference to the original. This will make my work more helpful to many intelligent men and women who are eager to follow as closely as possible the teaching of Paul but are not familiar with the niceties of Greek grammar. Where the Greek construction is difficult and important, it has been carefully discussed; as in Romans 5:1; 7:21; 9:5: and occasionally, e.g. on pp. 30, 132, {Romans 1:1; 4:9f} I have discussed the meaning of Greek particles. My aim has led me to give special attention to the doctrinal contents of the epistle, to the broad theological principles which underlay the thought of Paul, and to the historic facts and eternal realities which underlie the Christian faith. This explains the notes on pp. 65f {Romans 1:28f}, 113f {Romans 3:22f}, 119f {Romans 3:26f}, the note on Election on pp. 279-82 (Romans 9:33f}, and the careful argument in Diss. i. The whole work is a study in theology at the feet of the great apostle. In the Grammar of the New Testament, there has been comparatively little progress since the epoch-making work of Winer, first published in 1822, and re-edited in a seventh edition, after his death, by Lunemann in 1867: a recent edition by Schmiedel. We have however an attractive and able Grammar of New Testament Greek by Blass, published in 1896, and in English by Thackeray in 1898; also a most scholarly volume on New Testament Moods and Tenses by De Witt Burton of Chicago. This last is specially good on the meaning and use of the Greek Aorist. Of modern commentaries, I may still mention those of Fritzsche, 1836-43, and De Wette, 4th ed. 1847, scholarly and accurate expositions, but almost forgotten now. Still more valuable is the great commentary of Meyer, 5th ed. 1872, which is still, as Meyer left it, in my view on the whole the best exposition of the Epistle to the Romans.
Of commentaries published since the first appearance of this work in 1877, I may mention that of Godet, published in 1879, ‘80, marked by keen insight into the apostle’s meaning and great charm of style, but not always reliable in grammatical and critical details; and that of Oltramare, published in 1881, ‘82, careful and scholarly, especially in grammar, but, as I think, less in harmony with the thought of Paul. These works we owe to French Switzerland, their writers having been professors at Lausanne and Geneva respectively.
In 1881 appeared the sober and careful, rather than original, exposition of Gifford in The Speaker’s Commentary. Somewhat earlier, in 1879, came Moule’s attractive exposition in the Cambridge Bible for Schools; and this was followed in 1894 by a profitable and spiritual volume by the same author in The Expositor’s Bible. More recently, in 1895 was published a very attractive and scholarly volume in The International Critical Commentary by Sanday and Headlam, a valuable addition to the literature of the subject, but, like the others just mentioned, rather a careful reproduction of the work of others than an original exposition. I notice with interest that these last editors accept, if I correctly understand them, my exposition of Romans 5:1, an exposition overlooked by all earlier commentators known to me, and by the Westminster Revisers. Among recent German works, I may mention the re-issue of Meyer’s commentary, rewritten by Weiss, also a careful and scholarly work. The editor has the advantage of recent Textual Criticism; but otherwise I prefer the original. A new edition, the fourth edited by Weiss, appeared in 1899. The exposition by Lipsius, in Holzmann’s Handcommentar, is thoughtful, scholarly, accurate, and lucid. Its compactness leaves little room for statement of the reasons on which the expositor’s judgments are based: but they are always worthy of respectful consideration. On the whole, it is one of the very best works on this epistle.
While this edition was in the press, the second volume of The Expositor’s Greek Testament, containing Dr. Denney’s exposition of Romans, appeared. Within limits somewhat too narrow, he has given us a very accurate, attractive, and valuable work. With great pleasure I notice that, whereas for twenty-three years I have stood alone among English commentators in my exposition of Romans 9:5, except the note by Dr. Hort, in vol. ii. p. 110 of Westcott and Hort’s Greek Testament where he differs from Dr. Westcott, Dr. Denney now stands by my side. But he seems to me in serious error in his note on Romans 8:15, where he says, “The aorist refers to the time of their baptism, when they received the Spirit.” The English preterite suggests a definite time in the past, or at least a time definitely removed from the present. And in this sense Dr. Denney interprets here the Greek aorist. But this last “indefinite” tense has no such definite reference. By using it, Paul asserts only that at some time in the past, suddenly or gradually, his readers received the Spirit of adoption. This difference between the Greek and English tenses is recognised by our author under Romans 3:23: but it is overlooked under Romans 8:15; and the oversight is serious.
This work of mine was written, and is now republished, in hope that it may help students of the original text to understand and appreciate the great truths which underlie the grammatical forms of the New Testament, and help also that large and increasing number of men and women in every position in life who wish to drink the water of life as it flows from the pen of those commissioned by Christ to announce the salvation which He wrought out for all who believe Him.
WESLEYAN COLLEGE, RICHMOND,
25th August, 1900.
Contents
BEET_ROM.PDF, source PDF p. 7
ROMANS
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Sec. 1. OUR STARTING-POINT AND OUR AIM.
Sec. 2. IS THE EPISTLE GENUINE?
Sec. 3. ARE OUR COPIES CORRECT ?
Sec. 4. WHEN, WHERE, TO WHOM, AND WITH WHAT PURPOSE, WAS IT WRITTEN?
Sec. 5. SUGGESTIONS FOR BIBLE STUDY.
EXPOSITION
Sec. 1. 1:1—7. Paul greets the Roman Christians. [HOLINESS.] Sec. 2. 1:8—15. He has long desired to preach to them: Sec. 3. 1:16, 17. For the Gospel is God’s power to save all that believe. DIV. I. ALL ARE GUILTY. 1:18—3:20.
Sec. 4.1:18—32. For God is angry with all sin. Sec. 5. 2:1—11 Without respect of persons.
Sec. 6. 2:12—24. Of this, the giving of the Law is no disproof; [DESTRUCTION.]
Sec. 7. 2:25—29. Nor is the rite of circumcision. Sec. 8. 3:1—9. Yet the Jews have real advantages; Sec. 9. 3:10—20. But are condenmed by their own Law. [THE LAW.] DIV. II. JUSTIFICATION AND ITS RESULTS. 3:21—5. Sec. 10. 3:21—26. Justification through faith and through Christ: [JUSTIFICATION.]
Sec. 11. 3:27—30. By which all boasting is shut out; Sec. 12. 3:31—4:17. But, as the case of Abraham proves, the Law is established.
Sec. 13. 4:18—25. Description of Abraham’s faith. [FAITH.] Sec. 14. 5:1—11. We have now a well-grounded hope; Sec. 15. 5:12—19. And the curse of Adam is reversed. [ORIGINAL SIN.] Sec. 16. 5:20, 21. The Law was given to prepare for this DIV. III. THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. 6.—8.
Sec. 17. 6:1—10. In the death of Christ we died to sin. Sec. 18. 6:11—14. Then serve sin no more:
Sec. 19. 6:15—23. For experience proves how bad its service is. Sec. 20. 7:1—6. Through Christ we died to the Law. Sec. 21. 7:7—12. Yet the Law is not bad;
Sec. 22. 7:13—25. But makes known the badness and power of sin. Sec. 23. 8:1—11. The Spirit and the flesh. [FLESH.] Sec. 24. 8:12—17. The guidance of the Spirit is a proof of coming glory; [SPIRIT.] [ASSURANCE OF JUSTIFICATION.]
Sec. 25. 8:18—27. A proof confirmed by the present position of Nature and of ourselves.
Sec. 26. 8:28—39. In all things we are more than conquerors. DIV. IV. HARMONY OF THE OLD AND NEW. 9—11.
Sec. 27. 9:1—5. Paul’s sorrow for the Jews. Sec. 28. 9:6—13. Yet God is not unfaithful; Sec. 29. 9:14—18. Nor unjust:
Sec. 30. 9:19--23. But has reason to find fault. Sec. 31. 9:24—29. The present position of Jews and Gentiles accords with prophecy.
Sec. 32. 9:30—33. Through unbelief the Jews have failed to obtain righteousness. [ELECTION, PREDESTINATION.]
Sec. 33. 10:1—13. Their unbelief is the result of ignorance: Sec. 34. 10:14—21. For the preached Gospel and Israel’s disbelief of it were foretold.
Sec. 35. 11:1—10. Yet God has not cast off His people. Sec. 36. 11:11—24. Israel’s fall has been the salvation of the Gentiles: and is not final. [FINAL PERSEVERANCE.]
Sec. 37. 11:25—36. Israel will be saved. Praise to God. DIV. V. PRACTICAL LESSONS. 12.—15:13.
Sec. 38. 12:1, 2. A consecrated body and renewed mind. Sec. 39. 12:3—8. Variety of gifts.
Sec. 40. 12:9—21. General maxims.
Sec. 41. 13:1—7. Obey the rulers of the State. Sec. 42. 13:8—10. Love thy neighbour.
Sec. 43. 13:11—14. Put off the works of darkness. Sec. 44. 14:1—12. Do not judge thy brother. Sec. 45. 14:13—23. Be careful not to injure thy brother. Sec. 46. 15:1—6. The strong ought to help the weak; Sec. 47. 15:7—13. That all may praise God together. CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE. 15:14—16.
Sec. 48. 15:14—21. Paul’s apostolic office and work. Sec. 49. 15:22, 23. His plans for the future, and present business. Sec. 50. 16:1—16. Salutations to Rome.
Sec. 51. 16:17—20. A warning against divisions. Sec. 52. 16:21—27. Salutations from Corinth: and doxology. DOCTRINAL RESULTS
DISSERTATION 1. PAUL’S VIEW OF THE GOSPEL AND OF CHRIST, DISSERTATION 2. PAUL’S VIEW OF THE WAY OF SALVATION. DISSERTATION 3. PAUL’S VIEW OF THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES.
Section 1 — Our Starting-Point and Our Aim
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INTRODUCTION
SECTION 1 — OUR STARTING-POINT
AND OUR AIM
1. As this work is to some extent argumentative, I shall begin it by stating plainly the assumptions on which the argument rests. I do not wish to take for granted the divine authority or supernatural origin of any part of the Bible. The only admissions I require are matters of fact which no one will deny; especially that a letter exists professing to have been written by the apostle Paul to the Christians at Rome; that it exists in various languages, in millions of printed books bearing all dates from the invention of printing to our own day, and in many hundreds of manuscripts preserved in libraries and monasteries and giving various indications of age; and that it is quoted in many ancient writings of which copies have come down to us.
2. Assuming this, we will inquire whether we have sufficient proof that the epistle was actually written by Paul; and to what extent the letter written by him is correctly represented in our English Revised Version. We will consider certain indications in the epistle as to when, and where, and to whom it was written. We will then study the epistle itself. We will try to understand the meaning of the words used, and to trace the writer’s argument. We will carefully observe the facts and doctrines he takes for granted, and the conclusions to which he seeks to bring his readers. As we pass along, we will examine his opinions on several of the matters about which he writes. At the end of our work, we will try to delineate the writer’s view of Christ and the Gospel, as that view is reflected on the pages of this epistle. And, standing by Paul, we will endeavour to see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears the face and the teaching of Jesus.
3. The course of study here begun, I have in other volumes extended to seven other epistles, including all the most important, bearing the name of Paul. By this further study I have endeavoured to gain a still more comprehensive view of the Gospel and of Christ as understood and preached by him. In two other volumes entitled Through Christ to God and The New Life in Christ, I have attempted to give a connected view of the teaching of the Bible on personal religion: and, in another volume entitled The Last Things, I have endeavoured to set forth its teaching about the great events which will close the present order of things, and about the new order which will follow. The whole series is an attempt to gain, as accurately and fully as possible, a knowledge of the eternal realities which in Christ God has revealed to man.
Section 2 — Is the Epistle Genuine?
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SECTION 2 — IS THE EPISTLE GENUINE?
1. We now ask, What proof have we that this letter was actually written by the man whose name it bears? To answer this question, we will summon the witnesses at our command.
2. Of these witnesses, the epistle itself is the earliest and most trustworthy. As we study its pages, we are persuaded that the author, whatever his name and position, was a man of great mental power and moral worth. Everything within us bows down with respect in the presence of one far greater and better than ourselves. The writer claims to be Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Apart from the letters attributed to him and the Book of Acts, the name and fame of Paul prove his existence, ability, and influence. This letter, proved by its contents to be a work of a man of worth and power, professes to have been written by Paul, to the Church at Rome, while the author was engaged in active apostolic labour, and before he had been to Rome.
We are driven, by the fact that the epistle exists, to one of three suppositions; either that it was written by someone who deliberately attempted to palm it off as Paul’s; or that the beginning and end were added by a deceiver to a document written by an honest man; or that it is a genuine work of Paul. The impression made on us by the moral tone of the epistle makes the first supposition exceedingly difficult. The second is not quite so unlikely. To decide between the second and third, we must call other witnesses.
3. PRINTED BIBLES are found, in various languages, bearing all dates from the present time back to the invention of printing. All contain this epistle, and ascribe it to Paul.
4. Again, in the libraries of Europe are some 500 GREEK MANUSCRIPTS of epistles claiming to be Paul’s, of dates varying from the sixteenth to the fourth century. Some are mutilated, some entire; some contain all, some a part of, the epistles attributed in modern Bibles to Paul. Of these MSS., fragmentary though many of them are, a great majority contain this epistle. We find also a still larger number of LATIN MSS. of the same epistles. Some are as old as the sixth century. Most of them have this epistle. Going further from home, we meet in the East with scattered Churches which in the fifth century were broken off from the rest of Christendom. The Nestorians amid the lonely wilds of the Turko-Persian frontier and on the coasts of Southern India, the Jacobites in Egypt and Syria, and the Maronites on the slopes of Lebanon, have lingered to our day, separated from each other and from the rest of the Christian Church. Yet all have ancient MSS. of the Bible in the language of the early Syrian Christians. They all hold as genuine the Epistle to the Romans. Their long and melancholy isolation proves that, before their secession in the fifth century, the epistle existed, and was received as Paul’s. Similar testimony is borne by other ancient Churches in Egypt, Armenia, and Abyssinia. These MSS. prove that the epistle existed in the fourth century. The number of them proves that it was held in great esteem. This proof is strengthened by the fewness of written copies of other ancient works. Of the Epistle of Clement, the earliest Christian document after the New Testament, until recently only one mutilated copy was known, that contained in the Alexandrian MS. of the Bible: see below, § iii. 4. In A.D. 1875 another Greek MS., dated A.D. 1056, was found at Constantinople. Some months afterwards a Syriac version of the epistle was found. These three MSS. are the only ancient copies, known to us, of this valuable epistle. The immense number of ancient copies of the Epistle to the Romans reveals its importance in the early Church, and thus confirms its genuineness.
5. In order to continue our search into the ages preceding the oldest MSS., we will call another class of witnesses, the EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS. We have a Church History from the days of Christ to those of Constantine by EUSEBIUS, bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine. In bks. iii. 28, v. 28, vii. 26 he speaks of events in the reign of Gallienus (A.D. 259-270) as occurring in his own time. His testimony therefore carries us some years beyond the oldest existing MSS. In bk. iii. 3 we read, “The epistles of Paul are fourteen, all well known and beyond doubt. It should not, however, be concealed that some have set aside the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that it was disputed, as not being Paul’s… The same apostle, in the address at the close of the Epistle to the Romans, has among others made mention also of Hermas… Let this suffice for the present, to show what books were disputed, what admitted by all, in the Sacred Scriptures.” See also bk. iii.
25. Eusebius admits disputes about the authorship of some of the books of the N.T., but declares that there were none about this.
6. Of an earlier day we have the voluminous writings of ORIGEN, who lived in Egypt and Palestine, A.D. 186-253. He wrote a commentary on this epistle, as Paul’s, of which a Latin translation has come down to us.
7. Several works are extant of TERTULLIAN, who lived, about A.D. 160-240, at Carthage in North Africa. He frequently quotes this epistle as genuine. See especially his work Against Marcion bk. v. 13, 14. He says that Marcion rejected parts of the epistle, because they did not suit his teaching; and argues with him from what even he admitted to be genuine. In so doing, he quotes Romans 1:16, 18; 2:2, 12, 14, 16, 21, 24, 29; 5:1, 20, 21; Romans 7:4, 7, 8, 12, 14; 8:3, 10, 11; 10:2-4; 11:33-35; Romans 12:9, 12, 16-19; 13:10. Marcion held views utterly opposed to those taught in this epistle; yet he dared not deny its genuineness. Tertullian appeals (Presc. against Heretics § 36) to the Churches to which Paul wrote, as the present guardians of his letters. “With whom the authentic letters of the apostles are read, uttering the voice and representing the face of each one. Is Achaia near to thee? Thou hast Corinth. If thou art not far from Macedonia, thou hast Philippi, thou hast Thessalonica. If thou art able to go into Asia, thou hast Ephesus. If thou art near to Italy, thou hast Rome.” This appeal reveals the writer’s full confidence that these epistles came from the pen of Paul.
8. We go now to Alexandria, where, till about A.D. 220, we find CLEMENT, of whom we possess important works. He and his writings are mentioned in bks. v. 11, vi. 6, 13, 14 of Eusebius’ Church History. In his Misc. bk. i. 1, Clement tells us that he learnt the truth in Greece and Italy from noble men who handed to him the apostles’ teaching. Again and again he quotes this epistle as Paul’s. As examples I quote Misc. bk. iii. 3: “The divine apostle who says, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Also in ch. 4: “The apostle writes in the Epistle to the Romans, and not as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come. Whose condemnation is just.” Again, in ch. 11: “In the same way Paul writes in the Epistle to the Romans, We that are dead to sin, how shall we still live therein?… since our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, to neither present your members instruments of unrighteousness to sin.”
9. Let us now visit Gaul in A.D. 180. We find there IRENÆUS, who has just become bishop of Lyons. His predecessor, Pothinus, has lately been martyred at the age of ninety: Eusebius, Ch. Hist. bk. v. 1. Irenæus has been bearer to Rome of a letter from his own Church, of which a fragment has been (see ch. 4) preserved by Eusebius; and in which he is spoken of as a presbyter of the Church. From his pen we have a valuable work Against Heresies, which is referred to in ch. 5 of Tertullian’s treatise Against the Valentinians. In this work, Irenæus says (bk. iii. 3. 4) that in his youth he sat at the feet of Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John. Since Polycarp was martyred not later than A.D. 166, and Irenæus was bishop in A.D. 180, his birth cannot have been later, and was probably much earlier, than A.D. 150. He constantly quotes this epistle as Paul’s. Throughout his writings, there is no trace of doubt about its authorship. The reader may refer to bk. iii. 16. 3: “Paul writing to the Romans, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, predestined for the Gospel of God, which He promised by His prophets in Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made of the seed of David according to flesh, who was predestined Son of God in power. And again, writing to the Romans concerning Israel, he says, whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever.” Also in § 9: “Paul speaking to the Romans says, much more they who obtain the abundance of grace,” and quotes Romans 5:17; 6:3f; Romans 5:6-10; 8:34; 6:9; 8:11. See also chs. 18. 2, 3, 7; 20. 2, 3; 22. 1, 3. He agrees (in ch. 12. 12) with Tertullian that Marcion rejected parts of this epistle, but admitted the remainder as genuine.
The testimony of Irenæus carries us further back even than his own day. With Tertullian and Clement, he appeals to the unanimous teaching handed down from the apostles. In bk. iv. 27. 1, 2, he tells us that one of his teachers quoted this epistle thus, “and therefore Paul said, If God spared not the natural branches, etc.; “ and says that this teacher had himself listened to the apostles. He speaks (in bk, i. 26. 2) of the Ebionites as rejecting the writings of Paul on the ground that he was an apostate from the Law. From this we learn that some admitted the genuineness, while they denied the authority, of the letters which bore the name of Paul.
10. We have one more witness of the same date. A torn part of an ancient MS. is preserved in the Ambrosian Library at Milan; which from its discoverer is called the FRAGMENT OF MURATORI. Its date is fixed by a reference to Pius, who is said to have been “very lately” bishop of Rome. From Irenæus (bk. iii. 3. 3, 4) we learn that Pius was bishop in the middle of the second century. The fragment must therefore have been written by a contemporary of Irenæus. It gives a full list of Paul’s epistles; and in reference to this epistle says, “He described more fully to the Romans the order of the Scriptures, intimating however that Christ was the chief matter of them.”
11. We have no earlier quotations. An important earlier writer is JUSTIN. But he writes for unbelievers; and therefore does not appeal to books which for them had no authority. We find however, in § 23 of his Dialogue with Trypho, a passage so similar to this epistle that we cannot but think that Justin had seen it: “For also Abraham himself, being in uncircumcision, because of his faith with which he believed God, was justified and blessed, as the Scripture signifies. And he received circumcision for a sign, but not for righteousness.” CLEMENT, who was bishop of Rome at the end of the first century, writes, in ch. 35 of his epistle: “Having cast away from ourselves all unrighteousness and lawlessness, covetousness, debates, malignity and deceit, whisperings and backbitings, hatred of God, pride and boasting, vainglory and want of hospitality. For they who do these things are hateful to God. And not only those who do them, but also they who take pleasure in them.”
12. Such are our witnesses. What does their evidence prove? That in the latter half of the second century, in places so far apart as Carthage, Egypt, and Gaul-we may add by sure inference Greece and Rome-no one, friend or foe, doubted that Paul wrote this epistle. We stand by Irenæus in A.D.
180. He is bishop of Lyons. He has been presbyter under Pothinus: and Pothinus was born in the first century. He gives, in bk. iii. 3. 3, a list of the bishops of Rome from the days of the apostles; and thus reveals his familiarity with the history of that Church. He has himself been a delegate to Rome; and must therefore know the opinion there held about the authorship of this famous epistle. He has learnt the Christian doctrine from the lips of Polycarp and other Christian men. Yet he is utterly unconscious of any difference of opinion on this subject. He says not a word in defence of the genuineness of the epistle: for, where there is no attack, defence is needless. Standing by his side, we catch the words of ancient men on whose lips lingers the echo of an apostle’s voice. We hear the din of controversy which arose even in those early days, if not within, at least around, the sacred courts of the Church of Christ. The contention is hushed for a moment, that old and young, friends and foes, may proclaim with one voice that the Epistle to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul.
We now ask, Could this unanimity have been obtained for a writing partly or altogether forged? Suppose a case. The laws of causation have been set aside; and a bramble has produced the fruit of Paradise: a deceiver has written this epistle. Or, a great and good man has written it; and has left his unnamed offspring to the tender mercies of an ungrateful world. The foundling has escaped the notice of everyone else, and come into the hands of a deceiver; and by him has been wrapped up in the garments of Paul, and brought to Rome. When was it brought? Not during the apostle’s life. For a unanimous tradition asserts that he died at Rome: and his presence there was a safeguard against such imposture. It must then have been brought after his death. It is shown to the members of the Church. No one has heard of it before. Yet it professes to have been sent to them years ago, when Paul was in active work, and before he came to Rome. They ask at once, Where has the letter been all this time? Why have we not seen it before? The details given in Rom. 1: and 15: expose the fraud. That this important work is in the form of a letter to a prominent Church, is thus in some sense a voucher for its genuineness.
In short, we have two results for which we seek causes; the existence of the epistle, and its unanimous reception in the second century. In Paul we have an author worthy of the epistle; and in the epistle a work worthy of Paul. If it came from him, its universal reception is accounted for. If it did not, its reception is a fact for which no sufficient cause can be assigned.
13. As yet we have given only a part of the argument. In other volumes I have made out a case as strong as, or stronger than, the above for the genuineness of the Epistles to the Corinthians and the Galatians. And this evidence supports that which I have just adduced for the Epistle to the Romans. For the same spirit breathes in all. And innumerable coincidences, in phrase and thought, of the epistles one compared with the other and of all as compared with the Book of Acts testify strongly to the truth of all. If all are spurious, a stupendous miracle has been wrought for the deception of mankind. If the others are genuine, we have in them another argument for the genuineness of this.
The argument from the intellectual and moral worth of the epistle, from its coincidences with other epistles and with the Book of Acts, and from the oneness of Paul’s character as depicted in his writings, can be appreciated only by personal study of the New Testament. I have however sought to answer the question of this section at the beginning rather than at the end of the volume, in order that, in approaching the text of the epistle, we may do so with a reasonable certainty that it came from Paul. The reader will do well to refer to this subject after his study of the text. It is further discussed in my other volumes.
14. The strength of the case I have tried to defend has been universally felt. With exceptions unworthy of mention, this epistle has been received by all, from the Ebionites who detested the author but admitted the authorship to modern rationalists who accept the work as genuine but deny the sacred facts so fully believed by its acknowledged author. Of the latter, a conspicuous example is F. C. Baur, who, while denying the resurrection of Christ, admits (The Apostle Paul vol. i. p. 276) that “against these four epistles (see above) not even the slightest suspicion of spuriousness has ever been raised.” That such a writer accepts this epistle as genuine, affords strong presumption that its genuineness cannot be disputed. Questions of genuineness which have been severely contested are carefully discussed in my volume on the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
15. Let us now review the position gained. What have we proved? Simply that Paul wrote the epistle. By a similar argument we might have proved the authorship of the Dialogues of Plato and of the Koran. The inspiration of the writer and the authority of his writings have not been mentioned. We have however gained much. We began our study in order to come near to Christ, that we might learn what He actually taught. In our search we have found a man who professes to have been commissioned by Him to proclaim His Gospel. We can therefore now listen to an apostle’s voice. We stand among the disciples of Paul, and hear what he says about his Master.
We may push the argument one step further. As we listen to Paul, we shall be convinced of his sincerity. His thoughts are too intense to be feigned. The man may be deceived: he is not a deceiver. We shall therefore stand, not merely among the disciples, but within the heart, of Paul. We shall look at Christ as Paul saw Him.
Section 3 — Are Our Copies of the Epistle Correct?
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SECTION 3 — ARE OUR COPIES OF THE EPISTLE
CORRECT?
1. We now ask, Is the letter, as Paul wrote it, correctly reproduced in our English Revised Version?
On the title-page of the New Testament (A.V. and R.V.) we read that it was translated out of the Greek. I shall endeavour to show that this epistle was written by Paul in Greek; that, within limits which I shall specify, it is preserved, as he wrote it, in the Greek text underlying the Revised Version; and that the translation is on the whole correct.
2. It might be supposed that a letter to the Roman Church would be written in Latin: but indisputably this was not so. The Latin fathers never claim their own language as the original of any part of the Bible. Augustine complains that, in the early days of the Church, whoever obtained a Greek MS. and knew anything of Greek undertook a translation; and that therefore almost all the Latin copies were different. He adds, “but among the interpretations themselves, let the Italic be preferred before others:” Christian Doctrine bk. ii. chs. 11, 15. The best was therefore a translation. Such was the variety of the Latin copies that in A.D. 382 Damasus, bishop of Rome, committed to Jerome the task of revision. Jerome published the Gospels in A.D. 384. In his preface he says to Damasus, “Thou urgest me to make a new work out of an old one, to sit as arbiter on copies of the Scriptures scattered throughout the world; and, because they vary amongst themselves, to determine which are they which agree with the Greek truth.” This proves that the Greek copies were the standard with which the Latin were to be compared. Moreover, that the epistle was written not in Latin but in Greek, is put beyond doubt by a comparison of the Greek and Latin copies. In the Latin we constantly find the same thought expressed in different ways: in the Greek, the variations are nearly all such as would naturally arise from the mistakes of a copyist.
The use of the Greek language in this letter was justified by its great prevalence in Rome. This is testified by many writers; and by the MSS. found among the ruins of Herculaneum, which are, I believe, nearly all Greek. Most of the early bishops of Rome bear Greek names.
3. We now ask, To what extent does the Greek text underlying our Revised Version reproduce the epistle as Paul wrote it? To answer this question, we summon again the witnesses who gave evidence about the genuineness of the epistle. We have the Greek MSS., the ancient versions, and the many quotations from early Christian writers. If these witnesses, so various in origin and form, agree, their agreement is complete proof that they are correct copies of one original. If they differ, we must examine the kind and extent of their difference.
4. The GREEK MSS. are of two kinds; uncials in capital letters, and cursives in running hand. Roughly speaking, the uncials are earlier, and the cursives later, than A.D. 1000.
Eleven uncials of this epistle are known. The most famous are, the Vatican MS. at Rome; the Sinai MS. found by Tischendorf in A.D. 1859 in the monastery at Sinai, and now preserved at St. Petersburg; and the Alexandrian MS. presented in A.D. 1628 by the patriarch of Constantinople to Charles I., and now in the King’s Library at the British Museum. This last was written probably in the fifth, and the other two in the fourth, century. They are written on beautiful vellum, and each forms a thick 4to volume some 10 in. to 14 in. square. They have two, three, or four columns on a page. The letters follow each other without any separation into words; and there are very few stops. Corrections by later hands are found in all. Each of them contains a large part of the Old Testament and Apocrypha, all in Greek. The Alex. and Vat. MSS. contain the greater part, and the Sinai MS. the whole, of the New Testament. Not less interesting is the Ephraim MS., in the Imperial Library at Paris. By a strange sacrilege, the writing of the Scriptures was erased to make room for the works of Ephraim, a Syrian father. Fortunately, the erasure was not perfect. And, by the use of chemicals to restore the defaced writing, and by careful examination, the whole has been deciphered. It contains important fragments of the Old and New Testaments, including part of this epistle; and seems to have been written in the fifth century. Also of great interest is the Clermont MS., of the sixth century, with Greek and Latin on opposite pages. The others are of later date.
In addition to these are hundreds of cursives. Collectively they are of interest as reproducing a later text. But they are of little value as aids to reproduce the original.
5. Another test of the correctness of our copies is furnished by the various ancient VERSIONS. The Syriac, Latin, and Coptic are specially important. The former is written in the language called, in the N.T., Hebrew; of which we have specimens in Matthew 27:46; Mark 5:41; 7:34; 15:34; Romans 8:15; 1 Corinthians 16:22. To distinguish it from the tongue of Moses and Isaiah, we now call it Syriac or Aramaic. It was the mother-tongue of Christ and the apostles. Many MSS. preserved by scattered Syrian Churches have been brought to Europe and examined. The Latin copies are very many, and possess interest as being the only form in which the Bible was accessible to the Western Church during the middle ages. Also of great value is the Coptic or Memphitic version from Lower Egypt. Some other versions of less value have also been examined and compared.
6. The very numerous QUOTATIONS from early Christian writers also contribute to answer our question. They have been collected with more or less care. In most cases, their value as witnesses to the original text is not great. For we possess them only in a few late copies into which errors have crept even more than into the best copies of the New Testament. But there are quotations in which the correct reading is by the context made quite certain. And some of these are most valuable. Of all this, my note on Romans 5:1 supplies instances. Sometimes the writers tell us that the MSS. differed in their day; and not unfrequently they say which reading was then considered the best. Of this, Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:51 are examples. Such references are always valuable.
7. The testimony of the more important of these witnesses has been carefully weighed and recorded. The earliest Greek copies have been reprinted word for word. And of a larger number we have collations, i.e. published lists of their variations from a commonly accepted standard. Of the Alexandrian and Vatican MSS., there have been published photographs of every page, an almost exact reproduction of the original. These enable the student to become familiar with two of the oldest sacred documents extant. We have also Critical Editions of the Greek Testament, giving not only a revised text, but under each verse the variations of the chief manuscripts and versions, and the more important quotations. Of these, passing over those of an earlier day, I may mention the editions of Lachmann, in A.D. 1842-50, Tischendorf, 8th ed. 1869-72, Tregelles, 1857-70, and of Westcott and Hort in 1881.
8. What then is the testimony of these various witnesses thus carefully interrogated? They reveal, in almost every verse, variations in the ancient copies of the New Testament. But of these a large proportion affect the meaning very slightly or not at all. And very many are proved by the overwhelming weight of contrary testimony to be mere mistakes of copyists. In the edition of Westcott and Hort, vol. i. p. 561, we read: “If comparative trivialities, such as changes of order, the insertion or omission of the article with proper names, and the like, be laid aside, the words in our opinion still subject to doubt can hardly amount to more than a thousandth part of the whole New Testament.”
There are, however, important passages in which our earliest copies vary; and some in which they are almost equally divided This proves that into even these earliest copies errors have crept; and makes possible that the reading found in the larger number is not always correct. In Romans 5:1, some able scholars have ventured to set aside the unanimous verdict of our oldest copies. To detect, amid these variations, the author’s own words, is the important and difficult task of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. The critic endeavours to retrace the steps by which error has crept into the ancient copies, by searching for the reading most likely to have given rise to existing variations. With this aim, various critics have propounded various modes of procedure, arrived at by their comparison of existing documents, principles which I cannot here expound. The results attained are embodied in the Critical Editions of the Greek Testament, mentioned above, and in other works on the same subject. Where the evidence is not decisive, all editors except Tischendorf put the more probable reading in their text and the less probable in the margin. They thus indicate a preference where confident decision is impossible.
9. From the following lists, which contain all the passages in which the Critical Editors propose or suggest changes of any importance from the text underlying our A.V., the reader may learn how close is the agreement between the results attained in this branch of sacred scholarship, and how narrow is the area still open to doubt.
The following corrections, the Editors propose, without marginal note indicating doubt:—
1. Romans 1:29: omit fornication.
2. Romans 1:31: omit implacable
3. Romans 3:22: omit and upon all.
4. Romans 4:15: but where instead of for where
5. Romans 4:19: omit not.
6. Romans 6:12: omit it in.
7. Romans 6:13: as if instead of as those that are.
8. Romans 7:6: having died to that instead of that being dead.
9. Romans 7:18: is not instead of I find not.
10. Romans 8:1: omit who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
11. Romans 9:31: omit 2nd of righteousness.
12. Romans 9:32: omit of law.
13. Romans 9:33: he that instead of whomsoever.
14. Romans 10:17: Christ instead of God.
15. Romans 11:6: omit latter half of verse.
16. Romans 13:9: omit thou shalt not bear false witness.
17. Romans 14:6: omit he that regardeth not, etc.
18. Romans 14:9: came to life instead of rose and revived.
19. Romans 14:10: God instead of Christ.
20. Romans 14:15: for instead of but.
21. Romans 15:24: omit I will come to you.
22. Romans 15:29: omit of the Gospel.
23. Romans 16:24: omit the verse.
All the above changes are accepted by the English Revisers, and without note except that in Nos. 3 and 23 they tell us, in my view needlessly, that “some ancient authorities add” or “insert” the rejected words. They may all be accepted with complete confidence.
In the following list, the Editors differ, or express doubt in their margin:—
1. Romans 1:16: insert or omit first.
2. Romans 2:2: but we know or for we know.
3. Romans 3:2: insert or omit for before first.
4. Romans 3:7: but if or for if.
5. Romans 3:28: we reckon therefore or for we reckon.
6. Romans 4:19: insert or omit now.
7. Romans 5:1: let us have or we have.
8. Romans 5:2: insert or omit by faith.
9. Romans 6:19: insert or omit unto iniquity.
10. Romans 7:23: to the law or in the law.
11. Romans 8:2: made me free or made thee free.
12. Romans 8:11: through His Spirit or because of His Spirit.
13. Romans 8:24: slight alterations.
14. Romans 8:28: all things work or God works all things.
15. Romans 8:34: insert or omit from the dead.
16. Romans 8:35: Christ or God.
17. Romans 9:4: covenants or covenant.
18. Romans 9:28: an unimportant omission.
19. Romans 10:5: an unimportant rearrangement.
20. Romans 10:9: a slight verbal change.
21. Romans 11:17: the root of the fatness or the root and the fatness.
22. Romans 14:5: one man esteems or for one man esteems.
23. Romans 14:12: insert or omit to God.
24. Romans 14:19: let us follow or we follow.
25. Romans 14:21: insert or omit or is ensnared or is weak.
26. Romans 15:19: Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, or Spirit. Of the above passages, all except ten are noted in the Revisers margin. Of these ten, eight, viz. Nos. 1, 3, 9, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, are so unimportant or so slightly attested as to be unworthy of mention in a popular version. The other two, No. 11 and still more No. 22, seem to me to deserve mention. The readings overlooked are much better attested than many in the Revisers’ margin: and they affect perceptibly the course of thought. No. 7, noted in R.V. margin as read by some authorities, has exceedingly slight documentary evidence; but is rightly placed there because of the great interest attaching to it: see my note. Five other variations, Nos. 8, 13b, 14, 16, 20, noted in the margin as read by some ancient authorities, are unimportant or slightly attested. Ten other passages, Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13a, 21, 24, 25, noted as read by many ancient authorities, contain, with Nos. 7, 11, 22, all the variations worthy of serious consideration. On each of these, see my note. The rest of the text underlying the R.V. may be accepted with reasonable confidence as reproducing the actual words of the apostle.
The reading noted by the Revisers in Romans 7:25 is of no importance. In Romans 3:22; 12:11; 14:23; 16:25-27, they seem to me to have needlessly expressed doubt by putting in their margin very weakly supported readings rejected without note by all Critical Editors.
10. Our question is answered. We have examined witnesses from the solitude of the Egyptian desert and from the monasteries of western Europe, from the coast of Malabar and from the shadow of Sinai. Their testimonies agree. Just as the superscription of Pilate, in different languages, yet with one voice, proclaimed the royalty of Christ, so, in the same three languages, these many witnesses proclaim in one great harmony the one Gospel of Peace.
11. Some may ask, If the differences are so small, is not the Textual Criticism of the New Testament a needless study? If the labour spent had done nothing more than prove that the differences are so small, it would be well repaid. But it has produced other results. The corrections of the text, small as they appear, are important. No. 5 of List 1. and Nos. 5 and 6 of List 2. make the argument more clear or the words more forceful. No. 19 of List 1. detects an unfair argument for the divinity of Christ. In other parts of the New Testament, still more important variations are found. In one case, a question of authorship is affected by the changes we are compelled to adopt. In short, every word of Holy Scripture is more precious than gold; and no labour is lost which removes from it a particle of alloy.
12. One question remains. Do our modern versions fairly reproduce the text translated? In asking this question, we must remember that every translation is imperfect. It is a lens which absorbs and deflects, while it transmits, the light. This is specially true of languages far removed in time and circumstances. The words do not correspond: phrases correspond still less. Even such common English words as for and but have no exact equivalents in Greek. In every translation, something is lost in accuracy, clearness, and force. And translations often err, not merely in failing to give the writer’s full meaning, but by putting other thoughts in place of his. We ask then, To what extent does our English Revised Version put before us Paul’s thoughts?
13. A partial answer to our question may be derived from comparison of the Revised Version with its predecessors, especially with the Roman Catholic Version published at Rheims in A.D. 1582 and the Authorised Version published In A.D. 1611. Here are three translations of very different origin. Yet in the main they agree. We find in all the same epistle, the same arguments, the same teaching. The same spirit breathes in all. It is therefore the spirit not of the translator but of the original writer. Those familiar with Latin or German will do still better by comparing the Vulgate as sanctioned by Popes Sixtus V. and Clement VIII. and Luther’s version. The same results will follow. The Trinitarian Bible Society printed a leaflet containing a list of corruptions of the Roman Catholic translations published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The shortness and unimportance of the list are complete proof that the versions referred to accord substantially with the Protestant versions. And the theological differences of Roman Catholics and Protestants are vouchers for the comparative correctness of that which they agree to accept. I do not say that where these witnesses agree we may rely absolutely upon them; but that they agree in the main, and in the main may be accepted.
14. It is nevertheless true that readers and even writers have not unfrequently fallen into serious errors of doctrine by using only one version of the Bible, e.g. the English Authorised Version. A dangerous mistranslation, only in part corrected in the R.V., is found in A.V. of Hebrews 6:4-6. A good safeguard against such error is the use of various translations. As a second and better translation to put beside the familiar Authorised Version, the Revised Version is of immense value. Another safeguard is the constant comparison of Scripture with Scripture. Hold with great caution any doctrine not frequently taught in the Bible. The Spirit of Inspiration has made provision for defects of translation by giving us the vital truths in many and various forms. A third safeguard is found in the argumentative form of much of the New Testament. The meaning of one statement is often determined by another given in proof. By tracing the line of thought, we shall for the most part be saved from serious error and guided aright. Moreover, all careful study will make us more familiar with the sacred writer’s modes of thought and style of writing. There is no limit to the extent to which a student of the English Bible may lessen the disadvantage of using a translation. This is especially true of those who, desiring to know His will, seek in their study of the Bible the guidance of the Spirit of God. In approaching the Book, they approach God; and through the written word God speaks to them. They recognise each deeper insight into its meaning as a revelation from Him who unveils to the humblest who sit at His feet much which lies concealed from others more educated. In many cases, even the difficulties of the Bible will be an occasion of gratitude to Him who makes the darkness to be light about us.
15. The translation here given is no rival to the Revised Version. Indeed, I have not been careful to give always good idiomatic English. I have sought merely to reproduce in modern English, at any cost of elegance or good grammar, as accurately and as fully as possible the sense of the Greek words used by Paul. Moreover, a translation was needful in order to convey to the reader, especially to those familiar with the original, my interpretation of the grammatical forms there used. It would have been useless to reprint or revise another version. Yet, without a continuous text of the epistle, the volume would have been incomplete. The use of various translations is helpful by teaching us to lean not on the outward form of the Bible but on its inner sense.
Section 4 — When, Where, to Whom, and For What Purpose, Was The
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SECTION 4 — WHEN, WHERE, TO WHOM, AND
FOR WHAT PURPOSE, WAS THE EPISTLE
WRITTEN
1. Of these questions, the first three are less important than those discussed in the foregoing sections. To answer them is no essential part of my argument. Our proof that this epistle expresses the mind of Paul would remain even if we knew not when and where and to whom it was written. At the same time we shall find information on these topics which we cannot afford to neglect. Moreover, to sift details, gives us closer contact with the men and facts of the Bible and a firmer conviction of their reality. It will be so in this case.
2. We may fix the date of a book in reference either to some common era such as the year of our Lord or to other events in the life of the writer. The former method tells us what was taking place in the world at the same time; the latter will connect this letter with whatever else we know of Paul. This latter method we now adopt. The place of the epistle in the Christian era is carefully discussed in Diss. iii. of my volume on Corinthians.
3. Paul tells us, in Romans 1:8-15; 15:23-33, that he has not yet been at Rome, that he is free, on his way to Jerusalem with money collected for the Christians there by those in Macedonia and Achaia. He looks forward to Jerusalem with fear; but hopes to be saved from the Jews and then to go through Rome to Spain. Let us compare this with what he says elsewhere about himself. In 1 Corinthians 16:1ff (written apparently from Ephesus: see 1 Corinthians 16:8) Paul speaks of the collection as not yet made at Corinth, but hopes to find it ready when he arrives there: he expects to spend some time at Corinth, and then to either take or send the money to Jerusalem. In 2 Corinthians 2:12f, we find that Paul has left Ephesus and come through Troas to Macedonia. The Macedonian collection is made; that of Achaia, of which province Corinth was the capital, is not yet made: 2 Corinthians 8:1-4; 9:1-6. And Paul is on his way to Corinth: 2 Corinthians 9:4; 12:20; 13:1. Thus, although this epistle does not mention those to Corinth, nor the converse, the three epistles are bound together by a matter common to all. The letter to Rome is evidently later than those to Corinth; but was written while Paul was engaged in the same business.
4. We turn now to the Book of Acts, written probably by a companion of Paul: see Diss. ii. of my Corinthians. It makes no mention of these epistles, nor directly of the collection; and may therefore be looked upon as an independent witness. We will compare the account it gives with the facts already gathered from Paul’s letters. The proposed visit to Jerusalem cannot be later than that recorded in Acts 21:15, which was followed by his arrest. Let us trace his previous course. In Acts 19:21; 20:1, we find him at Ephesus, intending to go through Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem, and then to Rome. He goes through Macedonia to Greece, which formed the Roman province of Achaia. After spending three months there, he goes through Macedonia and Miletus to Jerusalem, a circuitous route occasioned by a plot of the Jews. He has been warned of danger at Jerusalem: Acts 20:23. In Acts 24:17, he tells Felix that he came to Jerusalem bringing alms for his nation. Here we have the details gathered from the epistles. We therefore infer that the Epistle to the Romans was written during the journey narrated in Acts 20.
Since, as we learn from Romans 15:26, the collection was already made, Paul must have arrived in Achaia. And it is much more likely that this letter, which bears marks of deliberation, was written during Paul’s three months’ sojourn there than on his journey from Greece to Jerusalem. Now Corinth was the capital of Achaia; the letters to Corinth say that Paul was going there; and communication with Rome was more easy from Corinth than from any other point in Paul’s course. We therefore infer that the epistle was written from Corinth. And this is confirmed by the mention in Romans 16:1 of Cenchreæ, the port of Corinth. From Acts 20:6 we learn that Paul sailed from Philippi shortly after Easter on his way from Corinth to Jerusalem. He must therefore have been at Corinth during the winter. Romans 15:25 implies that the letter was written almost at the close of his sojourn there. From all this we infer as probable that the Epistle to the Romans was written from Corinth, in the early part of the year in which Paul was arrested at Jerusalem. In Diss. iii. of my Corinthians, I have adduced reasons for believing that the year referred to was A.D. 59, and clear proof that the letter was written early in the reign of Nero.
Notice also that, of the men with Paul when writing, (see Romans 16:21,) Timothy and Sosipater (or Sopater) are mentioned in Acts 20:4 as his companions on his journey towards Jerusalem. Gaius, his host, (see Romans 16:23,) was perhaps the man mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:14 as belonging to the Church at Corinth. The same name is found in Acts 20:4. But the frequency of the name leaves us uncertain whether it refers to the same man.
5. If the above inferences be correct, this epistle stands in close relation to 1 and 2 Corinthians. That this is actually so, I have proved at some length in Diss. i. of my Corinthians.
A study of these details greatly confirms the genuineness of all three epistles. The coincidences prove that we have here real persons; and that the collection of money and the journey were actually made. All possibility of fraud is taken away by the incidental nature of the references.
6. About the Christians at Rome, to whom the epistle was written, our earliest information is derived from the letter itself. And it is very scanty. The number of persons greeted in Rom 16:, probably a small part of the whole, suggests a community of some size. The appeal in Romans 2:17 implies a Jewish element; but the general tone of the letter, e.g. Romans 1:6, 13; 11:13, suggests a majority of Gentiles. The Church was famous everywhere: Romans 1:8. But this is partly accounted for by the fact that from every place there was a road to Rome. Some of the members had been long in the faith: Romans 16:7. There are no traces of error among the people. Had there been serious error, it would, from the conspicuous position of the Church, have been known to Paul, and probably referred to in the epistle. The letter suggests a Church of some years’ standing, of stability and importance. This is confirmed by the Roman historian Tacitus, who tells us (Annuals bk. xv. 44) that six years later “an immense multitude” were convicted in Rome of being Christians, and put to death.
7. The origin of the Church at Rome is unknown. During the ministry of Christ, many thousands of Jews lived there. So Josephus, Antiquities bk. xvii. 11. 1: “The number of the ambassadors sent by the authority of the nation was fifty, to which they joined eight thousand Jews that were at Rome already.7” Similarly Philo, On the Virtues of Ambassadors § 23: “The great division of Rome which is on the other side of the Tiber, which was occupied and inhabited by the Jews. And they were mostly Roman citizens, having been emancipated: for, having been brought as captives into Italy, they were emancipated by those who had bought them for slaves… They were in the habit of contributing sacred sums of money from their firstfruits, and sending them to Jerusalem by the hands of those who were to conduct the sacrifices.” They also made proselytes. So Josephus, Antiquities bk. xviii. 3. 5: “Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one who had embraced the Jewish religion.”
In Acts 2:10, we find Roman Jews and proselytes at a feast at Jerusalem. It must have been so during our Lord’s lifetime. These pilgrims would probably hear His preaching: and in this way the good seed may have been early carried to Rome. The close connection of the metropolis with other parts of the empire would bring Romans, both Jews and Gentiles, into contact with the Gospel. Of this, the case of Cornelius is an example. Some converted in other places would probably sojourn or settle at Rome. So probably Aquila, one of the Jews banished from Rome by Claudius. For, when Paul first met him, he is spoken of only as “a Jew :” Acts 18:2. In Romans 16:3, 4 we find him again in Rome, holding Christian meetings in his house. Of all places, it was most likely that in Rome the (Gospel would take root even without apostolic help. And this is the simplest explanation of the origin of the Church there. Irenæus (bk. iii. 3. 2) speaks of “the Church founded and constituted at Rome by the two most glorious apostles Peter and Paul.” But this epistle is complete proof that the Christian community at Rome was not founded by Paul: and this disproof weakens greatly the above statement as proof that it was founded by Peter. All that we can infer is that these apostles laboured at Rome, and thus contributed to the establishment of the Church. The argument, from the silence of the epistle about him, that Peter had not been at Rome when Paul wrote is weakened by the absence in 1 Peter, written to Churches founded by Paul, of any mention of him.
8. We notice that in this epistle Paul lays aside the tone of authority with which he had recently addressed the Churches in Corinth and Galatia, founded by himself. His maxim not to build on another’s foundation (Romans 15:20) seems to have kept him from Rome. He could not go there until he went on his way to countries beyond. This is however no proof that the Church there was founded by another apostle. Other men, apostles, elders, or private Christians, had preached there; and had thus laid a foundation. Paul preferred to preach where Christ was not yet known.
9. We cannot detect in this epistle, as we can in those to the Corinthians and Galatians, any definite occasion prompting its composition. It does not seem to have been written to correct any special error, or to give information on any special subject. But we can easily understand the writer’s purpose. For years he has watched with interest the Roman Church. He sees its importance in relation to the Western world. Many friends at Rome increase this interest. At length he has a prospect of visiting them, but only for a short time. A deaconess of a neighbouring Church is going to Rome. And Paul takes the opportunity of sending a letter which will be an outline, and an authoritative standard, of his teaching, and thus a forerunner of himself. Consequently, this is, of all his letters, the most general and complete. It is the Gospel according to Paul. The exact aim must be gathered from the epistle itself. An outline is given in the table of contents at the beginning of this volume. Paul’s purpose, as I understand it, is, To-assert, and logically develop, as an organic whole, the good news of salvation announced by Christ, especially in view of the distinction of Jew and Gentile; to show that this good news is in harmony with God’s declarations and conduct as recorded in the Old Testament; and to apply it to matters of secular and of church life.
Section 5 — Suggestions For Bible Study
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SECTION 5 — SUGGESTIONS FOR BIBLE STUDY
A few suggestions for method of study may be helpful to the young student.
1. First determine the text of the epistle, i.e. the words actually written by Paul. For the Greek text, note the different readings of the Critical Editions, both where one differs from another and where an editor records his doubt by putting an alternative reading in the margin. This may be easily done by using the editions of Scrivener or Gebhardt or the Stutgard edition. The student of the English Bible may do the same by carefully observing the marginal notes of the Revised Version, especially those marked “Many ancient authorities read.” In § 3, I have given lists of all various readings worthy of consideration.
2. The next step should be to read consecutively and carefully the whole epistle, noting specially its various turning-points. These last are indicated by a manifestly new topic, by a change of tone, and sometimes by the entrance of a new word or by a new grammatical construction. They admit of many gradations of importance, noting primary, secondary, or subordinate divisions of the epistle. For example, in Romans 1:8 Paul passes from a Christian greeting in the third person to matters between himself and his readers in the first person singular and the second person plural. In Romans 1:16, he passes on from these to the great matter of the epistle, viz. the Gospel of salvation for every believer. In Romans 1:18, he turns suddenly from the Gospel to God’s anger against sin which made it needful; and in Romans 3:21 returns to a fuller exposition of the Gospel. These two transitions mark off Romans 1:18-3:20 as an integral part of the epistle. Within this last, we note minor transitions, e.g. in Romans 2:1 from men who worship idols, spoken of in the third person plural, to a man who though equally guilty hopes to escape punishment, whom Paul accosts in the second person singular. At Romans 2:12 the word law introduces a new thought, as does circumcision in Romans 2:25. In Romans 3:1, and again in Romans 3:9, a new subordinate topic is introduced by a sudden question.
For an intelligent view of the epistle as a whole, and of each part in its relation to the whole, this analysis of it into primary and subordinate divisions is of utmost importance. An aid to it will be found in the table of contents at the beginning of this volume. The student will notice the beginning and the end, and the main body, of the epistle. In this last, I have marked five divisions. Their titles form a rudimentary outline of it. The titles of the subordinate sections form a longer outline of the whole epistle.
3. After this preliminary survey, the student will concentrate his attention on one section. In so doing, the meaning of its words claims first attention. These are the very alphabet of exposition and of theology. Only by learning the sense in which the sacred writers use their own words, can we follow their thoughts. The meaning of the Greek words must be learnt from their use by earlier Greek writers, still more from their use in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, in which we find Hebrew thought clothed in Greek forms, and lastly from their use in the New Testament. For all this, a good concordance, English or Greek, is indispensable. A careful comparison of the use of words in the Revised Version of the Old and New Testaments with the help of a concordance will give a wonderfully accurate knowledge of the meaning of Bible words.
The meaning of the words of this epistle has received special attention in this volume. The results are embodied in special notes scattered through my exposition.
After the words, the phrases need careful study. Indeed the teaching of the whole epistle is coloured by the meaning of a phrase used in Romans 1:17; 3:21, 22; 10:3.
Our next work is to trace the apostle’s line of thought. For this difficult task we shall need every resource at our disposal, the meaning of the words, inflections, phrases, and a grammatical and logical analysis of sentences. His arguments deserve special study. We must carefully note and distinguish the facts and principles taken for granted, and the inferences drawn from them. From these last we must endeavour to reproduce Paul’s conception of the Gospel and of Christ: and this conception thus reproduced will shed light upon the various parts of the epistle.
4. At the close of this work, in Diss. i., I sum up the results of our study and endeavour to estimate the practical worth of the conception of the Gospel embodied in this epistle. We shall find that the facts and doctrines here assumed are assumed also, in other forms, by the other writers of the New Testament; that the facts assumed will bear the most searching tests of historical criticism; and that the doctrines may be traced by reliable documentary evidence to the lips of Christ. Thus will our study contribute to the exposition and the proof of the Gospel.
A careful study of the words and arguments of this epistle will enrich greatly the student’s own spiritual life. And this spiritual enrichment will shed important light on the meaning of the apostle’s words. For it will enable us to see the matters about which he writes from his own point of view. Access to the inmost sanctuary of Holy Scripture is granted only to those who come to worship.
Dissertation 1 — Paul’s View of the Gospel and of Christ
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DOCTRINAL RESULTS
DISSERTATION 1 — PAUL’S VIEW OF THE
GOSPEL AND OF CHRIST
1. In Introd. iii., we found proof that the Epistle to the Romans as we have it in Greek and English is a copy or translation, correct within certain specified limits, of a letter actually written by Paul. Therefore, while studying it, we have been in the presence, and have listened to the voice, of an apostle. We shall now consider his claims to our confidence, and the practical worth of his testimony touching the teaching and the dignity of Christ.
2. We notice Paul’s wide range of thought, and his careful observation of men and things. He sees in the material universe a revelation of God to all men; and in the inborn moral sense of the Gentiles he finds a divine law by which they will be judged: Romans 1:19, 20; 2:14, 15. In the groans of the lower creatures, he hears an unconscious prophecy of coming deliverance: Romans 8:19-22. The folly and shame of the heathen are to him a proof of God’s anger against them: Romans 1:21-32. Yet he is prepared to admit excellence among them acceptable to God: Romans 2:26, 27. He has considered the claims of the rulers of the State, and the origin of their authority: Romans 13:1-7. All this betrays, not merely a man born and for many years living among Gentiles, but one who has not thought it beneath him to make them an object of study.
We notice also his complete freedom from Jewish, and from Anti-Jewish, prejudice. He gives the Gentiles credit for occasional morality, and shows that in many cases the greater knowledge of the Jews did but increase their guilt: Romans 2:17-29. He recognises the great advantages of Israel, but declares that the Gentiles are without excuse: Romans 3:1; 9:4, 5; 1:20. We observe the impartiality with which he looks at both sides of a question, and gives to each man his due; e.g. his words in Ro 14: to the weak and to the strong. And we notice his readiness, while claiming apostolic authority, to reason out the matters brought before his readers. Even his outbursts of exultation take the form of argument. We are strongly impressed, not only with Paul’s fairness and intellectual power, but with his moral worth and his intense earnestness. Everything in the epistle bears the stamp of reality. The writer is evidently a good man; and believes, and is deeply moved by, all he says. It is equally certain that he has had abundant means of information: for he has been a colleague both of the murderers, and of the chosen disciples, of Christ. In the noonday of life, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:5; 1 Timothy 1:13, he found reason for leaving the former and joining the latter.
We have therefore in Paul a witness who has had ample opportunities of knowing that about which he writes, a man of keen observation and impartial judgment, and of undoubted honesty. What does he say about the teaching and the claims of Jesus?
3. On p. 250 {See Beet “Romans 8:38”} we saw that the whole epistle is an assertion, defence, and development of five great doctrines, viz. Justification through Faith, and through the Death of the Son of God, Sanctification in Christ, through Faith, and in the Holy Spirit. Of these doctrines, the first is the most prominent. It is formally asserted in Romans 1:16, 17, at the beginning of the epistle; is supported in Romans 1:18-3:20 by proof that apart from the Gospel all men are exposed to punishment; is reasserted in Romans 3:21, 22; and is supplemented in Romans 3:24-26 and in Romans 6:1-8:39. by the doctrines of Justification through Christ’s Death and Sanctification in Christ, which harmonize Justification through Faith with the justice and the holiness of God. Of this primal doctrine, Sanctification through Faith is a development. Sanctification in the Spirit is made needful by man’s felt inward bondage to sin. In Romans 9:1-11:36, the primal doctrine and its consequences are shown to be in harmony with the earlier revelations to Abraham and through Moses to Israel. The chapters following are an application of the above doctrines to sundry matters in practical life. Thus the whole epistle is a development, in view of the character of God and the facts of human nature, of one great fundamental doctrine. This doctrine, thus developed, is the Gospel of Paul; the good news he everywhere announced, and for which he claimed the belief of all men.
4. No one who reads this epistle can doubt for a moment that Paul himself fully believed these great doctrines. And it is evident that they aroused the deepest emotions of his heart, and were the directive principle of his life. This is proved by the bright and peaceful hope and the exultant joy which gild these pages, a joy undimmed by the hardship and peril (see Romans 8:35, 36; 15:31, 32) which have left their mark on this epistle. For, evidently, Paul’s belief of these doctrines was the ground of all his hope and the source of all his joy. Of the sincerity of his belief, he gave proof by passing, in the midst of a public career, from the ranks of the persecutors to those of the persecuted.
5. We now ask, How came Paul to believe these doctrines, and on what grounds did his belief rest? Since the Gospel proclaims pardon from God, nothing less than a revelation from God is sufficient ground for belief of it. And we have not in this case a universal revelation like that which makes known to every man the eternal principles of right and wrong. John the Baptist needed no proof (cp. John 10:41) for his moral teaching: because he did but re-echo a voice of authority which speaks in every heart. But the Gospel rather contradicts than re-echoes the voice within. For it proclaims life for men whose conscience condemns them as worthy to die. Therefore no intelligent man will believe the good news of life unless it be supported by an authority equal to that which has already proclaimed his condemnation.
We have seen that Paul accepts these doctrines with perfect confidence, but gives no proof of them. That such a man accepted such doctrines, is a well-attested mental fact which requires explanation. We ask again, On what grounds did he accept them?
6. Paul teaches frequently that Christ is the personal object of saving faith: e.g. Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16, 20. This implies that the glad tidings of salvation came through His lips and were accepted by Paul on His authority. This is also expressly asserted in Galatians 1:11, 12. And it is the only explanation, and a complete explanation, of the serene confidence with which in this epistle Paul asserts without proof the doctrines of the Gospel. Consequently, the intensity of his conviction that these doctrines are divinely-revealed truth is a measure of his confidence that they were actually taught by Jesus. This evidence is confirmed, and the proof thereby afforded raised to absolute certainty, by the fact that these doctrines or doctrines equivalent are taught more or less definitely, and are directly attributed to Christ, by other N.T. writers: see pages 113, {See Beet “Romans 3:22”}, 119 {See Beet “Romans 3:26”}. Therefore, whatever we may think of the teaching and the claims of Christ, we are compelled to admit as historic fact that the above doctrines, assumed with complete confidence by Paul, were actually taught by Jesus of Nazareth.
7. We now ask, How came Paul to accept the simple authority of Jesus as sufficient proof of the truth of these important doctrines? To answer this question, I shall endeavour to reproduce Paul’s conception of Jesus. Throughout the epistle, Paul betrays perfect confidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, by using the word Christ as His proper name.
Jesus Christ is, in Paul’s view, the channel of blessing from God to man, blessing designed for all and actually received by many: Romans 5:15-19. Through Christ, Paul was reconciled to God, made an object of His favour, and called to be an apostle: Romans 1:5; 5:1, 11. Through Christ, he now exults in God and will hereafter reign in life: Romans 5:11, 17. He bids his readers reckon themselves to be, in Christ, dead to sin and living for God; and in Him he has been made free from the power of sin: Romans 6:11; 8:2. Hence it is in or through Christ that God manifests His infinite wisdom and love; and through Christ Paul’s praises go up to God: Romans 16:27; 8:39; 1:8; 7:25. Through Christ, God will judge the world: Romans 2:16. Justification is attributed specially to the death of Christ: Romans 3:25; 5:9, 10. The mention of “blood” implies a violent death; and Romans 6:6 reminds us that the violence took the form of crucifixion. To this death Christ submitted deliberately, by the will of God, for our good and to make us servants of Christ: Romans 3:25; 5:6-8; 14:9, 15. The need for so costly a means of salvation lay in our sins; looked at in the light of the justice of God: Romans 4:25; 3:26.
The above teaching implies that Christ’s relation to God differs in kind from ours, and therefore puts Him infinitely above us. That Christ’s death saves us from the consequences of our sins, implies that, while all others have sinned, He is sinless. This is confirmed by Romans 8:3, “in the likeness of the flesh of sin.” Again, that the death of one man made it consistent with the justice of God to offer salvation to all men, implies that in essential worth the one Man surpassed the entire race. The difference between Christ and ourselves is further seen in the frequently-recurring words in Christ. Speaking of a man of flesh and blood who lived in his own day, and is now dead and gone, Paul declares Him to be the vital element in which His servants are, and live, and exult, and speak, and write, and work: Romans 16:7, 11; 6:11; 15:17; 9:1; 16:22, 3, 12. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ; and the presence of the Spirit of God is the life-giving presence within us of Christ Himself: Romans 8:9, 10. Absent in body, Christ is still the Master whom we obey and before whom we stand: Romans 14:8; 16:18.
Having learnt that Jesus is infinitely above us, we are not surprised to find Him placed by Paul infinitely near to God. That one man died to save a race of men, is said in Romans 5:6-8 to be a wonderful proof of God’s love to the race. This implies that the one Man stands infinitely nearer to God than does the race He came to save.
We notice that five times Christ is called, in distinction from others, and as a mark of great and peculiar dignity, the Son of God, and twice more by the still more definite term His own Son; and that this relation to God is appealed to as proof of God’s love to us and of the earnestness of His purpose to bless us: see Romans 1:3, 4; 5:10; 8:3, 29, 32. This implies that Jesus is the Son of God in a sense which marks Him off from us as holding a nearer relation to God which raises Him infinitely above us, and made Him an appropriate channel of unique and infinite blessing from God to all men.
The word Son suggests the idea of origin. Consequently the term Son of God suggests that this infinite difference lies in a different mode of derivation from the common Father of Him and of us.
Again, the unique position held by Christ in this epistle, and His unique relation to God arising from His unique mode of derivation from Him, suggest at once and irresistibly that the title Son of God marks Him off-not only from us sinners but from the loftiest of the creatures of God. That God sent His own Son into the world, implies His pre-existence as, though not yet incarnate, holding a unique relation to God as derived from Him. The only explanation of this difference is that, whereas all they were created, He is without beginning, the eternal Son of God. The word Son implies not only derivation but subordination. And throughout this epistle we find absolute subordination of the Son to the Father. The word God designates the Father, even in distinction from Christ: Romans 5:8, 11, etc. It is by the Father, and to accomplish His purpose, that Jesus was “set forth in His blood:” Romans 3:25. It is to the Father that we are reconciled through the Son: Romans 5:1, 10. He it is that raised Christ, and to Him Paul’s songs of praise go up: Romans 4:24; 6:4; 10:9; 11:33-36; 16:25-27. In all these places the Father is described by the simple term God.
Similar teaching is abundant in all the epistles bearing the name of Paul. See especially Colossians 1:15-18, where he speaks of “the Son of His love” as “Firstborn before every creature,” because “in Him” and “through Him and for Him were created” the various and shining ranks of the celestial hierarchy. All this leaves no room to doubt that across the infinite gulf which separates the Creator from even the noblest and earliest of His creatures, and infinitely near and dear to the Father, Paul’s faith beheld his Master, Christ.
The title Son of God is given to Christ as a mark of special dignity in John 1:34, 50; 5:25; 11:4; 19:7; 20:31; 1 John 1:3, 7; 3:8, 23; 4:10, 15; 5:5, 9-11, 13, 20. That it denotes a unique relation to God, is made conspicuous in the title Only-begotten Son, in John 3:16, 18, 1 John 4:9. The Son declares that He does whatever the Father does, has whatever the Father has, and is one with the Father: John 5:19; 16:15; 10:30. The Jews understood that by so speaking He was claiming to be equal to God. Yet the writer, careful at other times (cp. John 2:21; 21:23) to guard his Master’s words from misinterpretation, does not say that in this case they were misunderstood. In John 1:1-3, we read that the Word was in the beginning with God, and was God, and that through Him all things were made: and John 1:14 leaves no room to doubt that the Word became incarnate as Jesus. In John 20:28, He is represented as accepting from Thomas the august title “my Lord and my God.”
That the being of the Son is derived from the Father, is plainly taught in John 5:26: “Just as the Father has life in Himself, so also to the Son has He given to have life in Himself.” So John 6:57: “I live because of the Father.” From John 5:19, 30; 14:28, we learn that this derivation involves subordination: “the Son can do nothing from Himself, nothing except what He sees the Father doing;” as He hears He judges, seeking not his own will but the will of Him that sent Him; “My Father is greater than I.” All this by no means implies inferiority or later origin; but only that the Son is an infinite Outflow of an infinite Source, and His whole life a life of devotion to the Father.
The superiority of the Son even to the brightest in heaven is very conspicuous in Revelation 1:5, 6; 5:6-14: contrast Revelation 19:10; 22:9, where an angel refuses worship and bids John to “worship God.”
The title Son of God is given to Christ as one of great and unique dignity in Matthew 3:17; 4:3; 14:33; 16:16; Mark 1:11; 3:11; 5:7; 9:7; 12:6; 14:61; Luke 1:32; 3:22; 4:3; 8:28; 9:35; 10:22; Acts 9:20; Hebrews 1:2-8; 4:14; 5:5, 8; 6:6; 7:3, 28; 10:29; Revelation 2:18. In Matthew 7:23; 13:41; 16:27; 25:31; Acts 10:42; 17:31, we are taught that Christ will judge the world.
The above quotations prove that Paul’s conception of Christ was shared by the various writers of the New Testament, i.e. by all His early followers whose opinions have come down to us. This whole subject I have discussed at length on pp. 215-300 of my volume entitled Through Christ to God.
To resume our argument. We have seen that Paul accepted, in the noonday of life, the great fundamental doctrines of this epistle; and that they took hold of his mind and heart so firmly that they carried him with a song of triumph through a life of hardship and peril. We saw that Paul’s belief of these doctrines rested entirely on the authority of Jesus. And we sought to know something of the Teacher whose word was sufficient to inspire a man like Paul with confidence so complete. Paul’s firm belief of the Gospel is now explained by his equally firm belief that Jesus is the Son of God.
8. This explanation, however, sufficient as it is for the point in question, by no means satisfies us: for it has brought us face to face with a far more wonderful mental fact which also demands explanation. How came it that Jesus stamped on the mind of Paul the profound impression which we have just traced as reflected on the pages of this epistle? We have before us a man of the highest mental power and moral worth, a man of the class least prone to hero-worship. Yet before Jesus of Nazareth, a fellow-countryman who in his own day and his own city had died in the prime of life, he bows down with humble submission as to One the latchet of whose shoe he is not worthy to stoop down and unloose. This absolute submission to Jesus made itself felt while we were but on the threshold of the epistle, and it breathes in every page. There is no trace of familiarity, or of that equality of manhood which no human distinctions can altogether efface. But there is everywhere a consciousness of the honour of being a servant of a Master so illustrious. In 2 Corinthians 2:14, Paul counts it an honour to be led as a captive in the triumphal procession of so mighty and benign a conqueror.
For this profound submission, I seek an explanation. Who was Jesus? how came He to obtain such ascendency over such a man? Certainly Christ did something infinitely greater than anything Paul could do; and thus compelled him to bow as in the presence of One infinitely greater than himself.
Our wonder is increased by the fact that Jesus and Paul never met on earth. Only by hearsay did Paul know Jesus. Consequently the influence of Jesus over Paul cannot be attributed to the divine purity and beauty of the life of Jesus. For an impression thus produced could not, by words, be conveyed in force sufficient to produce the effects we see in Paul. The question returns, What had Jesus done, surpassing utterly all that Paul could do, to lead captive, in complete and willing submission, the author of this wonderful epistle? The devotion of Paul to Jesus is an historic fact resting on evidence most conclusive which demands explanation. It is a known effect; and implies a sufficient cause.
9. Paul himself gives the explanation and points to the cause. He began his letter by saying that Jesus was marked out as Son of God by resurrection of the dead. His resurrection is the ground and matter of saving faith: Romans 4:24, 25; 10:9. Our new life is a union with the life of the Risen One, and is therefore a result of His resurrection: Romans 6:4, 9-11; 7:4; 14:9. That He rose, is a pledge that none can tear us from His arms, and that our own dead body will rise: Romans 8:34, 11. In 1 Corinthians 15:13-21, the faith and hope of Paul and his companions are made to rest on the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ: and in all his epistles it occupies a chief place.
All this proves, not only that Paul fully believed that Jesus rose, but that this belief exerted a great influence on his inward and outward life. It is easy to believe with confidence, even upon slight evidence, a matter of no moment to us. But the mind of an intelligent man will not be at rest in a matter vital to him unless he have what his judgment pronounces to be sufficient proof. To Paul, everything hung upon the fact of Christ’s resurrection: for this was the ground of his confidence in Jesus and of his belief of the Gospel. Consequently, his absolute devotion to Christ, the perfect peace which reigns over the entire epistle, and the glowing exultation which irradiates every page attest that he had what he thought to be sufficient evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.
The absence of any attempt to prove that Christ rose implies that Paul’s confidence was shared by the men around him. Writing to Christians at a distance whom he has never seen, he takes for granted this great article of the Christian faith. We have thus in this epistle an indirect proof of the unanimity of the disciples of Jesus that their Master rose from the dead. And this proof is confirmed by the confidence with which the various N.T. writers speak of the resurrection of Christ as undoubted fact. Paul’s profound submission to Jesus is now explained. If he believed that He whom the thousands of Jerusalem saw dead upon the cross had come back in triumph from the grave, that He had trampled under foot the tremendous conqueror before whose approach the mightiest on earth tremble and bow, we wonder not that in His presence Paul bowed with humble reverence as before One far greater than man. And, if he believed that Jesus came back from the grave in order that through its shattered portal there might shine upon His murderers and upon the world the smile of a pardoning God, we wonder not that his profound submission was raised to rapturous devotion. It may be that in this belief we are unable to share. It may be that we look on the apostle as a dupe and a fanatic. But indisputably we have in this belief an explanation, the only conceivable explanation, of Paul’s supreme and undeniable devotion to Jesus.
10. We have now before us three mental, but in a correct sense historic, facts; viz. Paul’s belief that the Gospel is true, his belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and his belief that Jesus rose from the dead. Each of these beliefs rests, as a mental fact, on unquestionable historic evidence. The first is accounted for by the second; the second, by the third; and the third, bearing the weight of the first and second, now demands explanation. Only two suppositions are possible. If Jesus actually rose, the fact of His resurrection will abundantly account for Paul’s confident belief that He rose. In this case, we can easily conceive that, even while persecuting the Church, the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus pressed with increasing weight upon his mind; that his contact with Christians, hostile though it was, furnished additional evidence day by day; that he was unable, even by reckless loyalty to Judaism, to shake off the growing conviction which the evidence produced; and that the appearance of the Risen One on the way to Damascus broke down at last every barrier which prejudice and interest had erected, and brought him in humble penitence to the feet of Jesus. It may be objected that this explanation is impossible, that it involves an interruption of the unvarying action of natural forces, and thus disturbs an assumption underlying all human thought. But the resurrection of Jesus does not imply any such suspension of natural forces: it implies only that, just as in living bodies certain chemical forces are constantly neutralised by the presence of animal life, so in the dead body of Jesus a higher Power neutralised natural forces which reduce other dead bodies to dust, and that thus what in others would have been a final separation of body and soul was in Him but a transient sleep.
If we reject this supposition, we are compelled to believe that a man whose last words were spoken in agony from a cross produced with or without design, in the minds of thousands of Jews a full conviction that He had trampled death under foot and risen in triumph to the skies; and that He produced this conviction in the mind of a friend of His murderers, a citizen of Jerusalem, a man of accurate observation and calm judgment. Nay more. So thorough was the conviction thus produced that it became the mainspring of a life of unwearied toil and beneficence. For indisputably Paul’s belief that Christ rose from the dead was the ground of the confidence which moved him to preach the Gospel. The results of his preaching and of that of others who shared his belief are before us to-day. All the effects which Christ and Christianity have produced in the world have been brought about by men who believed that He rose from the dead, and who, but for this belief, would have achieved nothing. But no one can deny that Christianity, in spite of the corruptions with which it has been soiled and therefore weakened by contact with a corrupt world, nevertheless saved the world from the utter dissolution into which in Paul’s day society was sinking. Consequently, if we deny the resurrection of Christ, we are compelled to believe that a delusion has saved the world. Mark now the alternative. We must believe either that there was present in the human body of Jesus a life mightier than the life which lives in us, and that this mightier life rescued His body from the corruption to which all other bodies succumb, or that the eternal law which compels us to believe that to know the truth is for man’s highest good has been, not merely suspended, but for centuries set aside, and that a delusion has saved the world. Renan says that the passionate love of a demented woman (Mary of Magdala) gave to the world a resuscitated God. He might have said that she gave to the world a resuscitated humanity.
The above argument is further developed on pp. 301-359 of my Through Christ to God.
11. If we accept the historic fact that Jesus rose from the dead, we shall not hesitate to acknowledge that He is the Son of God: for none can deny that He claimed to be such. If we acknowledge His claim, we shall believe with perfect and well-grounded confidence the great doctrines of this epistle: for indisputably they came from His lips. And, if we accept these doctrines, Paul’s argument will compel us to accept the teaching of the whole epistle: for the whole is a logical development of these great doctrines. Thus, as asserted in 1 Corinthians 15:17, the Christian hope rests on the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ. In our defence of this hope, we pass by other miracles and take up an impregnable position by our Master’s empty grave.
12. Such is the historic evidence for the great doctrines assumed in this epistle. But it is not the whole evidence. Indeed, our verdict on its sufficiency will probably be determined by other evidence found in our own hearts and lives. This we may call the subjective, the former the objective, evidence for the Gospel. It is true that the good news of salvation is not, like the name of God, written on the open page of the material universe, nor, like the Law, on the inner tables of man’s heart. Its manifestation was reserved for the coming of Christ. But it nevertheless receives confirmation from both these sources. For it reconciles God’s goodness towards mankind as revealed (Acts 14:17) in Nature with His anger against sinners as revealed in the Law.
Do as we will, we cannot silence the voice of authority which speaks in our hearts and forbids us to be at rest while we continue in sin. Nor can we save ourselves from sin, or wipe out the condemnation written within. Of this universal consciousness of guilt and shame, the heathen world ancient and modern gives abundant proof. Yet Nature tells us that God is good. But, left to ourselves, we cannot think of Him without fear. All this prepares us for a Gospel which proclaims salvation from the penalty and power of sin, by the free gift and the power of God. Moreover, so sacred do we feel the sequence of sin and suffering to be that we are not surprised to hear that the announcement of pardon, which seems to break this sequence, is accompanied by a proof, the most tremendous we can conceive, of the essential deadliness of sin. It is easier to believe the story of the cross than to believe that it was invented by man. And, when we have found by experience that we cannot be saved from sin except by a moral power infinitely greater than our own moral strength, we are prepared to hear that this mightier power has taken historic form in the resurrection of Jesus. But, if we have never felt our need of a saviour greater than ourselves, we shall accept any explanation, however absurd, rather than believe that God has put forth on our behalf a power altogether needless. In this case, however, the apostles’ belief that Christ rose, and the results of their belief, will remain phenomena unparalleled in history, an enigma which no one can solve.
Many of my readers have still better inward proof. They have dared to believe these doctrines; and have found, in proportion to their belief, an inward moral power carrying them onwards and upwards along the path marked out by the principles of morality written within. To them, not only has the Law been, by revealing their moral weakness and their danger, a guardian-slave (Galatians 3:24) which has led them to Christ, but it each day affords, by marking out authoritatively the right path, an abiding proof of the divine origin of the Gospel which gives them moral strength to walk in the path thus marked out. They have thus, in a very real sense, put to the test the assertions of the Gospel, and have found them to be true. The evidence on which they at first believed the Gospel and accepted Christ as a Saviour from sin was rational, and sufficient for their need then. And the fuller evidence they have since received, evidence increasing day by day as each fresh trial reveals the sufficient grace and power of God, will enable them to approach the last great foe, the dread conqueror of man but himself conquered by the Son of Man, without fear and with a shout of triumph and a song of praise to Him who has given them the victory.
Dissertation 2 — Paul’s View of the Way of Salvation
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ROMANS
DISSERTATION 2 — PAUL’S VIEW OF THE WAY
OF SALVATION
Since the practical effect of the objective evidences for the Gospel depends on our own inner life, we will now reproduce in outline the picture of the Christian life given in this epistle.
1. MAN UNSAVED. Paul justifies the proclamation of pardon by saying that all men have sinned: Romans 3:9, 19, 23. He singles out a man and tells him that he not only has sinned but is still sinning, and that by judging others he condemns himself: Romans 2:1. Sin is a burden under which all lie, and from which none can save himself by future obedience: Romans 3:9, 20. Consequently the whole world stands before God without excuse, and condemned: Romans 3:19. Paul and his readers were themselves formerly sinners, and enemies needing to be reconciled to God: Romans 5:8-11. What he says of them must, in his view, be true of all mankind.
Again, sin is not only an act committed but a hostile power to which sinners are given up by God: Romans 1:24, 26, 28. It is a master to whose service they once devoted their powers to do what the Law forbids: Romans 6:17, 19. This now covers them with shame: Romans 6:21. While committing sin, they knew and approved the right; but the master they served was a power dwelling within them and forcing them to do what their better self detested: Romans 7:18-23. In their own bodies sin had set up its throne; and so complete was its sway that the appetites of the body controlled their thought, and led them along a path leading to destruction: Romans 6:12; 8:5, 6; 6:21, 23. From this fatal bondage, they could not save themselves: Romans 7:24. All this was, in Paul’s view, consistent with occasional and praiseworthy obedience: Romans 2:26, 27.
2. THE LAW. As a means of leading men to take the first steps in the way of salvation, God gave the Law. The Jews read it in the Old Testament; the Gentiles read it as written in their own hearts: Romans 2:14, 15. But the Law only revealed the tremendous and universal power of sin: Romans 3:20. It was given in order to reveal to all men the punishment which God will inflict on all sinners, and to which therefore all men are exposed: Romans 3:19. God thus exerts on all men an influence leading them towards repentance: Romans 2:4. The Law gives to the inborn principle of sin a living power, and thus becomes an instrument by which sin brings us under condemnation to death: Romans 7:11. For this end, it was given: Romans 5:20; 7:13. It commends itself to that which is noblest within us, and thus evokes efforts after obedience; but the repeated failure of these efforts reveals the awful truth that we are powerless to obey, that we are in the grasp of an enemy who is also an enemy of God and who dwells in our own bodies: Romans 7:22, 23. The Law thus extorts a cry for deliverance: Romans 7:24. When it has done this, it has attained its purpose. Henceforth salvation, in its successive steps, will be a realisation, not only of God’s purpose of mercy, but of man’s eager and intelligent desire.
3. JUSTIFICATION. To men thus repentant, God speaks again. He proclaims in the Gospel that He accepts as righteous all who believe: Romans 3:22. He thus reveals, to men who cannot obtain righteousness by their own effort, a righteousness which is His gift. This gift of righteousness is practically pardon. To make it consistent with His own justice, God gave Christ to die: Romans 3:26. And, as a proof of the divine authority of the proclamation and as a rational ground for the faith which He requires, God raised Him from the dead: Romans 4:24, 25.
Paul assumes that his readers have already a secure place in the favour of God, are already justified and reconciled: Romans 5:2, 9-11. That they exult in hope of the glory of God, implies that they are conscious of forgiveness. And this consciousness is involved in the nature of faith. Paul proves by argument, in Romans 5:5-11, that this hope rests on a solid foundation.
4. Paul assumes that his readers have the indwelling presence of THE HOLY SPIRIT: Romans 5:5; 8:9-16. The absence of the Spirit would be a proof that they do not belong to Christ: Romans 8:9. Hence we infer that the Spirit was given to them together with justification, when they believed and were baptized: cp. Galatians 3:14, Acts 2:38. He proves Himself to be the Spirit of God, by enabling them to fulfil the Law and to conquer sin: Romans 8:4, 13. He reveals to them, by means of the historic fact of the death of Christ, God’s infinite love, the sure ground of their hope of final salvation: Romans 5:5-10. He calls forth within them, by this revelation of God’s fatherly love, the confidence of sons, and calls forth from that in them which is most akin to Himself, their own spirit, the cry Father. They know that this is no earth-born cry, but the voice of God’s Spirit in them; and they therefore accept it as a divine testimony that they are God’s sons and heirs of life eternal: Romans 8:16, 17.
5. HOLINESS. We pass now from blessings which Paul everywhere assumes that his readers possess to others which he urges them at once to claim. He recalls their baptism, the outward and visible gate through which they entered the Christian life, and the form in which the rite was administered. It was the funeral service of their old life: in it they were formally and publicly laid in the grave of Christ: Romans 6:4. This implies that God designs them to be dead and risen with Christ, i.e. to be sharers with Him of the results of His own death and sharers of His resurrection life. Now by His death Christ escaped from the curse of our sin: and His life is one absolutely devoted to God. God’s purpose is that His servants, by inward contact with Christ, be made free from sin and live a life of unreserved consecration to God. Since Christ’s burial and their own baptism are past, Paul speaks of their former life as already ended and themselves as buried in Christ’s grave. But he finds it needful to urge them to appropriate, by the reckoning of faith, this full salvation: Romans 6:11. In urging this, he uses sacrificial language, in Romans 6:13; 12:11; and in Romans 13:14, represents Christ as a holy garment to be put on. All this implies that not all the justified are actually dead to sin and living only for God: and the exhortation to appropriate by faith the new life implies that it is a work and gift of God. Thus is realised in us, by the agency (Romans 15:16) of the Holy Spirit, that subjective holiness (Romans 1:4) which is a conspicuous feature of the Son of God, the normal relation (Romans 11:36) of the creature to the Creator, and the due complement of (Romans 1:7) the objective holiness conferred by the Gospel call on all who obey it.
6. PROGRESS. The above initial blessings must be followed by growth in Christ: but of this Paul has little to say. Day by day our mind is being restored to the original clearness lost (Romans 1:21) by sin; and thus day by day our entire character is changed in a direction opposite to that of the world around: Romans 12:2. This renewal gives to us increasing power to distinguish what is, from what is not, pleasing to God. To aid this growth in spiritual intelligence, Paul wrote DIV. V. of this epistle. Since unreserved devotion to God implies constant victory over sin, and since the force of habit is weakened by contrary action, our life is a gradual and progressive destruction of the surviving power of our past actions: for these, though daily overcome, are still a power against which we have to contend: Romans 8:13. By spiritual growth, this opposing power is daily weakened.
7. OUR ENVIRONMENT. Though already sons and heirs of God, and rejoicing in hope of the coming glory, we are surrounded by hostile influences But this need not surprise us: for our present state is one of hope, and hope implies absence of the good things hoped for: Romans 8:24. Our adversaries cannot make us afraid: for, before they existed and before the world was, we were predestined by God to be sharers of the glory of His Son: Romans 8:29. From this we infer that our afflictions are permitted only in order that they may work out for us God’s eternal purpose of mercy: Romans 8:28. We find it to be so. Our afflictions afford proof of the faithfulness of God, who daily delivers us, and thus confirm our hope: Romans 5:3, 4. The contrast between our circumstances and the aspirations put within us by the Spirit assures us that our present position is but for a time: and this assurance is confirmed by the state of Nature around us; Romans 8:19-27. God has given us, by the death of His Son, abundant proof that He is on our side; and, if so, nothing can harm us: Romans 8:31-39.
8. THE CHURCH. Throughout the exposition of the Gospel we have no mention of the Church or of church-officers. Paul deals only with the individual believer, in his relation to God, to Christ, and to the Spirit of God. This suggests irresistibly that the salvation announced by Christ is not conditioned by any order of men or visible organization as its sole channel. In this respect this epistle presents a marked contrast to Ex 28 and 29, where an order of priests is a conspicious feature of the new order of religious worship.
We have however been more than once reminded that we stand within the precincts of the Church. Paul assumes that his readers have been baptized, and speaks of confession with the mouth as a condition of salvation: Romans 6:4; 10:9, 10. This implies that saving faith is accompanied by outward confession. Believers are twigs of an olive tree, drawing nourishment from its root: Romans 11:17-24. They are compared to a living body consisting of various and variously-endowed members animated and bound together by one life-giving Spirit, each helping and needing the others. Our brotherhood in the Gospel binds us to consider, not merely our own welfare, but that of others, even at the cost of self-denial: Romans 14:19-15:2. The strong may strengthen and encourage others, and the reckless may injure and destroy others: Romans 1:11, 12; 14:15.
Phœbe was apparently an officer of the church in Cenchreæ: Romans 16:1. We read in Romans 16:5, 16 of the churches of the Gentiles and of Christ. There was a church in the house of Aquila: and Gaius was host “of the whole church.” All this reveals communities more or less organized.
9. THE CIVIL POWER. That the Roman Christians were members of the Church, does not lessen, but sanctifies, their obligation as citizens of the State. Civil Government is a divine institution: and earthly rulers are men to whom, for our good, God has given authority to punish and reward. Consequently, obedience to them is, to us, a matter of conscience.
10. THE FUTURE. As Paul stands by the empty grave of Christ, he looks forward with confidence to the rescue of his own body from the hand of death: Romans 8:11, 23. Already a son of God, he looks forward to a share of the inheritance and the glory of the Firstborn Son: Romans 8:17. The present life is but a night of watching. The night is almost gone, and will soon give place to the eternal day which, to Paul’s expectant gaze, is already dawning: Romans 13:12.
Dissertation 3 — Paul’s View of the Jewish Scriptures
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ROMANS
DISSERTATION 3 — PAUL’S VIEW OF THE
JEWISH SCRIPTURES
1. The argument of this volume is now complete. By comparison of various existing documents, we found decisive proof that the Epistle to the Romans was written or dictated by Paul, and that it is correctly reproduced in our copies. From the epistle itself we learnt that he confidently believed that Christ announced forgiveness of sins and a new life in the Spirit of God for all who put trust in Him, that He claimed to be in a unique sense the Son of God, and that in proof of this claim God raised Him from the dead. We found that this belief was shared by the various writers of the New Testament. For this unanimous belief of the early disciples of Jesus, and for its effect upon them and through them upon the world, we could find no explanation or sufficient cause except that Christ actually rose from the dead, that He actually claimed to be the Son of God, and actually announced salvation for all who put faith in Him. Thus in the documents examined, read in the light of undoubted facts, we found a full and reliable statement of the Gospel and decisive proof of the great facts on which rests the Christian hope.
Throughout our inquiry, we did not ascribe to any part of the Bible infallible or special authority. We merely accepted this epistle as written by an honest and intelligent man. Although we referred to other N.T. writings, we did not take for granted even their historic correctness, but simply accepted their unanimous testimony as proof that Paul’s belief was shared by the other early disciples of Jesus. Owing to the number and variety of these witnesses, their testimony, estimated as we should estimate any other testimony, would remain unshaken, in reference to the matters discussed in this volume, even if some of their statements contradicted each other, or contradicted reliable contemporary history. For their unanimity can be accounted for only by the truth of that in which they agree.
2. At the same time, we can gather from this epistle Paul’s view of the authority of the Old Testament; and we shall do well to study it. He accepts, without a shadow of doubt, its narratives as historic fact; e.g. the story of Abraham, of Rebecca’s children, of Pharaoh, of Moses at Sinai, and of Elijah: Romans 4:1-25; 9:8, 9; 9:10, 17, 15; 11:2. In Romans 5:12-14, he calls attention to analogy resting on the story of the Fall, thus showing that he accepted that story as a correct account of the spiritual history of the early morning of our race. He accepts, in Romans 4:3, a statement in Genesis 15:6 of what took place in the heart of Abraham and in the mind of God, and makes it a basis of important argument. In Romans 4:9-11, he builds an argument upon the order in time of Genesis 15:6 and Genesis 17:10. Words expressly attributed to God in the O.T. are accepted by Paul as the voice of God in Romans 4:17, 18; 7:7; 9:7, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17, 25, 26, 33; Romans 10:5, 11, 13, 20, 21; 11:4, 26; 13:9; 14:11. Of the many quotations from the Pentateuch, Paul attributes to Moses only Leviticus 18:5, containing God’s words to Moses, and Deuteronomy 32:21, from the song of Moses. We have therefore no right to say that he accepted the whole Pentateuch as written by him. Psalms 32: and 69: are attributed to David: and we notice that both have superscriptions attributing them to him. Isaiah 1:9; 10:22; 11:10; 53:1; 65:1 are ascribed to Isaiah; Hosea 1:10; 2:23 to Hosea. Elsewhere the authors are not mentioned.
In all these quotations, Paul’s one thought is to educe their spiritual significance, and especially their bearing on the Gospel of Christ. Every detail with this bearing is important: all else is left out of sight. This forbids us to claim Paul as asserting or assuming the historic truth of such details as have no bearing on the spiritual life; or to attempt to settle questions of O.T. authorship by casual allusions in the letters of Paul. See further on pp. 89-91 {See Beet “Galatians 3:18”} of my volume on Galatians.
3. Again, Paul not only receives the Old Testament as a reliable narrative of facts but accepts ordinary words of its writers as the Law of God: so Romans 3:19, where foregoing quotations from the Psalms and the Book of Isaiah are so accepted. He thus separates the books quoted and all others which stand on the same level from all other literature as a declaration of the will of God. Just so, the written laws of a nation stand apart from its other literature. In Romans 11:9, a prayer of David is quoted as setting forth the principles of God’s moral government. In harmony with this, Paul often attributes to the O.T. writings a purpose far beyond their writer’s thought: e.g. descriptions of bad men are in Romans 3:19 said to have been spoken in order to bring the whole world silent and guilty before the bar of God. The story of Abraham was written in order to lead us to justification through faith; and the Scriptures as a whole were written for our instruction and encouragement: Romans 4:24; 15:4; cp. Galatians 3:8, 22. With this agrees Paul’s habit of quoting without the author’s name, and quoting the O.T. as a final authority. This explains the august title given to the Jewish Scriptures in Romans 1:2, at the beginning of the epistle: Holy Writings: similarly 2 Timothy 3:15, 16, Sacred Letters… God-breathed. Paul thus puts the Jewish Scriptures among the holy objects of the Old Covenant, as standing in special relation to God and thus separated from all other books. This we can now understand. If the O.T. be true, it is a record of supernatural revelations given by God to men before the coming of Christ: and, if so, its lofty spiritual tone, helpful even to the disciples of Christ, and the absence of all polytheism reveal, even in the record, the guiding hand of the Spirit of God.
From the confidence with which Paul quotes the O.T. as decisive, we infer that these opinions were held by both his readers and opponents. This is confirmed by the fact that similar honour is paid to the Old Testament throughout the New Testament: so John 5:46, 47; 10:35; Matthew 19:7; Acts 4:25; Hebrews 10:15-17. The same honour is paid by Jewish contemporaries. So Josephus, in bk. i. 7, 8 of his work Against Apion, says that the O.T. was written by prophets led by an “inbreathing from God:” similarly Philo, Life of Moses bk. iii. 23. The historic truthfulness of the O.T., as of the N.T., must be tested and measured by the methods of sound historic criticism. In such inquiry, we must take into calculation the harmonious account given by the O.T. writers of the civil and religious history of their race; the clear knowledge of a personal God, the Creator and Ruler of the world, the righteous and loving friend of all men, so much superior to that possessed by any other ancient people; and the glowing pictures of blessing to come, which are in part receiving fulfilment to-day in the spreading blessings of Christianity, which took its rise in Israel. In my view, the only explanation of all the facts of the case is that God, who gave to men in Christ a final revelation of His purpose of mercy, gave to Abraham and through Moses to Israel earlier revelations preparatory to the Gospel of Christ; and that in the Old and New Testaments respectively we have, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, prompting and controlling the writers, records of these revelations sufficiently extensive and accurate for the spiritual needs of men. The above judgment may, I believe, be accepted with full confidence. But I observe with gratitude that the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ, the justice of His claim to be in a unique sense the Son of God, and the truth of the great fundamental doctrines asserted, expounded, and defended in this epistle, all which are far more important to us than the precise nature of the authority of the Bible-I observe that these rest upon evidence still broader and firmer. Consequently, our belief of the facts and doctrines of the Gospel will not be disturbed by any perplexity about the authorship of some parts of the Bible or the correctness of some of its statements. In another volume I have expounded the Epistles to the Corinthians, which give us a wonderful picture of Paul’s apostolic activity and pastoral care and of one of the churches planted by him: and in a third volume I have expounded the Epistle to the Galatians, a letter most closely related to the epistle before us, but dealing with the same topics in a more practical and personal manner. These three volumes cover the second group of Paul’s letters, those written in the noonday of his apostolic activity. In a fourth volume I have expounded the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and to Philemon; all written in prison, apparently from Rome, and embodying the maturest thought of the great apostle. These two groups include four-fifths of his writings. In addition to them we have only two Epistles to the Thessalonians written much earlier than those mentioned above; and those to Timothy and Titus, written near the close of Paul’s life. These earliest and latest epistles do not modify the conception of Christ and the Gospel embodied in the epistles I have annotated. But the earlier group gives much greater prominence to the return of Christ to judge the world, and the later one to the duties of the officers of the apostolic Churches.
In these four groups of letters we have a full and permanent embodiment of Paul’s conception of the Gospel and of Christ. This conception, thus recorded, is an all-important component part of the documentary evidence for the Gospel of Christ. Its infinite value reveals, in these letters of Paul to the Christians of his own day, a gift of God to His Church in all ages.