EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

"The Epistle to the Romans was written from Corinth, early in the year 53, when St. Paul had been spending three months in that part of Greece, and was on the point of setting out for Jerusalem with the collections of the Macedonian and Achæan Churches. Acts xx. 1. 3. 1 Cor. xvi. 3. Rom. xv. 25." Burton-who arranges St. Paul's Epistles, together with the places from which they were written, in the following chronological order:

1 Thessalonians written A.D. 46 from Corinth.

ANNOTATIONS

ON THE

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

CHAPTER I.

1. κλητὸς—ἀφωρισμένος. Compare Gal. i. 15. Acts ix. 4-6. 15. xiii. 2, 3.

1 and 4. ὁρισθέντος: δειχθέντος, ἀποφανθέντος, κριθέντος. Chrysostom; and so Zonaras, Lex. Col. 1473. Compare Acts iv. 28. x. 42. xvii. 31. Le Clerc explains ópía to mean demonstrare, ita clare definire, ut nulla possit esse ambiguitas. iv dvváμɛ, with power, mightily, as Col. i. 29. He, who from "the beginning" was the Son of God, was expressly declared to be so by the mighty act of His resurrection, in which St. Paul (Acts xiii. 33) points out the fulfilment of the Divine "decree" recorded in Ps. ii. 7: so that the words κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης, which, as opposed to κατὰ σάρκα, it seems most obvious to refer to the Divine nature of Christ, may have been intended also to describe that new and spiritual and redeemed nature in which, "conducting many sons to glory," He, as the first "made perfect through sufferings," and "the first-born from the dead," heired for them that "more excellent name" in which they should thenceforth enter upon a higher and nearer relationship to God. Compare below ch. vi. 4. Heb. i. 3-5. ii. 10, 11. 1 Pet. i. 3, and see κατὰ πνεῦμα again opposed to κατὰ σάρκα, Gal. iv. 29.

B

Apostles (Matt. xxviii. 19. more particularly, Paul and

5. Through whom we - the John xx. 21. Eph. iii. 5), or, Barnabas (Acts xiii. 2, 3. Gal. ii. 9. Eph. iii. 7, 8)—have received grace, and a mission on behalf of His name (Acts ix. 15. 2 Cor. v. 20), designed to produce obedience from a constraining principle of faith in all the nations of the earth, among whom are ye also, called to be Jesus Christ's-in which relation unto Christ, and therefore unto God (1 Cor. iii. 23. Gal. iii. 26), they are further addressed in the next verse as in the mercy of God called to be a people consecrated to His service. Compare ch. xi. 16. 28. 1 Thess. iv. 7. 1 Pet. iii. 9.

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9. Ev Tη πvεúμarı, with my spirit; that is, with a spiritual worship. John iv. 24. Λατρεύω τῷ Θεῷ,” observes Bp. Terrot, "always refers in the New Testament, not to ministerial exertions, but to personal piety." Cf. Matt. iv. 10. Acts vii. 7. xxiv. 14. xxvi. 7. Rom. i. 25. Phil. iii. 3. 2 Tim. i. 3.

11. τὶ χ. πνευματικόν, some spiritual gift, such as an Apostle only could bestow. Compare Acts viii. 16—18. Rom. xv. 18-22. 29. 1 Cor. ix. 2. 2 Cor. xii. 12. Hence it has been inferred that no Apostle had hitherto visited Rome.

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12. TOUTO SÉ EσTɩ, that is to say, that I may likewise find comfort in you—“ a qualification of the preceding assertion; as if there had been an air of presumption in supposing that all the benefit of their meeting was to be on the side of the Romans." Terrot.

14. Ελλ. τε καὶ βαρβάροις κ. τ. λ., to mankind, that is, in general; to all nations and all classes.

For the sense of opeλérns, compare 1 Cor. ix. 16—23.

15. οὕτω τὸ κατ' ἐμὲ κ. τ. λ. Thus, so far as depends on me, there is all readiness, &c. All that is in me is eager, &c.

17. For a righteousness of God's appointment—even that

mystery of Christ (ch. xvi. 25. Eph. iii. 4) whereby God should be δίκαιος καὶ δικαιῶν τὸν ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ (ch. iii. 26: see further on ii. 13, and compare Gal. iii. 21-26)—is therein revealed as a righteousness of faith (ch. iv. 16. v. 1) addressing itself to (ch. x. 6-11), and designed to produce, faith in those who receive it: as though he had characterized this Divine revelation as a method of acceptance with God that makes faith not the indispensable pre-requisite only on the part of man (Heb. xi. 6), but from first to last the animating and sustaining principle of the new and spiritual life. It is by faith (Acts viii. 37. xvi. 31) that a man is first made partaker of the redemption that Christ has purchased; it is by faith, and not by sight (2 Cor. v. 7), that he walks as a Christian; seeing Him who is invisible, and having respect always unto the recompense of reward. (Heb. xi. 26.)

The Apostle here propounds the great subject of the Epistle-JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH TO EVERY PRACTICAL BELIEVER IN JESUS CHRIST,-and happily establishes his point, and at the same time shews that "the Old Testament is not contrary to the New" (Art. VII.) by a citation from Habakkuk ii. 4, in which it is as obvious to connect the Prophet's ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεώς μου (so we find it in the Septuagint Version) with the Apostles Δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ ἐκ TiσTɛws, and to translate accordingly, He who by faith is just before God (ch. ii. 13) shall live; as to refer siç níor to the prospective noɛral, on which see further in ch. viii. 18-25; and compare John xi. 25, 26. Rom. ii. 7. x. 9. 11. Heb. x. 36-39. xi. 1. Observe, however, that what the Apostle in this verse expresses by siç ríoriv, he has more particularly set down in ch. i. 5. xv. 18. xvi. 26; comparing which we see that with him faith includes always that obedience in word and deed whereby (Art. XII.) "a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by its fruit.”

18. "The Apostle having propounded the fundamental doctrine of the Gospel, viz. justification by faith, goes on to prove the necessity of such a gratuitous justification, by showing at considerable length that men had no actual righteousness of their own whereby they could merit the

Divine favour, but that, on the contrary, their actual sins had exposed them universally to the severity of God's just indignation." Terrot. Compare Matt. iii. 7. John iii. 36. Acts xvii. 30.

18. τῶν—ἐν ἀδ. κατεχόντων, who unjustly confine or hinder -wilfully hiding, as it were under a bushel, the light which their Maker had graciously intended to be diffused among his intelligent creatures. Compare тò karέxov, 2 Thess. ii. 7. "Such was the conduct of the magistrates and philosophers of Greece and Rome. The knowledge of the one true God which they attained by contemplating the works of the Creation, they did not discover to the rest of mankind, but confined it to their own breasts by the most flagrant injustice." Macknight.

19. Tù yνWOTÒV TOυ Oɛou, that which may be known of God without the aid of Revelation is, His existence, His unity, His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His moral government of the world, or, as briefly comprehended in the Apostle's own words, His eternal power and Godhead; all which, though (like Himself) the perfections of the Deity are in themselves unseen, is plainly spread out before them (pavɛpóv kotiv Év avroïç), and as plainly to be discovered by every thoughtful observer of His works: so that they are without excuse, because that, although they had such knowledge of God, they yet, &c.

23. τὴν δόξαν. "Aóta is used for the visible appearance of God, so far as it can be visible. Exod. xxxiii. 18. 22. 1 Cor. xi. 7. 2 Cor. iv. 6. So also in Ps. cvi. 20, кaì ἠλλάξαντο τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν ἐν ὁμοιώματι μόσχου.” Burton. "The mention of birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles appears to have a particular reference to Egyptian superstition. For the prevalence of such rites at Rome in the Apostolic age, see Juv. Sat. vi. 325-40." Terrot.

25. Tyv áλýlεlav, "the true idea, or the reality. Philo speaks of Moses wondering ὅσον ψεῦδος ἀνθ ̓ ὅσης ἀληθείας Úπηλλážαvто. Vol. ii. p. 160." Burton.