_Called to be an apostle, [1] or a called apostle. That is, not only having the name of an apostle, but having a his call to this high function, and his mission from God. --- Separated unto the gospel of God. He means that he was separated from others, and appointed by the Holy Ghost to preach the g... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which he had promised before, &c. That is, God before, in the Scriptures, promised the blessings, which are not come by the preaching of the gospel, and that they should come by his Son. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who was made to him of the seed of David, according to the flesh. The sense is, that God promised, that he who was his true and only Son from eternity, should also become his son, as man; that the same son should be man, as well as God, when the word was made flesh, or when that divine person shoul... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who was predestined [2] the Son of God. The learned bishop of Meaux, Bossuet, in his second Pastoral Instruction, in which he condemned the French translation of Mons. Simon, (p. 127.) takes notice, that according to St. Paul, and the constant doctrine of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
_By whom, i.e. by this same Jesus Christ, God and man, we, I and the rest of the apostles, have received this grace and apostleship, this mission and commission from him, of preaching his gospel, and teaching his doctrine. --- For obedience to the faith in all nations; that is, to bring all nations... [ Continue Reading ]
_Among whom are you also the called of Jesus. That is, you also are a part of those, who by his mercy, are called to this faith and belief in him. All beginning from those words in the third verse, who was made to him, &c. till the end of the sixth verse, are to be taken as within a parenthesis, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_To all that are at Rome...called to be saints. That is, who not only are named saints, but who by such a call from God, are to be sanctified by his grace, and to become holy, or saints. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the whole world. That is, to all, or almost all the Roman empire. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_God is my witness. I call God to witness. It is an oath. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am a debtor. That is, I am bound to preach the word of God to all. (Witham) --- by Greeks, in this place, are understood the Romans also, and by Barbarians, all other people who were neither Greeks nor Romans. The Greeks called all barbarians, who did not speak the Greek language, even the Latins... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Paul was even anxious to go and deliver the word to the Romans. Hence Mat. Polus, in his reflections on this verse, puts the following words into the mouth of the Apostle: Lucifuga non sum: ostendi id Antiochiæ, Athenis, Ephesi et Corinthi: paratus sum & in illa splendidissima urbe Roma ostender... [ Continue Reading ]
_For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one; that is, it brings powerful helps to all, both Gentiles and Jews, in order to their salvation. --- To the Jew first, inasmuch as the gospel is to be first preached to the Jews. (Witham) --- The promises of salvation were first made to the Jews... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the justice of God. He does not here mean that justice, by which God is just in himself, but that justice, or sanctification, which he communicates to men, and by which they are justified and sanctified. --- From faith to faith. That is, by faith, and an increase in faith, inasmuch as, by incre... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the wrath of God is revealed, &c. He begins to speak of the heathens, and of the wicked world, whose sins God punisheth from time to time with visible chastisements of plagues, famines, wars, &c. and that because they detain the truth of God in injustice, or in iniquity, that is, because they h... [ Continue Reading ]
_That which is known of God. Or may be easily known of God, is manifest in them. The light of reason demonstrates to them the existence of one God, the maker and preserver of all things. This is made known to them from the creation of the world, or from the creatures in the world: the Creator may be... [ Continue Reading ]
[BIBLIOGRAPHY] St. John Chrysostom, hom. ii. p. 20. _Greek: tes panton armonias salpiggos, lamproteron booses._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore God gave them [4] up, &c. That is, as St. John Chrysostom says, permitted them, in punishment of their wilful blindness, to fall into the foulest, most shameful, and unnatural sins of uncleanness here described. (Witham)_ [BIBLIOGRAPHY] _ Greek: to de paredoken, entautha eiasen esti._... [ Continue Reading ]
_God delivered them up. Not by being author of their sins, but by withdrawing his grace, and so permitting them, in punishment of their pride, to fall into those shameful sins. (Challoner)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Receiving in themselves the recompense...due to their error. That is, were justly punished for their wilful blindness and error, by which they had worshipped and adored creatures, instead of the Creator, idols instead of the one true God. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Being filled with all iniquity. He passeth to many other sins and crimes of the heathens. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hateful [5] to God. The Greek may also signify, haters of God. (Witham) --- Greek: theostugeis means either haters of God, or hated by God. (Menochius) --- Disobedient to parents. The Greek literally signifies, Not listening to the advice of their parents; who rise up against them, and refuse to ob... [ Continue Reading ]
_ Dissolute, rude [6] in their manners, and behaviour. Some, from the Greek, understand breakers of their word; but this would be the same as without fidelity, which we find afterwards in the same verse. (Witham)_ [BIBLIOGRAPHY] _ Greek: asunthetous. See 2 Timothy iii. 3. Greek: aspondous, sine f\... [ Continue Reading ]
This passage in the present Greek versions is rather different from the Vulgate: but the text of the Vulgate is conformable to the most ancient Greek manuscripts, of which some are more than twelve hundred years old. _Greek: Oitines to dikaioma tou theou epignontes ouk enoesan oti oi ta toiauta pras... [ Continue Reading ]