FIRST PASSAGE (1:1-7). THE ADDRESS. The form of address usual among the ancients contained three terms: “N. to N. _greeting._ ” Comp. Acts 23:26: “Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix greeting.” Such is the type we have here, but modified in execution to suit the particular intent... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus_, _an apostle by_ [his] _call, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures._ ” Paul introduces himself in this Romans 1:1 with the utmost solemnity; he puts his whole letter under the authority of his apostle... [ Continue Reading ]
PREFACE. 1:1-15. THE framework of the Epistle to the Romans is, as we have seen, the same as that of the most of Paul's other Epistles: 1. An epistolary preface; 2. The body of the letter; 3. An epistolary conclusion. This introduction is intended to establish a relation between the apostle and hi... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Concerning his Son, born of the race of David according to the flesh; established as the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord._ ” The apostle first designates the subject of gospel preaching in a summary way: it is Je... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _By whom we have received grace and apostleship, with a view to the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for the glory of His name: among whom are ye, also, the called of Jesus Christ._ ” The words δἰ οὖ, _by whom_, exactly express the transition which we have just indicated. It is from His... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 6 may be construed in two ways: either the κλητοὶ ᾿Ι. Χ. may be taken as a predicate: “in the midst of whom (Gentiles) _ye are the called of Jesus Christ_,” or the last words may be taken in apposition to the subject: “of the number of whom ye are, _ye who are called of Jesus Christ._ ” The form... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _To all the well-beloved of God who are at Rome_, _saints by way of call: Grace be given you and peace on the part of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ._ ” The dative: _to all those_, might be dependent on a verb understood: _I write_, or _I address myself;_ but it is simpler to connect it... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ on account of you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world._ ” The apostle knows that there is no more genuine proof of sincere affection than intercession; hence he puts his prayer for them first. The word πρῶτον, _in the first plac... [ Continue Reading ]
SECOND PASSAGE (1:8-15). THE INTEREST LONG TAKEN BY THE APOSTLE IN THE CHRISTIANS OF ROME. The address, had drawn a sort of _official_ bond between the apostle and the church. But Paul feels the need of converting it into a _heart_ relation; and to this end the following piece is devoted. The apostl... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how without ceasing I make mention of you, making request in all my prayers, if perhaps now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you._ ” This thanksgiving of the apostle was an inwa... [ Continue Reading ]
With the thanksgiving there is connected, as a second matter which he has to communicate to them, his not less unwearied _prayer_ that he might be able soon to visit them. The words: _always in my prayers_, refer certainly to the following participle: _making request_, and not to what precedes, a se... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end that ye may be established; or to speak more properly, that I may be encouraged with you in the midst of you, by the mutual action of our faith, yours and mine._ ” Enriched with the gifts of God as he was, could the... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (but was hindered hitherto), that I might gather some fruit among you also, even as among the other Gentiles. I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the ignorant._ ” H... [ Continue Reading ]
_ VV._ 14. No connecting particle. Such is always the indication of a feeling which as it rises is under the necessity of reaffirming itself with increasing energy: “ _Yea_, I feel that I owe myself to all that is called Gentile.” The first division, into _Greeks_ and _Barbarians_, bears on the _lan... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _So, as much as in me is, I have the lively desire to preach the gospel to you also, to you that are at Rome._ ” Of the three explanations by which it has been sought to account for the grammatical construction of this verse, the simplest seems to me to be that which gives a restricting sense to t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TREATISE. 1:16-15:13. Third Passage (1:16, 17). The Statement of the Subject. Ver. 16. “ _For I am not ashamed of the gospel:for it is a power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first_, _and also to the Greek._ ” The long delays which had prevented the apostle's vis... [ Continue Reading ]
_ VV._ 17. “ _For therein is the righteousness of God revealed by faith for faith: as it is written, But the just shall live by faith._ ” The first part of this verse is a repetition of Romans 1:16, in more precise language. Paul explains how _this power unto salvation_, which should save the belie... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth captive unrighteously._ ” The transition from Romans 1:17 to Romans 1:18, indicated by _for_, can only be this: There is a _revelation of righteousness_ by the gospel, because ther... [ Continue Reading ]
FIRST SECTION (1:18-3:20). THE WRATH OF GOD RESTING ON THE WHOLE WORLD. From Romans 1:18, St. Paul is undoubtedly describing the miserable state of the _Gentile world._ From the beginning of chap. 2 he addresses a personage who very severely judges the Gentile abominations just described by Paul, a... [ Continue Reading ]
FUNDAMENTAL PART. 1:18-5:21. THE principal subdivision of this part is indicated by the somewhat amplified repetition of Romans 1:17, which we shall find Romans 3:21-22. There we again meet with the phrase _righteousness of God;_ the verb _was manifested_ evidently corresponds to the word _is reveal... [ Continue Reading ]
FOURTH PASSAGE (1:18-32). THE WRATH OF GOD ON THE GENTILES. According to Paul's usual style, the first verse contains summarily all the ideas developed in the following piece. The study of the verse will thus be an analysis by anticipation of the whole passage.... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Seeing that that which may be known of God is manifested in them; for God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible perfections of God, his eternal power and his divinity are spiritually contemplated, since the creation of the world, in his works, that they may be without excuse._ ” The tr... [ Continue Reading ]
He did so by _His works_ in nature. By the term τὰ ἀόρατα, _the invisible things_, the apostle designates the essence of God, and the manifold attributes which distinguish it. He sums them up afterwards in these two: _eternal power and dwinity._ Power is that which immediately arrests man, when the... [ Continue Reading ]
_ VV._ 21. “ _Seeing that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither gave Him thanks; but were struck with vanity in their reasonings, and their foolish heart was darkened._ ” The _because that_ bears on the idea of _inexcusableness_, which closes Romans 1:20, and reproduces the fee... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things._ ” Futility of _thought_ has reached the character of _folly._ What, in fact, is Polytheism, except... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:who travestied the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature instead of the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen._ ” In these words there i... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 25 was an interruption extorted from Paul by the need which his outraged heart felt to justify once more the severity of such a punishment. He now resumes his exposition of the punishment, begun in Romans 1:24; and this time he proceeds to the end. He does not shrink from any detail fitted to br... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For this cause God gave them up unto dishonoring passions: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working infamy, and receiving in the... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And even as they did not think good to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a mind void of discernment, to do those things which are not fitting._ ” The ungodliness of the Gentiles was accompanied by a depth of iniquity: the refusal to let the thought of the perfect God rule human... [ Continue Reading ]
_ VV._ 29 a. “ _Being filled with every kind of unrighteousness_, _perverseness, maliciousness, covetousness._ ” In the following enumeration we need not seek a rigorously systematic order. Paul evidently lets his pen run on as if he thought that, of all the bad terms which should present themselve... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters._ ” The dispositions expressed in the six terms of this group are those of which pride is the centre. There is no reason for reducing them to four, as Hofmann would, by making the second term the epithet of the first, and the four... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but applaud those who do them._ ” The relation of this verse to what precedes has been very generally misunderstood, hence probably the corrections of the text attempted in some MSS. T... [ Continue Reading ]