_PAUL'S SORROW FOR THE JEWS. ALL ABRAHAM'S SEED WERE NOT THE CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE. THE CALLING OF THE GENTILES, AND REJECTION OF THE JEWS. THE CAUSE WHY SO FEW JEWS EMBRACED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH._ _Anno Domini 58._ THE Apostle having insinuated, chap. Romans 3:3 that God would cast off th... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAY THE TRUTH IN CHRIST, &C.— The Apostle has proved by three special arguments, that the grace or favour of God in the Gospel extends to the Gentiles, as well as the Jews: this he has done in the first five Chapter s; in the three next, he has shewn the obligations which the Gospel lays upon Chri... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT MYSELF WERE ACCURSED, &C.— _That I myself were to be devoted to death_ [or _made a sacrifice_] _after the example of Christ._ Pere Simon has it, _For the sake of Christ:—Propter Christum._ But the first is preferable. See also Dr. Waterland's Sermons, vol. 1: p. 77. The word rendered _accursed_... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO ARE ISRAELITES— The Apostle with great address enumerates these privileges of the Jews, both that he might shew how honourably he thought of them, and that he might awaken their solicitude not to sacrifice that divine favour by which they had been so eminently and so long distinguished. In the w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE ARE THE FATHERS, &C.— See Exodus 3:6. Acts 7:32. How ingenious soever the conjecture of Dr. Taylor may be thought, by which he would read Ων ο Θεος ο επι παντων, to answer to ων οι πατερες, _whose are the Fathers, and whose is the God over all,_ it would doubtless be extremely dangerous to fol... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORD OF GOD— The word of promise. See Romans 9:9 and chap. Romans 3:3. St. Paul urges, that _they are not all Israel which are of Israel,_ as a reason to prove that the promise of God failed not to have its effect, though the body of the Jewish nation had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, and ther... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT, IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED BE CALLED— It should be considered, and well noted, that the Apostle, in this and the following quotations, does not give us the whole of the text which he intends should be taken into his argument, but only a hint or reference to the passages to which they belong; direc... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER HAVING DONE ANY GOOD OR EVIL— These words may possibly have been added by St. Paul, the more expressly to obviate an objection of the Jews, who might be ready to say, that Esau was rejected because he was wicked; as they did of Ishmael, that he was rejected, because he was the son of a bond-... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN?— So far the Apostle, in this chapter, has considered God's choosing or refusing any body of men in general, without supposing them to be corrupt, or to have forfeited the divine favour; but it is evident from the Scripture quotations, that from Romans 9:15 he considers them i... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD THAT SHEWETH MERCY— _Shewing mercy,_ and _obtaining mercy,_ are applied to the donation of extraordinary favours and privileges upon a people, chap. Romans 11:30. 1 Peter 2:10.; and that it is to be so understood here, appears from the context. One would imagine that this verse should have come... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SCRIPTURE SAITH, &C.— _Moreover,_ &c. Doddridge. It is plain that this is no proof of what immediately goes before; and therefore γαρ is properly rendered by_moreover,_ which is consistent with makingit introductory to what proves something asserted at a distance, if it come in as a co-ordin... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE HATH HE MERCY, &C.— "Therefore, that his name and power may be made known, and taken notice of in all the earth, he is kind and bountiful to one nation, and suffers another to go on obstinately in their opposition to him; that his taking them off by some signal calamity, and the ruin broug... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY DOTH HE YET FIND FAULT?— This objection is put a little differently, ch. Romans 3:7. There it is, "If God's faithfulness is glorified by my wickedness, why am I condemned as a sinner." Here it is, "If God for his own glory determines to suffer us to go on in hardness and infidelity, why does he... [ Continue Reading ]
NAY BUT, O MAN, &C.— St. Paul shews here, that the nations of the world, who are by a better right in the hands and disposal of God, than the _clay_ in the power of the_potter,_ may, without calling his justice in question, "be made great and glorious, or be pulled down or brought into contempt, as... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH NOT THE POTTER POWER, &C.— See Jeremiah 18. It is observable, that Plutarch uses the very same similitude with this before us; and Aristophanes, among other contemptuous expressions, by which he describes the frailty of human creatures, calls them πλασματα πηλου, _vessels of clay. A vessel unto... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IF GOD, WILLING, &C.— See on ch. Romans 1:18. Immediately after the instance of Pharaoh, whom God declared that he raised up to shew his power in him, Romans 9:17 it is subjoined, Romans 9:18, _And whom he will he hardeneth;_ plainly with reference to the history of Pharaoh, who is said to _har... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT HE MIGHT MAKE KNOWN— Mr. Locke thinks the sense of the place requires, that the _and_ should be left out, as it is in some manuscripts: but the _and_ seems essential to the text, and to the Apostle's meaning; as it connects the second reason, why God delayed the destruction of the Jewish na... [ Continue Reading ]
AS HE SAITH ALSO IN OSEE— Here are two quotations out of the prophet Hosea,—_first,_ ch. Romans 1:10 where, immediately after God had rejected the ten tribes, Romans 9:9. (_Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God,_) it is added, _Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand... [ Continue Reading ]
A REMNANT SHALL BE SAVED— That is, _Only a remnant._ So ch. Romans 14:2. _Eats_ only _herbs,_ John 18:8. _If ye seek me,_ (that is, only me,) _let these go their way._ Mr. Locke would translate the next verse, _For the Lord, finishing and contracting the account, in righteousness, shall make a short... [ Continue Reading ]
EXCEPT THE LORD OF SABAOTH, &C.— _Lord of Hosts,_ &c. Instead of _a seed,_ the words in Isaiah are, a _very small remnant._... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GENTILES, WHICH FOLLOWED NOT, &C.— _Righteousness_ or _justification,_ is to be understood here, as ch. Romans 4:3; Romans 4:5.Genesis 15:6. It is the justification by faith, to which the Apostle from the beginning of the Epistle has been arguing and proving that the believing _Gentiles_ have a... [ Continue Reading ]
A STUMBLINGSTONE— What the unbelieving Jews stumbled at, St. Peter informs us, 1 Epist. Romans 2:8. _They stumbled at the word:_ they were disgusted at the Gospel: the word which Christ and his Apostles preached, did not please them. It contradicted all their preconceived opinions; and, instead of c... [ Continue Reading ]