Romans 1:1

THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS.

-Year of the Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5566.

-Year of the Alexandrian AEra of the World; 5560.

-Year of the Antiochian AEra of the World, 5550.

-Year of the Julian Period, 4768.

-Year of the Usherian AEra 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 AEra of the Seleucidae, 370.

-Year of the Caesarean AEra of Antioch, 106.

-Year of the Julian AEra, 103.

-Year of the Spanish AEra, 96.

-Year from the birth of Christ, 62.

-Year of the vulgar AEra 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 Caesar, 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.

CHAPTER I.

St. Paul shows the Romans his Divine call to the apostleship,

and for what end he was thus called, 1-6.

His salutation to the Church at Rome, and his commendation of

their faith, 7, 8.

His earnest desire to see them, that he might impart to them

some spiritual gifts, 9-15.

His description of the Gospel of Christ, 16, 17.

The crimes and profligacy of the Gentile world, which called

aloud for the judgments of God, 18-32.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

DIFFERENT interpreters have divided this epistle into certain parts or divisions, by which they suppose its subject and matter may be the better understood. Some of these divisions have been mentioned in the preceding preface.

The epistle contains three grand divisions.

I. The PREFACE, Romans 1:1.

II. The TRACTATION, or setting forth of the main subject, including two sections:

1. Dogmatic, or what relates to doctrine.

2. Paraenetic, or what relates to the necessity and importance of the virtues and duties of the Christian life.

The dogmatic part is included in the first eleven chapters, the grand object of which is to show that eternal salvation cannot be procured by any observance of the Jewish law, and can be hoped for only on the Christian scheme; for by the works of the law no man can be justified; but what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God has accomplished by sending his Son into the world, who, becoming an offering for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. The paraenetic part commences with Romans 12:1: I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, c. and extends to Romans 15:14.

III. The peroration or epilogue, which contains the author's apology for writing; his commendation of his apostolical office; his promise to visit them; his request of an interest in their prayers; his commendations of certain persons, and his salutations to others. These points are contained in the succeeding parts of the epistle, from Romans 15:14 to Romans 16:24. The 25th, 26th, and 27th verses Romans 16:25 of this chapter evidently belong to another part of the epistle, and should come in, as they do in a vast majority of the best MSS., after Romans 14:23.

For every thing necessary to a general knowledge of the epistle itself, see the preceding preface.

The inscriptions to this epistle are various in the different MSS. and versions. The following are the principal: - To the Romans - The Epistle of Paul to the Romans - The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans - The Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Romans. The word αγιος, holy, we have translated saint; and thus, instead of saying the holy Paul, c., we say Saint Paul, c. and this is now brought into general use. The older the MSS. are, the more simple the appellatives given to apostles and apostolic men.

NOTES ON CHAP. I.

Verse Romans 1:1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ] The word δουλος, which we translate servant, properly means a slave, one who is the entire property of his master and is used here by the apostle with great propriety. He felt he was not his own, and that his life and powers belonged to his heavenly owner, and that he had no right to dispose of or employ them but in the strictest subserviency to the will of his Lord. In this sense, and in this spirit, he is the willing slave of Jesus Christ; and this is, perhaps, the highest character which any soul of man can attain on this side eternity. "I am wholly the Lord's; and wholly devoted in the spirit of sacrificial obedience, to the constant, complete, and energetic performance of the Divine will." A friend of God is high; a son of God is higher; but the servant, or, in the above sense, the slave of God, is higher than all; - in a word, he is a person who feels he has no property in himself, and that God is all and in all.

Called to be an apostle] The word αποστολος, apostle, from αποστελλειν, to send, signifies simply a messenger or envoy; one sent on a confidential errand: but here it means an extraordinary messenger; one sent by God himself to deliver the most important message on behalf of his Maker; - in a word, one sent by the Divine authority to preach the Gospel to the nations. The word κλητος, called, signifies here the same as constituted, and should be joined with αποστολος, as it is in the Greek, and translated thus: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, constituted an apostle, c. This sense the word called has in many places of the sacred writings e. g. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called, κληθωμεν, CONSTITUTED, or made the sons of God. As it is likely that no apostle had been employed in founding the Church of Rome, and there was need of much authority to settle the matters that were there in dispute, it was necessary he should show them that he derived his authority from God, and was immediately delegated by him to preach and write as he was now doing.

Separated unto the Gospel] Set apart and appointed to this work, and to this only; as the Israelites were separate from all the people of the earth, to be the servants of God: see Leviticus 20:26. St. Paul may here refer to his former state as a Pharisee, which literally signifies a separatist, or one separated. Before he was separated unto the service of his own sect; now he is separated unto the Gospel of God. On the word GOSPEL, and its meaning, see the preface to the notes on St. Matthew; and for the meaning of the word Pharisee, see the same Gospel, Matthew 3:7.