[In Part I. of his Epistle (chaps. 1-8) Paul presented the great doctrine that righteousness and salvation are obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. But the unbelief of the Jews excluded them Generally from this salvation, yet "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). The doctrine, and the situati... [ Continue Reading ]
that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. [Paul, in the depth of his passion, does not deliberately state the cause of his grief, but leaves it to be implied. His grief was that the gospel had resulted in the rejection of his own people, the Jews. He had closed the first part of his E... [ Continue Reading ]
For I could wish [Literally, "I was wishing." Some therefore regard Paul as referring to his attitude to Christ while he was persecuting the church in the days before his conversion. But Paul is asserting his present love toward Israel, and his past conduct proved nothing whatever as to it. The tens... [ Continue Reading ]
who are Israelites [The first distinction of the chosen people was their descent from and right to the name "Israel": a name won by Jacob when, wrestling, he so prevailed with God that he was called Israel, or prince of God (Genesis 32:28), and also won for himself the unique honor of having all his... [ Continue Reading ]
whose are the fathers [At Hebrews 11 we have the list of the chief of these fathers. They were Israel's pride and inspiration. "The heroes of a people," says Godet, "are regarded as its most precious treasure." The three pre-eminent "fathers" were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-- Exodus 3:6; Exodus 3:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
But it is not as though the word of God hath come to nought. [Or, as Fritsche translates, "The matter, however, is not so as that the word of God had come to nought." Paul is answering the reasoning of the Jew which runs thus: "You speak of God's covenants and promises given to the fathers and enlar... [ Continue Reading ]
neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children: but [as God said to Abraham-- Genesis 21:12], _In Isaac shall thy seed be called_. [I. e., the children of Isaac alone shall be known distinctively as thy children, the heirs of thy covenant. Here, again, Paul attacks a second false co... [ Continue Reading ]
That is, it is not the children of the flesh [of Abraham] _that are_ [reckoned or accounted as] _children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed_. [Are accounted the children of God through Abraham. Fleshly descent from Abraham, of itself and without more--i. e., without pro... [ Continue Reading ]
For this is a word of promise [this is the saying or promise that brought Isaac into being, and made him a child of promise and not of natural birth-- Genesis 18:10], _According to this season_ [Godet translates, "Next year at the moment when this same time (this same epoch) will return"] _will I co... [ Continue Reading ]
And not only so [Not only is Ishmael rejected for the promised Isaac, but even Isaac's seed, his two sons Esau and Jacob, are made the subject of choice by God, showing that even the seed of the children of promise may be so sifted that part may be received and part rejected, for God indeed did this... [ Continue Reading ]
for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good [as might be supposed of Jacob] _or bad_ [as might be presumed of Esau], _that the purpose of God according to election_ [choosing] _might stand_ [might be made apparent and be fully and finally confirmed], _not of works, but of... [ Continue Reading ]
it was said unto her, The elder shall serve ["Servitude," says Trapp, "came in with a curse, and figureth reprobation-- Genesis 9:25; John 8:34-35; Galatians 4:30 "] _the younger_. [I. e., Esau shall serve Jacob. It is evident from these words that Jacob and Esau do not figure personally, but as the... [ Continue Reading ]
Even as it is written [Malachi 1:2-3], _Jacob loved, but Esau hated_. [Expositors of Calvinistic bias insist upon the full, literal meaning of "hatred" in this passage; but Hodge, whose leaning that way is so decided that he can see no more injustice in eternal than in temporal election (he apparent... [ Continue Reading ]
What shall, we say then? [The apostle makes frequent use of the semi-dialogue. Five times already in this Epistle he has asked this question (Romans 3:5; Romans 4:1; Romans 6:1; Romans 7:7; Romans 8:31). He begins with this question which calls out an objection in the form of a question, to which he... [ Continue Reading ]
For he saith to Moses [Exodus 33:19. Surely if the Scripture generally was final authority to the Jew, that part of it would be least questioned wherein God is the speaker and Moses the reporter], _I will have mercy on whom I have mercy_ [God chooses both the occasion and the object of mercy, and it... [ Continue Reading ]
So then [With these words Paul introduces the answer to the question in Romans 9:14; as inferred or deduced from the citation in Romans 9:15; as though he said, "As a conclusion from what I have cited, it is proven that as to the obtaining of God's favor"] _it is not_ [the accomplishment] _of him th... [ Continue Reading ]
For the scripture [Paul is still answering the question at verse 14 by Scripture citation] _saith unto Pharaoh_ [We have had election choosing between Ishmael and Isaac, and Esau and Jacob: we now have it choosing between a third pair, Moses and Pharaoh. In the first case God blessed both Isaac, and... [ Continue Reading ]
So then [see Romans 9:16] _he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth._ [This does not mean that God arbitrarily chooses the worst people upon whom to shower his mercies, and chooses those who are trying hard to serve him and hardens them that he may punish them. The point is that,... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? [That God actually and always does find fault with sinners is a fact never to be overlooked, and is also a fact which shows beyond all question or peradventure that God abhors evil and takes no positive steps toward its production. Even in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Nay but [One word in Greek,: viz., the particle menounge. "This particle is," says Hodge, "often used in replies, and is partly concessive and partly corrective, as in Luke 11:28; where it is rendered, yea, rather; in Romans 10:18; yes, verily. It may here, as elsewhere, have an ironical force. Some... [ Continue Reading ]
Or [This word presents a dilemma, thus: Either the clay (thing formed) has no right to question, or the potter has no right to dictate. In the Greek the form of the question indicates the affirmative answer: "The potter has a right to dictate"] _hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the sa... [ Continue Reading ]
What if [With these words Paul introduces his real answer to the question asked in verse 19. The full idea runs thus: "I have answered your impudent question by an assertion of the absolute right of God, which you can not deny (Proverbs 26:5; Psalms 18:26). But what will you say if, etc." If the abs... [ Continue Reading ]
and [A copula of thoughts, rather than of clauses: God spared the wicked because of longsuffering mercy to them, and because they could be used to aid him in making known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy. Without attempting to show that God's patience with the godless aids him to win th... [ Continue Reading ]
even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? [The apostle ends his question with a clear specification of who the vessels of mercy are. They are those called impartially from both Jews and Gentiles. "In calling to salvation," says Lard, "God is equally merciful t... [ Continue Reading ]
As he saith also in Hosea [Paul does not seek to prove his question about God's grace to the wicked which he exercises instead of his right to immediate punishment -- that needs no proof. That God wishes to save all, and hath no pleasure in the damnation of any, has always been Scripturally plain. W... [ Continue Reading ]
And it shall be [shall come to pass],_ that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, There shall they be called sons of the living God_. [These verses originally apply to the to-be-returned-and-reinstated ten tribes, after the devastation and deportation inflicted by the Assyr... [ Continue Reading ]
And Isaiah crieth [in deep feeling, excessive passion-- John 1:15; John 7:28; John 7:37; John 12:44; Matthew 27:46] _concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea_ [thus Isaiah minishes the promise given to Abraham (Genesis 22:17) and quoted by Hosea-- Hosea 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short. [Isaiah 10:22-23. This prophecy, like that of Hosea, refers to the return of the ten tribes in the latter days, and is therefore an unfulfilled prophecy, save as it had a preliminary and minor literal fulfillment i... [ Continue Reading ]
And, as Isaiah hath said before [This may mean, Isaiah has said this before me, so that I need not prophesy myself, but may appropriate his word, or, as earlier expositors (Erasmus, Calvin, Grotius, etc.) render it, Isaiah spoke the words which I am about to quote earlier than those which I have alr... [ Continue Reading ]
What shall we say then? ["Shall we raise objection, as at verse 14, or shall we at last rest in a correct conclusion? Let us, from the Scriptures and facts adduced, reach a sound conclusion." Paul's conclusion, briefly stated, is this: God's sovereign will has elected that men shall be saved by beli... [ Continue Reading ]
but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. [Israel was not seeking justification. Their search was rather for a law that would produce in them a righteousness meriting justification. This craving arose from a proud, self-sufficient spirit, and God answered it by... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore? [Why, then, did the Jews fail to find any law of life? Answer: Because there is but one such law, and they sought another.] _Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works_. [In interpreting, we have contrasted the law of works with what we have called "the law of faith," bu... [ Continue Reading ]
even as it is written [The passage about to be quoted is a compound of the Hebrew at Isaiah 8:14 and the LXX. at Isaiah 28:16. The first reads thus, "But he shall be... for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel," and the second, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foun... [ Continue Reading ]