_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 ]