(1-7) In writing to the Romans, a Church to which he was personally unknown, and which might be supposed, so far as it was Jewish, to be prejudiced against him, the Apostle delivers with somewhat more than usual solemnity his credentials and commission. A divinely appointed minister of a system of t... [ Continue Reading ]
SERVANT. — More strictly, here as elsewhere in the New Testament, _slave;_ and yet not wrongly translated “servant,” because the compulsory and degrading side of service is not put forward. The idea of “slavery” in the present day has altogether different associations. SEPARATED. — Compare especial... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH HE HAD PROMISED. — More correctly, _which He promised before by His prophets in holy writ._ There is a nicety of meaning expressed by the absence of the article before this last phrase. A slight stress is thus thrown upon the epithet “holy.” It is not merely “in certain books which go by the n... [ Continue Reading ]
Who, on the human side — as if to show that the prophecies were really fulfilled in Him — was born of the seed of David, the rightful lineage of the Messiah; who, on the divine side, by virtue of the divine attribute of holiness dwelling in His spirit, was declared to be the Son of God, by that migh... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH POWER. — That is, in a transcendent and superhuman manner. ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS. — In antithesis to “according to the flesh,” and therefore coming where we should expect “in His divine nature.” And yet there is a difference, the precise shade of which is not easy to define. What... [ Continue Reading ]
Through Him — through Christ the Son — he, Paul, had received his own special’ endowment and commission to bring over the Gentiles into that state of loyal and dutiful submission which has its root in faith; all which would tend to the glory of His name. WE HAVE RECEIVED. — The Apostle means himsel... [ Continue Reading ]
AMONG WHOM ARE YE ALSO. — It is, perhaps, best not to put a comma at “also.” Among these Gentile churches, to which I am specially commissioned, you Romans too are called to the same obedience of faith, and therefore I have the more right to address you. CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST — _i.e.,_ not “called... [ Continue Reading ]
IN ROME. — It is to be observed that one MS. of some importance, the Codex Boernerianus, omits these words. The same MS., with some others, alters the next phrase, “beloved of God” to “in the love of God,” thus substituting for the special address to the Romans a general address to all “who are in t... [ Continue Reading ]
I THANK MY GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. — How can the Apostle be said to thank God _through_ Jesus Christ? Christ is, as it were, the medium through whom God has been brought into close relation to man. Hence all intercourse between God and man is represented as passing through Him. He is not only the... [ Continue Reading ]
(8-17) The Apostle congratulates the Romans on the good report of them that he had heard. He had long and earnestly desired to visit them in person. Yes, even in Rome he must preach the gospel — of which he is not ashamed, but proud. It is fraught with nothing less than salvation itself alike to Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
Proof that the Apostle takes this lively interest in the Roman Church conveyed through a solemn adjuration. WHOM I SERVE. — The word for “serve” is strictly used for voluntary service paid to God, especially in the way of sacrifice and outward worship. Here it is somewhat metaphorical: “Whom I serv... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-11) It is the constant subject of the Apostle’s prayers that he may succeed in making his way to Rome; so anxious is he to open his heart to that Church in personal- apostolic intercourse.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF BY ANY MEANS NOW AT LENGTH. — Note this accumulation of particles, denoting the earnestness of his desire. “All this time I have been longing to come to you, and now at last I hope that it may be put in my power.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I MAY IMPART UNTO YOU SOME SPIRITUAL GIFT. — Such gifts as would naturally flow to one Christian (or to many collectively) from the personal presence and warm sympathy of another; in St. Paul’s case, heightened in proportion to the wealth and elevation of his own spiritual consciousness and lif... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IS, THAT I MAY BE COMFORTED. — A beautiful touch of true courtesy. He is anxious to see them, that he may impart to them some spiritual gift. But no! He hastily draws back and corrects himself. He does not wish it to be implied that it is for him only to impart, and for them only to receive. He... [ Continue Reading ]
In the previous verses the Apostle has been speaking of his _desire;_ here he speaks of his _purpose,_ which is one step nearer to the realisation. He had intended to add the Roman Church to the harvest that he was engaged in gathering in. LET. — This is, of course, an archaism for “hindered,” “pre... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE GREEKS, AND TO THE BARBARIANS. — The Apostle does not intend to place the Romans any more in the one class than in the other. He merely means “to all mankind, no matter what their nationality or culture.” The classification is exhaustive. It must be remembered that the Greeks called all who d... [ Continue Reading ]
Why is the Apostle so eager to come to them? Because an obligation, a duty, is laid upon him. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 9:16, “necessity is laid upon me.”) He must preach the gospel to men of all classes and tongues; Rome itself is no exception.... [ Continue Reading ]
Accordingly, so far as depends upon his own will, and not upon the external ruling of events by God, the Apostle is ready to preach the gospel, as to the other Gentiles, so also at Rome. SO, AS MUCH AS IN ME IS. — There are three ways of taking this sentence, though the meaning remains in any case... [ Continue Reading ]
The Apostle will not be ashamed of his mission, even in the metropolis of the world. He cannot be ashamed of a scheme so beneficent and so grand. The gospel that he preaches is that mighty agency which God Himself has set in motion, and the object of which is the salvation of all who put their faith... [ Continue Reading ]
The gospel attains its end, the salvation of the believer, by revealing the righteousness of God, _i.e.,_ the plan or process designed by Him for men to become just or righteous in His sight. The essential part on man’s side, the beginning and end of that plan, is Faith. For which there was authorit... [ Continue Reading ]
As a preliminary stage to this revelation of justification and of faith, there is another, which is its opposite — a revelation and disclosure of divine wrath. The proof is seen in the present condition both of the Gentile and Jewish world. And first of the Gentile world, Romans 1:18. REVEALED. — T... [ Continue Reading ]
The Apostle goes on to show how the Gentiles came to have such a knowledge of right, and how they repressed and contravened it. They had it, because all the knowledge that mankind generally possessed of God they also possessed. So much as could be known without special revelation they knew. THAT WH... [ Continue Reading ]
For, though there were parts of God’s being into which the eye could not penetrate, still they were easily to be inferred from the character of His visible creation, which bore throughout the stamp of Omnipotence and Divinity. THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM. — His invisible attributes, afterwards expl... [ Continue Reading ]
They knew enough of God to know that thanks and praise were due to Him; but neither of these did they offer. They put aside the natural instinct of adoration, and fell to speculations, which only led them farther and farther from the truth. The new knowledge of which they went in quest proved to be... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY BECAME FOOLS. — They _were made fools._ It is not merely that they expose their real folly, but that folly is itself judicially inflicted by God as a punishment for the first step of declension from Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Relying upon their own wisdom, they wandered further and further from true wisdom, falling into the contradiction of supposing that the eternal and immutable Essence of God could be represented by the perishable figures of man, or bird, or quadruped, or insect.... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO AN IMAGE MADE LIKE TO. — _For the likeness of the image of mortal man._ This anthropomorphism applies more especially to the religions of Greece and Rome. Representations of the Deity under the form of beasts were most common in Egypt. “Worship was universally paid to cattle, lions, cats, dogs,... [ Continue Reading ]
(24-32) Hence they fell into a still lower depth; for, in anger at their perversion of the truth, God refrained from checking their downward course. He left them to follow their own evil bent. Their idolatry developed into shameless immorality and unnatural crimes. At last the extreme limit was reac... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO CHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD INTO A LIE. — They ceased to worship God as He is — in His own true essential nature, and worshipped false gods instead. The phrase “into a lie,” is literally, _with a lie,_ the “lie” being regarded as the instrument by which the substitution is made. By “a lie” is meant... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THEMSELVES — _i.e.,_ upon themselves, upon their own persons thus shamefully dishonoured. THAT RECOMPENCE OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS MEET. — The “error” is the turning from God to idols. The “recompence of the error” is seen in these unnatural excesses to which the heathen have been delivered up.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN AS. — Rightly translated in the Authorised version: “as” is not here equivalent to “because,” but means rather, _just in like proportion as._ The degree of God’s punishment corresponded exactly to the degree of man’s deflection from God. DID NOT LIKE. — There is a play upon words here with “re... [ Continue Reading ]
WHISPERERS, BACKBITERS. — In the Greek the idea of secresy is contained chiefly in the first of these words. “Secret backbiters and slanderers of every kind.”... [ Continue Reading ]
HATERS OF GOD. — Rather, perhaps, _hated by God._ There seem to be no examples of the active sense. The Apostle apparently throws in one emphatic word summing up the catalogue as far as it has gone; he then resumes with a new class of sins. Hitherto he has spoken chiefly of sins of malice, now he tu... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING — _i.e.,_ without moral or spiritual understanding; incapable of discriminating between right and wrong, expedient and inexpedient. St. Paul prays that the Colossians may possess this faculty (Colossians 1:9). WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION. — The affection founded upon natural rel... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWING. — Again the word for “full or thorough knowledge.” With full knowledge of the sentence of eternal death which is in store for them. They show that it is no mere momentary yielding to the force of temptation or of passion, but a radical perversion of conscience and reason, by the fact that... [ Continue Reading ]