Chapter IX.
1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost . He proves that what he was about to say should be free from all falsehood, and dignified with perfect truth, for be calls the grace of the Holy Spirit to witness with his conscience; in every way persuading them not to disbelieve his account. 2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart . The composition of the sentence is incomplete, for it should have been added that the continual sorrow was caused by the rejection, or infidelity of the Jews; but through caution he omits these distinct words, and is content to teach in the sequel that he so meant. For thus he speaks: 3. For I could pray to be myself anathema from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh . The word anathema has two significations, for that which is consecrated to God is called an anathema, and that which is separated from Him has the same name, and this second meaning the holy apostle has taught us in the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 22), "If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema"—the first being explained even by common custom, for so we designate whatever is offered to God an anathema—and the God of all things Himself, in commanding the town of Jericho to be made an anathema (Joshua vi. 17). Here then the blessed apostle uses it in its second meaning, to manifest the feelings he entertained towards his brother Jews, and he says not I could desire, but I could pray to be separated from Christ, provided that they who are my kindred in the flesh, being united to Him, should reap salvation; and most aptly does he introduce the "even I myself " recalling to their recollection what he |739 had just before stated of his love to Christ, and as it were saying, that I, whom "neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other such creation, could separate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus," would gladly be alienated from Him, for the sake of the salvation of the Jews. But it is evident that he speaks not this as preferring them to the Saviour, but as indicating his love and anxiety for them, being most desirous that all should submit themselves, and joyfully receive the saving gospel. And to persuade them of the truth of what he says, he points out both their former high descent and eminence, and the riches of the divine gifts conferred on them, and says, 4. Who are Israelites? For most celebrated was this name, imposed by God Himself on their forefather, (Gen. xxxv. 10) and transmitted as an heirloom to his descendants; To whom pertaineth the adoption . And this name also they had obtained, for "Israel," says he, "is My son, my firstborn" (Exod iv. 22); And the glory , for they had been illustrious through miracles; And the covenants , not the old only, but the new also had He promised to bestow on them, "for I will make," says He, "a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers" (Jer. xxxi. 31, 32), but this they themselves were not willing to accept; And the giving of the law , for to them had He given the Mosaic law; And the service of God , for, honouring them above other nations, to them He had taught the ritual ministrations of the law; And the promises, both those made by God to their fathers and those promulged by the prophets.
(To be continued.)
1. * Resembled those heretics of later times in their denial of the authority and inspiration of the Old Testament— E. B.
2. * An abortion. 1 Cor. xv. 8. " Wishing to call himself meaner than all men, leaving those perfected in the womb of their mother, who afterwards are born according to the common custom of nature, he likens himself to an abortive embryo, which is not numbered in the list of men." Theod. in loco.
3. * The grace of or for the ministry ἐν τῷ διδομένῳ χαρίσματι . See Theod. in ch. viii. 16; and compare 1 Cor. i. 7; xii. 4,9; 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6; and 1 Pet. iv. 10.
4. * As I Cor. iii. 6.
5. * The argument, according to our author, seems to be, that the means and opportunities of salvation offered in the oracles of God, (the Bible, which he calls the eu0ergesi/aj; or mercies) and His glory arising therefrom, must remain sure, whether men accept or reject them, being neither weakened, nor promoted, by their conduct thereunder.
6. + Αὐτεξούσιος , masters of themselves, in their own power, free as to choice and action, sui juris .
7. * Literally, "to grace." The word "grace," and sometimes "faith" also, being used to express shortly "the new gospel covenant of grace through faith."
8. + See on chap. v. 1; and so on Eph. ii. 9, 10. "For we believed not of our own power, but when called came, and he required not from such as came, purity of life, but, accepting faith alone, gave remission of sins." Ver. 10, the "created" he here means of our regeneration. "For He hath called us," says he, "of His ineffable good-ness, and we obeyed, and believing, obtained salvation. But He required not at our hands the practice of virtue before our baptism, but after it commanded us to hold to it also." In other words, in order to be admitted into the covenant of salvation, not past virtue, but present faith, was demanded; as see the former verses of the same chapter to the Ephesians, and Romans v. 8, &c. &c.
9. * For however out of place, and cut off by this new covenant, the Jews yet had not relinquished it—E. B.
10. * The exposition would seem to interpret, "he indeed might boast, but it would refer not at all to God." ἀλλ̕ οὐ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν .
11. + See note on chapter iii. v. 24. Our author of course is, with St. Paul, reprobating works as a meritorious cause, but not as indispensable conditions; Mosaic, and not evangelical. See exp. end of this chapter.
12. * Rather perhaps "as though faith alone were sufficient," &c.
13. * Τέλειος —who having been admitted by baptism, and communicated in Christ in the Eucharist, or τὸ τέλειον , had fully imbibed the spirit, and known the depth of the mysteries, of their holy calling; and so were perfect and consummate Christians.— See Bingham, I, iv. 3; & conf. 1 Cor.iii. 1, 2. Heb. v. 13, 14. Eph. iv. 13. Phil iii. 15, &c.
14. + Δοκιμὴ , as see 2 Cor. ii. 9. Phil. ii. 22.
15. ++ Δόκιμος ἀποδείκνυται , tried and proved by test to be not wanting.—See ch. xvi. 10.
16. * " Ortho . And bow then does it appear just to you, that, when Adam had transgressed the commandment, the race should follow the progenitor?
" Eran . Although the race shared not in that particular transgression, they committed nevertheless other sins, and on that account have been made sharers in the death.
" Ortho . But then, not sinners only, but the just also, and patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and such as signalized themselves by various kinds of virtue, have fallen under the bondage of death !
" Eran . For how was it possible, that they should remain immortal, who sprang from mortal parents? For it was after his sin, and the divine sentence, when he was under the power of death, that Adam knew his wife, and became a father. Having become then, himself; mortal, it was of mortals that he was the parent; justly then do all follow their progenitor in having received a mortal nature.
" Ortho . Excellently well have you pointed out the cause of our sharing in the death; and the same must you grant of the resurrection; for the remedy must be suitable to the disease; for as, the founder of the race having been condemned, the whole race itself became condemned also, so, the Saviour having broken the curse, the race thus enjoyed freedom. And as, Adam having descended to Hades, all who partook of his nature followed him, so, Christ the Lord having risen, the whole race of man shall share in that resurrection .... Behold then the case of Christ, compared with that of Adam, the remedy with the disease, the antidote with the wound, the riches of righteousness with sin, the blessing with the curse, remission with condemnation, the observance with the transgression, life with death, the Kingdom with Hades, Christ with Adam, Man with man." —Dialogues. Ἀπαθὴς . vol. iv. p. 198, &c. And compare the ἥμρτον here with the ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατεστάθησαν of v. 19, the ἀπέθανον of v. 15, the "condemned" above, and with 3 Kings i. 21. 2 Kings xii. 13. LXX.; and Matt. ix. 2, 6, sin for its punishment. "How then did death enter in and reign? By the sin of one. And what means the 'in that all have sinned?' He having fallen, all, though they ate not of the tree, in him became mortal."—Chrysostom. Hom. in loco .
By comparison of these passages, as well as of what is said in v. 21 respecting sin and excess, the general view of our author would seem to be, "As on the one hand, by the entrance through Adam of sin bringing death in its train, and as its consequence, all men became subject to both these evils; though some in a greater and some in a lesser degree to the former, which indeed act and react on one another, so that not only by the primary fall have we become heirs of mortality, but through our own individual sins justify that sentence; even so, on the other, by our Lord have all been gifted with a renewed power and spirit of righteousness, and life hereafter, though all do not duly or equally take advantage thereof."—E. B.
17. * Namely, as it would seem, "if then we need the incarnation of Christ for our justification, of what use was the law, was it not given for that very purpose? Nay, it has its uses indeed, in affording instruction; but the end therefrom resulting was, that your sins, as committed against it, were the greater and more numerous."
18. + As see ch. iii. 4, 19.
19. * Μυστήριον . Exhort at celebration of Communion, Angl. Rit.
20. + See the exposition of this verse. "The expression, 'The God of our Lord Jesus Christ,' he has here used with a distinction, calling Him on the one hand the God, and on the other, the Father of the same Saviour; His God as regards His manhood, His Father as regards His godhead; for it is His divine nature that He here speaks of as glory. And thus also in the Epistle to the Hebrews (i. 3,) who having the brightness of His glory ..... that is, of His divine nature. And thus also the holy Ezekiel (i. 26) says, " This was the likeness of the glory of the Lord.' For since it is altogether impossible for men to know the divine nature, they represent it as glory, giving that name thereto, from the worship and glory due to it."
21. * Τὴν πνευματικὴν διδασκαλίαν , the institutions or teaching of the Spirit.
22. * [Greek omitted].—Aristotle's Ethics, Book vii. ch. 6. ad fin.
23. * The contrast seems to be between desire or interest in its healthy state, though liable to degenerate into over-worldliness, carnality, &c. that is, unbridled love of the creature in any way: and the warm and sudden impulses of a generous nature, whose vicious extreme is fierceness and rage. Ἐπιθυμία and Θυμὸς . See on Psalm lxviiL 25, (lxix. 24, Engl. Trans.) "Pour out Thine anger upon them, and let the θυμὸς of Thine anger lay hold on them." By θυμὸς he sets forth that which is sudden, for of such a kind is θυμὸς : but by anger that which is lasting, for this is the nature of anger: for θυμὸς is sharp and short-lived: anger slower, but more enduring: by the θυμὸς of anger therefore he means, sharp and abiding vengeance. "So" we call that bravery which is the due excitement τοῦ θυμοειδοῦς , "and justice the proper government of the soul and order of the subjected passions, the due agreement with reason τοῦ ἐπιθυμητικοῦ καὶ θυμοειδοῦς and harmony between each other." Περὶ Πρόνοιας , 4th Book, vol. iv. p. 566,567. This same account is repeated in the Dissertation on the Philosophy of the Greeks, vol. iv. pp. 827, 843, 844. Ed. Halae, 1769—1774.— E. B.
24. * The ancient yoke, be it remembered, went over the necks of both horses, somewhat as the modern cross-bar of a curricle does over their backs, only that it was curved for that purpose; to carry it even and straight, therefore, they must move pari passu .—E. B.
25. * Either simply, as describing the state of man under the law; or in my mind thus strengthened now am enabled to serve God, who formerly, by the domination of passion, could only serve sin.—E. B.
26. * Arians, Macedonians, and Eunomians, Haeret. Fab. Comp. lib. v. ch. 3, p. 389, vol. iv. 7: ed. and Pearson on the Creed, Art. 8, notes 17, 19, 3 and 6.—E. B.
27. + See Pearson on Creed, Article 8, text and notes, 29,32, 33, 34, m. p. g. r. —E. B.
28. ++ To whose doctrines of condemnation of the body itself, as the formation of the prince of darkness, allusion has been so often before made; and see Col. ii. 20 to end.—E. B.
29. * Τὴν μυστικὴν εὐχὴν , alluding perhaps to the μυστηριον of baptism, wherein we were constituted and adopted as God's children, as see on Gal. xxvi. 27.—E. B.
30. + Abba. The term familiarly in the mouths of infants, see Is. viii. 4, but not allowed to be used by servants, see Calmet. Showing that as infants, ignorant of the real nature of the connexion with their parents, boldly call them habitually by that name, even so we, as unacquainted with our Heavenly Parent, address Him. The whole explanation is, however, differently given in another MS. of our author's. "It belongs to little children to call their parents by this same word, Abba, and they who had been blessed with the adoption of sons in baptism, were little children in this present life, waiting for the more complete and true sonship in the world to come; wherefore he subjoins, Abba, Father, both as pointing out the expected perfection, and as indicating their present state, in which, like infants, they had not yet received their full enjoyment of all good things."—E. B.
31. ++ Literally, their share of the sufferings of the Lord, see Col. i. 24.—E. B.
32. * Τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν . Compare Acts xiii. 46, 48. Τεταγμένοι , disposed, while the Jews were not, as explained by the ἔταξαν ἑαυτούς of 1 Cor. xvi. 15, and the διατεταγμένος of Acts xx. 13, Luke ix. 62, and Matt xiii. 3—17. Verbally " disposition," as [Greek] . . . k. t. l. Hist Eccl. lib. i. ch. 3, ad init; and again, [Greek] On Ps. ix. 17. Again, [Greek] Euther. Serm. ii.; and as see the explanation below, and on ch. ix. ver, 11, and compare Acts xi. 23, and 2 Tim. iii. 10.—E. B.
33. + [Greek]
34. * Αξιωθέντας . Having heretofore so translated this word, it has so been rendered here, however the more literal version of Luke xx. 35, received Engl. Transl. would have been in stricter accordance with the κατὰ προθέσιν and the ους προέγνω above, and so at end of ch. "we may be found worthy of the mansions of the apostles;" i. e. the same that themselves are, &c.—E.B.
35. + All the verbs and participles being in the same tense, Aor. 1st, except the "had foreknown," Aor. 2d, both here and in the original text of the Romans, v. 29, 30, and therefore to be rendered rather synchronistically than successively,— (and here by the way may be mentioned, once for all, a liberty throughout taken in this translation, for greater plainness of sense sake, at variance with the general attempt verbum reddere verbo, and that is the substitution of the present, where our author frequently speaks in the past tense, of what St. Paul is saying , e. g. as in next verse, literally, ''has comprehended." 34. Literally, "having said" . . . "he has added," &c.; the advantage, and almost necessity, of which alteration, will be seen plainly in those passages, where, having already laid down such and such, the apostle is represented still in the past tense as proceeding to enforce it, and yet as meaning this or that in the present; while our author himself sanctions it by frequently so expressing it himself.)—E.B.
36. * Who can rise up in judgment against those whom God has thus chosen, and when He has justified, who condemn them for what He has pardoned!—E.B.
37. + The human body of our nature, now become the first-fruits from the dead. 1 Cor. xv. 20, 23, &c.—E.B.
38. * The preservation of their own fidelity to God's glory, in spite of suffering.—E.B.
39. * Ἀνάθημα and ἀνάθεμα . The latter in the text of the Epistle.—E.B.
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