The Works, vol. 7 (Essays and Notes on St. Paul’s Epistles)

John Locke

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Published by Liberty Fund, Inc.

John Locke, The Works of John Locke, vol. 7 (Essays and Notes on St. Paul’s Epistles) [1824]

Edition used:

The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes, (London: Rivington, 1824 12th ed.). Vol. 7.

Author: John Locke

This volume contains what Locke calls his paraphrases and notes on Paul’s Epistles.

Copyright:

The text is in the public domain.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS, CORINTHIANS, ROMANS, EPHESIANS.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED AN ESSAY FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF ST. PAUL’S EPISTLES, BY CONSULTING ST. PAUL HIMSELF.

THE PREFACE.

A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS.

THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS; WRIT FROM EPHESUS, THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1—5. INTRODUCTION.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 6.—II. 21.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

CHAP. II.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. III.

CHAP. III. 1—5.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV.

CHAP. III. 6—17.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. V.

CHAP. III. 18—25.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI.

CHAP. III. 26—29.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VII.

CHAP. IV. 1—11.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. IV. 12—20.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX.

CHAP. IV. 21.—V. 1.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. X.

CHAP. V. 2—13.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. V. 13—26.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XII.

CHAP. VI. 1—5.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XIII.

CHAP. VI. 6—10.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XIV.

CHAP. VI. 11—18.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS.

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS; WRIT IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1—9.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 10.—VI. 20.

CONTENTS.

SECT. II. No. 1.

CHAP. I. 10—16.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II. No. 2.

CHAP. 1. 17—31.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II. No. 3.

CHAP. II. 1—5.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II. No. 4.

CHAP. II. 6—16.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II. No. 5.

CHAP. III. I—IV. 20.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II. No. 6.

CHAP. IV. 21.—VI. 20.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. III.

CHAP. VII. 1—40.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV.

CHAP. VIII. 1—13.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. V.

CHAP. IX. 1—27.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI. No. I.

CHAP. X. 1—22.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI. No. 2.

CHAP. X. 23.—XI. 1.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VII.

CHAP. XI. 2—16.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. XI. 17—34.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX.

CHAP. XII. 1.—XIV. 40.

CONTENTS.

SECT. IX. No. 1.

CHAP. XII. 1—3.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX. No. 2.

CHAP. XII. 4—11.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX. No. 3.

CHAP. XII. 12—31.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX. No. 4.

CHAP. XIII. 1—13.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX. No. 5.

CHAP. XIV. 1—40.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. X.

CHAP. XV. 1—58.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. XVI. 1—4.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XII.

CHAP. XVI. 5—12.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XIII.

CHAP. XVI. 13.—24.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS.

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS; WRITTEN FROM ROME IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1, 2. INTRODUCTION.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 3—VII. 16.

CONTENTS.

SECT. II. No. 1.

CHAP. I.—3—14.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II. No. 2.

CHAP. I. 15.—II. 17.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II. No. 3.

CHAP. III. 1.—VII. 16.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. III.

CHAP. VIII. 1.—IX. 15.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV.

CHAP. X. 1.—XIII. 10.

CONTENTS.

SECT. IV. No. 1.

CHAP. X. 1—6.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 2.

CHAP. X. 7—18.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 3.

CHAP. XI. 1—6.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 4.

CHAP. XI. 7—15.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 5.

CHAP. XI. 16—33.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 6.

CHAP. XII. 1—11.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 7.

CHAP. XII. 12, 13.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 8.

CHAP. XII. 14—21.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV. No. 9.

CHAP. XIII. 1—10.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. V.

CHAP. XIII. 11—14.

CONCLUSION.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS; WRIT IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1—15.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION, With his profession of a desire to see them.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 16.—II. 29.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT.

CHAP. III. 1—31.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV.

CHAP. IV. 1—25.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. V.

CHAP. V. 1—11

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI.

CHAP. V. 12.—VII. 25.

CONTENTS.

SECT. VI. No. I.

CHAP. V. 12—19.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI. No. 2.

CHAP. V. 20, 21.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI. No. 3.

CHAP. VI. 1—23.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI. No. 4.

CHAP. VII. 1—25.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VII.

CHAP. VIII. 1—39.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. IX. 1.—X. 21.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX.

CHAP. XI. 1—36.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. X.

CHAP. XII. 1—21.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. XIII. 1—7.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XII.

CHAP. XIII. 8—14.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XIII.

CHAP. XIV. 1.—XV. 13.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XIV.

CHAP. XV. 14—33.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XV.

CHAP. XVI. 1—27.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS.

THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS; WRIT IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 63, OF NERO IX.

SYNOPSIS.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1, 2.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 3—14.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. III.

CHAP. I. 15.—II. 10.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IV.

CHAP. II. 11—22.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. V.

CHAP. III. 1—21.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VI.

CHAP. IV. 1—16.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VII.

CHAP. IV. 17—24.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. IV. 25.—V. 2.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. IX.

CHAP. V. 3—20.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. X.

CHAP. V. 21.—VI. 9.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. VI. 10—20.

CONTENTS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

SECT. XII.

CHAP. VI. 21—24.

EPILOGUS.

TEXT.

PARAPHRASE.

Edition: current; Page: [none]

THE WORKS of JOHN LOCKE, IN NINE VOLUMES.

THE TWELFTH EDITION.

VOLUME THE SEVENTH.

LONDON:

printed for c. and j. rivington; t. egerton; j. cuthell; j. and a. arch; longman and co; t. cadell; j. richardson; j. and w. t. clarke; j. mawman; baynes and son; harding and co.; baldwin and co.; harvey and darton; r. scholey; j. bohn; j. collingwood; t. tegg; g. and w. b. whittaker; g. mackie; w. mason; hurst, robinson, and co.; j. hearne; j. brumby; simpkin and marshall; s. prowett; w. pickering; r. saunders; j. parker, oxford; and stirling and slade, edinburgh.

1824.

Edition: current; Page: [none]

C. Baldwin, Printer,

New Bridge-street, London.

Edition: current; Page: [none]

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

AN Essay for the Understanding of St. Paul’s Epistles, by consulting St. Paul himself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 1

A Paraphrase and Notes on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

A Paraphrase and Notes on St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

A Paraphrase and Notes on St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

A Paraphrase and Notes on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans 271

A Paraphrase and Notes on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Index.

Edition: current; Page: [none] Edition: current; Page: [i]

A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS, CORINTHIANS, ROMANS, EPHESIANS.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED AN ESSAY FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF ST. PAUL’S EPISTLES, BY CONSULTING ST. PAUL HIMSELF.

Edition: current; Page: [ii] Edition: current; Page: [iii]

THE PREFACE.

To go about to explain any of St. Paul’s epistles, after so great a train of expositors and commentators, might seem an attempt of vanity, censurable for its needlessness, did not the daily and approved examples of pious and learned men justify it. This may be some excuse for me to the public, if ever these following papers should chance to come abroad: but to myself, for whose use this work was undertaken, I need make no apology. Though I had been conversant in these epistles, as well as in other parts of sacred scripture, yet I found that I understood them not; I mean the doctrinal and discursive parts of them: though the practical directions, which are usually dropped in the latter part of each epistle, appeared to me very plain, intelligible, and instructive.

I did not, when I reflected on it, very much wonder, that this part of sacred scripture had difficulties in it: many causes of obscurity did readily occur to me. The nature of epistolary writings in general, disposes the writer to pass by the mentioning of many things, as well known to him, to whom his letter is addressed, which are necessary to be laid open to a stranger, to make him comprehend what Edition: current; Page: [iv] is said: and it not seldom falls out, that a well-penned letter, which is very easy and intelligible to the receiver, is very obscure to a stranger, who hardly knows what to make of it. The matters that St. Paul writ about, were certainly things well known to those he writ to, and which they had some peculiar concern in; which made them easily apprehend his meaning, and see the tendency and force of his discourse. But we having now, at this distance, no information of the occasion of his writing, little or no knowledge of the temper and circumstances those he writ to were in, but what is to be gathered out of the epistles themselves; it is not strange, that many things in them lie concealed to us, which, no doubt, they who were concerned in the letter, understood at first sight. Add to this, that in many places it is manifest he answers letters sent, and questions proposed to him, which, if we had, would much better clear those passages that relate to them, than all the learned notes of critics and commentators, who in after times fill us with their conjectures; for very often, as to the matter in hand, they are nothing else.

The language wherein these epistles are writ, is another, and that no small occasion of their obscurity to us now: the words are Greek; a language dead many ages since: a language of a very witty, volatile people, seekers after novelty, and abounding with variety of notions and sects, to which they applied the terms of their common tongue, with great liberty and variety: and yet this makes but one small part of the difficulty in the language of these epistles; there is a peculiarity in it, that much more obscures and perplexes the meaning of these writings, than what can be occasioned by the looseness and variety of the Greek tongue. The terms are Greek, but the idiom, or turn of the phrases, may be truly said to be Hebrew or Syriack. The custom and familiarity of which tongues do sometimes so far influence the expressions in these epistles, that one may observe the force of the Hebrew conjugations, particularly that of Hiphil, given to Greek verbs, in a way unknown to the Grecians themselves. Nor is this all; the subject treated of in these epistles is so wholly new, and the doctrines contained Edition: current; Page: [v] in them so perfectly remote from the notions that mankind were acquainted with, that most of the important terms in it have quite another signification from what they have in other discourses. So that putting all together, we may truly say, that the New Testament is a book written in a language peculiar to itself.

To these causes of obscurity, common to St. Paul, with most of the other penmen of the several books of the New Testament, we may add those that are peculiarly his, and owing to his style and temper. He was, as it is visible, a man of quick thought, and warm temper, mighty well versed in the writings of the Old Testament, and full of the doctrine of the New. All this put together, suggested matter to him in abundance, on those subjects which came in his way: so that one may consider him, when he was writing, as beset with a croud of thoughts, all striving for utterance. In this posture of mind it was almost impossible for him to keep that slow pace, and observe minutely that order and method of ranging all he said, from which results an easy and obvious perspicuity. To this plenty and vehemence of his, may be imputed those many large parentheses, which a careful reader may observe in his epistles. Upon this account also it is, that he often breaks off in the middle of an argument, to let in some new thought suggested by his own words; which having pursued and explained, as far as conduced to his present purpose, he re-assumes again the thread of his discourse, and goes on with it, without taking any notice, that he returns again to what he had been before saying; though sometimes it be so far off, that it may well have slipt out of his mind, and requires a very attentive reader to observe, and so bring the disjointed members together, as to make up the connexion, and see how the scattered parts of the discourse hang together in a coherent, well-agreeing sense, that makes it all of a piece.

Besides the disturbance in perusing St. Paul’s epistles, from the plenty and vivacity of his thoughts, which may obscure his method, and often hide his sense from an unwary, or over-hasty reader; the frequent changing of the personage he speaks in, renders the sense very uncertain, and is apt to mislead one that has not some clue to guide him; sometimes by the pronoun I, he means himself; Edition: current; Page: [vi] sometimes any christian; sometimes a Jew, and sometimes any man, &c. If speaking of himself, in the first person singular, has so various meanings; his use of the first person plural is with a far greater latitude, sometimes designing himself alone, sometimes those with himself, whom he makes partners to the epistles; sometimes with himself, comprehending the other apostles, or preachers of the gospel, or christians: nay, sometimes he in that way speaks of the converted Jews, other times of the converted Gentiles, and sometimes of others, in a more or less extended sense, every one of which varies the meaning of the place, and makes it to be differently understood. I have forborne to trouble the reader with examples of them here. If his own observation hath not already furnished him with them, the following paraphrase and notes, I suppose, will satisfy him in the point.

In the current also of his discourse, he sometimes drops in the objections of others, and his answers to them, without any change in the scheme of his language, that might give notice of any other speaking, besides himself. This requires great attention to observe; and yet, if it be neglected or overlooked, will make the reader very much mistake and misunderstand his meaning, and render the sense very perplexed.

These are intrinsic difficulties arising from the text itself, whereof there might be a great many other named, as the uncertainty, sometimes, who are the persons he speaks to, or the opinions, or practices, which he has in his eye, sometimes in alluding to them, sometimes in his exhortations and reproofs. But, those above-mentioned being the chief, it may suffice to have opened our eyes a little upon them, which, well examined, may contribute towards our discovery of the rest.

To these we may subjoin two external causes, that have made no small increase of the native and original difficulties, that keep us from an easy and assured discovery of St. Paul’s sense, in many parts of his epistles: and those are,

First, The dividing of them into chapters, and verses, as we have done; whereby they are so chopped and minced, and, as they are now printed, stand so broken and divided, that not only the common people take the verses Edition: current; Page: [vii] usually for distinct aphorisms; but even men of more advanced knowledge, in reading them, lose very much of the strength and force of the coherence, and the light that depends on it. Our minds are so weak and narrow, that they have need of all the helps and assistances that can be procured, to lay before them undisturbedly the thread and coherence of any discourse; by which alone they are truly improved, and led into the genuine sense of the author. When the eye is constantly disturbed in loose sentences, that by their standing and separation appear as so many distinct fragments: the mind will have much ado to take in, and carry on in its memory, an uniform discourse of dependent reasonings; especially having from the cradle been used to wrong impressions concerning them, and constantly accustomed to hear them quoted as distinct sentences, without any limitation or explication of their precise meaning, from the place they stand in, and the relation they bear to what goes before, or follows. These divisions also have given occasion to the reading these epistles by parcels, and in scraps, which has farther confirmed the evil arising from such partitions. And I doubt not but every one will confess it to be a very unlikely way, to come to the understanding of any other letters, to read them piece-meal, a bit to-day, and another scrap to-morrow, and so on by broken intervals: especially if the pause and cessation should be made, as the chapters the apostle’s epistles are divided into, do end sometimes in the middle of a discourse, and sometimes in the middle of a sentence. It cannot therefore but be wondered, that that should be permitted to be done to holy writ, which would visibly disturb the sense, and hinder the understanding of any other book whatsoever. If Tully’s epistles were so printed, and so used, I ask, Whether they would not be much harder to be understood, less easy, and less pleasant to be read, by much, than now they are?

How plain soever this abuse is, and what prejudice soever it does to the understanding of the sacred scripture, yet if a bible was printed as it should be, and as the several parts of it were writ, in continued discourses, where the argument is continued, I doubt not but the Edition: current; Page: [viii] several parties would complain of it, as an innovation, and a dangerous change in the publishing those holy books. And indeed, those who are for maintaining their opinions, and the systems of parties, by sound of words, with a neglect of the true sense of scripture, would have reason to make and foment the outcry. They would most of them be immediately disarmed of their great magazine of artillery, wherewith they defend themselves and fall upon others. If the holy scriptures were but laid before the eyes of christians, in its connexion and consistency, it would not then be so easy to snatch out a few words, as if they were separate from the rest, to serve a purpose, to which they do not at all belong, and with which they have nothing to do. But, as the matter now stands, he that has a mind to it, may at a cheap rate be a notable champion for the truth, that is, for the doctrines of the sect, that chance or interest has cast him into. He need but be furnished with verses of sacred scripture, containing words and expressions that are but flexible, (as all general obscure and doubtful ones are) and his system, that has appropriated them to the orthodoxy of his church, makes them immediately strong and irrefragable arguments for his opinion. This is the benefit of loose sentences, and scripture crumbled into verses, which quickly turn into independent aphorisms. But if the quotation in the verse produced were considered as a part of a continued coherent discourse, and so its sense were limited by the tenour of the context, most of these forward and warm disputants would be quite stripped of those, which they doubt not now to call spiritual weapons; and they would have often nothing to say, that would not show their weakness, and manifestly fly in their faces. I crave leave to set down a saying of the learned and judicious Mr. Selden: “In interpreting the scripture, says he, many do as if a man should see one have ten pounds, which he reckoned by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, meaning four was but four units, and five five units, &c. and that he had in all but ten pounds: the other that sees him, takes not the figures together as he doth, but picks here and there; and thereupon reports that he had five pounds in one bag, and six pounds in another bag, and Edition: current; Page: [ix] nine pounds in another bag, &c. when as, in truth, he has but ten pounds in all. So we pick out a text here and there, to make it serve our turn; whereas if we take it altogether, and consider what went before, and what followed after, we should find it meant no such thing.”

I have heard sober christians very much admire, why ordinary illiterate people, who were professors, that showed a concern for religion, seemed much more conversant in St. Paul’s epistles, than in the plainer, and (as it seemed to them) much more intelligible parts of the New Testament; they confessed, that, though they read St. Paul’s epistles with their best attention, yet they generally found them too hard to be mastered, and they laboured in vain so far to reach the apostle’s meaning, all along in the train of what he said, as to read them with that satisfaction that arises from a feeling, that we understand and fully comprehend the force and reasoning of an author; and therefore they could not imagine what those saw in them whose eyes they thought not much better than their own. But the case was plain, these sober inquisitive readers had a mind to see nothing in St. Paul’s epistles, but just what he meant; whereas those others, of a quicker and gayer sight, could see in them what they pleased. Nothing is more acceptable to fancy, than pliant terms, and expressions that are not obstinate; in such it can find its account with delight, and with them be illuminated, orthodox, infallible at pleasure, and in its own way. But where the sense of the author goes visibly in its own train, and the words, receiving a determined sense from their companions and adjacents, will not consent to give countenance and colour to what is agreed to be right, and must be supported at any rate, there men of established orthodoxy do not so well find their satisfaction. And perhaps, if it were well examined, it would be no very extravagant paradox to say, that there are fewer that bring their opinions to the sacred scripture, to be tried by that infallible rule, than bring the sacred scripture to their opinions, to bend it to them, to make it, as they can, a cover and guard to them. And to this purpose, its being divided into verses, and brought, as much as may Edition: current; Page: [x] be, into loose and general aphorisms, makes it most useful and serviceable. And in this lies the other great cause of obscurity and perplexedness, which has been cast upon St. Paul’s epistles from without.

St. Paul’s epistles, as they stand translated in our English Bibles, are now, by long and constant use, become a part of the English language, and common phraseology, especially in matters of religion: this every one uses familiarly, and thinks he understands; but it must be observed, that if he has a distinct meaning, when he uses those words and phrases, and knows himself, what he intends by them, it is always according to the sense of his own system, and the articles, or interpretations, of the society he is engaged in. So that all this knowledge and understanding, which he has in the use of these passages of sacred scripture, reaches no farther than this, that he knows (and that is very well) what he himself says, but thereby knows nothing at all what St. Paul said in them. The apostle writ not by that man’s system, and so his meaning cannot be known by it. This being the ordinary way of understanding the epistles, and every sect being perfectly orthodox in his own judgment; what a great and invincible darkness must this cast upon St. Paul’s meaning, to all those of that way, in all those places where his thoughts and sense run counter to what any party has espoused for orthodox; as it must, unavoidably, to all but one of the different systems, in all those passages that any way relate to the points in controversy between them?

This is a mischief, which however frequent, and almost natural, reaches so far, that it would justly make all those who depend upon them wholly diffident of commentators, and let them see how little help was to be expected from them, in relying on them for the true sense of the sacred scripture, did they not take care to help to cozen themselves, by choosing to use, and pin their faith on, such expositors as explain the sacred scripture, in favour of those opinions, that they beforehand have voted orthodox, and bring to the sacred scripture, not for trial but confirmation. No-body can think that any text of St. Paul’s epistles has two contrary meanings; and yet so it must have, to two different Edition: current; Page: [xi] men, who taking two commentators of different sects, for their respective guides into the sense of any one of the epistles, shall build upon their respective expositions. We need go no further for a proof of it, than the notes of the two celebrated commentators on the New Testament, Dr. Hammond and Beza, both men of parts and learning, and both thought, by their followers, men mighty in the sacred scriptures. So that here we see the hopes of great benefit and light, from expositors and commentators, is in a great part abated; and those, who have most need of their help, can receive but little from them, and can have very little assurance of reaching the apostle’s sense, by what they find in them, whilst matters remain in the same state they are in at present. For those who find they need help, and would borrow light from expositors, either consult only those who have the good luck to be thought sound and orthodox, avoiding those of different sentiments from themselves, in the great and approved points of their systems, as dangerous and not fit to be meddled with; or else with indifferency look into the notes of all commentators promiscuously. The first of these take pains only to confirm themselves in the opinion and tenets they have already, which, whether it be the way to get the true meaning of what St. Paul delivered, is easy to determine. The others, with much more fairness to themselves, though with reaping little more advantage, (unless they have something else to guide them into the apostle’s meaning, than the comments themselves) seek help on all hands, and refuse not to be taught by any one, who offers to enlighten them in any of the dark passages. But here, though they avoid the mischief, which the others fall into, of being confined in their sense, and seeing nothing but that in St. Paul’s writings, be it right or wrong; yet they run into as great on the other side, and instead of being confirmed in the meaning, that they thought they saw in the text, are distracted with an hundred, suggested by those they advised with; and so, instead of that one sense of the scripture, which they carried with them to their commentators, return from them with none at all.

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This, indeed, seems to make the case desperate: for if the comments and expositions of pious and learned men cannot be depended on, whither shall we go for help? To which I answer, I would not be mistaken, as if I thought the labours of the learned in this case wholly lost and fruitless. There is great use and benefit to be made of them, when we have once got a rule, to know which of their expositions, in the great variety there is of them, explains the words and phrases according to the apostle’s meaning. Until then it is evident, from what is above said, they serve for the most part to no other use, but either to make us find our own sense, and not his, in St. Paul’s words; or else to find in them no settled sense at all.

Here it will be asked, “How shall we come by this rule you mention? Where is that touchstone to be had, that will show us, whether the meaning we ourselves put, or take as put by others, upon St. Paul’s words, in his epistles, be truly his meaning or no?” I will not say the way which I propose, and have in the following paraphrase followed, will make us infallible in our interpretations of the apostle’s text: but this I will own, that till I took this way, St. Paul’s epistles, to me, in the ordinary way of reading and studying them, were very obscure parts of scripture, that left me almost everywhere at a loss; and I was at a great uncertainty, in which of the contrary senses, that were to be found in his commentators, he was to be taken. Whether what I have done has made it any clearer, and more visible, now, I must leave others to judge. This I beg leave to say for myself, that if some very sober, judicious christians, no strangers to the sacred scriptures, nay, learned divines of the church of England, had not professed, that by the perusal of these following papers, they understood the epistles much better than they did before, and had not, with repeated instances, pressed me to publish them, I should not have consented they should have gone beyond my own private use, for which they were at first designed, and where they made me not repent my pains.

If any one be so far pleased with my endeavours, as Edition: current; Page: [xiii] to think it worth while to be informed, what was the clue I guided myself by, through all the dark passages of these epistles, I shall minutely tell him the steps by which I was brought into this way, that he may judge whether I proceed rationally, upon right grounds, or no; if so be any thing, in so mean an example as mine, may be worth his notice.

After I had found by long experience, that the reading of the text and comments in the ordinary way, proved not so successful as I wished, to the end proposed, I began to suspect, that in reading a chapter as was usual, and thereupon sometimes consulting expositors upon some hard places of it, which at that time most affected me, as relating to points then under consideration in my own mind, or in debate amongst others, was not a right method to get into the true sense of these epistles. I saw plainly, after I began once to reflect on it, that if any one now should write me a letter, as long as St. Paul’s to the Romans, concerning such a matter as that is, in a style as foreign, and expressions as dubious, as his seem to be, if I should divide it into fifteen or sixteen chapters, and read of them one to-day, and another to-morrow, &c. it was ten to one, I should never come to a full and clear comprehension of it. The way to understand the mind of him that writ it, every one would agree, was to read the whole letter through, from one end to the other, all at once, to see what was the main subject and tendency of it: or if it had several views and purposes in it, not dependent one of another, nor in a subordination to one chief aim and end, to discover what those different matters were, and where the author concluded one, and began another; and if there were any necessity of dividing the epistle into parts, to make these the boundaries of them.

In prosecution of this thought, I concluded it necessary, for the understanding of any one of St. Paul’s epistles, to read it all through at one sitting; and to observe, as well as I could, the drift and design of his writing it. If the first reading gave me some light, the second gave me more; and so I persisted on, reading constantly the whole epistle over at once, till I came to have a good Edition: current; Page: [xiv] general view of the apostle’s main purpose in writing the epistle, the chief branches of his discourse wherein he prosecuted it, the arguments he used, and the disposition of the whole.

This, I confess, is not to be obtained by one or two hasty readings; it must be repeated again and again, with a close attention to the tenour of the discourse, and a perfect neglect of the divisions into chapters and verses. On the contrary, the safest way is to suppose, that the epistle has but one business and one aim, until, by a frequent perusal of it, you are forced to see there are distinct independent matters in it, which will forwardly enough show themselves.

It requires so much more pains, judgment, and application, to find the coherence of obscure and abstruse writings, and makes them so much the more unfit to serve prejudice and pre-occupation, when found; that it is not to be wondered, that St. Paul’s epistles have, with many, passed rather for disjointed, loose, pious discourses, full of warmth and zeal and overflows of light, rather than for calm, strong, coherent reasonings, that carried a thread of argument and consistency all through them.

But this muttering of lazy or ill-disposed readers hindered me not from persisting in the course I had begun: I continued to read the same epistle over and over, and over again, until I came to discover as appeared to me, what was the drift and aim of it, and by what steps and arguments St. Paul prosecuted his purpose. I remembered that St. Paul was miraculously called to the ministry of the gospel, and declared to be a chosen vessel; that he had the whole doctrine of the gospel from God, by immediate revelation; and was appointed to be the apostle of the Gentiles, for the propagating of it in the heathen world. This was enough to persuade me, that he was not a man of loose and shattered parts, incapable to argue, and unfit to convince those he had to deal with. God knows how to choose fit instruments for the business he employs them in. A large stock of jewish learning he had taken in, at the feet of Gamaliel; and for his information in christian knowledge, and the mysteries and depths of the dispensation of grace by Jesus Christ, Edition: current; Page: [xv] God himself had condescended to be his instructor and teacher. The light of the gospel he had received from the Fountain and Father of light himself, who, I concluded, had not furnished him in this extraordinary manner, if all this plentiful stock of learning and illumination had been in danger to have been lost, or proved useless, in a jumbled and confused head; nor have laid up such a store of admirable and useful knowledge in a man, who, for want of method and order, clearness of conception, or pertinency in discourse, could not draw it out into use with the greatest advantages of force and coherence. That he knew how to prosecute this purpose with strength of argument, and close reasoning, without incoherent sallies, or the intermixing of things foreign to his business, was evident to me, from several speeches of his, recorded in the Acts: and it was hard to think, that a man that could talk with so much consistency, and clearness of conviction, should not be able to write without confusion, inextricable obscurity, and perpetual rambling. The force, order, and perspicuity of those discourses, could not be denied to be very visible. How, then, came it, that the like was thought much wanting in his epistles? And of this there appeared to me this plain reason: the particularities of the history, in which these speeches are inserted, show St. Paul’s end in speaking; which, being seen, casts a light on the whole, and shows the pertinency of all that he says. But his epistles not being so circumstantiated; there being no concurring history, that plainly declares the disposition St. Paul was in; what the actions, expectations, or demands of those to whom he writ, required him to speak to, we are nowhere told. All this, and a great deal more, necessary to guide us into the true meaning of the epistles, is to be had only from the epistles themselves, and to be gathered from thence with stubborn attention, and more than common application.

This being the only safe guide (under the Spirit of God, that dictated these sacred writings) that can be relied on, I hope I may be excused, if I venture to say, that the utmost ought to be done to observe and trace out St. Paul’s reasonings; to follow the thread of his Edition: current; Page: [xvi] discourse in each of his epistles; to show how it goes on, still directed with the same view, and pertinently drawing the several incidents towards the same point. To understand him right, his inferences should be strictly observed; and it should be carefully examined, from what they are drawn, and what they tend to. He is certainly a coherent, argumentative, pertinent writer; and care, I think, should be taken, in expounding of him, to show that he is so. But though I say, he has weighty aims in his epistles, which he steadily keeps in his eye, and drives at, in all he says; yet I do not say, that he puts his discourses into an artificial method, or leads his reader into a distinction of his arguments, or gives them notice of new matter, by rhetorical or studied transitions. He has no ornaments borrowed from the Greek eloquence; no notions of their philosophy mixed with his doctrine, to set it off. The enticing words of man’s wisdom, whereby he means all the studied rules of the Grecian schools, which made them such masters in the art of speaking, he, as he says himself, 1 Cor. ii. 4, wholly neglected. The reason whereof he gives in the next verse, and in other places. But though politeness of language, delicacy of style, fineness of expression, laboured periods, artificial transitions, and a very methodical ranging of the parts, with such other embellishments as make a discourse enter the mind smoothly, and strike the fancy at first hearing, have little or no place in his style; yet coherence of discourse, and a direct tendency of all the parts of it to the argument in hand, are most eminently to be found in him. This I take to be his character, and doubt not but it will be found to be so upon diligent examination. And in this, if it be so, we have a clue, if we will take the pains to find it, that will conduct us with surety, through those seemingly dark places, and imagined intricacies, in which christians have wandered so far one from another, as to find quite contrary senses.

Whether a superficial reading, accompanied with the common opinion of his invincible obscurity, has kept off some from seeking in him, the coherence of a discourse, tending with close, strong reasoning to a point; or a Edition: current; Page: [xvii] seemingly more honourable opinion of one that had been rapped up into the third heaven, as if from a man so warmed and illuminated as he had been, nothing could be expected but flashes of light, and raptures of zeal, hindered others to look for a train of reasoning, proceeding on regular and cogent argumentation, from a man raised above the ordinary pitch of humanity, to a higher and brighter way of illumination; or else, whether others were loth to beat their heads about the tenour and coherence in St. Paul’s discourses; which, if found out, possibly might set them at a manifest and irreconcileable difference with their systems: it is certain that, whatever hath been the cause, this way of getting the true sense of St. Paul’s epistles, seems not to have been much made use of, or at least so thoroughly pursued, as I am apt to think it deserves.

For, granting that he was full-stored with the knowledge of the things he treated of; for he had light from heaven, it was God himself furnished him, and he could not want: allowing also that he had ability to make use of the knowledge had been given him, for the end for which it was given him, viz. the information, conviction, and conversion of others; and accordingly, that he knew how to direct his discourse to the point in hand; we cannot widely mistake the parts of his discourse employed about it, when we have any where found out the point he drives at: wherever we have got a view of his design, and the aim he proposed to himself in writing, we may be sure, that such or such an interpretation does not give us his genuine sense, it being nothing at all to his present purpose. Nay, among various meanings given a text, it fails not to direct us to the best, and very often to assure us of the true. For it is no presumption, when one sees a man arguing from this or that proposition, if he be a sober man, master of reason, or common-sense, and takes any care of what he says, to pronounce with confidence, in several cases, that he could not talk thus or thus.

I do not yet so magnify this method of studying St. Paul’s epistles, as well as other parts of sacred scripture, as to think it will perfectly clear every hard place, and Edition: current; Page: [xviii] leave no doubt unresolved. I know, expressions now out of use, opinions of those times not heard of in our days, allusions to customs lost to us, and various circumstances and particularities of the parties, which we cannot come at, &c. must needs continue several passages in the dark, now to us, at this distance, which shone with full light to those they were directed to. But for all that, the studying of St. Paul’s epistles, in the way I have proposed, will, I humbly conceive, carry us a great length in the right understanding of them, and make us rejoice in the light we receive from those most useful parts of divine revelation, by furnishing us with visible grounds, that we are not mistaken, whilst the consistency of the discourse, and the pertinency of it to the design he is upon, vouches it worthy of our great apostle. At least I hope it may be my excuse, for having endeavoured to make St. Paul an interpreter to me of his own epistles.

To this may be added another help, which St. Paul himself affords us, towards the attaining the true meaning contained in his epistles. He that reads him with the attention I propose, will easily observe, that as he was full of the doctrine of the gospel; so it lay all clear and in order, open to his view. When he gave his thoughts utterance upon any point, the matter flowed like a torrent; but it is plain, it was a matter he was perfectly master of: he fully possessed the entire revelation he had received from God; had thoroughly digested it; all the parts were formed together in his mind, into one well-contracted harmonious body. So that he was no way at an uncertainty, nor ever, in the least, at a loss concerning any branch of it. One may see his thoughts were all of a piece in all his epistles, his notions were at all times uniform, and constantly the same, though his expressions very various. In them he seems to take great liberty. This at least is certain, that no one seems less tied up to a form of words. If then, having, by the method before proposed, got into the sense of the several epistles, we will but compare what he says, in the places where he treats of the same subject, we can hardly be mistaken in his sense, nor doubt what Edition: current; Page: [xix] it was that he believed and taught, concerning those points of the christian religion. I know it is not unusual to find a multitude of texts heaped up, for the maintaining of an espoused proposition; but in a sense often so remote from their true meaning, that one can hardly avoid thinking, that those who so used them, either sought not, or valued not the sense; and were satisfied with the sound, where they could but get that to favour them. But a verbal concordance leads not always to texts of the same meaning; trusting too much thereto will furnish us but with slight proofs in many cases, and any one may observe, how apt that is to jumble together passages of scripture, not relating to the same matter, and thereby to disturb and unsettle the true meaning of holy scripture. I have therefore said, that we should compare together places of scripture treating of the same point. Thus, indeed, one part of the sacred text could not fail to give light unto another. And since the providence of God hath so ordered it, that St. Paul has writ a great number of epistles; which, though upon different occasions, and to several purposes, yet all confined within the business of his apostleship, and so contain nothing but points of christian instruction, amongst which he seldom fails to drop in, and often to enlarge on, the great and distinguishing doctrines of our holy religion; which, if quitting our own infallibility in that analogy of faith, which we have made to ourselves, or have implicitly adopted from some other, we would carefully lay together, and diligently compare and study, I am apt to think, would give us St. Paul’s system in a clear and indisputable sense; which every one must acknowledge to be a better standard to interpret his meaning by, in any obscure and doubtful parts of his epistles, if any such should still remain, than the system, confession, or articles of any church, or society of christians, yet known; which, however pretended to be founded on scripture, are visibly the contrivances of men, fallible both in their opinions and interpretations; and, as is visible in most of them, made with partial views, and adapted to what the occasions of that time, and the present circumstances Edition: current; Page: [xx] they were then in, were thought to require, for the support or justification of themselves. Their philosophy, also, has its part in misleading men from the true sense of the sacred scripture. He that shall attentively read the christian writers, after the age of the apostles, will easily find how much the philosophy, they were tinctured with, influenced them in their understanding of the books of the old and new testament. In the ages wherein Platonism prevailed, the converts to christianity of that school, on all occasions, interpreted holy writ, according to the notions they had imbibed from that philosophy. Aristotle’s doctrine had the same effect in its turn, and when it degenerated into the peripateticism of the schools, that, too, brought its notions and distinctions into divinity, and affixed them to the terms of the sacred scripture. And we may see still how, at this day, every one’s philosophy regulates every one’s interpretation of the word of God. Those who are possessed with the doctrine of aerial and æthereal vehicles, have thence borrowed an interpretation of the four first verses of 2 Cor. v. without having any ground to think, that St. Paul had the least notion of any such vehicle. It is plain, that the teaching of men philosophy, was no part of the design of divine revelation; but that the expressions of scripture are commonly suited, in those matters, to the vulgar apprehensions and conceptions of the place and people, where they were delivered. And, as to the doctrine therein directly taught by the apostles, that tends wholly to the setting up the kingdom of Jesus Christ in this world, and the salvation of men’s souls: and in this it is plain their expressions were conformed to the ideas and notions which they had received from revelation, or were consequent from it. We shall, therefore, in vain go about to interpret their words by the notions of our philosophy, and the doctrines of men delivered in our schools. This is to explain the apostles’ meaning, by what they never thought of, whilst they were writing; which is not the way to find their sense, in what they delivered, but our own, and to take up, from their writings, not what they left there for us, but what we bring along with us in ourselves. He that Edition: current; Page: [xxi] would understand St. Paul right, must understand his terms, in the sense he uses them, and not as they are appropriated by each man’s particular philosophy to conceptions that never entered the mind of the apostle. For example, he that shall bring the philosophy now taught and received, to the explaining of spirit, soul, and body, mentioned 1 Thess. v. 23, will, I fear, hardly reach St. Paul’s sense, or represent to himself the notions St. Paul then had in his mind. That is what we should aim at, in reading him, or any other author; and until we, from his words, paint his very ideas and thoughts in our minds, we do not understand him.

In the divisions I have made, I have endeavoured, the best I could, to govern myself by the diversity of matter. But in a writer like St. Paul, it is not so easy always to find precisely, where one subject ends, and another begins. He is full of the matter he treats, and writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses, which men, educated in the schools of rhetoricians, usually observe. Those arts of writings, St. Paul, as well out of design as temper, wholly laid by: the subject he had in hand, and the grounds upon which it stood firm, and by which he enforced it, were what alone he minded; and without solemnly winding up one argument, and intimating any way, that he began another, let his thoughts, which were fully possessed of the matter, run in one continued train, wherein the parts of his discourse were wove, one into another: so that it is seldom that the scheme of his discourse makes any gap; and therefore, without breaking in upon the connexion of his language, it is hardly possible to separate his discourse, and give a distinct view of his several arguments, in distinct sections.

I am far from pretending infallibility, in the sense I have any where given in my paraphrase, or notes: that would be to erect myself into an apostle; a presumption of the highest nature in any one, that cannot confirm what he says by miracles. I have, for my own information, sought the true meaning, as far as my poor abilities would reach. And I have unbiassedly embraced, what, upon a fair inquiry, appeared so to me. Edition: current; Page: [xxii] This I thought my duty and interest, in a matter of so great concernment to me. If I must believe for myself, it is unavoidable, that I must understand for myself. For if I blindly, and with an implicit faith, take the pope’s interpretation of the sacred scripture, without examining whether it be Christ’s meaning; it is the pope I believe in, and not in Christ; it is his authority I rest upon; it is what he says, I embrace: for what it is Christ says, I neither know nor concern myself. It is the same thing, when I set up any other man in Christ’s place, and make him the authentic interpreter of sacred scripture to myself. He may possibly understand the sacred scripture as right as any man: but I shall do well to examine myself, whether that, which I do not know, nay, which (in the way I take) I can never know, can justify me, in making myself his disciple, instead of Jesus Christ’s, who of right is alone, and ought to be, my only Lord and Master: and it will be no less sacrilege in me, to substitute to myself any other in his room, to be a prophet to me, than to be my king, or priest.

The same reasons that put me upon doing what I have in these papers done, will exempt me from all suspicion of imposing my interpretation on others. The reasons that led me into the meaning, which prevailed on my mind, are set down with it: as far as they carry light and conviction to any other man’s understanding, so far, I hope, my labour may be of some use to him; beyond the evidence it carries with it, I advise him not to follow mine, nor any man’s interpretation. We are all men, liable to errours, and infected with them; but have this sure way to preserve ourselves, every one, from danger by them, if, laying aside sloth, carelessness, prejudice, party, and a reverence of men, we betake ourselves, in earnest, to the study of the way to salvation, in those holy writings, wherein God has revealed it from heaven, and proposed it to the world, seeking our religion, where we are sure it is in truth to be found, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

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A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS.

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THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

There is nothing, certainly, of greater encouragement to the peace of the church in general, nor to the direction and edification of all christians in particular, than a right understanding of the holy scripture. This consideration has set so many learned and pious men amongst us, of late years, upon expositions, paraphrases, and notes on the sacred writings, that the author of these hopes the fashion may excuse him from endeavouring to add his mite; believing, that after all that has been done by those great labourers in the harvest, there may be some gleanings left, whereof he presumes he has an instance, chap. iii. ver. 20, and some other places of this epistle to the Galatians, which he looks upon not to be the hardest of St. Paul’s. If he has given a light to any obscure passage, he shall think his pains well employed; if there be nothing else worth notice in him, accept of his good intention.

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THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS;
WRIT FROM EPHESUS, THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

The subject and design of this epistle of St. Paul is much the same with that of his epistle to the Romans, but treated in somewhat a different manner. The business of it is to dehort and hinder the Galatians from bringing themselves under the bondage of the Mosaical law.

St. Paul himself had planted the churches of Galatia, and therefore referring (as he does, chap. i. 8, 9,) to what he had before taught them, does not, in this epistle lay down at large to them the doctrine of the gospel, as he does in that to the Romans, who having been converted to the christian faith by others, he did not know how far they were instructed in all those particulars, which, on the occasion whereon he writ to them, it might be necessary for them to understand: and therefore, writing to the Romans, he sets before them a large and comprehensive view of the chief heads of the christian religion.

He also deals more roundly with his disciples the Galatians than, we may observe, he does with the Romans, to whom he, being a stranger, writes not in so familiar a style, nor in his reproofs and exhortations uses so much the tone of a master, as he does to the Galatians.

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St. Paul had converted the Galatians to the faith, and erected several churches among them in the year of our Lord 51; between which, and the year 57, wherein this epistle was writ, the disorders following were got into those churches:

First, Some zealots for the jewish constitution had very near persuaded them out of their christian liberty, and made them willing to submit to circumcision, and all the ritual observances of the jewish church, as necessary under the gospel, chap. i. 7; iii. 3; iv. 9, 10, 21; v. 1, 2, 6, 9, 10.

Secondly, Their dissensions and disputes in this matter had raised great animosities amongst them, to the disturbance of their peace, and the setting them at strife with one another, chap. v. 6, 13—15.

The reforming them in these two points, seems to be the main business of this epistle, wherein he endeavours to establish them in a resolution to stand firm in the freedom of the gospel, which exempts them from the bondage of the Mosaical law: and labours to reduce them to a sincere love and affection one to another; which he concludes with an exhortation to liberality, and general beneficence, especially to their teachers, chap. vi. 6, 10. These being the matters he had in his mind to write to them about, he seems here as if he had done. But, upon mentioning ver. 11, what a long letter he had writ to them with his own hand, the former argument concerning circumcision, which filled and warmed his mind, broke out again into what we find, ver. 12—17, of the sixth chapter.

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SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1—5.
INTRODUCTION.

CONTENTS.

The general view of this epistle plainly shows St. Paul’s chief design in it to be, to keep the Galatians from hearkening to those judaizing seducers, who had almost persuaded them to be circumcised. These perverters of the gospel of Christ, as St. Paul himself calls them, ver. 7, had, as may be gathered from ver. 8, and 10, and from chap. v. 11, and other passages of this epistle, made the Galatians believe, that St. Paul himself was for circumcision. Until St. Paul himself had set them right in this matter, and convinced them of the falsehood of this aspersion, it was in vain for him, by other arguments, to attempt the re-establishing the Galatians in the christian liberty, and in that truth which he had preached to them. The removing therefore of this calumny, was his first endeavour: and to that purpose, this introduction, different from what we find in any other of his epistles, is marvellously well adapted. He declares, here at the entrance, very expressly and emphatically, that he was not sent by men on their errands; nay, that Christ, in sending him, did not so much as convey his apostolic power to him by the ministry, or intervention of any man; but that his commission and instructions were all entirely from God, and Christ himself, by immediate revelation. This, of itself, was an argument sufficient to induce them to believe, 1. That what he taught them, when he first preached the gospel to them, was the truth, and that they ought to Edition: current; Page: [28] stick firm to that. 2. That he changed not his doctrine, whatever might be reported of him. He was Christ’s chosen officer, and had no dependence on men’s opinions, nor regard to their authority or favour, in what he preached; and therefore it was not likely he should preach one thing at one time, and another thing at another.

Thus this preface is very proper in this place, to introduce what he is going to say concerning himself, and adds force to his discourse, and the account he gives of himself in the next section.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Paul an apostle (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.)

Locke1824: 2And all the brethren, which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia.

Locke1824: 3Grace be to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Locke1824: 4Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.

Locke1824: 5To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Paul (an apostle not of men*, to serve their ends, or carry on their designs, nor receiving his call, or commission, by the intervention of any man†, to whom he might be thought to owe any respect or deference upon that account: but immediately from Jesus Christ, and from God the Father, who raised him up from theLocke1824: 2 dead); And all the brethren that are with me, untoLocke1824: 3 the churches‡ of Galatia: Favour be to you, and peace§ from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Edition: current; Page: [29] Locke1824: 4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might take us out of this present evil world*, according to theLocke1824: 5 will and good pleasure of God and our Father, To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 6.—II. 21.

CONTENTS.

We have observed, that St. Paul’s first endeavour in this epistle, was to satisfy the Galatians, that the report spread of him, that he preached circumcision, was false. Until this obstruction, that lay in his way was removed, it was to no purpose for him to go about to dissuade them from circumcision, though that be what he principally aims, in this epistle. To show them, that he promoted not circumcision, he calls their hearkening to those who persuaded them to be circumcised, their being removed from him; and those that so persuaded them, “perverters of the gospel of Christ,” ver. 6, 7. He farther assures them, that the gospel which he preached every-where was that, and that only, which he had received by immediate revelation from Christ, and no contrivance of man, nor did he vary it to please men: that would not consist with his being a servant of Christ, ver. 10. And he expresses such a firm adherence to what he had received from Christ, and had preached to them, that he pronounces an anathema upon himself, ver. 8, 9, or any other man, or angel that should preach any thing else to them. To make out this to have been all along his conduct, he gives an account of himself for many years backwards, even from the time before his conversion. Wherein he shows, that from a zealous persecuting jew he was made a christian, and an apostle, by immediate revelation; and that, having no communication with the apostles, or with the churches of Judea, or any man, for some years, he had nothing to preach, but what he had received by immediate revelation. Nay, when, fourteen years after, he went up to Jerusalem, it was by revelation; and when he there communicated Edition: current; Page: [31] the gospel, which he preached among the gentiles, Peter, James, and John, approved of it, without adding any thing, but admitted him, as their fellow-apostle. So that, in all this, he was guided by nothing but divine revelation, which he inflexibly stuck to so far, that he openly opposed St. Peter for his judaizing at Antioch. All which account of himself tends clearly to show, that St. Paul made not the least step towards complying with the jews, in favour of the law, nor did, out of regard to man, deviate from the doctrine he had received by revelation from God.

All the parts of this section, and the narrative contained in it, manifestly concenter in this, as will more fully appear, as we go through them, and take a closer view of them; which will show us, that the whole is so skilfully managed, and the parts so gently slid into, that it is a strong, but not seemingly laboured justification of himself, from the imputation of preaching up circumcision.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 6I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him, that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel:

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Locke1824: 7Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

Locke1824: 8But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Locke1824: 9As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Locke1824: 10For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For, if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ.

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Locke1824: 11But I certify to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me, is not after man.

Locke1824: 12For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 13For ye have heard of my conversation in time past, in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it.

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Locke1824: 14And profited in the jews religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Locke1824: 15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

Locke1824: 16To reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen: immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

Locke1824: 17Neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

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Locke1824: 18Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem, to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

Locke1824: 19But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

Locke1824: 20Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lye not.

Locke1824: 21Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia:

Locke1824: 22And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea, which were in Christ.

Locke1824: 23But they had heard only, that he, which persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

Locke1824: 24And they glorified God in me.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 6I cannot but wonder that you are soon* removed from me†, (who called you into the covenant of grace, which is in Christ) unto another sort of gospel; Edition: current; Page: [32] Locke1824: 7 Which is not owing to any thing else*, but only this, that ye are troubled by a certain sort of men, who would overturn the gospel of Christ by making circumcision, and the keeping of the law, necessary†Locke1824: 8 under the gospel. But if even I myself, or an angel from heaven, should preach any thing to you for gospel, different from the gospel I have preached untoLocke1824: 9 you, let him be accursed. I say it again to you, if any one, under pretence of the gospel, preach any other thing to you, than what ye have receivedLocke1824: 10 from me, let him be accursed‡. For can it be doubted of me, after having done and suffered so much for the gospel of Christ, whether I do now§, at Edition: current; Page: [33] this time of day, make my court to men, or seek the favour* of God? If I had hitherto made it my business to please men, I should not have been the servant of Christ, nor taken up the profession of theLocke1824: 11 gospel. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel, which has been every where† preached by me, is not such as is pliant to human interest, or can be accommodatedLocke1824: 12 to the pleasing of men (For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it by any one, as his scholar;) but it is the pure and ummixed immediateLocke1824: 13 revelation of Jesus Christ to me. To satisfy you of this, my behaviour whilst I was of the jewish Edition: current; Page: [34] religion is so well known, that I need not tell you, how excessive violent I was in persecuting the churchLocke1824: 14 of God, and destroying it all I could; And that being carried on by an extraordinary zeal for the traditions of my forefathers, I out-stripped manyLocke1824: 15 students of my own age and nation, in judaism. But when it pleased God (who separated* me from my mother’s womb, and by his especial favour called† me to be a christian, and a preacher of the gospel,)Locke1824: 16 To reveal his son to me, that I might preach him among the gentiles, I thereupon applied not myselfLocke1824: 17 to any man,‡ for advice what to do.§ Neither went I up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, to see whether they approved my doctrine, or to have farther instructions from them: but I went immediately∥ unto Arabia, and from Edition: current; Page: [35] Locke1824: 18 thence returned again to Damascus. Then after three years,* I went up to Jerusalem, to see Peter,Locke1824: 19 and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, but James, the brother of ourLocke1824: 20 Lord. These things, that I write to you, I call God to witness, are all true; there is no falsehood inLocke1824: 21 them. Afterwards I came into the regions of SyriaLocke1824: 22 and Cilicia. But with the churches of Christ† in Judea, I had had no communication: they had notLocke1824: 23 so much as seen my face;‡ Only they had heard, that I, who formerly persecuted the churches of Christ, did now preach the gospel, which I onceLocke1824: 24 endeavoured to suppress and extirpate. And they glorified God upon my account.

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CHAP. II.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Then fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem, with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

Locke1824: 2And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel, which I preach among the gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain.

Locke1824: 3But neither Titus, who was with me, being a greek, was compelled to be circumcised:

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Locke1824: 4And that, because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.

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Locke1824: 5To whom we gave place by subjection, no not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Locke1824: 6But of these, who seemed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man’s person;) Edition: current; Page: [39] for they, who seemed to be somewhat, in conference added nothing to me.

Locke1824: 7But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision Edition: current; Page: [40] was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

Locke1824: 8(For he that wrought effectually in Peter, to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles)

Locke1824: 9And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

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Locke1824: 10Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

Locke1824: 11But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

Locke1824: 12For, before that certain came from James, he did eat with the gentiles: but, when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

Locke1824: 13And the other jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

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Locke1824: 14But when I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all: If thou, being a jew, livest after the manner of gentiles, and not as do the jews, why compellest thou the gentiles to live as do the jews?

Locke1824: 15We who are jews by nature, and not sinners of the gentiles,

Locke1824: 16Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Locke1824: 17But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

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Locke1824: 18For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

Locke1824: 19For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

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Locke1824: 20I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Locke1824: 21I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Then fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem, with Barnabas, and took Titus also with me.Locke1824: 2 And I went up by revelation, and there laid before them the gospel which I *preached to the gentiles, but privately to those who were of note and reputation amongst them; lest the pains that I have already taken,† or should take in the gospel, should be in vain.‡Locke1824: 3 But though I communicated the gospel which I Edition: current; Page: [37] preached to the gentiles, to the eminent men of the church at Jerusalem, yet neither* Titus who was withLocke1824: 4 me, being a greek, was forced to be circumcised: Nor† did I yield any thing, one moment, by way of subjection‡ to the law, to those false brethren, who, by an unwary admittance, were slily crept in, to spy out Edition: current; Page: [38] our liberty from the law, which we have under the gospel: that they might bring us into bondage* toLocke1824: 5 the law. But I stood my ground against it, that theLocke1824: 6 truth† of the gospel might remain‡ among you. But as for those§, who were really men∥ of eminency and Edition: current; Page: [39] value, what they were heretofore, it matters not at all to me: God accepts not the person of any man, but communicates the gospel to whom he pleases*, as he has done to me by revelation, without their help; for, in their conference with me, they added nothing to me, they taught me nothing new, nor that Christ had not taught me before, nor had they any thing toLocke1824: 7 object against what I preached to the gentiles. But on the contrary, †James, Peter, and John, who were Edition: current; Page: [40] of reputation, and justly esteemed to be pillars, perceiving that the gospel which was to be preached to the gentiles, was committed to me; as that which was to be preached to the Jews was committed toLocke1824: 8 Peter; (For he that had wrought powerfully* in Peter, to his executing the office of an apostle to the Jews, had also wrought powerfully in me, in my applicationLocke1824: 9 and apostleship, to the gentiles;) And, knowing† the favour that was bestowed on me, gave me and Barnabas the right hand‡ of fellowship, that we should preach the gospel to the gentiles, and they Edition: current; Page: [41] Locke1824: 10 to the children of Israel. All that they proposed, was, that we should remember to make collections among the gentiles, for the poor christians of Judea, whichLocke1824: 11 was a thing that of myself I was forward to do. But when Peter came to Antioch, I openly opposed* himLocke1824: 12 to his face: for, indeed, he was to be blamed. For he conversed there familiarly with the gentiles, and eat with them, until some jews came thither from James: then he withdrew, and separated from the gentiles, for fear of those who were of the circumcision:Locke1824: 13 And the rest of the jews joined also with him in this hypocrisy, insomuch that Barnabas himself Edition: current; Page: [42] was carried away with the stream, and dissembled asLocke1824: 14 they did. But when I saw they conformed not their conduct to the truth* of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all: If thou, being a Jew, takest the liberty sometimes to live after the manner of the gentiles, not keeping to those rules which the jews observe, why dost thou constrain the gentiles to conform themselves to the rites and manner of living of the jews?Locke1824: 15 We, who are by† nature jews, born under the instruction and guidance of the law, God’s peculiar people, and not of the unclean and profligate race ofLocke1824: 16 the gentiles, abandoned to sin and death, Knowing that a man cannot be justified by the deeds of the law, but solely by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have put ourselves upon believing on him, and embraced the profession of the gospel, for the attainment of justification by faith in Christ, and not by the worksLocke1824: 17 of the law: But if we seek to be justified in Christ, Edition: current; Page: [43] even we ourselves also are found unjustified sinners* (for such are all those who are under the law, which admits of no remission or justification:) is Christ, therefore, the minister of sin? Is the dispensation by him, a dispensation of sin, and not of righteousness? Did he come into the world, that those who believe in him, should still remain sinners, i. e. under the guilt of their sins, without the benefit of justification?Locke1824: 18 By no means. And yet certain it is, if I,† who quitted the law, to put myself under the gospel, put myself again under the law, I make myself a transgressor; I re-assume again the guilt of all my transgressions; which, by the terms of that covenantLocke1824: 19 of works, I cannot be justified from. For by the tenour‡ of the law itself, I, by faith in Christ, am discharged§ from the law, that I might be appropriated∥ to God, and live acceptably to him in Edition: current; Page: [44] his kingdom, which he has now set up under his Son.Locke1824: 20 I, a member of Christ’s body, am crucified* with him, but though I am thereby dead to the law, I nevertheless live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, i. e. the life which I now live in the flesh, is upon no other principle, nor under any other law, but that of faith in the Son of God†, who loved me, and gaveLocke1824: 21 himself for me. And in so doing, I avoid frustrating the grace of God, I accept of the grace‡ and forgiveness of God, as it is offered through faith in Christ, in the gospel: but if I subject myself to the law as still in force under the gospel, I do in effect frustrate grace. For if righteousness be to be had by the law, then Christ died to no purpose, there was no need of it.§

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SECT. III.

CHAP. III. 1—5.

CONTENTS.

By the account St. Paul has given of himself in the foregoing section, the galatians being furnished with evidence, sufficient to clear him, in their minds, from the report of his preaching circumcision, he comes now, the way being thus opened, directly to oppose their being circumcised, and subjecting themselves to the law. The first argument he uses, is, that they received the Holy Ghost, and the gifts of miracles, by the gospel, and not by the law.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1O foolish galatians, who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

Locke1824: 2This only would I learn of you: Received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

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Locke1824: 3Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Locke1824: 4Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

Locke1824: 5He, therefore, that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1O ye foolish galatians, who hath cast a mist before your eyes, that you should not keep to the truth* of the gospel, you to whom the sufferings and death of Christ† upon the cross, hath been by me so lively represented, as if it had been actually done in your sight?Locke1824: 2 This is one thing I desire to know of you: Did you receive Edition: current; Page: [46] the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, by the worksLocke1824: 3 of the law, or by the gospel preached to you? Have you so little understanding, that, having begun in the reception of the spiritual doctrine of the gospel, you hope to be advanced to higher degrees of perfection,Locke1824: 4 and to be completed by the law*? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if at least you will render it in vain, by falling off from the profession of the pure and uncorrupted doctrine of the gospel, and apostatizingLocke1824: 5 to judaism? The gifts of the Holy Ghost, that have been conferred upon you, have they not been conferred on you as Christians, professing faith in Jesus Christ, and not as observers of the law? And hath not he†, who hath conveyed these gifts to you, and done miracles amongst you, done it as a preacher and professor of the gospel, the jews, who stick in the law of Moses, being not able, by virtue of that, to do any such thing?

SECT. IV.

CHAP. III. 6—17.

CONTENTS.

His next argument against circumcision, and subjection to the law, is, that the children of Abraham, intitled Edition: current; Page: [47] to the inheritance and blessing promised to Abraham and his seed, are so by faith, and not by being under the law, which brings a curse upon those who are under it.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 6Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness:

Locke1824: 7Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Locke1824: 8And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, “In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

Locke1824: 9So then they which be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Locke1824: 10For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

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Locke1824: 11But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for the “just shall live by faith.”

Locke1824: 12And the law is not of faith: but, “The man that doth them, shall live in them.”

Locke1824: 13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”

Locke1824: 14That the blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Locke1824: 15Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a Edition: current; Page: [49] man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

Locke1824: 16Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, “and to seeds,” as of many; but as of one, “and to thy seed,” which is Christ.

Locke1824: 17And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 6But to proceed: As Abraham believed in God, andLocke1824: 7 it was accounted to him for righteousness; So know ye, that those who are of faith, i. e. who rely upon God, and his promises of grace, and not upon their own performances, they are the children of Abraham, who shall inherit; and this is plain in the scripture.Locke1824: 8 For it being in the purpose of God, to justify the gentiles by faith, he gave Abraham a fore-knowledge of the gospel in these words: “*In thee all theLocke1824: 9 nations of the earth shall be blessed.” So that they who are of †faith, are blessed with Abraham,Locke1824: 10 who believed. But as many as are of the works of the law, are under the ‡curse: for it is written§, “Cursed is every one, who remaineth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, Edition: current; Page: [48] Locke1824: 11 to do them.” But that no man is justified by the law, in the sight of God, is evident; “for the justLocke1824: 12 shall live by faith*.” But the law says not so, the law gives not life to those who believe†: but the rule of the law is, “He that doth them,Locke1824: 13 shall live in them‡.” Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written§, “Cursed is every oneLocke1824: 14 that hangeth on a tree:” That the blessing∥, promised to Abraham, might come on the gentiles, through Jesus Christ; that we who are Christians might, believing, receive the Spirit that was promised¶.Locke1824: 15 Brethren, this is a known and allowed rule Edition: current; Page: [49] in human affairs, that a promise, or compact, though it be barely a man’s covenant, yet if it be once ratified, so it must stand, nobody can render it void,Locke1824: 16 or make any alteration in it. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. God doth not say, “and to seeds*,” as if he spoke of more seeds than one, that were intitled to the promise upon different accounts; but only of one sort of men, who, upon one sole account, were that seed of Abraham, which was alone meant and concerned in the promise; so that “unto thy seed†,” designed Christ, and his mystical body‡, i. e. those, that becomeLocke1824: 17 members of him by faith. This, therefore, I say, that the law, which was not till 430 years after, cannot disannul the covenant that was long before made, and ratified to Christ by God, so as to set aside the promise. For if the right to the inheritance be from the works of the law, it is plain that it is not founded in the promise of Abraham, as certainly it is. For the inheritance was a donation and free gift of God, settled on Abraham and his seed, by promise.

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SECT. V.

CHAP. III. 18—25.

CONTENTS.

In answer to this objection, “To what, then, serveth the law?” He shows, that the law was not contrary to the promise: but since all men were guilty of transgression, ver. 22, the law was added, to show the Israelites the fruit and inevitable consequence of their sin, and thereby the necessity of betaking themselves to Christ: but as soon as men have received Christ, they have attained the end of the law, and so are no longer under it. This is a farther argument against circumcision.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 18For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Locke1824: 19Wherefore, then, serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator.

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Locke1824: 20Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one.

Locke1824: 21Is the law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid! for if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

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Locke1824: 22But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise, by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe.

Locke1824: 23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed.

Locke1824: 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

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Locke1824: 25But, after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 18If the blessing and inheritance be settled on Abraham and believers, as a free gift by promise, andLocke1824: 19 was not to be obtained by the deeds of the law; To what purpose then was the law? It was added, because the Israelites, the posterity of Abraham, were transgressors*, as well as other men, to show them their sins, and the punishment and death they incurred by them, until Christ should come, who was the seed, into whom both jews and gentiles, ingrafted by believing, become the people of God, and children of Abraham, that seed to which the Edition: current; Page: [51] promise was made. And the law was ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator*, whereby it is manifest, that the law could not disannul the promise;Locke1824: 20 Because a mediator is a mediator between two parties concerned, but God is but one† of thoseLocke1824: 21 concerned in the promise. If, then, the promised inheritance come not to the seed of Abraham, by the law, is the law opposite, by the curse it denounces against transgressors, to the promises that God made of the blessing to Abraham? No, by no means! For if there had been a law given, which Edition: current; Page: [52] could have put us in a state of life*, certainlyLocke1824: 22 righteousness should have been by law†. But we find the quite contrary by the scripture, which makes no distinction betwixt jew and gentile, in this respect, but has shut up together all mankind‡, jews and gentiles, under sin§ and guilt, that the blessing∥ which was promised, to that which is Abraham’s true and intended seed, by faith in Christ,Locke1824: 23 might be given to those who believe. But, before Christ, and the doctrine of justification by faith¶ in him, came, we jews were shut up as a company of prisoners together, under the custody and inflexible rigour of the law, unto the coming of the Messiah, when the doctrine of justification by faith**Locke1824: 24 in him should be revealed. So that the law, by its severity, served as a schoolmaster to bring us to Edition: current; Page: [53] Locke1824: 25 Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But Christ being come, and with him the doctrine of justification by faith, we are set free from this schoolmaster, there is no longer any need of him.

SECT. VI.

CHAP. III. 26—29.

CONTENTS.

As a further argument to dissuade them from circumcision, he tells the galatians, that by faith in Christ, all, whether jews or gentiles, are made the children of God; and so they stood in no need of circumcision.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 26For ye are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus.

Locke1824: 27For as many of you, as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

Locke1824: 28There is neither jew nor greek, there is neither bond nor free, Edition: current; Page: [54] there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Locke1824: 29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 26For ye are* all the children of God, by faith inLocke1824: 27 Christ Jesus. For as many of you, as have beenLocke1824: 28 baptized in Christ, have put on† Christ. There Edition: current; Page: [54] is no distinction of jew or gentile, or bond or free, of male or female. For ye are all one body, makingLocke1824: 29 up one person in Christ Jesus. And if ye are all one in Christ Jesus,* ye are the true ones, seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the propose.

SECT. VII.

CHAP. IV. 1—11.

CONTENTS.

In the first part of this section he further shows, that the law was not against the promise, in that the child is not disinherited, by being under tutors. But the chief design of this section is to show, that though both jews and gentiles were intended to be the children of God, and heirs of the promise by faith in Christ, yet they both of them were left in bondage, the jews to the law, ver. 3, and the gentiles to false gods, ver 8, until Christ in due time came to redeem them both; and, therefore, Edition: current; Page: [55] it was folly in the galatians, being redeemed from one bondage, to go backwards, and put themselves again in a state of bondage, though under a new master.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Locke1824: 2But he is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father.

Locke1824: 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

Locke1824: 4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law;

Locke1824: 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Locke1824: 6And, because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

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Locke1824: 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God, through Christ.

Locke1824: 8Howbeit, then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them, which by nature are no gods.

Locke1824: 9But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

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Locke1824: 10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

Locke1824: 11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a bondman,* though he beLocke1824: 2 lord of all; But is under tutors and guardians, untilLocke1824: 3 the time prefixed by his father. So we† jews, whilst we were children, were in bondage under the law.‡Locke1824: 4 But when the time appointed for the coming of the Messias was accomplished, God sent forth his Son,Locke1824: 5 made of a woman, and subjected to the law; That he might redeem those who were under the law, and set them free from it, that we, who believe, might be put out of the state of bondmen, into that of sons.Locke1824: 6 Into which state of sons, it is evident that you, galatians, who were heretofore gentiles, are put; forasmuch as God hath sent forth his Spirit§ into your Edition: current; Page: [56] Locke1824: 7 hearts, which enables you to cry Abba, Father. So that thou art no longer a bondman, but a son: and if a son, then an heir* of God, or of the promise ofLocke1824: 8 God, though Christ. But then, i. e. before ye were made the sons of God, by faith in Christ, now under the gospel, ye, not knowing God, were in bondage toLocke1824: 9 those, who were in truth no gods. But now, that ye know God, yea rather, that ye are known† and taken into favour by him, how can it be that you, who have been put out of a state of bondage, into the freedom Edition: current; Page: [58] of sons, should go backwards, and be willing to put yourselves under the* weak and beggarly elements†Locke1824: 10 of the world into a state of bondage again? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years, inLocke1824: 11 compliance with the Mosaical institution. I begin to be afraid of you, and to be in doubt, whether all the pains I have taken about you, to set you at liberty, in the freedom of the gospel, will not prove lost labour.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. IV. 12—20.

CONTENTS.

He presses them with the remembrance of the great kindness they had for him, when he was amongst them; and assures them that they have no reason to be alienated from him, though that be it, which the judaizing seducers aim at.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 12Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

Locke1824: 13Ye know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first.

Locke1824: 14And my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me, as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Locke1824: 15Where then is the blessedness you spake of; for I bear you record, that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and given them to me.

Locke1824: 16And I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Locke1824: 17They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that you might affect them.

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Locke1824: 18But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

Locke1824: 19My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.

Locke1824: 20I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 12I beseech you, brethren, let you and I be as if we were all one. Think yourselves to be very me; as I, in my own mind, put no difference at all between you and myself; you have done me no manner ofLocke1824: 13 injury: On the contrary, ye know, that through infirmity of the flesh, I heretofore preached the gospelLocke1824: 14 to you. And yet ye despised me not, for the trial I underwent in the flesh*, you treated me not with contempt and scorn: but you received me, as anLocke1824: 15 angel of God, yea, as Jesus Christ himself. What benedictions† did you then pour out upon me? For I bear you witness, had it been practicable, you would have pulled out your very eyes, and given themLocke1824: 16 me. But is it so, that I am become your enemy‡Locke1824: 17 in continuing to tell you the truth? They, who would make you of that mind, show a warmth of affection to you; but it is not well: for their business Edition: current; Page: [59] is to exclude me, that they may get into your affection.Locke1824: 18 It is good to be well and warmly affected towards a good man*, at all times, and not barelyLocke1824: 19 when I am present with you, My little children, for whom I have again the pains of a woman in childbirth, until Christ be formed in you†, i. e. till the true doctrine of christianity be settled in yourLocke1824: 20 minds. But I would willingly be this very moment with you, and change‡ my discourse, as I should Edition: current; Page: [60] find occasion; for I am at a stand about you, and know not what to think of you.

SECT. IX.

CHAP. IV. 21.—V. 1.

CONTENTS.

He exhorts them to stand fast in the liberty, with which Christ hath made them free, showing those, who are so zealous for the law, that, if they mind what they read in the law, they will there find, that the children of the promise, or of the new Jerusalem, were to be free; but the children after the flesh, of the earthly Jerusalem, were to be in bondage, and to be cast out, and not to have the inheritance.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

Locke1824: 22For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the one by a bond-maid, the other by a free-woman.

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Locke1824: 23But he, who was of the bond-woman, was born after the flesh: but he of the free-woman was by promise.

Locke1824: 24Which things are an allegory; for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

Locke1824: 25For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Locke1824: 26But Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all.

Locke1824: 27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not; break forth and cry, that thou travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

Locke1824: 28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Locke1824: 29But as, then, he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now.

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Locke1824: 30Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bond-woman and her son: for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.

Locke1824: 31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free.

Locke1824: V. 1.Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 21Tell me, you that would so fain be under the law, do you not acquaint yourselves with what is in the law, either by reading* it, or having it read in your assemblies?Locke1824: 22For it is there written†, Abraham had two Edition: current; Page: [61] sons, one by a bond-maid the other by a free woman.Locke1824: 23 But he that was of the bond-woman, was born according to the flesh, in the ordinary course of nature; but he that was of the free woman, Abraham had by virtue of the promise, after he and his wife were pastLocke1824: 24 the hopes of another child. These things have an allegorical meaning: for the two women are the two covenants, the one of them delivered from mount Sinai, and is represented by Agar, who produces herLocke1824: 25 issue into bondage. (For Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem, that now is, andLocke1824: 26 is in bondage with her children.) But the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, and answers to Sarah, the mother of the promised seed, is free, the motherLocke1824: 27 of us all, both jews and gentiles, who believe. For it was of her, that it is written*, “Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not; break out into loud acclamations of joy, thou that hast not the travails of child-birth; for more are the children of theLocke1824: 28 desolate, than of her that hath an husband.” And it is we, my brethren, who, as Isaac was, are theLocke1824: 29 children of promise. But as, then, Ishmael, who Edition: current; Page: [62] was born in the ordinary course of nature*, persecuted Isaac, who was born by an extraordinary power, from heaven, working miraculously; so is itLocke1824: 30 now. But what saith the scripture†? “Cast out the bond-woman and her son: for the son of the bond-woman shall not share the inheritance withLocke1824: 31 the son of the free-woman.” So then, brethren, we, who believe in Christ, are not the children of the bond-woman,Locke1824: V. 1. but of the free‡. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made you free, and do not put on again a yoke of bondage, by putting yourselves under the law.

SECT. X.

CHAP. V. 2—13.

CONTENTS.

It is evident from ver. 11, that, the better to prevail, with the galatians to be circumcised, it had been reported, that St. Paul himself preached up circumcision. Edition: current; Page: [63] St. Paul, without taking express notice of this calumny, chap. i. 6, and ii. 21, gives an account of his past life, in a large train of particulars, which all concur to make such a character of him, as renders it very incredible, that he should ever declare for the circumcision of the gentile converts, or for their submission to the law. Having thus prepared the minds of the galatians to give him a fair hearing, as a fair man ζηλȣ͂σθαι ἐν ϰαλῷ, he goes on to argue against their subjecting themselves to the law. And having established their freedom from the law, by many strong arguments, he comes here at last openly to take notice of the report which had been raised of him, [that he preached circumcision] and directly confutes it.

1. By positively denouncing to them himself, very solemnly; that they, who suffer themselves to be circumcised, put themselves into a perfect legal state, out of the covenant of grace, and could receive no benefit by Jesus Christ, ver. 2—4.

2. By assuring them, that he, and those that followed him, expected justification only by faith, ver. 5, 6.

3. By telling them, that he had put them in the right way, and that this new persuasion came not from him, that converted them to christianity, ver. 7, 8.

4. By insinuating to them, that they should agree to pass judgment on him, that troubled them with this doctrine, ver. 9, 10.

5. By his being persecuted, for opposing the circumcision of the christians. For this was the great offence, which stuck with the jews, even after their conversion, ver. 11.

6. By wishing those cut off, that trouble them with this doctrine, ver. 12.

This will, I doubt not, by whoever weighs it, be found a very skilful management of the argumentative part of this epistle, which ends here. For, though he begins with sapping the foundation, on which the judaizing seducers seemed to have laid their main stress, viz. the report of his preaching circumcision; yet he reserves the direct and open confutation of it to the end, and so leaves it with them, that it may have the more forcible and lasting impression on their minds.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 2Behold; I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

Locke1824: 3For I testify, again, to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

Locke1824: 4Christ is become of no effect unto you; whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.

Locke1824: 5For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Locke1824: 6For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith, which worketh by love.

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Locke1824: 7Ye did run well: who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?

Locke1824: 8This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

Locke1824: 9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Locke1824: 10I have confidence in you, through the Lord, that you will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you, shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

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Locke1824: 11And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.

Locke1824: 12I would they were even cut off, which trouble you.

Locke1824: 13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 2Take notice that I, Paul*, who am falsely reported to preach up circumcision in other places, say unto you, that if you are circumcised, Christ shall be of no advantageLocke1824: 3 to you. For I repeat here again, what I have always preached, and solemnly testify to every one, who yields to be circumcised, in compliance with those who say, That now, under the gospel, he cannot be saved† without it, that he is under an obligation to the whole law, and bound to observe and performLocke1824: 4 every tittle of it. Christ is of no use to you, who seek justification by the law: whosoever do so, be ye what ye will, ye are fallen from the covenant ofLocke1824: 5 grace. But I‡, and those, who with me are true christians, we, who follow the truth of the gospel, and the doctrine of the Spirit§ of God, have no otherLocke1824: 6 hope of justification, but by faith in Christ. For in the state of the gospel, under Jesus, the Messiah, it is Edition: current; Page: [65] neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, that is of any moment; all that is available is faith alone,Locke1824: 7 working by love*. When you first entered into the profession of the gospel, you were in a good way, and went on well: who has put a stop to you, and hindereth you, that you keep no longer to theLocke1824: 8 truth of the christian doctrine? This persuasion, that it is necessary for you to be circumcised, cometh not from him†, by whose preaching you were calledLocke1824: 9 to the profession of the gospel. Remember that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; the influence of one man‡ entertained among you, mayLocke1824: 10 mislead you all. I have confidence in you, that, by the help of the Lord, you will be all of this same mind§ with me; and consequently he that troubles Edition: current; Page: [65] you, shall fall under the censure he deserves for it*,Locke1824: 11whoever he be. But as for me, brethren, if I, at last, am become a preacher of circumcision, why am I yet persecuted†? If it be so, that the gentile converts are to be circumcised, and so subjected to the law, the great offence of the gospel‡, in relying solely on a crucified Saviour for salvation, is removed.Locke1824: 12 But I am of another mind, and wish that they may be cut off, who trouble you about thisLocke1824: 13 matter, and they shall be cut off. For, brethren, ye have been called by me unto liberty.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. V. 13—26.

CONTENTS.

From the mention of liberty, which he tells them they are called to, under the gospel, he takes a rise to caution them in the use of it, and so exhorts them to a spiritual, or true christian life, showing the difference Edition: current; Page: [67] and contrariety between that and a carnal life, or a life after the flesh.

TEXT.

Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Locke1824: 14For all the law is fulfilled in one word: even in this; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Locke1824: 15But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Locke1824: 16This I say then, Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Locke1824: 17For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

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Locke1824: 18But if ye be led by the spirit, ye are not under the law.

Locke1824: 19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

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Locke1824: 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Locke1824: 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such-like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they, which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Locke1824: 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Locke1824: 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Locke1824: 24And they that are Christ’s, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.

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Locke1824: 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Locke1824: 26Let us not be desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

PARAPHRASE.

Though the gospel, to which you are called, be a state of liberty from the bondage of the law, yet pray take great care you do not mistake that liberty, nor think it affords you an opportunity, in the abuse of it, to satisfy the lust of the flesh, but serve* oneLocke1824: 14 another in love. For the whole law, concerning our duty to others, is fulfilled in observing this one precept†; “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”Locke1824: 15But, if you bite and tear one another, take heed that you be not destroyed and consumedLocke1824: 16 by one another. This I say to you, conduct yourselves by the light that is in your minds‡, and do not give yourselves up to the lusts of the flesh, toLocke1824: 17 obey them, in what they put upon you. For the inclinations and desires of the flesh, are contrary to those of the spirit: and the dictates and inclinations of the spirit are contrary to those of the flesh; so Edition: current; Page: [68] that, under these contrary impulses, you do not doLocke1824: 18 the things that you purpose to yourselves*. But if you give yourselves up to the conduct of the gospel†,Locke1824: 19 by faith in Christ, ye are not under the law‡. Now Edition: current; Page: [69] the works of the flesh, as is manifest, are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,Locke1824: 20 Idolatry, witchcraft*, enmities, quarrels, emulations,Locke1824: 21 animosities, strife, seditions, sects, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings†, and such-like: concerning which I forewarn you now, as heretofore I have done, that they, who do such things, shall not inheritLocke1824: 22 the kingdom of God. But, on the other side, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, sweetness of disposition, beneficence, faithfulness,Locke1824: 23 Meekness, temperance: against these andLocke1824: 24 the like there is no law. Now they who belong‡ to Christ, and are his members, have§ crucified the Edition: current; Page: [70] Locke1824: 25 flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof. If our life then (our flesh having been crucified) be, as we profess, by the Spirit, whereby we are alive from that state of sin, we were dead in before, let us regulate our lives and actions by the light and dictatesLocke1824: 26 of the Spirit. Let us not be led, by an itch of vain-glory, to provoke one another, or to envy one another*.

SECT. XII.

CHAP. VI. 1—5.

CONTENTS.

He here exhorts the stronger to gentleness and meekness towards the weak.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Locke1824: 2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Locke1824: 3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Locke1824: 4But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

Locke1824: 5For every man shall bear his own burden.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Brethren, if a man, by frailty or surprise, fall into a fault, do you, who are eminent in the church for knowledge, practice, and gifts,* raise him up again, and set him right, with gentleness and meekness, considering that you yourselves are not out of the reachLocke1824: 2 of temptations. Bear with one another’s infirmities, and help to support each other under your burdens,†Locke1824: 3 and so fulfil the law of Christ.‡ For if any one be conceited of himself, as if he were something, a man of weight, fit to prescribe to others, when indeed he isLocke1824: 4 not, he deceiveth himself. But let him take care that what he himself doth be right, and such as will bear the test, and then he will have matter of glorying§Locke1824: 5 in himself, and not in another. For every one shall be accountable only for his own actions.

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SECT. XIII.

CHAP. VI. 6—10.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul having laid some restraint upon the authority and forwardness of the teachers, and leading men amongst them, who were, as it seems, more ready to impose on the galatians what they should not, than to help them forward in the practice of gospel-obedience; he here takes care of them, in respect of their maintenance, and exhorts the galatians to liberality towards them, and, in general, towards all men, especially christians.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 6Let him, that is taught in the word, communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

Locke1824: 7Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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Locke1824: 8For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Locke1824: 9And let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Locke1824: 10As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 6Let him, that is taught the doctrine of the gospel, freely communicate the good things of this world toLocke1824: 7 him that teaches him. Be not deceived, God will Edition: current; Page: [73] not be mocked; for, as a man soweth,* so also shallLocke1824: 8 he reap. He, that lays out the stock of good things he has, only for the satisfaction of his own bodily necessities, conveniences, or pleasures, shall, at the harvest, find the fruit and product of such husbandry to be corruption and perishing.† But he, that lays out his worldly substance, according to the rules dictated by the Spirit of God in the gospel, shall, ofLocke1824: 9 the Spirit, reap life everlasting. In doing thus, what is good and right, let us not wax weary; for in due season, when the time of harvest comes, we shall reap, if we continue on to do good, and flag not.Locke1824: 10 Therefore, as we have opportunities, let us do good unto all men, especially to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, i. e. the christian religion.

SECT. XIV.

CHAP. VI. 11—18.

CONTENTS.

One may see what lay upon St. Paul’s mind, in writing to the galatians, by what he inculcates to them here, even after he had finished his letter. The like we have in Edition: current; Page: [74] the last chapter to the romans. He here winds up all with admonitions to the galatians, of a different end and aim they had, to get the galatians circumcised, from what he had in preaching the gospel.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 11You see how large a letter I have written unto you, with mine own hand,

Locke1824: 12As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

Locke1824: 13For neither they themselves, who are circumcised, keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

Locke1824: 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

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Locke1824: 15For, in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

Locke1824: 16And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Locke1824: 17From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Locke1824: 18Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Unto the galatians, written from Rome.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 11You see how long a letter I have writ to you withLocke1824: 12 my own hand*. They, who are willing to carry it so fairly in the ritual part of the law†, and to make ostentation of their compliance therein, constrain you to be circumcised, only to avoid persecution, for owning their dependence for salvation solely on a crucified Messiah, and not on the observance of the law.Locke1824: 13 For even they themselves, who are circumcised, do not keep the law. But they will have you to be circumcised, that this mark in your flesh may afford them matter of glorying, and of recommending themselvesLocke1824: 14 to the good opinion of the jews‡. But as for me, whatever may be said of me§, God forbid that I should glory in any thing, but in having Jesus Christ, who was crucified, for my sole Lord and Master, whom I am to obey and depend on; which I so entirely do, without regard to any thing else, that I am wholly dead to the world, and the world Edition: current; Page: [75] dead to me, and it has no more influence on me, thanLocke1824: 15 if it were not. For, as to the obtaining a share in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and the privileges and advantages of it, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, such outward differences in the flesh, avail any thing, but the new creation, wherein by a thorough change a man is disposed to righteousness, andLocke1824: 16 true holiness, in good works*. And on all those, who walk by this rule, viz. that it is the new creation alone, and not circumcision, that availeth under the gospel, peace and mercy shall be on them, they being that Israel, which are truly the people of God†.Locke1824: 17 From henceforth, let no man give me trouble by questions, or doubt whether I preach circumcision or no. It is true, I am circumcised. But yet the marks I now bear in my body, are the marks of Jesus Christ, that I am his. The marks of the stripes, which I have received from the jews, and which I still bear in my body for preaching Jesus Christ, areLocke1824: 18 an evidence that I am not for circumcision. “Brethren, the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Amen.

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A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS.

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THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS;
WRIT IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

Saint Paul’s first coming to Corinth was anno Christi 52, where he first applied himself to the synagogue, Acts xviii. 4. But finding them obstinate in their opposition to the gospel, he turned to the gentiles, ver. 6, out of whom this church at Corinth seems chiefly to be gathered, as appears, Acts xviii. and 1 Cor. xii. 2.

His stay here was about two years, as appears from Acts xviii. 11, 18, compared: in which time it may be concluded he made many converts; for he was not idle there, nor did he use to stay long in a place, where he was not encouraged by the success of his ministry. Besides what his so long abode in this one city, and his indefatigable labour every where, might induce one to presume, of the number of converts he made in that city; the scripture itself, Acts xviii. 10, gives sufficient evidence of a numerous church gathered there.

Corinth itself was a rich merchant-town, the inhabitants greeks, a people of quick parts, and inquisitive, 1 Cor. i. 22, but naturally vain and conceited of themselves.

These things considered may help us, in some measure, the better to understand St. Paul’s epistles to this church, which seems to be in greater disorder, than any other of the churches which he writ to.

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This epistle was writ to the corinthians, anno Christi 57, between two and three years after St. Paul had left them. In this interval, there was got in amongst them a new instructor, a jew by nation, who had raised a faction against St. Paul. With this party, whereof he was the leader, this false apostle had gained great authority, so that they admired and gloried in him, with an apparent disesteem and diminishing of St. Paul.

Why I suppose the opposition to be made to St. Paul, in this church, by one party, under one leader, I shall give the reasons, that make it probable to me, as they come in my way, going through these two epistles; which I shall leave to the reader to judge, without positively determining on either side; and therefore shall, as it happens, speak of these opposers of St. Paul, sometimes in the singular, and sometimes in the plural number.

This at least is evident, that the main design of St. Paul, in this epistle, is to support his own authority, dignity, and credit, with that part of the church which stuck to him; to vindicate himself from the aspersions and calumnies of the opposite party; to lessen the credit of the chief and leading men in it, by intimating their miscarriages, and showing their no cause of glorying, or being gloried in: that so withdrawing their party from the admiration and esteem of those their leaders, he might break the faction; and putting an end to the division, might re-unite them with the uncorrupted part of the church, that they might all unanimously submit to the authority of his divine mission, and with one accord receive and keep the doctrine and directions he had delivered to them.

This is the whole subject from chap. i. 10, to the end of chap. vi. In the remaining part of this epistle, he answers some questions they had proposed to him, and resolves some doubts; not without a mixture, on all occasions, of reflections on his opposers, and of other things, that might tend to the breaking of their faction.

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SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1—9.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother:

Locke1824: 2Unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours.

Locke1824: 3Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Locke1824: 4I thank my God always, on your behalf, for the grace of God, which is given you, by Jesus Christ;

Locke1824: 5That, in every thing, ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge:

Locke1824: 6Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.

Locke1824: 7So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Locke1824: 8Who also shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 9God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, called to be so by the will of God*, and Sosthenes† our brother in theLocke1824: 2 christian faith; To the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are separated from the rest of the world, by faith in Jesus Christ‡, called to be saints, with all, that are every-where called by the nameLocke1824: 3 of Jesus Christ§, their Lord∥, and ours. Favour and peace be unto you, from God our Father, and from Edition: current; Page: [82] Locke1824: 4 the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God always, on your behalf, for the favour of God, which is bestowed onLocke1824: 5 you, through Jesus Christ; So that, by him, you are enriched with all knowledge and utterance, andLocke1824: 6 all extraordinary gift: As at first, by those miraculous gifts, the gospel of Christ was confirmedLocke1824: 7 among you. So that in no spiritual gift are any of you short, or deficient*, waiting for theLocke1824: 8 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that in the day of the LordLocke1824: 9 Jesus Christ, there may be no charge against you. For God, who has called you unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, may be relied on for what is to be done on his side.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 10.—VI. 20.

CONTENTS.

There were great disorders in the church of Corinth, caused chiefly by a faction raised there, against St. Paul: the partisans of the faction mightily cried up, and gloried in their leaders, who did all they could to disparage St. Paul, and lessen him in the esteem of the Edition: current; Page: [83] corinthians. St. Paul makes it is business, in this section, to take off the corinthians from siding with, and glorying in, this pretended apostle, whose followers and scholars they professed themselves to be; and to reduce them into one body, as the scholars of Christ, united in a belief of the gospel, which he had preached to them, and in an obedience to it, without any such distinction of masters, or leaders, from whom they denominated themselves. He also, here and there, intermixes a justification of himself, against the aspersions which were cast upon him, by his opposers. How much St. Paul was set against their leaders, may be seen, 2 Cor. xi. 13—15.

The arguments used by St. Paul, to break the opposite faction, and put an end to all divisions amongst them, being various, we shall take notice of them, under their several heads, as they come in the order of this discourse.

SECT. II. No. 1.

CHAP. I. 10—16.

CONTENTS.

Saint Paul’s first argument is, That, in christianity, they all had but one master, viz. Christ; and therefore were not to fall into parties, denominated from distinct teachers, as they did in their schools of philosophy.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 10Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no Edition: current; Page: [84] divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together, in the same mind, and in the same judgment.

Locke1824: 11For it hath been declared unto me, of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

Locke1824: 12Now, this I say, that every one of you saith, “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.”

Locke1824: 13Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Locke1824: 14I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispas and Gaius:

Locke1824: 15Lest any should say, that I had baptized in my own name.

Locke1824: 16And I baptized also the houshold of Stephanus: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 10Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name* of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye hold the same doctrine, Edition: current; Page: [84] and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be framed together into one intire body, with oneLocke1824: 11 mind, and one affection. For I understand, my brethren*, by some of the house of Chloe, that thereLocke1824: 12 are quarrels and dissentions amongst you; So that ye are fallen into parties, ranking yourselves under different leaders or masters, one saying, “I am of Paul;” another, “I of Apollos, I of Cephas, I ofLocke1824: 13 Christ.” Is Christ, who is our only Head and Master, divided? Was Paul crucified for you? OrLocke1824: 14 were you baptized into† the name of Paul? I thank God I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;Locke1824: 15 Lest any one should say, I had baptized into myLocke1824: 16 own name. I baptized also the household of Stephanas; farther, I know not whether I baptized any other.

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SECT. II. No. 2.

CHAP. 1. 17—31.

CONTENTS.

The next argument of St. Paul, to stop their followers from glorying in these false apostles, is, that neither any advantage of extraction, nor skill in the learning of the jews, nor in the philosophy and eloquence of the greeks, was that, for which God chose men to be preachers of the gospel. Those, whom he made choice of, for overturning the mighty and the learned, were mean, plain, illiterate men.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Locke1824: 18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness: but unto us, which are saved, it is the power of God.

Locke1824: 19For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Locke1824: 20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

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Locke1824: 21For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world, by wisdom, knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.

Locke1824: 22For the jews require a sign, and the greeks seek after wisdom:

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Locke1824: 23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the jews a stumbling block, and unto the greeks foolishness.

Locke1824: 24But unto them which are called, both jews and greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God:

Locke1824: 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Locke1824: 26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

Locke1824: 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty:

Locke1824: 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

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Locke1824: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Locke1824: 30But of him are ye, in Christ Jesus, who, of God, is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Locke1824: 31That, according as it is written, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not with learned and eloquent harangues, lest thereby the virtue and efficacy of Christ’s sufferings and death should be overlooked and neglected, if the stress of our persuasion should be laid on the learningLocke1824: 18 and quaintness of our preaching. For the plain insisting on the death of a crucified Saviour is, by those, who perish, received as a foolish, contemptible thing; though to us, who are saved, it be the powerLocke1824: 19 of God, Conformable to what is prophecied by Isaiah: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding of theLocke1824: 20 prudent.” Where is the philosopher, skilled in Edition: current; Page: [86] the wisdom of the greek? Where the scribes,* studied in the learning of the jews? Where the professor of human arts and sciences? Hath not God rendered all the learning and wisdom of this world foolish, and useless for the discovery of the truths ofLocke1824: 21 the gospel? For since the world, by their natural parts, and improvements in what, with them, passed for wisdom, acknowledged not the one, only, true God, though he had manifested himself to them, in the wise contrivance and admirable frame of the visible works of the creation; it pleased God, by the plain, and (as the world esteems it) foolish doctrine of the gospel, to save those who receive and believeLocke1824: 22 it. Since† both the jews demand extraordinary Edition: current; Page: [87] signs and miracles, and the greeks seek wisdom:Locke1824: 23 But I have nothing else to preach to them, but Christ crucified, a doctrine offensive to the hopes and expectations of the jews; and foolish to the acute menLocke1824: 24 of learning, the greeks: But yet it is to these, both jews and greeks, (when they are converted) Christ, the power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God:Locke1824: 25 Because that, which seems foolishness in those, who came from God, surpasses the wisdom of man; and that, which seems weakness in those sent by God,Locke1824: 26 surpasses the power of men. For reflect upon your selves, brethren, and you may observe, that there are not many of the wise and learned men, not many men of power, or of birth, among you, thatLocke1824: 27 are called. But God hath chosen the foolish men, in the account of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak men of the world,Locke1824: 28 to confound the mighty: The mean men of the world, and contemptible, has God chosen, and those that are of no account, are nothing,* to displace Edition: current; Page: [88] Locke1824: 29 those that are: That so there might be no room, or pretence, for any one to glory in his presence.Locke1824: 30 Natural, human abilities, parts or wisdom, could never have reached this way to happiness: it is to his wisdom alone, that ye owe the contrivance of it; to his revealing of it, that ye owe the knowledge of it; and it is from him alone, that you are in Christ Jesus, whom God has made to us, Christians, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, which is all the dignity and preeminence, all that is of any value, amongst us Christians:Locke1824: 31 That as it is written, He that glorieth, should glory only in the Lord.

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SECT. II. No. 3.

CHAP. II. 1—5.

CONTENTS.

Farther to keep them from glorying in their leaders, he tells them, that as the preachers of the gospel, of God’s choosing, were mean and illiterate men, so the gospel was not to be propagated, nor men to be established in the faith, by human learning and eloquence, but by the evidence it had, from the revelation contained in the old Testament, and from the power of God accompanying and confirming it with miracles.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

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Locke1824: 2For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Locke1824: 3And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

Locke1824: 4And my speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power:

Locke1824: 5That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1And I, brethren, when I came and preached the gospel to you, I did not endeavour to set it off with any ornaments of rhetoric, or the mixture of human learning, or philosophy; but plainly declared it to you, as a doctrine coming from God, revealed and attested* Edition: current; Page: [90] Locke1824: 2 by him. For I resolved to own, or show, no other knowledge among you, but the knowledge*, or doctrineLocke1824: 3 of Jesus Christ, and of him crucified. All my carriage among you had nothing in it, but the appearance of weakness and humility, and fear of offendingLocke1824: 4 you†. Neither did I in my discourses, or preaching, make use of any human art of persuasion, to inveigle you. But the doctrine of the gospel, which I proposed, I confirmed and inforced by what the Spirit‡ had revealed and demonstrated of it, in the Old Testament, and by the power of God, accompanyingLocke1824: 5 it with miraculous operations: That your faith might have its foundation, not in the wisdom and endowments of men, but in the power of God§.

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SECT. II. No. 4.

CHAP. II. 6—16.

CONTENTS.

The next argument the apostle uses to show them, that they had no reason to glory in their teachers, is, that the knowledge of the gospel was not attainable by our natural parts, however they were improved by arts and philosophy, but was wholly owing to revelation.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 6Howbeit we speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought.

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Locke1824: 7But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained, before the world, unto our glory.

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Locke1824: 8Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Locke1824: 9But, as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Locke1824: 10But God hath revealed them unto us, by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things: yea, the deep things of God.

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Locke1824: 11For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is in him? even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Locke1824: 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things, that are freely given to us of God.

Locke1824: 13Which things also we speak, not in the words, which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Locke1824: 14But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of Edition: current; Page: [96] God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned.

Locke1824: 15But he, that is spiritual, judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

Locke1824: 16For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 6Howbeit, that which we preach is wisdom, and known to be so, among those who are thoroughly instructed in the christian religion, and take it upon its true principles*: but not the wisdom of this world†, nor of Edition: current; Page: [92] the princes*, or great men of this world†, who willLocke1824: 7 quickly be brought to nought‡. But we speak the Edition: current; Page: [93] wisdom of God*, contained in the mysterious and the obscure prophecies of the Old Testament†, which has been therein concealed and hid: though it be what God predetermined, in his own purpose, before the jewish constitution‡, to the glory of Edition: current; Page: [94] Locke1824: 8 us*, who understand, receive, and preach it: Which none of the rulers among the jews understood; for, if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord Christ, who has in his hands the disposing of allLocke1824: 9 true glory. But they knew it not, as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have the things, that God hath prepared for them that love him, entered into the heart or thoughts ofLocke1824: 10 man.” But these things, which are not discoverable by man’s natural faculties and powers, God hath revealed to us, by his Spirit, which searcheth out all things, even the deep counsels of God, which are beyond the reach of our abilities to discover. Edition: current; Page: [95] Locke1824: 11 For, as no man knoweth what is in the mind of another man, but only the spirit of the man himself that is in him: so, much less doth any man know, or can discover, the thoughts and counsels ofLocke1824: 12 God, but only the Spirit of God. But we* have received, not the spirit of the world†, but the Spirit, which is of God, that we might know what things are in the purpose of God, out of his free bountyLocke1824: 13 to bestow upon us. Which things we not only know, but declare also; not in the language and learning, taught by human eloquence and philosophy, but in the language and expressions, which the Holy Ghost teacheth, in the revelations contained in the holy scriptures, comparing oneLocke1824: 14 part of the revelation‡ with another. But a Edition: current; Page: [96] man*, who hath no other help but his own natural faculties, how much soever improved by human arts and sciences, cannot receive the truths of the gospel, which are made known by another principle only, viz. the Spirit of God revealing them; and therefore seem foolish and absurd to such a man: nor can he, by the bare use of his natural faculties, and the principles of human reason, ever come to the knowledge of them; because it is, by the studying of divine revelation alone, that we can attain theLocke1824: 15 knowledge of them. But he that lays his foundation in divine revelation†, can judge what is, and what is not, the doctrine of the gospel, and of salvation; he can judge who is, and who is not, a good minister and preacher of the word of God: but others, who are bare animal men*, that go not beyond the discoveries made by the natural faculties of human understanding, without the help and study of revelation, cannot judge of such an one, whetherLocke1824: 16 he preacheth right and well, or not. For who, by the bare use of his natural parts, can come to know the mind of the Lord, in the design of the gospel, so as to be able to instruct him† [the spiritual man] in Edition: current; Page: [97] it? But I who, renouncing all human learning and knowledge in the case, take all, that I preach, from divine revelation alone, I am sure, that therein I have the mind of Christ; and therefore, there is no reason why any of you should prefer other teachers to me; glory in them who oppose and villify me; and count it an honour to go for their scholars, and be of their party.

SECT. II. No. 5.

CHAP. III. I—IV. 20.

CONTENTS.

The next matter of boasting, which the faction made use of, to give the pre-eminence and preference to their leader, above St. Paul, seems to have been this, that their new teacher had led them farther, and given them a deeper insight into the mysteries of the gospel, than St. Paul had done. To take away their glorying on this account, St. Paul tells them, that they were carnal, and not capable of those more advanced truths, or any thing, beyond the first principles of christianity, which he had taught them; and, though another had come and watered what he had planted, yet neither planter, nor waterer, could assume to himself any glory from thence, because it was God alone, that gave the increase. But, whatever new doctrines they might pretend to receive, from their magnified, new apostle, yet no man could lay any other foundation, in a christian church, but what he St. Paul, had laid, viz. that “Jesus is the Christ;” and, therefore, there was no reason to glory in their teachers: because, upon this foundation, they, possibly, might build false, or unsound doctrines, Edition: current; Page: [98] for which they should receive no thanks from God; though, continuing in the faith, they might be saved. Some of the particular hay and stubble, which this leader brought into the church at Corinth, he seems particularly to point at, chap. iii. 16, 17, viz. their defiling the church, by retaining, and, as it may be supposed, patronizing the fornicator, who should have been turned out, chap. v. 7—13. He further adds, that these extolled heads of their party were, at best, but men; and none of the church ought to glory in men; for even Paul, and Apollos, and Peter, and all the other preachers of the gospel, were for the use and benefit, and glory of the church, as the church was for the glory of Christ.

Moreover, he shows them, that they ought not to be puffed up, upon the account of these their new teachers, to the undervaluing of him, though it should be true, that they had learned more from them, than from himself, for these reasons:

1. Because all the preachers of the gospel are but stewards of the mysteries of God; and whether they have been faithful in their stewardship, cannot be now known: and, therefore, they ought not to be some of them magnified and extolled, and others depressed and blamed, by their hearers here, until Christ their Lord come; and then he, knowing how they have behaved themselves in their ministry, will give them their due praises. Besides, these stewards have nothing, but what they have received; and, therefore, no glory belongs to them for it.

2. Because, if these leaders were (as was pretended) apostles, glory, and honour, and outward affluence here, was not their portion, the apostles being destined to want, contempt, and persecution.

3. They ought not to be honoured, followed, and gloried in, as apostles, because they had not the power of miracles, which he intended shortly to come, and show they had not.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

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Locke1824: 2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Locke1824: 3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Locke1824: 4For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal?

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Locke1824: 5Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

Locke1824: 6I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Locke1824: 7So then, neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God, that giveth the increase.

Locke1824: 8Now he that planteth, and he that watereth, are one; and every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.

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Locke1824: 9For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

Locke1824: 10According to the grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

Locke1824: 11For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 12Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

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Locke1824: 13Every man’s work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is.

Locke1824: 14If any man’s work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

Locke1824: 15If any man’s work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so, as by fire.

Locke1824: 16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Locke1824: 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy: for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

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Locke1824: 18Let no man deceive himself: if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

Locke1824: 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God: for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

Locke1824: 20And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Locke1824: 21Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours:

Locke1824: 22Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come: all are yours:

Locke1824: 23And ye are Christ’s: and Christ is God’s.

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Locke1824: IV. 1Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Locke1824: 2Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Locke1824: 3But with me it is a very small thing, that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine ownself.

Locke1824: 4For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

Locke1824: 5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

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Locke1824: 6And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself, and to Apollos, for your sakes; that ye might learn in us, not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up, for one against another.

Locke1824: 7For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Locke1824: 8Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

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Locke1824: 9For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were, appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

Locke1824: 10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ: we are weak, but ye are strong: ye are honourable, but we are despised.

Locke1824: 11Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place.

Locke1824: 12And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

Locke1824: 13Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day.

Locke1824: 14I write not these things to shame you; but, as my beloved sons, I warn you.

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Locke1824: 15For, though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for, in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you, through the gospel.

Locke1824: 16Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

Locke1824: 17For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

Locke1824: 18Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

Locke1824: 19But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

Locke1824: 20For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1And I, brethren, found you so given up to pride and vain-glory, in affectation of learning and philosophical knowledge*, that I could not speak to you as spiritual†, i. e. as to men not wholly depending on philosophy, and the discoveries of natural reason; as to men, who had resigned themselves up, in matters of religion, to revelation, and the knowledge which comes only from the Spirit of God; but as to carnal‡, even as to babes, who yet retained a great many childish and wrong notions about it: this hindered me, that I could not go so far, as I desired, in the mysteries of the christian religion; but was fain to content myself Edition: current; Page: [100] with instructing you in the first principles*, and moreLocke1824: 2 obvious and easy doctrines of it. I could not apply myself to you, as to spiritual men†, that could compare spiritual things with spiritual, one part of scripture with another, and thereby understand the truths revealed by the Spirit of God, discerning true from false doctrines, good and useful, from evil‡ and vain opinions. A further discovery of the truths and mysteries of christianity, depending wholly on revelation, you were not able to bear, then; nor are you yet ableLocke1824: 3 to bear; Because you are carnal, full of envyings, and strife, and factions, upon the account of your knowledge, and the orthodoxy of your particularLocke1824: 4 parties§. For, whilst you say, one, “I am of Paul;” and another, “I am of Apollos∥,” are ye not carnal, and manage yourselves in the conduct, both Edition: current; Page: [101] of your minds and actions, according to barely human principles, and not, as spiritual men, acknowledge all that information, and all those gifts, wherewith the ministers of Jesus Christ are furnished, from the propagation of the gospel, to come wholly from the Spirit of God. What, then, are any of the preachers of the gospel, that you should glory in them, and divide into parties, under theirLocke1824: 5 names? Who, for example, is Paul, or who Apollos? What are they else, but bare ministers, by whose ministry, according to those several abilities and gifts, which God has besowed upon each of them, ye have received the gospel? They are only servants, employed to bring unto you a religion, derived entirely from divine revelation, wherein human abilities, or wisdom, had nothing to do. The preachers of it are only instruments, by whom this doctrine is conveyed to you, which, whether you look on it in its original, it is not a thing of human invention or discovery; or whether you look upon the gifts of the teachers who instruct you in it, all is entirely from God alone, and affords you not the least ground to attribute any thing to yourLocke1824: 6 teachers. For example I planted it amongst you, and Apollos watered it: but nothing can from thence be ascribed to either of us: there is no reason for your calling yourselves, some of Paul, and others of Apollos.Locke1824: 7 For neither the planter, nor the waterer, have any power to make it take root, and grow in your hearts; they are as nothing, in that respect; the growth andLocke1824: 8 success is owing to God alone. The planter and the waterer, on this account, are all one, neither of them to be magnified, or preferred, before the other; they are but instruments, concurring to the same end, and Edition: current; Page: [102] therefore ought not to be distinguished, and set in opposition one to another, or cried up, as more deservingLocke1824: 9 one than another. We, the preachers of the gospel, are but labourers, employed by God, about that which is his work, and from him shall receive reward hereafter, every one according to his own labour; and not from men here, who are liable to make a wrong estimate of the labours of their teachers, preferring those, who do not labour together with God, who do not carry on the design, or work of God, in the gospel, or perhaps do not carry it on, equally with others, who are undervalued by them.Locke1824: 10 Ye who are the church of God, are God’s building, in which I, according to the skill and knowledge which God, of his free bounty, has been pleased to give me, and therefore ought not to be to me, or any other, matter of glorying, as a skilful architect, have laid a sure foundation, which is Jesus, the Messiah,Locke1824: 11 the sole and only foundation of christianity. Besides which, no man can lay any other. But, though no man, who pretends to be a preacher of the gospel, can build upon any other foundation, yet you ought not to cry up your new instructor* (who has come and built upon the foundation, that I laid) for the doctrines, he builds thereon, as if there were no other ministerLocke1824: 12 of the gospel but he. For it is possible a man Edition: current; Page: [103] may build, upon that true foundation, wood, hay, and stubble, things that will not bear the test, whenLocke1824: 13 the trial by fire, at the last day*, shall come. At that day, every man’s work shall be tried and discovered,Locke1824: 14 of what sort it is. If what he hath taught be sound and good, and will stand the trial, as silver and gold, and precious stones abide in the fire, heLocke1824: 15 shall be rewarded for his labour in the gospel. But, if he hath introduced false and unsound doctrines into christianity, he shall be like a man, whose building, being of wood, hay, and stubble, is consumed by the fire, all his pains in building is lost, and his works destroyed and gone, though he himself should escapeLocke1824: 16 and be saved. I told you, that ye are God’s building†; yea, more than that, ye are the temple ofLocke1824: 17 God, in which his Spirit dwelleth. If any man, by corrupt doctrine or discipline, defileth‡ the temple Edition: current; Page: [104] of God, he shall not be saved with loss, as by fire; but him will God destroy: for the temple of God isLocke1824: 18 holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself, by his success in carrying his point*: if any one seemeth to himself, or others, wise†, in worldly wisdom, so as to pride himself in his parts and dexterity, in compassing his ends; let him renounce all his natural and acquired parts, all his knowledge and ability, that he may become truly wise, in embracing and owning no other knowledge, but the simplicityLocke1824: 19 of the gospel. For all other wisdom, all the wisdom of the world, is foolishness with God: for it is written, “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.”Locke1824: 20 And again, “The Lord knoweth the thoughts ofLocke1824: 21 the wise, that they are vain.” Therefore, let none of you glory in any of your teachers; for they areLocke1824: 22 but men. For all your teachers, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Peter, even the apostles themselves, nay, all the world, and even the world to come, all things are yours, for your sake and use:

Locke1824: 23As you are Christ’s, subjects of his kingdom, for his Edition: current; Page: [105] glory; and Christ, and his kingdom, for the glory of God. Therefore, if all your teachers, and so many other greater things, are for you, and for your sakes, you can have no reason to make it a glory to you, that you belong to this, or that, particular teacher amongst you: your true glory is, that you are Christ’s, and Christ and all his are God’s; and not, that you are this, or that man’s scholar or follower.

Locke1824: 1As for me I pretend not to set up a school amongst you, and as a master to have my scholars denominated from me; no, let no man have higher thoughts of me, than as a minister of Christ, employed as his steward, to dispense the truths and doctrines of the gospel, which are the mysteries which God wrapped up, in types and obscure predictions, where they have lain hid, till by us, his apostles, he now reveals them.Locke1824: 2 Now that, which is principally required and regarded in a steward, is, that he be faithful in dispensingLocke1824: 3 what is committed to his charge. But as for me, I value it not, if I am censured by some of you, or by any man, as not being a faithful steward: nay, as toLocke1824: 4 this, I pass no judgment on myself. For though I can truly say, that I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified to you: but the Lord, whose steward I am, at the last day will pronounce sentence on my behaviour in my stewardship, andLocke1824: 5 then you will know what to think of me. Then judge not either me, or others, before the time, until the Lord come, who will bring to light the dark and Edition: current; Page: [106] secret counsels of men’s hearts, in preaching the gospel: and then shall every one have that praise, that estimate set upon him, by God himself, which he truly deserves. But praise ought not to be given them, before the time, by their hearers, who are ignorant,Locke1824: 6 fallible men. On this occasion, I have named Apollos and myself*, as the magnified and opposed heads of distinct factions amongst you; not that we are so, but out of respect to you, that I might offend nobody, by naming them; and that you might learn by us, of whom I have written†, that we are but planters, waterers, and stewards, not to think of the ministers of the gospel, above what I have written to you of them, that you be not puffed up, each party, in the vain-glory of their own extolled leader, to the crying down and contempt of any other, who is well esteemedLocke1824: 7 of by others. For what maketh one to differ from another? or what gifts of the Spirit, what knowledge of the gospel has any leader amongst you, which he received not, as intrusted to him of God, and not acquired by his own abilities? And if he received it as a steward, why does he glory in that, which is notLocke1824: 8 his own? However, you are mightily satisfied with your present state; you now are full, you now are rich, and abound in every thing you desire; you have not need of me, but have reigned like princes without me; and I wish truly you did reign, that I might come Edition: current; Page: [107] and share in the protection and prosperity you enjoy,Locke1824: 9 now you are in your kingdom. For I being made an apostle last of all, it seems to me as if I were brought last* upon the stage, to be, in my sufferings and death, a spectacle to the world, and to angels,Locke1824: 10 and to men. I am a fool for Christ’s sake, but you manage your christian concerns with wisdom. I am weak, and in a suffering condition†; you are strong and flourishing; you are honourable, but I am despised.Locke1824: 11 Even to this present hour, I both hunger and thirst, and want clothes, and am buffeted,Locke1824: 12 wandering without house or home; And maintain myself with the labour of my hands. Being reviled,Locke1824: 13 I bless: being persecuted, I suffer patiently: Being defamed, I intreat: I am made as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things unto thisLocke1824: 14 day. I write not these things to shame you; but as a father to warn you, my children, that ye be not the devoted zealous partisans and followers of such, whose carriage is not like this; under whom, however you may flatter yourselves, in truth, you do not reign: but, on the contrary, ye are domineered Edition: current; Page: [108] over, and fleeced by them*. I warn you, I say, asLocke1824: 15 your father: For how many teachers soever you may have, you can have but one father; it was I, that begot you in Christ, i. e. I converted you toLocke1824: 16 christianity. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followersLocke1824: 17 of me†. To this purpose I have sent my beloved son Timothy to you, who may be relied upon: he shall put you in mind, and inform you, how I behave myself every-where in the ministry ofLocke1824: 18 the gospel‡. Some, indeed, are puffed up, and makeLocke1824: 19 their boasts, as if I would not come to you. But I intend, God willing, to come shortly; and then will make trial, not of the rhetoric, or talking of those boasters, but of what miraculous power of the HolyLocke1824: 20 Ghost is in them. For the doctrine and prevalency of the gospel, the propagation and support of Christ’s Edition: current; Page: [109] kingdom, by the conversion and establishment of believers, does not consist in talking, nor in the fluency of a glib tongue, and a fine discourse, but in the miraculous operations of the Holy Ghost.

SECT. II. No. 6.

CHAP. IV. 21.—VI. 20.

CONTENTS.

Another means, which St. Paul makes use of, to bring off the corinthians from their false apostle, and to stop their veneration of him, and their glorying in him, is by representing to them the fault and disorder, which was committed in that church, by not judging and expelling the fornicator; which neglect, as may be guessed, was owing to that faction.

1. Because it is natural for a faction to support and protect an offender, that is of their side.

2. From the great fear St. Paul was in, whether they would obey him, in censuring the offender, as appears by the second epistle; which he could not fear, but from the opposite faction; they, who had preserved their respect to him, being sure to follow his orders.

3. From what he says, ch. iv. 16, after he had told them, ver. 6, of that chapter, that they should not be puffed up, for any other, against him, (for so the whole scope of his discourse here imports,) he beseeches them to be his followers, i. e. leaving their other guides, to follow him, in punishing the offender. For that we may conclude, from his immediately insisting on it so earnestly, he had in his view, when he beseeches them to be followers of him, and consequently that they might join with him, and take him for their leader, ch. v. 3, 4, he makes himself, by his spirit, as his proxy, the president Edition: current; Page: [110] of their assembly, to be convened for the punishing that criminal.

4. It may further be suspected, from what St. Paul says, ch. vi. 1, that the opposite party, to stop the church-censure, pretended that this was a matter to be judged by the civil magistrate: nay, possibly, from what is said, ver. 6, of that chapter, it may be gathered, that they had got it brought before the heathen judge; or at least from ver. 12, that they pleaded, that what he had done was lawful, and might be justified before the magistrate. For the judging spoken of, chap. vi. must be understood to relate to the same matter it does, chap. v. it being a continuation of the same discourse and argument: as is easy to be observed by any one, who will read it without regarding the divisions into chapters and verses, whereby ordinary people (not to say others) are often disturbed in reading the holy scripture, and hindered from observing the true sense and coherence of it. The whole 6th chapter is spent in prosecuting the business of the fornicator, begun in the 5th. That this is so, is evident from the latter end, as well as beginning of the 6th chapter. And therefore, what St. Paul says of lawful, chap. vi. 12, may, without any violence, be supposed to be said, in answer to some, who might have alleged in favour of the fornicator, that what he had done was lawful, and might be justified by the laws of the country, which he was under: why else should St. Paul subjoin so many arguments (wherewith he concludes this 6th chapter, and this subject) to prove the fornication, in question, to be by the law of the gospel, a great sin, and consequently fit for a christian church to censure, in one of its members, however it might pass for lawful, in the esteem, and by the laws of gentiles?

There is one objection, which, at first sight, seems to be a strong argument against this supposition; that the fornication, here spoken of, was held lawful by the gentiles of Corinth, and that, possibly, this very case had been brought before the magistrate there, and not condemned. The objection seems to lie in these words, ch. v. 1, “There is fornication heard of amongst you, and such fornication, as is not heard of amongst the Edition: current; Page: [111] gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.” But yet I conceive the words, duly considered, have nothing in them contrary to my supposition.

To clear this, I take the liberty to say, it cannot be thought that this man had his father’s wife; whilst, by the laws of the place, she actually was his father’s wife; for then it had been μοιχεία and adultery, and so the apostle would have called it, which was a crime in Greece; nor could it be tolerated in any civil society, that one man should have the use of a woman, whilst she was another man’s wife, i. e. another man’s right and possession.

The case, therefore, here seems to be this; the woman had parted from her husband; which it is plain, from chap. vii. 10, 11, 13, at Corinth, women could do. For if, by the law of that country, a woman could not divorce herself from her husband, the apostle had there, in vain, bid her not leave her husband.

But, however known and allowed a practice it might be, amongst the corinthians, for a woman to part from her husband; yet this was the first time it was ever known that her husband’s own son should marry her. This is that, which the apostle takes notice of in these words, “Such a fornication, as is not named amongst the gentiles.” Such a fornication this was, so little known in practice amongst them, that it was not so much as heard, named, or spoken of, by any of them. But, whether they held it unlawful, that a woman, so separated, should marry her husband’s son, when she was looked upon to be at liberty from her former husband, and free to marry whom she pleased; that the apostle says not. This, indeed, he declares, that, by the law of Christ, a woman’s leaving her husband, and marrying another, is unlawful, ch. vii. 11, and this woman’s marrying her husband’s son, he declares, ch. v. 1, (the place before us,) to be fornication, a peculiar sort of fornication, whatever the corinthians, or their law, might determine in the case: and, therefore, a christian church might and ought to have censured it, within themselves, it being an offence against the rule of the gospel; which is the law of their society: and they might, and should, Edition: current; Page: [112] have expelled this fornicator, out of their society, for not submitting to the laws of it; notwithstanding that the civil laws of the country, and the judgment of the heathen magistrate, might acquit him. Suitably hereunto, it is very remarkable, that the arguments, that St. Paul uses, in the close of this discourse, chap. vi. 13—20, to prove fornication unlawful, are all drawn solely from the christian institution, ver. 9. That our bodies are made for the Lord, ver. 13. That our bodies are members of Christ, ver. 15. That our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, ver. 19. That we are not our own, but bought with a price, ver. 20. All which arguments concern christians only; and there is not, in all this discourse against fornication, one word to declare it to be unlawful, by the law of nature, to mankind in general. That was altogether needless, and beside the apostle’s purpose here, where he was teaching and exhorting christians what they were to do, as christians, within their own society, by the law of Christ, which was to be their rule, and was sufficient to oblige them, whatever other laws the rest of mankind observed, or were under. Those he professes, ch. v. 12, 13, not to meddle with, nor to judge: for, having no authority amongst them, he leaves them to the judgment of God, under whose government they are.

These considerations afford ground to conjecture, that the faction, which opposed St. Paul, had hindered the church of Corinth from censuring the fornicator, and that St. Paul showing them their miscarriage herein, aims thereby to lessen the credit of their leader, by whose influence they were drawn into it. For, as soon as they had unanimously shown their obedience to St. Paul, in this matter, we see his severity ceases, and he is all softness and gentleness to the offender, 2 Cor. ii. 5—8. And he tells them in express words, ver. 9, that his end, in writing to them of it, was to try their obedience: to which let me add, that this supposition, though it had not all the evidence for it, which it has, yet being suited to St. Paul’s principal design in this epistle, and helping us the better to understand these two chapters, may deserve to be mentioned.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 21What will ye? shall I come unto you, with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

Locke1824: V. 1It is reported commonly, that there is fornication among you, and such fornication, as is not so much as named amongst the gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

Locke1824: 2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed, might be taken away from among you.

Locke1824: 3For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him, that hath so done this deed.

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Locke1824: 4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Locke1824: 5To deliver such an one unto satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Locke1824: 6Your glorying is not good: know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Locke1824: 7Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us.

Locke1824: 8Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with Edition: current; Page: [115] the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Locke1824: 9I wrote unto you, in an epistle, not to company with fornicators.

Locke1824: 10Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters: for then must ye needs go out of the world.

Locke1824: 11But now I have written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one, no not to eat.

Locke1824: 12For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

Locke1824: 13But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Locke1824: VI. 1Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

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Locke1824: 2Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and, if the world shall be judged by you, ye are unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

Locke1824: 3Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Locke1824: 4If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge, who are least esteemed in the church.

Locke1824: 5I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man amongst you? no, not one, that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

Locke1824: 6But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

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Locke1824: 7Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another: why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

Locke1824: 8Nay, you do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.

Locke1824: 9Know ye not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Locke1824: 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Locke1824: 11And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

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Locke1824: 12All things are lawful unto me; but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Locke1824: 13Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy Edition: current; Page: [119] both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

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Locke1824: 14And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us, by his own power.

Locke1824: 15Know ye not, that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

Locke1824: 16What, know ye not, that he, which is joined to an harlot, is one body? For two (saith he) shall be one flesh.

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Locke1824: 17But he, that is joined unto the Lord, is one spirit.

Locke1824: 18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doth, is without the body: but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body.

Locke1824: 19What! know ye not, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Locke1824: 20For ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 21I purposed to come unto you: But what would ye have me do? Shall I come to you, with a rod, to chastise you? Or with kindness, and a peaceable dispositionLocke1824: 1 of mind*? In short, it is commonly reported, that there is fornication† among you, and such fornication, as is not known‡ ordinarily among theLocke1824: 2 heathen, that one should have his father’s wife. And yet ye remain puffed up, though it would better have become you to have been dejected, for this scandalous fact amongst you; and in a mournful sense of of it, to have removed the offender out of the church.Locke1824: 3 For I truly, though absent in body, yet as present Edition: current; Page: [114] in spirit, have thus already judged, as if I were personally with you, him that committed this fact;Locke1824: 4 When in the name of the Lord Jesus, ye are assembled, and my spirit, i. e. my vote, as if I were present, making one, by the power of the Lord JesusLocke1824: 5 Christ, Deliver the offender up to satan, that, being put thus into the hands and power of the devil, his body may be afflicted, and brought down, that his soul may be saved, when the Lord Jesus comes to judgeLocke1824: 6 the world. Your glorying*, as you do, in a leader, who drew you into this scandalous indulgence† in this case, is a fault in you: ye that are knowing, know you not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole‡ lump?Locke1824: 7 Therefore, laying by that deference and veneration ye had for those leaders you gloried in, turn out from among you that fornicator, that the church may receive no taint from him, that you may be a pure, new lump, or society, free from such a dangerous mixture, which may corrupt you. For Christ, our passover, isLocke1824: 8 slain for us. Therefore let us, in commemoration of his death, and our deliverance by him, be a holy Edition: current; Page: [115] Locke1824: 9 eople to him*. I wrote to you before, that youLocke1824: 10 should not keep company with fornicators. You are not to understand by it, as if I meant, that you are to avoid all unconverted heathens, that are fornicators, or covetous, or rapacious, or idolaters, for,Locke1824: 11 then, you must go out of the world. But that which I now write unto you, is, that you should not keep company, no, nor eat, with a christian by profession, who is lascivious, covetous, idolatrous, aLocke1824: 12 railer, drunkard, or rapacious. For what have I to do to judge those, who are out of the church? Have ye not a power to judge those, who are members ofLocke1824: 13 your church? But, as for those who are out of the church, leave them to God; to judge them belongs to him. Therefore do ye what is your part, remove that wicked one, the fornicator, out of the church.Locke1824: 1 Dare any of you, having a controversy with another, bring it before an heathen judge, to be tried, and not Edition: current; Page: [116] Locke1824: 2 let it be decided by christians*? Know ye not that christians shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judgeLocke1824: 3 ordinary small matters? Know ye not, that we, christians, have power over evil spirits? how much more over the little things relating to this animalLocke1824: 4 life? If, then, ye have at any time controversies amongst you, concerning things pertaining to this life, let the parties contending choose arbitrators† inLocke1824: 5 the church, i. e. out of church-members. Is there not among you, I speak it to your shame, who stand so much upon your wisdom, one‡ wise man, whom ye can think able enough to refer your controversies to?Locke1824: 6 But one christian goeth to law with another, and that before the unbelievers, in the heathen courts Edition: current; Page: [117] Locke1824: 7 of justice. Nay, verily, it is a failure and defect in you, that you so far contest matters of right, one with another, as to bring them to trial, or judgment:Locke1824: 8 why do ye not rather suffer loss and wrong? But it is plain, by the man’s having his father’s wife, that ye are guilty of doing wrong*, one to another, and stick not to do injustice, even to your christianLocke1824: 9 brethren. Know ye not, that the transgressors of the law of Christ shall not inherit the kingdom of of God? Deceive not yourselves, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, norLocke1824: 10 abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,Locke1824: 11 shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but your past sins are washed away, and forgiven you, upon your receiving Edition: current; Page: [118] of the gospel by baptism: but ye are sanctified*, i. e. ye are members of Christ’s church, which consists of saints, and have made some advances in the reformation of your lives† by the doctrine of Christ, confirmed to you by the extraordinary operations ofLocke1824: 12 the Holy Ghost. But‡ supposing fornication were in itself as lawful, as eating promiscuously all sorts of meat, that are made for the belly, on purpose to be eaten: yet I would not so far indulge either custom, or my appetite, as to bring my body, thereby,Locke1824: 13 into any disadvantageous state of subjection. As in eating and drinking, though meat be made purposely for the belly, and the belly for the meat; yet, because it may not be expedient§ for me, I will not, Edition: current; Page: [119] in so evidently a lawful thing as that, go to the utmost bounds of my liberty; though there be no danger, that I should thereby bring any lasting damage upon my belly, since God will speedily put an end both to belly and food. But the case of the body in reference to women, is far different from that of the belly, in reference to meat. For the body is not made to be joined to a woman*, much less to be joined to an harlot in fornication, as the belly is made for meat, and then to be put an end to, when that use ceases. But the body is for a much nobler purpose, and shall subsist, when the belly and food Edition: current; Page: [114] shall be destroyed. The body is for our Lord Christ, to be a member of him, as our Lord Christ has taken a body*, that he might partake of ourLocke1824: 14 nature, and be our head. So that, as God has already raised him up, and given him all power, so he will raise us up likewise, who are his members, to the partaking† in the nature of his glorious body,Locke1824: 15 and the power he is vested with in it. Know ye not, ye who are so knowing, that our bodies are the members of Christ? Will ye, then, take the members of Christ, and make them the members ofLocke1824: 16 an harlot? What! know ye not, that he who is joined to an harlot is one body with her? For two, Edition: current; Page: [121] Locke1824: 17 saith God, shall be united into one flesh. But he, who is joined to the Lord, is one with him, by that one Spirit, that unites the members to the head, which is a nearer and stricter union, whereby what indignity is done to the one, equally affects the other.Locke1824: 18 Flee fornication: all other sins, that a man commits, debase only the soul; but are in that respect, as if they were done out of the body; the body is not debased, suffers no loss of its dignity by them: but he, who committeth fornication, sinneth against the end, for which his body was made, degrading his body from the dignity and honour it was designed to; making that the member of an harlot, whichLocke1824: 19 was made to be a member of Christ. What! know ye not*, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, that is in you, which body you have from God, and so it is not your own, to bestow on harlots?Locke1824: 20 Besides, ye are bought with a price, viz. the precious blood of Christ; and therefore, are not at your own disposal: but are bound to glorify God with both body and soul. For both body and soul are from him, and are God’s.

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SECT. III.

CHAP. VII. 1—40.

CONTENTS.

The chief business of the foregoing chapters, we have seen to be the lessening the false apostle’s credit, and the extinguishing that faction. What follows is in answer to some questions they had proposed to St. Paul. This section contains conjugal matters, wherein he dissuades from marriage those, who have the gift of continence. But, marriage being appointed as a remedy against fornication, those, who cannot forbear, should marry, and render to each other due benevolence. Next, he teaches that converts ought not to forsake their unconverted mates, insomuch as christianity changes nothing in men’s civil estate, but leaves them under the same obligations they were tied by before. And, last of all, he gives directions about marrying, or not marrying, their daughters.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Now concerning the things, whereof ye wrote unto me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

Locke1824: 2Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Locke1824: 3Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise, also, the wife unto the husband.

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Locke1824: 4The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise, also, the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.

Locke1824: 5Defraud you not one the other, except it be with consent, for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer: and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

Locke1824: 6But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.

Locke1824: 7For I would that all men were, even as I myself: but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

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Locke1824: 8I say, therefore, to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them, if they abide, even as I.

Locke1824: 9But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

Locke1824: 10And unto the married I command; yet not I, but the Lord; let not the wife depart from her husband:

Locke1824: 11But, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.

Locke1824: 12But to the rest speak I, not the Lord, If any brother hath a wife, that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

Locke1824: 13And the woman, which hath an husband, that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with-her, let her not leave him.

Locke1824: 14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

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Locke1824: 15But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.

Locke1824: 16For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

Locke1824: 17But, as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk: and so ordain I, in all churches.

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Locke1824: 18Is any man called, being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised: is any called, in uncircumcision? let him not become circumcised.

Locke1824: 19Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

Locke1824: 20Let every man abide in the same calling, wherein he was called.

Locke1824: 21Art thou called, being a servant? Care not for it; but, if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.

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Locke1824: 22For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s free-man: likewise also he, that is called being free, is Christ’s servant.

Locke1824: 23Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Locke1824: 24Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

Locke1824: 25Now, concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

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Locke1824: 26I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress; I say, that it is good for a man so to be.

Locke1824: 27Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.

Locke1824: 28But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned; nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh; but I spare you.

Locke1824: 29But this I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none;

Locke1824: 30And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not.

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Locke1824: 31And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

Locke1824: 32But I would have you without carefulness. He, that is unmarried, careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

Locke1824: 33But he that is married, careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.

Locke1824: 34There is difference also between a wife and a virgin: the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit: but she that is married, careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

Locke1824: 35And this I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

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Locke1824: 36But if any man think he behaveth himself uncomely towards his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will: he sinneth not: let them marry.

Locke1824: 37Nevertheless, he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart, that he will keep his virgin, doth well.

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Locke1824: 38So then, he that giveth her in marriage, doth well: but he that giveth her not in marriage, doth better.

Locke1824: 39The wife is bound by the law, as long as her husband liveth: but, if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

Locke1824: 40But she is happier, if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Concerning those things that ye have writ to me about, I answer, it is most convenient not to have toLocke1824: 2 do with a woman. But because every one cannot forbear, therefore, they that cannot contain should, both men and women, each have their own peculiar husbandLocke1824: 3 and wife, to avoid fornication. And those that are married, for the same reason, are to regulate themselves by the disposition and exigency of their respective mates; and, therefore, let the husband Edition: current; Page: [123] render to the wife that benevolence*, which is her due; and so, likewise, the wife to the husband, “viceLocke1824: 4 versâ.” For the wife has not the power or dominion over her own body, to refuse the husband, when he desires; but this power and right to her body is in the husband. And, on the other side, the husband has not the power and dominion over his own body, to refuse his wife, when she shows an inclination; but this power and right to his body, when she has occasion,Locke1824: 5 is in the wife†. Do not, in this matter, be wanting, one to another, unless it be by mutual consent, for a short time, that you may wholly attend to acts of devotion, when ye fast, upon some solemn occasion: and when this time of solemn devotion is over, return to your former freedom, and conjugal society, lest the devil taking advantage of your inability to contain, should tempt you to a violation ofLocke1824: 6 your marriage-bed. As to marrying in general, I wish that you were all unmarried, as I am; but this I sayLocke1824: 7 to you, by way of advice, not of command. Every one has from God his own proper gift, some one way, and some another, whereby he must govern himself. Edition: current; Page: [124] Locke1824: 8 To the unmarried and widows, I say it as my opinion, that it is best for them to remain unmarried, as I am.Locke1824: 9 But if they have not the gift of continency, let them marry, for the inconveniences of marriage are to beLocke1824: 10 preferred to the flames of lust. But to the married, I say not by way of counsel from myself, but of command from the Lord, that a woman should notLocke1824: 11 leave her husband: But, if she has separated herself from him, let her return, and be reconciled to him again; or, at least, let her remain unmarried: andLocke1824: 12 let not the husband put away his wife. But, as to others, it is my advice, not a commandment from the Lord, That, if a christian man hath an heathen wife, that is content to live with him, let him not break company with her, and dissolve the marriage.Locke1824: 13 And, if a christian woman hath an heathen husband, that is content to live with her, let her not breakLocke1824: 14 company with him*, and dissolve the marriage. You need have no scruple concerning this matter, for Edition: current; Page: [125] the heathen husband or wife, in respect of conjugal duty, can be no more refused, than if they were christian. For in this case, the unbelieving husband is sanctified,* or made a christian, as to his issue, in his wife, and the wife sanctified in her husband. If it were not so, the children of such parents would be unclean,* i. e. in the state of heathens, but now are they holy,* i. e. born membersLocke1824: 15 of the christian church. But if the unbelieving party will separate, let them separate. A christian man, or woman, is not enslaved in such a case: only it is to be remembered, that it is incumbent on us, whom God, in the gospel, has called to be christians, to live peaceably with all men, as much as in us lieth; and, therefore, the christian husband, or wife, is not to make a breach in the family, by leaving the unbelieving party, who is content to stay.Locke1824: 16 For what knowest thou, O woman, but thou mayest be the means of converting, and so saving thy unbelieving husband, if thou continuest peaceably as a loving wife, with him? or what knowest thou, O man, but, after the same manner, thou mayest saveLocke1824: 17 thy wife? On this occasion, let me give you this general rule: whatever condition God has allotted Edition: current; Page: [126] to any of you, let him continue and go on contentedly in the same* state, wherein he was called; not looking on himself as set free from it by his conversion to christianity. And this is no more, thanLocke1824: 18 what I order in all the churches. For example, Was any one converted to christianity, being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised: wasLocke1824: 19 any one called, being uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumsion or uncircumcision are nothing in the sight of God, but that which he hasLocke1824: 20 a regard to, is in obedience to his commands. Christianity gives not any one any new privilege to change the state, or put off the obligations of civil life,Locke1824: 21 which he was in before.† Wert thou called, being Edition: current; Page: [127] a slave? Think thyself not the less a christian, for being a slave; but yet prefer freedom to slavery, ifLocke1824: 22 thou canst obtain it. For he that is converted to christianity, being a bond-man, is Christ’s freedman.* And he that is converted, being a free-man, is Christ’s bondman, under his command and dominion.Locke1824: 23 Ye are bought with a price,† and so belong to Christ; be not, if you can avoid it, slaves to anyLocke1824: 24 body. In whatsoever state a man is called, in the same he is to remain, notwithstanding any privileges of the gospel, which gives him no dispensation, or exemption, from any obligation he was in before,Locke1824: 25 to the laws of his country. Now concering virgins‡ I have no express command from Christ to give you: Edition: current; Page: [128] but I tell you my opinion, as one whom the Lord has been graciously pleased to make credible,* andLocke1824: 26 so you may trust and rely on, in this matter. I tell you, therefore, that I judge a single life to be convenient, because of the present straits of the church;Locke1824: 27 and that it is best for a man to be unmarried. Art thou in the bonds of wedlock? Seek not to be loosed:Locke1824: 28 art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. But if thou marriest, thou sinnest not; or, if a virgin marry, she sins not: but those that are married, shall have worldly troubles; but I spare you by not representing to you how little enjoyment christians are like to have from a married life, in the present state of things, and so I leave you the liberty of marrying.Locke1824: 29 But give me leave to tell you, that the time for enjoying husbands and wives is but short.† But be that as it will, this is certain, that those who have wives, should be, as if they had them not, and not set theirLocke1824: 30 hearts upon them: And they that weep, as if they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as if they possessed not: all these things should be done with resignation and a Edition: current; Page: [129] Locke1824: 31 christian indifferency. And those who use this world, should use it without an over-relish of it*, without giving themselves up to the enjoyment of it. For the scene of things is always changing in this world,Locke1824: 32 and nothing can be relied on in it†. All the reason why I dissuade you from marriage is, that I would have you free from anxious cares. He that is unmarried, has time and liberty to mind things ofLocke1824: 33 religion, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married, is taken up with the cares of the world,Locke1824: 34 how he may please his wife. The like difference there is, between a married woman and a maid; she that is unmarried, has opportunity to mind the things of religion, that she may be holy in mind and body; but the married woman is taken up with the caresLocke1824: 35 of the world, how to please her husband. This I say to you, for your particular advantage, not to lay any constraint upon you‡, but to put you in a way, wherein you may most suitably, and as best becomes Edition: current; Page: [130] christianity, apply yourselves to the study and dutiesLocke1824: 36 of the gospel, without distraction. But, if any one thinks that he carries not himself as becomes him, to his virgin, if he lets her pass the flower of her age unmarried, and need so requires, let him do, as heLocke1824: 37 thinks fit; he sins not, if he marry her. But whoever is settled in a firm resolution of mind, and finds himself under no necessity of marrying, and is master of his own will, or is at his own disposal, and has so determined in his thoughts, that he will keep his virginity*, he chooses the better Edition: current; Page: [131] Locke1824: 38 side*. So then he that marrieth, doth well; but heLocke1824: 39 that marrieth† not, doth better. It is unlawful for a woman to leave her husband, as long as he lives: but, when he is dead, she is at liberty to marry, or not to marry, as she pleases, and to whom she pleases; which virgins cannot do, being under the disposal of their parents; only she must take care toLocke1824: 40 marry, as a christian, fearing God. But, in my opinion, she is happier, if she remain a widow; and permit me to say, that whatever any among you may think, or say, of me, “I have the Spirit of God, so that I may be relied on in this my advice, that I do not mislead you.”

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SECT. IV.

CHAP. VIII. 1—13.

CONTENTS.

This section is concerning the eating things offered to idols; wherein one may guess, by St. Paul’s answer, that they had writ to him, that they knew their christian liberty herein, that they knew that an idol was nothing; and, therefore, that they did well to show their knowledge of the nullity of the heathen gods, and their disregard of them, by eating promiscuously, and without scruple, things offered to them. Upon which, the design of the apostle here seems to be, to take down their opinion of their knowledge, by showing them, that, notwithstanding all the knowledge they presumed on, and were puffed up with, yet the eating of those sacrifices did not recommend them to God; vid. ver. 8, and that they might sin in their want of charity, by offending their weak brother. This seems plainly, from ver. 1—3, and 11, 12, to be the design of the apostle’s answer here, and not to resolve the case, of eating things offered to idols, in its full latitude. For then he would have prosecuted it more at large here, and not have deferred the doing of it to chap. x. where, under another head, he treats of it more particularly.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

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Locke1824: 2(And if any man think, that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet, as he ought to know.

Locke1824: 3But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

Locke1824: 4As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things, that are offered, in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

Locke1824: 5For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven, or in earth, as there be gods many, and lords many.

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Locke1824: 6But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.)

Locke1824: 7Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge; for some, with conscience of the idol, unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

Locke1824: 8But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

Locke1824: 9But take heed, lest, by any means, this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak.

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Locke1824: 10For, if any man see thee, which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him, which is weak, be emboldened to eat those things, which are offered to idols?

Locke1824: 11And, through thy knowledge, shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

Locke1824: 12But, when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

Locke1824: 13Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh, while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1As for things offered up unto idols, it must not be questioned, but that every one of you, who stand so much upon your knowledge, know that the imaginary gods, to whom the gentiles sacrifice, are not in reality gods, but mere fictions; but, with this, pray remember, that such a knowledge, or opinion of their knowledge, swells men with pride and vanity. But charity it Edition: current; Page: [133] is, that improves and advances men in christianity*.Locke1824: 2(But, if any one be conceited of his own knowledge, as if christianity were a science for speculation and dispute, he knows nothing yet of christianity, as heLocke1824: 3 ought to know it. But if any one love God, and consequently his neighbour for God’s sake, such an one is made to know†, or has got true knowledgeLocke1824: 4 from God himself. To the question, then, of eating things offered to idols, I know, as well as you, that an idol, i.e. that the fictitious gods, whose images are in the heathen temples, are no real beings in the world:Locke1824: 5 and there is in truth no other but one God. For though there be many imaginary nominal gods, both in heaven and earth‡, as are indeed all their many Edition: current; Page: [134] Locke1824: 6 gods, and many lords, which are merely titular; Yet to us christians, there is but one God, the Father and the Author of all things, to whom alone we address all our worship and service; and but one Lord, viz. Jesus Christ, by whom all things come from God to us, and by whom we have access to the Father.)Locke1824: 7 For notwithstanding all the great pretences to knowledge, that are amongst you, every one doth not know, that the gods of the heathens are but imaginations of the fancy, mere nothing. Some, to this day, conscious to themselves, that they think those idols to be real deities, eat things sacrifiecd to them, as sacrificed to real deities; whereby doing that which they, in their consciences, not yet sufficiently enlightened,Locke1824: 8 think to be unlawful, are guilty of sin. Food, of what kind soever, makes not God regard us*. For neither, if in knowledge, and full persuasion, that an idol is nothing, we eat things offered to idols, do we thereby add any thing to christianity: or if, not being so well informed, we are scrupulous, and forbear, areLocke1824: 9 we the worse christians, or are lessened by it†. But this you knowing men ought to take especial care of: that the power of freedom you have to eat, be not made such an use of, as to become a stumbling-block to weaker christians, who are not convinced of that Edition: current; Page: [135] Locke1824: 10 liberty. For if such an one should see thee, who hast this knowledge of thy liberty, sit feasting in an idol-temple, shall not his weak conscience, not thoroughly instructed in the matter of idols, be drawn in by thy example to eat what is offered to idols, though he, in his conscience, doubt of its lawfulness?Locke1824: 11 And thus thy weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by thy knowledge, wherewith thouLocke1824: 12 justifiest thy eating. But when you sin thus against your brethren, and wound their weak consciences,Locke1824: 13 you sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother offend, I will never more eat flesh, to avoid making my brother offend.

SECT. V.

CHAP. IX. 1—27.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul had preached the gospel at Corinth, about two years; in all which time, he had taken nothing of them, 2 Cor. xi. 7—9. This, by some of the opposite faction, and particularly, as we may suppose, by their leader, was made use of, to call in question his apostleship, 2 Cor. xi. 5, 6. For why, if he were an apostle, should he not use the power of an apostle, to demand maintenance, where he preached? In this section, St. Paul vindicates his apostleship; and, in answer to these Edition: current; Page: [136] enquirers, gives the reason why, though he had a right to maintenance, yet he preached gratis to the corinthians. My answer, says he, to these inquisitors, is, that though, as being an apostle, I know that I have a right to maintenance, as well as Peter, or any other of the apostles, who all have a right, as is evident from reason, and from scripture; yet I never have, nor shall make use of my privilege amongst you, for fear that, if it cost you any thing, that should hinder the effect of my preaching: I would neglect nothing, that might promote the gospel. For I do not content myself with doing barely what is my duty; for, by my extraordinary call and commission, it is now incumbent on me to preach the gospel; but I endeavour to excel in my ministry, and not to execute my commission covertly, and just enough to serve the turn. For if those, who, in the agonistic games, aiming at victory, to obtain only a corruptible crown, deny themselves in eating and drinking, and other pleasures, how much more does the eternal crown of glory deserve that we should do our utmost to obtain it? To be as careful, in not indulging our bodies, in denying our pleasures, in doing every thing we could, in order to get it, as if there were but one that should have it? Wonder not therefore, if I, having this in view, neglect my body, and those outward conveniencies, that I, as an apostle sent to preach the gospel, might claim and make use of: wonder not that I prefer the propagating of the gospel, and making of converts, to all care and regard of myself. This seems the design of the apostle, and will give light to the following discourse, which we shall now take, in the order St. Paul writ it.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Are not you my work in the Lord?

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Locke1824: 2If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

Locke1824: 3Mine answer to them that do examine me, is this:

Locke1824: 4Have we not power to eat and to drink?

Locke1824: 5Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

Locke1824: 6Or I only, and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?

Locke1824: 7Who goeth a warfare, any time, at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth the flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

Locke1824: 8Say I these things, as a man? or saith not the law the same also?

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Locke1824: 9For it is written, in the law of Moses, “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.” Doth God take care for oxen?

Locke1824: 10Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that plougheth, should plough in hope; and that he, that thresheth in hope, should be partaker of his hope.

Locke1824: 11If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing, if we shall reap your carnal things?

Locke1824: 12If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.

Locke1824: 13Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy things, live Edition: current; Page: [139] of the things of the temple? And they, which wait at the altar, are partakers with the altar?

Locke1824: 14Even so, hath the Lord ordained, that they, which preach the gospel, should live of the gospel.

Locke1824: 15But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me. For it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.

Locke1824: 16For, though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.

Locke1824: 17For, if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

Locke1824: 18What is my reward then? Verily, that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.

Locke1824: 19For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

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Locke1824: 20And unto the jews, I became as a jew, that I might gain the jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them, that are under the law;

Locke1824: 21To them, that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ) that I might gain them, that are without law.

Locke1824: 22To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might, by all means, save some.

Locke1824: 23And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

Locke1824: 24Know ye not, that they, which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Locke1824: 25And every man that striveth for the mastery, is temperate in all things: now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

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Locke1824: 26I therefore so run, not as uncertainly: so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.

Locke1824: 27But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that, by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Am I not an apostle? And am I not at liberty*, as much as any other of the apostles, to make use of the Edition: current; Page: [137] privilege due to that office? Have I not had the favour to see Jesus Christ, our Lord, after an extraordinary manner? And are not you yourselves, whom I have converted, an evidence of the success of myLocke1824: 2 employment in the gospel? If others should question my being an apostle, you at least cannot doubt of it: your conversion to christianity is, as it were, a seal set to it, to make good the truth of my apostleship.Locke1824: 3 This, then, is my answer to those, who set up an inquisitionLocke1824: 4 upon me: Have not I a right to meat andLocke1824: 5 drink, where I preach? Have not I, and Barnabas, a power to take along with us, in our travelling to propagate the gospel, a christian woman*, to provide our conveniencies, and be serviceable to us, as well as Peter, and the brethren of the Lord, and the rest ofLocke1824: 6 the apostles? Or is it I only, and Barnabas, who are excluded from the privilege of being maintained withoutLocke1824: 7 working? Who goes to the war any where, and serves as a soldier, at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk?Locke1824: 8 This is allowed to be reason, that those, who are so Edition: current; Page: [138] employed, should be maintained by their employments; and so likewise a preacher of the gospel. But I say not this, barely upon the principles of human reason; revelation teaches the same thing,Locke1824: 9 in the law of Moses: Where it is said, “Thou shalt muzzle not the mouth of the ox, that treadeth out the corn.” Doth God take care to provide so particularlyLocke1824: 10 for oxen, by a law? No, certainly; it is said particularly for our sakes, and not for oxen: that he, who sows, may sow in hope of enjoying the fruits of his labour at harvest; and may then threshLocke1824: 11 out, and eat the corn he hoped for. If we have sowed to you spiritual things, in preaching the gospel to you, is it unreasonable, that we should expect a little meat and drink from you, a little share ofLocke1824: 12 your carnal things? If any partake of this power over you*, why not we much rather? But I made no use of it; but bear with any thing, that I may avoidLocke1824: 13 all hindrance to the progress of the gospel. Do ye not know, that they, who in the temple serve about Edition: current; Page: [139] holy things, live upon those holy things? And they, who wait at the altar, are partakers with the altar?Locke1824: 14 So has the Lord ordained, that they, who preach theLocke1824: 15 gospel, should live of the gospel. But though, as an apostle, and preacher of the gospel, I have, as you see, a right to maintenance, yet I have not taken it: neither have I written this to demand it. For I had rather perish for want, than be deprived of what I glory in, viz. preaching the gospel freely.Locke1824: 16 For if I preach the gospel, I do barely my duty, but have nothing to glory in: for I am under an obligation and command to preach*, and wo be toLocke1824: 17 me, if I preach not the gospel. Which if I do willingly, I shall have a reward: if unwillingly, the dispensation is nevertheless intrusted to me, and yeLocke1824: 18 ought to hear me as an apostle. How, therefore, do I make it turn to account to myself? Even thus: if I preach the gospel of Christ of free cost, so that I exact not the maintenance I have a rightLocke1824: 19 to, by the gospel. For being under no obligation to Edition: current; Page: [140] any man, I yet subject myself to every one, to the end that I may make the more converts to Christ.Locke1824: 20 To the jews, and those under the law of Moses, I became as a jew, and one under that law, that ILocke1824: 21 might gain the jews, and those under the law; To those without the law of Moses, I applied myself, as one not under that law, (not, indeed, as if I were under no law to God, but as obeying and following the law of Christ) that I might gain those, whoLocke1824: 22 were without the law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak: I became all things to all men, that I might leave no lawful thing untried, whereby I might save people of all sorts.Locke1824: 23 And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I myselfLocke1824: 24 may share in the benefits of the gospel. Know ye not that they, who run a race, run not lazily, but with their utmost force? They all endeavour to be first, because there is but one that gets the prize. It is not enough for you to run, but so to run, that ye may obtain: which they cannot do, who running only, because they are bid, do not run with all theirLocke1824: 25 might. They, who propose to themselves the getting the garland in your games, readily submit themselves to severe rules of exercise and abstinence: and yet theirs is but a fading, transitory crown; Edition: current; Page: [141] that, which we propose to ourselves, is everlasting; and therefore deserves, that we should endure greaterLocke1824: 26 hardships for it. I therefore so run, as not to leave it to uncertainty. I do what I do, not as one whoLocke1824: 27 fences for exercise, or ostentation; But I really and in earnest keep under my body, and intirely enslave it to the service of the gospel, without allowing any thing to the exigencies of this animal life, which may be the least hindrance to the propagation of the gospel; lest that I, who preach to bring others into the kingdom of heaven, should be disapproved of, and rejected myself.

SECT. VI. No. I.

CHAP. X. 1—22.

CONTENTS.

It seems, by what he here says, as if the corinthians had told St. Paul, that the temptations and constraints they were under, of going to their heathen neighbours feasts upon their sacrifices, were so many, and so great, that there was no avoiding it: and, therefore, they thought they might go to them without any offence to God, or danger to themselves; since they were the people of God, purged from sin by baptism, and fenced against it, by partaking of the body and blood of Christ, in the Lord’s supper. To which St. Paul answers, that, notwithstanding their baptism, and partaking of that spiritual meat and drink, yet they, as well as the jews of old did, might sin, and draw on themselves destruction Edition: current; Page: [142] from the hand of God: that eating of things, that were known, and owned, to be offered to idols, was partaking in the idolatrous worship; and therefore, they were to prefer even the danger of persecution before such a compliance; for God would find a way for them to escape.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Moreover, brethren, I would not, that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

Locke1824: 2And were all baptized, unto Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea;

Locke1824: 3And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

Locke1824: 4And did all drink the same spiritual drink: (for they drank of that spiritual rock, that followed them: and that rock was Christ.)

Locke1824: 5But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

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Locke1824: 6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

Locke1824: 7Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

Locke1824: 8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed; and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

Locke1824: 9Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

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Locke1824: 10Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Locke1824: 11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Locke1824: 12Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.

Locke1824: 13There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

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Locke1824: 14Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

Locke1824: 15I speak as to wise men: judge ye what I say.

Locke1824: 16The cup of blessing, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread, which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Locke1824: 17For we, being many, are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Locke1824: 18Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they, which eat of the sacrifices, partakers of the altar?

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Locke1824: 19What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols, is any thing?

Locke1824: 20But I say, that the things which the gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

Locke1824: 21Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

Locke1824: 22Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that all our fathers, the whole congregation of the children of Israel, at their coming out of Egypt, were, all to a man, under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;Locke1824: 2 And were all, by this baptism*, in the cloud, and passing through the water, initiated into the mosaical institution and government, by these two miracles ofLocke1824: 3 the cloud and the sea. And they all eat the same meat, which had a typical and spiritual signification;Locke1824: 4 And they all drank the same spiritual, typical drink, which came out of the rock, and followed them, which rock typified Christ: all which were typical representations of Christ, as well as the bread and wine, which we eat and drink in the Lord’s supper, are typicalLocke1824: 5 representations of him. But yet, though every one of the children of Israel, that came out of Egypt, were thus solemnly separated from the rest of the profane, idolatrous world, and were made God’s peculiar Edition: current; Page: [143] people, sanctified and holy, every one of them to himself, and members of his church: nay, though they did all* partake of the same meat, and the same drink, which did typically represent Christ, yet they were not thereby privileged from sin: but great numbers of them provoked God, and were destroyed in theLocke1824: 6 wilderness for their disobedience. Now these things were set as patterns to us, that we, warned by these examples, should not set our minds a-longing, as they did, after meats†, that would be safer let alone.Locke1824: 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink,Locke1824: 8 and rose up to play‡.” Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in oneLocke1824: 9 day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us provoke Christ, as some of them provoked, and were destroyed Edition: current; Page: [144] Locke1824: 10 of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer*.Locke1824: 11 Now all these things† happened to the jews for examples, and are written for our admonition,Locke1824: 12 upon whom the ends of the ages are come‡. Wherefore, taught by these examples, let him that thinks himself safe, by being in the church, and partaking of the christian sacraments, take heed lest he fall into sin, and so destruction from God overtake him.Locke1824: 13 Hitherto, the temptations you have met with, have been but light and ordinary; if you should come to be pressed harder, God, who is faithful, and never forsakes those, who forsake not him, will not suffer Edition: current; Page: [145] you to be tempted above your strength; but will either enable you to bear the persecution, orLocke1824: 14 open you a way out of it. Therefore, my beloved, take care to keep off from idolatry, and be not drawn to any approaches near it, by any temptation,Locke1824: 15 or persecution whatsoever. You are satisfied that you want not knowledge*: and therefore, as to knowing men, I appeal to you, and make you judges of what I am going to say in the case.Locke1824: 16 They, who drink of the cup of blessing†, which we bless in the Lord’s supper, do they not thereby partake of the benefits, purchased by Christ’s blood, shed for them upon the cross, which they here symbolically drink? And they, who eat of the bread broken‡ there, do they not partake in the sacrifice of the body of Christ, and profess to be membersLocke1824: 17 of him? For, by eating of that bread, we, though many in number, are all united, and make but one body, as many grains of corn are united into oneLocke1824: 18 loaf. See how it is among the jews, who are outwardly, according to the flesh, by circumcision, the people of God. Among them, they, who eat of the sacrifice, are partakers of God’s table, the altar, have fellowship with him, and share in the benefit of the sacrifice, as if it were offered for them. Edition: current; Page: [146] Locke1824: 19 Do not mistake me, as if I hereby said, that the idols of the gentiles are gods in reality; or that the things, offered to them, change their nature, and are any thing really different from what they were before,Locke1824: 20 so as to affect us, in our use of them*. No: but this I say, that the things which the gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that you should have fellowship, and be in league with devils, as they, who by eating of the things offered to them enter into covenant, alliance,Locke1824: 21 and friendship with them. You cannot eat and drink with God, as friends at his table, in the eucharist, and entertain familiarity and friendship with devils, by eating with them, and partaking of the sacrifices offered to them†: you cannot be christians and idolaters too: nor, if you should endeavour to join these inconsistent rites, will it avail you any thing. For your partaking in the sacraments of the christian church, will no more exempt you from the anger of God, and punishment due to your idolatry, than the eating of the spiritual food, and drinking of the spiritual rock, kept the baptized Israelites, who offended God by their idolatry, or other sins,Locke1824: 22 from being destroyed in the wilderness. Dare you, then, being espoused to Christ, provoke the Edition: current; Page: [147] Lord to jealousy, by idolatry, which is spiritual whoredom? Are you stronger than he, and able to resist him, when he lets loose his fury against you?

SECT. VI. No. 2.

CHAP. X. 23.—XI. 1.

CONTENTS.

We have, here, another of his arguments against things offered to idols, wherein he shows the danger that might be in it, from the scandal it might give: supposing it a thing lawful in itself. He had formerly treated of this subject, ch. viii. so far as to let them see, that there was no good, nor virtue in eating things offered to idols, notwithstanding they knew that idols were nothing, and they might think, that their free eating, without scruple, showed that they knew their freedom in the gospel, that they knew, that idols were in reality nothing; and, therefore, they slighted and disregarded them, and their worship, as nothing; but that there might be evil in eating, by the offence it might give to weak christians, who had not that knowledge. He here takes up the argument of scandal again, and extends it to jews and gentiles; vid. ver. 32, and shows, that it is not enough to justify them, in any action, that the thing, they do, is in itself lawful, unless they seek it in the glory of God, and the good of others.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 23All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

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Locke1824: 24Let no man seek his own: but every man another’s wealth.

Locke1824: 25Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake.

Locke1824: 26For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.

Locke1824: 27If any of them, that believe not, bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.

Locke1824: 28But if any man say unto you, “This is offered in sacrifice unto idols,” eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.

Locke1824: 29Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the others: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience?

Locke1824: 30For, if I, by grace, be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of, for that, for which I give thanks?

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Locke1824: 31Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Locke1824: 32Give none offence, neither to the jews, nor to the gentiles, nor to the church of God:

Locke1824: 33Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Locke1824: XI. 1Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 23Farther, supposing it lawful to eat things offered to idols, yet all things that are lawful, are not expedient: Edition: current; Page: [148] things that, in themselves, are lawful for me, may not tend to the edification of others, and soLocke1824: 24 may be fit to be forborn. No one must seek barely his own private, particular interest alone, but let every one seek the good of others also.Locke1824: 25 Eat whatever is sold in the shambles, without any inquiry, or scruple, whether it had been offered toLocke1824: 26 any idol, or no. For the earth, and all therein, are the good creatures of the true God, given by himLocke1824: 27 to men, for their use. If an heathen invite you to an entertainment, and you go, eat whatever is set before you, without making any question or scruple about it, whether it had been offered in sacrifice,Locke1824: 28 or no. But if any one say to you, “This was offered in sacrifice to an idol,” eat it not, for his sake that mentioned it, and for conscience sake*.Locke1824: 29 Conscience, I say, not thine own, (for thou knowest thy liberty, and that an idol is nothing) but the conscience of the other. For why should I use my liberty so, that another man should in conscienceLocke1824: 30 think I offended? And if I, with thanksgiving, partake of what is lawful for me to eat, why do Edition: current; Page: [149] I order the matter so, that I am ill-spoken of, forLocke1824: 31 that which I bless God for? Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, let your care andLocke1824: 32 aim be the glory of God. Give no offence to the jews, by giving them occasion to think, that christians are permitted to worship heathen idols; nor to the gentiles, by giving them occasion to think, that you allow their idolatry, by partaking of their sacrifices: nor to weak members of the church of God, by drawing them, by your examples, to eat of things offered to idols, of the lawfulness whereof they areLocke1824: 33 not fully satisfied. As I myself do, who abridge myself of many conveniencies of life, to comply with the different judgments of men, and gain the good opinion of others, that I may be instrumental to theLocke1824: XI. 1 salvation of as many as is possible. Imitate herein my example, as I do that of our Lord Christ, who neglected himself for the salvation of others*.

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SECT. VII.

CHAP. XI. 2—16.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul commends them for observing the orders he had left with them, and uses arguments to justify the rule he had given them, that women should not pray, or prophesy, in their assemblies, uncovered; which, it seems, there was some contention about, and they had writ to him to be resolved in it.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 2Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me, in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

Locke1824: 3But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

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Locke1824: 4Every man praying, or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

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Locke1824: 5But every woman, that prayeth, or prophesieth, with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one, as if she were shaven:

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Locke1824: 6For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn, or shaven, let her be covered.

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Locke1824: 7For a man, indeed, ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Locke1824: 8For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.

Locke1824: 9Neither was the man created for the woman: but the woman for the man.

Locke1824: 10For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head, because of the angels.

Locke1824: 11Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

Locke1824: 12For, as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman: but all things of God.

Locke1824: 13Judge in yourselves; is it comely, that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

Locke1824: 14Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

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Locke1824: 15But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given her for a covering.

Locke1824: 16But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 2I commend you, brethren, for remembering all my orders, and for retaining those rules I delivered to you,Locke1824: 3 when I was with you. But for your better understanding what concerns women*, in your assemblies, you Edition: current; Page: [151] are to take notice, that Christ is the head to which every man is subjected, and the man is the head, to which every woman is subjected; and that the head,Locke1824: 4 or superiour, to Christ himself, is God. Every man, Edition: current; Page: [152] that prayeth, or prophesieth, i. e. by the gift of the Spirit of God, speaketh in the church for the edifying, exhorting, and comforting of the congregation, having his head covered, dishonoureth Christ, his head, by appearing in a garb not becoming the authority and dominion, which God, through Christ, has given him over all the things of this world; the covering of theLocke1824: 5 head being a mark of subjection. But, on the Edition: current; Page: [153] contrary, a woman praying, or prophesying in the church, with her head uncovered, dishonoureth the man, who is her head, by appearing in a garb, that disowns her subjection to him. For to appear bare-headed in public, is all one as to have her hair cut off, which is the garb and dress of the other sex, andLocke1824: 6 not of a woman. If, therefore, it be unsuitable to the female sex to have their hair shorn, or shaved off, Edition: current; Page: [154] Locke1824: 7 let her, for the same reason, be covered. A man, indeed, ought not to be veiled; because he is the image and representative of God, in his dominion over the rest of the world, which is one part of the gloryLocke1824: 8 of God: But the woman, who was made out of the man, made for him, and in subjection to him, is matterLocke1824: 9 of glory to the man. But the man, not being made out of the woman, not for her, but the womanLocke1824: 10 made out of, and for the man, She ought, for this reason, to have a veil on her head, in token of herLocke1824: 11 subjection, because of the angels*. Nevertheless, the sexes have not a being, one without the other; neither the man without the woman, nor the womanLocke1824: 12 without the man, the Lord so ordering it. For, as the first woman was made out of the man, so the race of men, ever since, is continued and propagated by the female sex: but they, and all other things,Locke1824: 13 had their being and original from God. Be you yourselves judges, whether it be decent for a woman to make a prayer to God, in the church, uncovered?Locke1824: 14 Does not even nature, that has made, and Edition: current; Page: [155] would have the distinction of sexes preserved, teach you, that if a man wear his hair long, and dressed up after the manner of women, it is misbecoming andLocke1824: 15 dishonourable to him? But to a woman, if she be curious about her hair, in having it long, and dressing herself with it, it is a grace and commendation;Locke1824: 16 since her hair is given her for a covering. But, if any show himself to be a lover of contention*, we, the apostles, have no such custom, nor any of the churches of God.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. XI. 17—34.

CONTENTS.

One may observe from several passages in this epistle, that several judaical customs were crept into the corinthian church. This church being of St. Paul’s own planting, who spent two years at Corinth, in forming it; it is evident these abuses had their rise from some other teachers, who came to them after his leaving them, which was about five years before his writing this epistle. These disorders therefore may with reason be ascribed to the head of the faction, that opposed St. Paul, who, as has been remarked, was a jew, and probably judaized. And that, it is like, was the foundation of the great opposition between him and St. Paul, and the reason why St. Paul labours so earnestly to destroy his Edition: current; Page: [156] credit among the corinthians: this sort of men being very busy, very troublesome, and very dangerous to the gospel, as may be seen in other of St. Paul’s epistles, particularly that to the galatians.

The celebrating the passover amongst the Jews was plainly the eating of a meal distinguished from other ordinary meals, by several peculiar ceremonies. Two of these ceremonies were eating of bread solemnly broken, and drinking a cup of wine, called the cup of blessing. These two our Saviour transferred into the christian church, to be used in their assemblies, for a commemoration of his death and sufferings. In celebrating this institution of our Saviour, the judaizing corinthians followed the jewish custom of eating their passover; they eat the Lord’s supper as a part of their meal, bringing their provisions into the assembly, where they eat divided into distinct companies, some feasting to excess, whilst others, ill provided, were in want. This eating thus in the public assembly, and mixing the Lord’s supper with their ordinary meal, as a part of it, with other disorders and indecencies accompanying it, is the matter of this section. These innovations, he tells them here, he as much blames, as, in the beginning of this chapter, he commends them for keeping to his directions in some other things.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 17Now in this, that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together, not for the better, but for the worse.

Locke1824: 18For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

Locke1824: 19For there must be also heresies among you, that they, which are approved, may be made manifest among you.

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Locke1824: 20When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

Locke1824: 21For, in eating, every one taketh before other, his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

Locke1824: 22What! have ye not houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye Edition: current; Page: [158] the church of God? And shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Locke1824: 23For I have received of the Lord, that, which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night, in which he was betrayed, took bread:

Locke1824: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.”

Locke1824: 25After the same manner also, he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Locke1824: 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.

Locke1824: 27Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

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Locke1824: 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

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Locke1824: 29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Locke1824: 30For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Locke1824: 31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

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Locke1824: 32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Locke1824: 33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

Locke1824: 34And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order, when I come.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 17Though what I said to you, concerning women’s behaviour in the church, was not without commendation of you; yet this, that I am now going to speak to you of, is without praising you, because you so order your meetings in your assemblies, thatLocke1824: 18 they are not to your advantage, but harm. For first I hear, that, when you come together in the church, you fall into parties, and I partly believeLocke1824: 19 it; Because there must be divisions and factions Edition: current; Page: [157] amongst you, that those who stand firm upon trial,Locke1824: 20 may be made manifest among you. You come together, it is true, in one place, and there you eat; but yet this makes it not to be the eating of theLocke1824: 21 Lord’s supper. For, in eating, you eat not together, but every one takes his own supper one before another*.Locke1824: 22 Have ye not houses to eat and drink in, at home, for satisfying your hunger and thirst? Or have ye a contempt for the church of God, and take a pleasure to put those out of countenance, who have not wherewithal to feast there, as you do? What is it I said to you, that I praise you† for retaining Edition: current; Page: [158] what I delivered to you? On this occasion,Locke1824: 23 indeed, I praise you not for it. For what I received, concerning this institution, from the Lord himself, that I delivered unto you, when I was with you; and it was this, viz. That the Lord Jesus, in theLocke1824: 24 night, wherein he was betrayed, took bread: And, having given thanks, brake it, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you: this doLocke1824: 25 in remembrance of me.” So, likewise, he took the cup also when he had supped, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye do it, in remembrance of me.”Locke1824: 26 So that the eating of this bread, and the drinking of this cup of the Lord’s supper, is not to satisfy hunger and thirst, but to show forth theLocke1824: 27 Lord’s death, till he comes. Insomuch that he, who eats this bread, and drinks this cup of the Lord, in an unworthy manner*, not suitable to that end, Edition: current; Page: [159] shall be guilty of a misuse of the body and bloodLocke1824: 28 of the Lord*. By this institution, therefore, of Christ, let a man examine himself†; and, according Edition: current; Page: [160] to that*, let him eat of this bread, and drink ofLocke1824: 29 this cup. For he, who eats and drinks after an unworthy manner, without a due respect had to the Lord’s body, in a discriminating† and purely sacramental use of the bread and wine, that represent it, draws punishment‡ on himself by so doing.Locke1824: 30 And hence it is, that many among you are weak and sick, and a good number are gone to theirLocke1824: 31 graves. But if we would discriminate ourselves, i. e. by our discriminating use of the Lord’s supper, we Edition: current; Page: [161] Locke1824: 32 should not be judged, i. e. punished* by God. But, being punished by the Lord, we are corrected†, that we may not be condemned‡ hereafter, with the unbelievingLocke1824: 33 world. Wherefore, my brethren, when you have a meeting for celebrating the Lord’s supper, stay for one another, that you may eat it all together, as partakers, all in common, of the Lord’sLocke1824: 34 table, without division, or distinction. But if any one be hungry, let him eat at home to satisfy his hunger, that so the disorder in these meetings may not draw on you the punishment above mentioned. What else remains to be rectified in this matter, I will set in order when I come.

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SECT. IX.

CHAP. XII. 1.—XIV. 40.

CONTENTS.

The corinthians seem to have inquired of St. Paul, “What order of precedency and preference men were to have, in their assemblies, in regard of their spiritual gifts?” Nay, if we may guess by his answer, the question they seem more particularly to have proposed, was, “Whether those, who had the gift of tongues, ought not to take place, and speak first, and be first heard in their meetings?” Concerning this, there seems to have been some strife, maligning, and disorder among them, as may be collected from ch. xii. 21—25, and xiii. 4, 5, and xiv. 40.

To this St. Paul answers in these three chapters, as followeth

1. That they had all been heathen idolaters, and so being deniers of Christ, were in that state none of them spiritual: but that now, being christians, and owning Jesus to be the Lord (which could not be done without the Spirit of God), they were all πνευματιϰοὶ, spiritual, and so there was no reason for one to undervalue another, as if he were not spiritual, as well as himself, chap. xii. 1—3.

2. That though there be diversity of gifts, yet they are all by the same Spirit, from the same Lord, and the same God, working them all in every one, according to his good pleasure. So that, in this respect also, there is no difference or precedency; no occasion for any one’s being puffed up, or affecting priority, upon account of his gifts, chap. xii. 4—11.

3. That the diversity of gifts is for the use and benefit of the church, which is Christ’s body, wherein the members (as in the natural body) of meaner functions are as much parts, and as necessary in their use to the good of the whole, and therefore to be honoured, as much as any other. The union they have, as members in the Edition: current; Page: [163] same body, makes them all equally share in one another’s good and evil, gives them a mutual esteem and concern one for another, and leaves no room for contests or divisions amongst them, about their gifts, or the honour and place due to them, upon that account, chap. xii. 12—31.

4. That though gifts have their excellency and use, and those, who have them, may be zealous in the use of them; yet the true and sure way for a man to get an excellency and preference above others, is the enlarging himself in charity, and excelling in that, without which a christian, with all his spiritual gifts, is nothing, chap. xiii. 1—13.

5. In the comparison of spiritual gifts, he gives those the precedency, which edify most; and, in particular, prefers prophesying to tongues, chap. xiv. 1—40.

SECT. IX. No. 1.

CHAP. XII. 1—3.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

Locke1824: 2Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

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Locke1824: 3Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed; and that no man can say, that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1As to spiritual men, or men assisted and acted by the Spirit*, I shall inform you; for I would not haveLocke1824: 2 you be ignorant. You yourselves know, that you Edition: current; Page: [164] were heathens, engaged in the worship of stocks and stones, dumb, senseless idols, by those, who were thenLocke1824: 3 your leaders. Whereupon let me tell you, that no one, who opposes Jesus Christ, or his religion, has the Spirit of God*. And whoever is brought to own Jesus to be the Messiah, the Lord†, does it by the Holy Ghost. And therefore, upon account of having the Spirit, you can none of you lay any claim to superiority; or have any pretence to slight any of your brethren, as not having the Spirit of God, as well as you. For all, that own our Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in him, do it by the Spirit of God, i. e. can do it upon no other ground, but revelation, coming from the Spirit of God.

SECT. IX. No. 2.

CHAP. XII. 4—11.

CONTENTS.

Another consideration, which St. Paul offers, against any contention for superiority, or pretence to precedency, upon account of any spiritual gift, is, that those distinct gifts are all of one and the same Spirit, by the same Lord; wrought in every one, by God alone, and all for the profit of the church.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 4Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Locke1824: 5And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

Locke1824: 6And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

Locke1824: 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, to profit withal.

Locke1824: 8For to one is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge by the same Spirit:

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Locke1824: 9To another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing, by the same Spirit;

Locke1824: 10To another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues.

Locke1824: 11But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally, as he will.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 4Be not mistaken, by the diversity of gifts; for, though there be diversity of gifts among christians, yet there is no diversity of spirits, they all come from one andLocke1824: 5 the same Spirit. Though there be diversities of offices* in the church, yet all the officers have but oneLocke1824: 6 Lord. And though there be various influxes, whereby christians are enabled to do extraordinary things†, yet it is the same God, that works‡ all these extraordinaryLocke1824: 7 gifts, in every one that has them. But the way, or gift, wherein every one, who has the Spirit, is to show it, is given him, not for his private advantage, or honour§, but for the good and advantage ofLocke1824: 8 the church. For instance; to one is given, by the spirit, the word of wisdom∥, or the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the full latitude of it: such as was given to the apostles: to another, by the same spirit, the knowledge¶ of the true sense and true meaning of the holy scriptures of the Old Testament, Edition: current; Page: [166] for the explaining and confirmation of the gospel:Locke1824: 9 To another, by the same Spirit, is given an undoubting persuasion*, and stedfast confidence, of performing what he is going about; to another, the gift ofLocke1824: 10 curing diseases, by the same Spirit; To another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy†; to another, the discerning by what spirit men did any extraordinary operation; to another, diversity of languages; to another, the interpretation of languages.Locke1824: 11 All which gifts are wrought in believers, by one and the same Spirit, distributing to every one, in particular, as he thinks fit.

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SECT. IX. No. 3.

CHAP. XII. 12—31.

CONTENTS.

From the necessarily different functions in the body, and the strict union, nevertheless, of the members, adapted to those different functions, in a mutual sympathy and concern one for another; St. Paul here farther shows, that there ought not to be any strife, or division, amongst them, about precedency and preference, upon account of their distinct gifts.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 12For, as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

Locke1824: 13For, by one Spirit, are we all baptized into one body, whether we be jews or gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

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Locke1824: 14For the body is not one member, but many.

Locke1824: 15If the foot shall say, “Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body:” is it therefore not of the body?

Locke1824: 16And if the ear shall say, “Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body:” is it therefore not of the body?

Locke1824: 17If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

Locke1824: 18But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him.

Locke1824: 19And if they were all one member, where were the body?

Locke1824: 20But now are they many members, yet but one body.

Locke1824: 21And the eye cannot say unto the hand, “I have no need of thee:” nor, again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

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Locke1824: 22Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.

Locke1824: 23And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

Locke1824: 24For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

Locke1824: 25That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

Locke1824: 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it: or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

Locke1824: 27Now, ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Locke1824: 28And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

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Locke1824: 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?

Locke1824: 30Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

Locke1824: 31But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 12For as the body, being but one, hath many members, and all the members of the body, though many, yet make but one body; so is Christ, in respectLocke1824: 13 of his mystical body, the church. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one church, and are thereby made one body, without any pre-eminence to the jew* above the gentile, to the free above the bond-man: and the blood of Christ, which we all partake of, in the Lord’s supper, makes us all have one life, one spirit, as the same blood, diffused through the whole body, communicates the Edition: current; Page: [168] Locke1824: 14 same life and spirit to all the members. For the body is not one sole member, but consists of many members, all vitally united in one common sympathyLocke1824: 15 and usefulness. If any one have not that function, orLocke1824: 16 dignity, in the church, which he desires, He must not, therefore, declare that he is not of the church, he does not thereby cease to be a member of theLocke1824: 17 church. There is as much need of several and distinct gifts and functions in the church, as there is of different senses and members in the body; and the meanest and least honourable would be missed, if it were wanting, and the whole body wouldLocke1824: 18 suffer by it. Accordingly, God hath fitted several persons, as it were so many distinct members, to several offices and functions in the church, by proper and peculiar gifts and abilities, which he has bestowed on them, according to his good pleasure.Locke1824: 19 But if all were but one member, what would become of the body? There would be no such thing as an human body; no more could the church be edified, and framed into a growing lasting society, if the giftsLocke1824: 20 of the Spirit were all reduced to one. But now, by the various gifts of the Spirit, bestowed on its several members, it is as a well organized body, wherein the most eminent member cannot despise the meanest.Locke1824: 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of thee;” nor the head to the feet, “I have Edition: current; Page: [169] Locke1824: 22 no need of you.” It is so far from being so, that the parts of the body, that seem in themselves weak,Locke1824: 23 are nevertheless of absolute necessity. And those parts which are thought least honourable we take care always to cover with the more respect; and our least graceful parts have thereby a more studied and adventitiousLocke1824: 24 comeliness. For our comely parts have no need of any borrowed helps, or ornaments: but God hath so contrived the symmetry of the body, that he hath added honour to those parts, that might seemLocke1824: 25 naturally to want it: That there might be no disunion, no schism in the body; but that the members should all have the same care and concern one forLocke1824: 26 another; And all equally partake and share in the harm, or honour, that is done to any of them in particular.Locke1824: 27 Now, in like manner, you are, by your particular gifts, each of you, in his peculiar station and aptitude, members of the body of Christ, which isLocke1824: 28 the church: Wherein God hath set, first some apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, next workers of miracles, then those, who have the gift of healing, helpers*, governors†, and such as are able to speak Edition: current; Page: [170] Locke1824: 29 diversity of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers ofLocke1824: 30 miracles? Have all the gift of healing? Do all speak diversity of tongues? Are all interpreters ofLocke1824: 31 tongues? But ye contest one with another, whose particular gift is best, and most preferable*; but I will show you a more excellent way, viz. mutual good-will, affection and charity.

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SECT. IX. No. 4.

CHAP. XIII. 1—13.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul having told the corinthians, in the last words of the preceding chapter, that he would show them a more excellent way, than the emulous producing of their gifts in the assembly, he, in this chapter tells them, that this more excellent way is charity, which he at large explains, and shows the excellency of.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Though I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Locke1824: 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have no charity, I am nothing.

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Locke1824: 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Locke1824: 4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up;

Locke1824: 5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Locke1824: 6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth:

Locke1824: 7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Locke1824: 8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Locke1824: 9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

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Locke1824: 10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

Locke1824: 11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Locke1824: 12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know, even as also I am known.

Locke1824: 13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1If I speak all the languages of men and angels*, and yet have not charity, to make use of them entirely for the good and benefit of others, I am no better than a sounding brass, or noisy cymbal†, which fills the ears of others, without any advantage to itself,Locke1824: 2 by the sound it makes. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and see, in the law and the prophets, all the mysteries‡ contained in them, and comprehend Edition: current; Page: [172] all the knowledge they teach; and if I have faith to the highest degree, and power of miracles, so as to be able to remove mountains*, and have not charity,Locke1824: 3 I am nothing: I am of no value. And if I bestow all I have, in relief of the poor, and give myself to be burnt, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.Locke1824: 4 Charity is long-suffering, is gentle and benign, withoutLocke1824: 5 emulation, insolence, or being puffed up; Is not ambitious, nor at all self-interested, is not sharp uponLocke1824: 6 others failings, or inclined to ill interpretations: Charity rejoices with others, when they do well; and, when any thing is amiss, is troubled, and covers their failings:Locke1824: 7 Charity believes well, hopes well of every one,Locke1824: 8 and patiently bears with every thing†: Charity will never cease, as a thing out of use; but the gifts of prophecy, and tongues, and the knowledge whereby men look into, and explain the meaning of the scriptures, the time will be, when they will be laid aside,Locke1824: 9 as no longer of any use. For the knowledge we have now in this state, and the explication we give of scripture, Edition: current; Page: [173] Locke1824: 10 is short, partial, and defective. But when, hereafter, we shall be got into the state of accomplishment and perfection, wherein we are to remain in the other world, there will no longer be any need of these imperfecter ways of information, wherebyLocke1824: 11 we arrive at but a partial knowledge here. Thus, when I was in the imperfect state of childhood, I talked, I understood, I reasoned after the imperfect manner of a child: but, when I came to the state and perfection of manhood, I laid aside those childishLocke1824: 12 ways. Now we see but by reflection, the dim, and as it were, enigmatical representation of things: but then we shall see things directly, and as they are in themselves, as a man sees another, when they are face to face. Now I have but a superficial, partial knowledge of things; but then I shall have an intuitive, comprehensive knowledge of them, as I myself am known, and lie open to the view of superiour, seraphic beings, not by the obscure and imperfectLocke1824: 13 way of deductions and reasoning. But then, even in that state, faith, hope, and charity, will remain: but the greatest of the three is charity.

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SECT. IX. No. 5.

CHAP. XIV. 1—40.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul, in this chapter, concludes his answer to the corinthians, concerning spiritual men, and their gifts; and having told them, that those were most preferable, that tended most to edification; and particularly shown, that prophecy was to be preferred to tongues; he gives them directions for the decent, orderly, and profitable exercise of their gifts, in their assemblies.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

Locke1824: 2For he, that speaketh in an unknown tongue, speaketh not unto Edition: current; Page: [175] men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit, in the Spirit, he speaketh mysteries.

Locke1824: 3But he, that prophesieth, speaketh unto men, to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Locke1824: 4He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself: but he, that prophesieth, edifieth the church.

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Locke1824: 5I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth, than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

Locke1824: 6Now, brethren, if I come unto you, speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you, either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?

Locke1824: 7And even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped, or harped?

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Locke1824: 8For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

Locke1824: 9So likewise you, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air.

Locke1824: 10There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.

Locke1824: 11Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian; and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.

Locke1824: 12Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

Locke1824: 13Wherefore, let him, that speaketh in an unknown tongue, pray that he may interpret.

Locke1824: 14For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

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Locke1824: 15What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

Locke1824: 16Else, when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned, say Amen, at thy giving of thanks; seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?

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Locke1824: 17For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.

Locke1824: 18I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all:

Locke1824: 19Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

Locke1824: 20Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Locke1824: 21In the law it is written, “With men of other tongues, and other lips, will I speak unto this people: and yet, for all that, will they not hear me, saith the Lord.”

Locke1824: 22Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but Edition: current; Page: [180] to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

Locke1824: 23If, therefore, the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those, that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say, that ye are mad?

Locke1824: 24But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all.

Locke1824: 25And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest! and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

Locke1824: 26How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying.

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Locke1824: 27If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

Locke1824: 28But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.

Locke1824: 29Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the other judge.

Locke1824: 30If any thing be revealed to another, that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.

Locke1824: 31For ye may all prophesy, one by one, that all may learn, that all may be comforted.

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Locke1824: 32And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

Locke1824: 33For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

Locke1824: 34Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

Locke1824: 35And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Locke1824: 36What! came the word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only?

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Locke1824: 37If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge, that the things, that I write unto you, are the commandments of the Lord.

Locke1824: 38But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

Locke1824: 39Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

Locke1824: 40Let all things be done decently, and in order.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Let your endeavours, let your pursuit, therefore, be after charity; not that you should neglect the useLocke1824: 2 of your spiritual gifts*, especially the gift of prophecy: Edition: current; Page: [175] Locke1824: 2 For he, that speaks in an unknown tongue*, speaks to God alone, but not to men: for nobody understands him; the things he utters, by the Spirit, in an unknown tongue, are mysteries, things notLocke1824: 3 understood, by those who hear them. But he, that prophesieth†, speaks to men, who are exhorted and comforted thereby, and helped forwards in religionLocke1824: 4 and piety. He that speaks in an unknown tongue‡, edifies himself alone; but he that prophesieth, edifieth Edition: current; Page: [176] Locke1824: 5 the church. I wish that ye had all the gift of tongues, but rather that ye all prophesied; for greater is he that prophesieth, than he that speaks with tongues, unless he interprets what he delivers in an unknown tongue, that the church may be edified by it.Locke1824: 6 For example, should I apply myself to you in a tongue you knew not, what good should I do you, unless I interpreted to you what I said, that you might understand the revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy,Locke1824: 7 or doctrine* contained in it? Even inanimate instruments of sound, as pipe or harp, are not made use of, to make an insignificant noise; but distinct notes, expressing mirth, or mourning, or the like, are played upon them, whereby the tune Edition: current; Page: [177] Locke1824: 8 and composure are understood. And if the trumpet sound not some point of war, that is understood, theLocke1824: 9 soldier is not thereby instructed what to do. So likewise ye, unless with the tongue, which you use, utter words of a clear and known signification to your hearers, you talk to the wind; for your auditorsLocke1824: 10 understand nothing that you say. There is a great number of significant languages in the world, ILocke1824: 11 know not how many, every nation has its own. If then I understand not another’s language, and the force of his words, I am to him, when he speaks, a barbarian; and whatever he says, is all gibberish to me; and so is it with you; ye are barbarians one to another, as far as ye speak to one another in unknownLocke1824: 12 tongues. But since there is emulation amongst you, concerning spiritual gifts, seek to abound in the exercise of those which tend most to the edificationLocke1824: 13 of the church. Wherefore, let him that speaks an unknown tongue, pray that he may interpret whatLocke1824: 14 he says. For if I pray in the congregation in an unknown tongue, my spirit, it is true, accompanies my words, which I understand, and so my spirit prays*; but my meaning is unprofitable to others Edition: current; Page: [178] Locke1824: 15 who understand not my words. What, then, is to be done in the case? Why, I will, when moved to it by the Spirit, pray in an unknown tongue, but so that my meaning* may be understood by others i. e. I will not do it but when there is somebody by, to interpret†. And so will I do also in singing‡; I will sing by the Spirit, in an unknown tongue; but I will take care that the meaning of what I sing shallLocke1824: 16 be understood by the assistants. And thus ye shall all do, in all like cases. For if thou, by the impulse of the Spirit, givest thanks to God, in an unknown tongue, which all understand not, how shall the hearer, who, in this respect, is unlearned, and, being ignorant in that tongue, knows not what thou sayest, how shall he say Amen? How shall he join Edition: current; Page: [179] Locke1824: 17 in the thanks, which he understands not? Thou, indeed, givest thanks well; but the other isLocke1824: 18 not at all edified by it. I thank God, I speak withLocke1824: 19 tongues more than you all: But I had rather speak in the church five words that are understood, that I might instruct others also, than, in an unknown tongue, ten thousand, that others understand not.Locke1824: 20 My brethren, be not, in understanding, children, who are apt to be taken with the novelty, or strangeness of things: in temper and disposition, be as children, void of malice*; but, in matters of understanding, be ye perfect men, and use your understandings†.Locke1824: 21 Be not so zealous for the use of unknown tongues in the church; they are not so proper there: it is written in the law‡, “With men of other tongues, and other lips, will I speak unto this people: and yet, for all that, will theyLocke1824: 22 not hear me, saith the Lord.” So that, you see, the speaking of strange tongues miraculously, is not Edition: current; Page: [180] for those, who are already converted, but for a sign to those, who are unbelievers: but prophecy is for believers, and not for unbelievers; and therefore,Locke1824: 23 fitter for your assemblies. If, therefore, when the church is all come together, you should all speak in unknown tongues, and men unlearned, or unbelievers should come in, would they not say,Locke1824: 24 “that you are mad?” But if ye all prophesy, and an unbeliever, or an ignorant man, come in, the discourse he hears from you reaching hisLocke1824: 25 conscience, And the secret thoughts of his heart, he is convinced, and wrought upon; and so, falling down, worships God, and declares that God is certainlyLocke1824: 26 amongst you. What then is to be done, brethren? When you come together, every one is ready*, one with a psalm, another with a doctrine, another with a strange tongue, another with a revelation, another with an interpretation. Let all things be Edition: current; Page: [181] Locke1824: 27 done to edification. Even though* any one speak in an unknown tongue, which is a gift that seems least intended for edification†; let but two or three at most, at any one meeting, speak in an unknown tongue; and that separately, one after another; andLocke1824: 28 let there be but one interpreter‡. But if there be no-body present, that can interpret, let not any one use his gift of tongues in the congregation; but let him, silently, within himself, speak to himself, and toLocke1824: 29 God. Of those, who have the gift of prophecy, let but two or three speak at the same meeting, and letLocke1824: 30 the others examine and discuss it. But if, during their debate, the meaning of it be revealed to one that sits by, let him, that was discoursing of it before,Locke1824: 31 give off. For ye may all prophesy, one after another, that all may in their turns be hearers, and Edition: current; Page: [182] Locke1824: 32 receive exhortation and instruction. For the gifts of the Holy Ghost are not like the possession of the heathen priests, who are not masters of the Spirit that possesses them. But christians, however filled with the Holy Ghost, are masters of their own actions, can speak, or hold their peace, as they see occasion, and are not hurried away by any compulsion.Locke1824: 33 It is, therefore, no reason for you to speak, more than one at once, or to interrupt one another, because you find yourselves inspired and moved by the Spirit of God. For God is not the author of confusion and disorder, but of quietness and peace. And this is what is observed in all the churches ofLocke1824: 34 God. As to your women, let them keep silence in your assemblies; for it is not permitted them to discourse there, or pretend to teach; that does no way suit their state of subjection, appointed them in the law.Locke1824: 35 But, if they have a mind to have any thing explained to them, that passes in the church, let them, for their information, ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to discourse and debate withLocke1824: 36 men publicly, in the congregation*. What! do you pretend to give laws to the church of God, or to a right to do what you please amongst yourselves, Edition: current; Page: [183] as if the gospel began at Corinth, and issuing from you was communicated to the rest of the world; or, as if it were communicated to you alone,Locke1824: 37 of all the world? If any man amongst you think, that he hath the gift of prophecies, and would pass for a man knowing in the revealed will of God*, let him acknowledge, that these rules, which I have here given, are the commandments of the Lord.Locke1824: 38 But if any man† be ignorant that they are so, I have no more to say to him; I leave him to his ignorance.Locke1824: 39 To conclude, brethren, let prophecy have the preference in the exercise of it‡; but yet forbidLocke1824: 40 not the speaking unknown tongues. But whether a man prophesies, or speaks with tongues, whatever spiritual gift he exercises in your assemblies, let it be done without any indecorum, or disorder.

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SECT. X.

CHAP. XV. 1—58.

CONTENTS.

After St. Paul (who had taught them another doctrine) had left Corinth, some among them denied the resurrection of the dead. This he confutes by Christ’s resurrection, which the number of witnesses, yet remaining, that had seen him, put past question, besides the constant inculcating of it, by all the apostles, every-where. From the resurrection of Christ, thus established, he infers the resurrection of the dead; shows the order they shall rise in, and what sort of bodies they shall have.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein ye stand;

Locke1824: 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

Locke1824: 3For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures:

Locke1824: 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures:

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Locke1824: 5And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

Locke1824: 6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remained unto this present, but some are fallen asleep:

Locke1824: 7After that, he was seen of James: then, of all the apostles.

Locke1824: 8And, last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Locke1824: 9For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Locke1824: 10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Locke1824: 11Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

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Locke1824: 12Now, if Christ be preached, that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Locke1824: 13But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.

Locke1824: 14And, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

Locke1824: 15Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God, that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

Locke1824: 16For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.

Locke1824: 17And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

Locke1824: 18Then they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished.

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Locke1824: 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Locke1824: 20But, now, is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.

Locke1824: 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

Locke1824: 22For, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Locke1824: 23But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s, at his coming.

Locke1824: 24Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power.

Locke1824: 25For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

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Locke1824: 26The last enemy, that shall be destroyed, is death.

Locke1824: 27For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, “All things are put under him,” it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.

Locke1824: 28And, when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Locke1824: 29Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they, then, baptized for the dead?

Locke1824: 30And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?

Locke1824: 31I protest, by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

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Locke1824: 32If, after the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat, and drink; for to-morrow we die.

Locke1824: 33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Locke1824: 34Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

Locke1824: 35But some man will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?”

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Locke1824: 36Thou fool! that, which thou sowest, is not quickened, except it die.

Locke1824: 37And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain.

Locke1824: 38But God giveth it a body, as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

Locke1824: 39All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

Locke1824: 40There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

Locke1824: 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory.

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Locke1824: 42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;

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Locke1824: 43It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

Locke1824: 44It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Locke1824: 45And so it is written, The first man, Adam, was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Locke1824: 46Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward, that which is spiritual.

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Locke1824: 47The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Locke1824: 48As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

Locke1824: 49And, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Locke1824: 50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Locke1824: 51Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

Locke1824: 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound;) and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

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Locke1824: 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Locke1824: 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

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Locke1824: 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Locke1824: 56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Locke1824: 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1In what I am now going to say to you, brethren, I make known to you no other gospel, than what I formerly preached to you, and you received, and have hitherto professed, and by which alone you are to beLocke1824: 2 saved. This you will find to be so, if you retain in your memories what it was that I preached to you, which you certainly do, unless you have taken up the christian name and profession to no purpose.Locke1824: 3 For I delivered to you, and particularly insisted on this, which I had received, viz. that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures:Locke1824: 4 And that he was buried, and that he was raised again, the third day, according to the scriptures: Edition: current; Page: [185] Locke1824: 5 And that he was seen by Peter; afterwards by theLocke1824: 6 twelve apostles: And after that, by above five hundred christians at once; of whom the greatest part remain alive to this day, but some of them are deceased:Locke1824: 7 Afterwards he was seen by James; and afterLocke1824: 8 that, by all the apostles: Last of all, he was seenLocke1824: 9 by me also, as by one born before my time*. For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy the name of an apostle; because I persecuted the church ofLocke1824: 10 God. But, by the free bounty of God, I am what it hath pleased him to make me: and this favour, which he hath bestowed on me, hath not been altogether fruitless; for I have laboured in preaching of the gospel, more than all the other apostles†: which yet I do not ascribe to any thing of myself, but toLocke1824: 11 the favour of God, which accompanied me. But whether I, or the other apostles, preached, this was that which we preached, and this was the faith ye were baptized into, viz. that Christ died, and rose Edition: current; Page: [186] Locke1824: 12 again the third day. If, therefore, this be so, if this be that, which has been preached to you, viz. that Christ has been raised from the dead; how comes it that some amongst* you say, as they do, that thereLocke1824: 13 is no resurrection of the dead? And if there be no resurrection of the dead, then even Christ himself isLocke1824: 14 not risen: And if Christ be not risen, our preaching is idle talk, and your believing it is to no purpose.Locke1824: 15 And we, who pretend to be witnesses for God, and his truth, shall be found lyars, bearing witness against God, and his truth, affirming, that he raised Christ, whom in truth he did not raise, if it be so, that theLocke1824: 16 dead are not raised. For if the dead shall not beLocke1824: 17 raised, neither is Christ raised. And if Christ be not risen, your faith is to no purpose; your sins are not forgiven, but you are still liable to the punishmentLocke1824: 18 due to them. And they also, who died in the Edition: current; Page: [187] Locke1824: 19 belief of the gospel, are perished and lost. If the advantages we expect from Christ, are confined to this life, and we have no hope of any benefit from him, in another life hereafter, we christians are theLocke1824: 20 most miserable of all men. But, in truth, Christ is actually risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits*Locke1824: 21 of those who were dead. For, since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection ofLocke1824: 22 the dead, or restoration to life. For, as the death that all men suffer, is owing to Adam, so the life, that all shall be restored to again, is procured themLocke1824: 23 by Christ. But they shall return to life again not all at once, but in their proper order: Christ, the first-fruits, is already risen; next after him shall rise those, who are his people, his church, and thisLocke1824: 24 shall be at his second coming. After that shall be the day of judgment, which shall bring to a conclusion and finish the whole dispensation to the race and posterity of Adam, in this world: when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, the Father; which he shall not do, till he hath destroyed all empire, power, and authority, thatLocke1824: 25 shall be in the world besides. For he must reign, till Edition: current; Page: [188] he has totally subdued and brought all his enemiesLocke1824: 26 into subjection to his kingdom. The last enemy,Locke1824: 27 that shall be destroyed, is death. For God hath subjected all things to Christ: but when it is said, “All things are subjected,” it is plain that he is to be excepted, who did subject all things to him.Locke1824: 28 But when all things shall be actually reduced under subjection to him, then, even the Son himself, i. e. Christ and his whole kingdom, he and all his subjects and members, shall be subjected to him, that gave him this kingdom, and universal dominion, that God may immediately govern and influence all.Locke1824: 29 Else*, what shall they do, who are baptized for theLocke1824: 30 dead†? And, why do we venture our lives continually?Locke1824: 31 As to myself, I am exposed, vilified, treated so, that I die daily. And for this I call to witness your glorying against me, in which I really glory, Edition: current; Page: [189] as coming on me for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake.Locke1824: 32 And particularly, to what purpose did I suffer myself to be exposed to wild beasts at Ephesus, if the dead rise not? If there be no resurrection, it is wiser a great deal to preserve ourselves, as long as we can, in a free enjoyment of all the pleasures of this life; for when death comes, as it shortly will,Locke1824: 33 there is an end of us for ever. Take heed that you be not misled by such discourses: for evil communicationLocke1824: 34 is apt to corrupt even good minds. Awake from such dreams, as it is fit you should, and give not yourselves up sinfully to the enjoyments of this life. For there are some atheistical* people amongLocke1824: 35 you: this I say to make you ashamed. But possibly it will be asked, “How comes it to pass, that dead men are raised, and with what kind of bodies do they come? Shall† they have, at the resurrection, Edition: current; Page: [190] Locke1824: 36 “such bodies as they have now?” Thou fool! does not daily experience teach thee, that the seed, which thou sowest, corrupts and dies, before itLocke1824: 37 springs up and lives again! That, which thou sowest, is the bare grain, of wheat, or barley, or the like; but the body, which it has, when it rises up, is differentLocke1824: 38 from the seed that is sown. For it is not the seed that rises up again, but a quite different body, such as God has thought fit to give it, viz. a plant, of a particular shape and size, which God has appointedLocke1824: 39 to each sort of seed. And so, likewise, it is in animals; there are different kinds of flesh*: for the flesh of men is of one kind: the flesh of cattle is of another kind; that of fish is different from them both; and the flesh of birds is of a peculiar sort, differentLocke1824: 40 from them all. To look yet farther into the difference of bodies, there be both heavenly and earthly bodies; but the beauty and excellency of the Edition: current; Page: [191] heavenly bodies is of one kind, and that of earthlyLocke1824: 41 bodies of another. The sun, moon, and stars, have each of them their particular beauty and brightness, and one star differs from another inLocke1824: 42 glory. And so shall the resurrection of the dead* Edition: current; Page: [192] Edition: current; Page: [193] be: that, which is sown in this world*, and comes to die, is a poor, weak, contemptible, corruptibleLocke1824: 43 thing: When it is raised again, it shall be powerful,Locke1824: 44 glorious, and incorruptible. The body, we have here, surpasses not the animal nature. At the resurrection, it shall be spiritual. There are bothLocke1824: 45 animal† and spiritual‡ bodies. And so it is written, “The first man Adam was made a living soul,” i. e. made of an animal constitution, endowed with an animal life; the second Adam was made of a spiritual constitution, with a power to give lifeLocke1824: 46 to others. Howbeit, the spiritual was not first, but the animal; and afterwards the spiritual. Edition: current; Page: [194] Locke1824: 47 The first man was of the earth, made up of dust, or earthy particles: the second man is the Lord fromLocke1824: 48 heaven. Those who have no higher an extraction, than barely from the earthy man, they, like him, have barely an animal life and constitution: but those, who are regenerate, and born of the heavenly seed, are, asLocke1824: 49 he that is heavenly, spiritual and immortal. And as in the animal, corruptible, mortal state, we were born in, we have been like him, that was earthy; so also shall we, who, at the resurrection, partake of a spiritual life from Christ, be made like him, the Lord from heaven, heavenly, i. e. live, as the spirits in heaven do, without the need of food, or nourishment, to support it, and without infirmities, decay andLocke1824: 50 death, enjoying a fixed, stable, unfleeting life. This I say to you, brethren, to satisfy those that ask, “with what bodies the dead shall come?” that we shall not at the resurrection have such bodies as we have now: for flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom, which the saints shall inherit in heaven; nor are such fleeting, corruptible things as our present bodies are, fitted to that state of immutable incorruptibility.Locke1824: 51 To which let me add, what has not been hitherto discovered, viz. that we shall not allLocke1824: 52 die, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead Edition: current; Page: [195] shall rise: and as many of us, believers, as are thenLocke1824: 53 alive, shall be changed. For this corruptible frame and constitution* of ours, must put on incorruption,Locke1824: 54 and from mortal become immortal. And, when we are got into that state of incorruptibility and immortality, then shall be fulfilled what was foretold in these words, “Death is swallowed up of victory†;” i. e. death is perfectly subdued and exterminated, by a complete victory over it, so that Edition: current; Page: [196] Locke1824: 55 there shall be no death any more. Where, O death, is now that power, whereby thou deprivest men of life? What is become of the dominion of the grave, whereby they were detained prisoners there*?Locke1824: 56 That, which gives death the power of men is sin,Locke1824: 57 and it is the law, by which sin has this power. But thanks be to God, who gives us deliverance and victory over death, the punishment of sin, by the law, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has deliveredLocke1824: 58 us from the rigour of the law. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, continue stedfast and unmoveable in the christian faith, always abounding in your obedience to the precepts of Christ, and in those duties which are required of us, by our Lord and Saviour, knowing that your labour will not be lost. Whatsoever you shall do, or suffer for him, will be abundantly rewarded, by eternal life.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. XVI. 1—4.

CONTENTS.

He gives directions concerning their contribution to the poor christians at Jerusalem.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

Locke1824: 2Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Locke1824: 3And when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.

Locke1824: 4And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1As to the collection for the converts to christianity, who are at Jerusalem, I would have you do, as ILocke1824: 2 have directed the churches of Galatia. Let every one of you, according as he thrives in his calling, lay aside some part of his gain by itself, which, the first day of the week, let him put into the common treasury* of the church, that there may be no need ofLocke1824: 3 any gathering, when I come. And when I come, those, whom you shall approve of†, will I send with letters to Jerusalem, to carry thither your benevolence.Locke1824: 4 Which if it deserves, that I also should go, they shall go along with me.

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SECT. XII.

CHAP. XVI. 5—12.

CONTENTS.

He gives them an account of his own, Timothy’s, and Apollos’s intention of coming to them.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 5Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia (for I do pass through Macedonia:)

Locke1824: 6And it may be, that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey, whithersoever I go.

Locke1824: 7For I will not see you now, by the way; but I trust to tarry awhile with you, if the Lord permit.

Locke1824: 8But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.

Locke1824: 9For a great door, and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.

Locke1824: 10Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.

Locke1824: 11Let no man, therefore, despise him; but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren.

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Locke1824: 12As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you, with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come, when he shall have convenient time.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 5I will come unto you, when I have been in Macedonia;Locke1824: 6 for I intend to take that in my way: And perhaps I shall make some stay, nay, winter with you, that you may bring me going on my way,Locke1824: 7 whithersoever I go. For I do not intend just to call in upon you, as I pass by; but I hope to spendLocke1824: 8 some time with you, if the Lord permit. But I shall stay at Ephesus till Pentecost, i. e. Whitsuntide.Locke1824: 9 For now I have a very fair and promising opportunity given me of propagating the gospel, thoughLocke1824: 10 there be many opposers. If Timothy come to you, pray take care, that he be easy, and without fear amongst you: for he promotes the work of theLocke1824: 11 Lord, in preaching the gospel, even as I do. Let no-body, therefore, despise him; but treat him kindly, and bring him going, that he may come unto me: for I expect him with the brethren. Edition: current; Page: [199] Locke1824: 12 As to brother* Apollos, I have earnestly endeavoured to prevail with him to come to you with the brethren†: but he has no mind to it at all, at present. He will come, however, when there shall be a fit occasion.

SECT. XIII.

CHAP. XVI. 13.—24.

CONTENTS.

The conclusion, wherein St. Paul, according to his custom, leaves with them some, which he thinks most necessary, exhortations, and sends particular greetings.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 13Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

Locke1824: 14Let all your things be done with charity.

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Locke1824: 15I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints)

Locke1824: 16That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth.

Locke1824: 17I am glad of the coming of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus: for that, which was lacking on your part, they have supplied.

Locke1824: 18For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: therefore, acknowledge ye them that are such.

Locke1824: 19The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

Locke1824: 20All the brethren greet you. Greet you one another with an holy kiss.

Locke1824: 21The salutation of me, Paul, with mine own hand.

Locke1824: 22If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha.

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Locke1824: 23The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Locke1824: 24My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 13Be upon your guard, stand firm in the faith, behave yourselves like men, with courage and resolution:Locke1824: 14 And whatever is done amongst you, either in public assemblies, or elsewhere, let it all be done with Edition: current; Page: [200] Locke1824: 15 affection, and good-will, one to another*. You know the house of Stephanas, that they were the first converts of Achaia, and have all along made itLocke1824: 16 their business to minister to the saints: To such, I beseech you to submit yourselves: let such as, withLocke1824: 17 us, labour to promote the gospel, be your leaders. I am glad, that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus came to me; because they have supplied what wasLocke1824: 18 deficient on your side. For, by the account they have given me of you, they have quieted my mind, and yours too†: therefore have a regard to suchLocke1824: 19 men as these. The churches of Asia salute you, and so do Aquila and Priscilla, with much christianLocke1824: 20 affection; with the church that is in their house. All the brethren here salute you: salute one anotherLocke1824: 21 with an holy kiss. That, which followeth, is theLocke1824: 22 salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand. If any one be an enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ, and his gospel, let him be accursed, or devoted to destruction. Edition: current; Page: [201] The Lord cometh to execute vengeanceLocke1824: 23 on him*. The favour of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in ChristLocke1824: 24 Jesus. Amen.

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A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS.

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THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS;
WRITTEN FROM ROME IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

Saint Paul having writ his first epistle to the corinthians, to try, as he says himself, chap. ii. 9, what power he had still with that church, wherein there was a great faction against him, which he was attempting to break, was in pain, till he found what success it had; chap. ii. 12, 13, and vii. 5. But when he had, by Titus, received an account of their repentance, upon his former letter, of their submission to his orders, and of their good disposition of mind towards him, he takes courage, speaks of himself more freely, and justifies himself more boldly; as may be seen, chap. i. 12, and ii. 14, and vi. 10, and x. 1, and xiii. 10. And, as to his opposers, he deals more roundly and sharply with them, than he had done in his former epistle; as appears from chap. ii. 17, and iv. 2—5, and v. 12, and vi. 11—16, and xi. 11, and xii. 15.

The observation of these particulars may possibly be of use to give us some light, for the better understanding of his second epistle, especially if we add, that the main business of this, as of his former epistle, is to take off the people from the new leader they had got, who was St. Paul’s opposer; and wholly to put an end to the faction and disorder, which that false apostle had caused Edition: current; Page: [206] in the church of Corinth. He also, in this epistle, stirs them up again to a liberal contribution to the poor saints at Jerusalem.

This epistle was writ in the same year, not long after the former.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1, 2.
INTRODUCTION.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints, which are in all Achaia:

Locke1824: 2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother*, to the church of God, which is in Corinth, with all the christians, thatLocke1824: 2 are in all Achaia†: Favour and peace be to you, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

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SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 3—VII. 16.

CONTENTS.

This first part of this second epistle, of St. Paul to the corinthians, is spent in justifying himself, against several imputations, from the opposite faction; and setting himself right, in the opinion of the corinthians. The particulars whereof we shall take notice of, in the following numbers.

SECT. II. No. 1.

CHAP. I.—3—14.

CONTENTS.

He begins with justifying his former letter to them, which had afflicted them, (vid. chap. vii. 7, 8,) by telling them, that he thanks God for his deliverance out of his afflictions, because it enables him to comfort them, by the example, both of his affliction and deliverance; acknowledging the obligation he had to them, and others, for their prayers and thanks for his deliverance, which, he presumes, they could not but put up for him, since his conscience bears him witness (which was his comfort) that, in his carriage to all men, and to them more especially, he had been direct and sincere, without any self, or carnal interest; and that what he writ to them had no other design but what lay open, and they read in his words, and did also acknowledge; and he doubted not, but they should always acknowledge; part of them acknowledging also, that he was the man they gloried in, as they shall be his glory in the day of the Lord. From what St. Paul says, in this section, (which, if read with attention, will appear to be writ with a turn of great insinuation) it may be gathered, that the opposite faction Edition: current; Page: [208] endeavoured to evade the force of the former epistle, by suggesting, that, whatever he might pretend, St. Paul was a cunning, artificial, self-interested man, and had some hidden design in it, which accusation appears in other parts of this epistle: as chap. iv. 2, 5.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 3Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

Locke1824: 4Who comforteth us, in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them, which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Locke1824: 5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Locke1824: 6And, whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual, in the enduring of the same sufferings, which we also suffer: or, whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

Locke1824: 7And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing that, as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

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Locke1824: 8For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength; insomuch that we despaired even of life.

Locke1824: 9But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raised the dead:

Locke1824: 10Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust, that he will yet deliver us:

Locke1824: 11You also helping together by prayer for us: that, for the gift bestowed upon us, by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

Locke1824: 12For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity, and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-wards.

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Locke1824: 13For we write none other things unto you, than what you read, or acknowledge, and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end.

Locke1824: 14As also you have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 3Blessed be the God* and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation;Locke1824: 4 Who comforteth me, in all my tribulations, that I may be able to comfort them†, who are in any trouble,Locke1824: 5 by the comfort, which I receive from him. Because, as I have suffered abundantly for Christ, so through Christ, I have been abundantly comforted; and bothLocke1824: 6 these, for your advantage. For my affliction is for your consolation and relief‡, which is effected by a patient enduring those sufferings whereof you see an example in me. And again, when I am comforted, it is for your consolation and relief, who may expect the like, from the same compassionateLocke1824: 7 God and Father. Upon which ground, I have firm Edition: current; Page: [209] hopes, as concerning you; being assured, that as you have had your share of sufferings, so ye shall, likewise,Locke1824: 8 have of consolation. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of the load of afflictions in Asia that were beyond measure heavy upon me, and beyond my strength: so that I could see no wayLocke1824: 9 of escaping with life. But I had the sentence of death in myself, that I might not trust in myself, but in God, who can restore to life even those whoLocke1824: 10 are actually dead: Who delivered me from so imminent a danger of death, who doth deliver, and inLocke1824: 11 whom I trust, he will yet deliver me: You also joining the assistance of your prayers for me; so that thanks may be returned by many, for the deliverance procured me, by the prayers of many persons.Locke1824: 12 For I cannot doubt of the prayers and concern of you, and many others for me; since my glorying in this, viz. the testimony of my own conscience, that, in plainness of heart, and sincerity before God, not in fleshly wisdom*, but by the favour of God directing me†, I have behaved myself towards Edition: current; Page: [210] all men, but more particularly towards you.Locke1824: 13 For I have no design, no meaning, in what I write to you, but what lies open, and is legible, in what you read: and you yourselves cannot but acknowledge it to be so; and I hope you shall always acknowledgeLocke1824: 14 it to the end. As part of you have already acknowledged that I am your glory*; as you will be mine, at the day of judgment, when, being my scholars and converts, ye shall be saved.

SECT. II. No. 2.

CHAP. I. 15.—II. 17.

CONTENTS.

The next thing St. Paul justifies is, his not coming to them. St. Paul had promised to call on the corinthians, in his way to Macedonia; but failed. This his opposers would have to be from levity in him; or a mind, that regulated itself wholly by carnal interest; vid. ver. 17. To which he answers, that God himself, having confirmed him amongst them, by the unction and earnest of his Spirit, in the ministry of the gospel of his Son, whom he, Paul, had preached to them steadily the same, without any the least variation, or unsaying any thing, he had at any time delivered; they Edition: current; Page: [211] could have no ground to suspect him to be an unstable, uncertain man, that would play fast and loose with them, and could not be depended on, in what he said to them. This is what he says, ch. i. 15—22.

In the next place, he, with a solemn asseveration, professes, that it was to spare them, that he came not to them. This he explains, ch. i. 23, and ii. 2, 3.

He gives another reason, chap. ii. 12, 13, why he went on to Macedonia, without coming to Corinth, as he had purposed; and that was the uncertainty he was in, by the not coming of Titus, what temper they were in, at Corinth. Having mentioned his journey to Macedonia, he takes notice of the success, which God gave to him there, and every where, declaring of what consequence his preaching was, both to the salvation, and condemnation, of those, who received, or rejected it; professing again his sincerity and disinterestedness, not without a severe reflection on their false apostle. All which we find in the following verses, viz. ch. ii. 14—17, and is all very suitable, and pursuant to his design in this epistle, which was to establish his authority and credit amongst the corinthians.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 15And, in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit;

Locke1824: 16And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again, out of Macedonia, unto you; and, of you, to be brought on my way towards Judea.

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Locke1824: 17When I, therefore, was thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay?

Locke1824: 18But, as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

Locke1824: 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you, by us, even by me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, was not yea and nay; but in him was yea.

Locke1824: 20For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God, by us.

Locke1824: 21Now he, which establisheth us with you, in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God:

Locke1824: 22Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit, in our hearts.

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Locke1824: 23Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth.

Locke1824: 24Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy; for, by faith, ye stand.

Locke1824: II. 1But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

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Locke1824: 2For if I make you sorry, who is he, then, that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?

Locke1824: 3And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them, of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

Locke1824: 4For, out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears; not that you should be grieved, but that ye might know the love, which I have more abundantly unto you.

Locke1824: 5But, if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part; that I may not overcharge you all.

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Locke1824: 6Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.

Locke1824: 7So that, contrariwise, ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him; lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with over-much sorrow.

Locke1824: 8Wherefore, I beseech you, that ye would confirm your love towards him.

Locke1824: 9For to this end, also, did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.

Locke1824: 10To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for, if I forgive any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it, in the person of Christ.

Locke1824: 11Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

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Locke1824: 12Furthermore, when I came to Troas, to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,

Locke1824: 13I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus, my brother: but, taking my leave of them, I went from thence, into Macedonia.

Locke1824: 14Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge, by us, in every place.

Locke1824: 15For we are, unto God, a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.

Locke1824: 16To the one, we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life; and who is sufficient for these things?

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Locke1824: 17For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 15Having this persuasion, (viz.) of your love and esteem of me, I purposed to come unto you ere this, that youLocke1824: 16 might have a second gratification*; And to take you in my way to Macedonia, and from thence return Edition: current; Page: [212] to you again, and, by you, be brought on inLocke1824: 17 my way to Judea. If this fell not out so, as I purposed, am I, therefore, to be condemned of fickleness? Or am I to be thought an uncertain man, that talks forwards and backwards, one that has no regard to his word, any farther than may suit hisLocke1824: 18 carnal interest? But God is my witness, that what you have heard from me, has not been uncertain,Locke1824: 19 deceitful, or variable. For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was preached among you, by me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, was not sometimes one thing and sometimes another; but has been shown to be uniformly one and the same, in the counsel,Locke1824: 20 or revelation of God. (For the promises of God do all consent, and stand firm, in him) to the glory ofLocke1824: 21 God, by my preaching. Now it is God, who establishes me with you, for the preaching of the gospel,Locke1824: 22 who has anointed*, And also sealed† me, and given me the earnest‡ of his Spirit, in my heart. Edition: current; Page: [213] Locke1824: 23 Moreover, I call God to witness, and may I die if it is not so, that it was to spare you, that I came notLocke1824: 24 yet to Corinth. Not that I pretend to such a dominion over your faith, as to require you to believe what I have taught you, without coming to you, when I am expected there, to maintain and make it good; for it is by that faith you stand: but I forbore to come, as one concerned to preserve and help forward your joy, which I am tender of, and therefore declined coming to you, whilst I thought you in an estate, that would require severity from me, thatLocke1824: II. 1. would trouble you*. I purposed in myself, it is true, to come to you again, but I resolved too, it should Edition: current; Page: [214] Locke1824: 2 be, without bringing sorrow with me*. For if I grieve you, who is there, when I am with you, to comfort me, but those very persons, whom I have discomposedLocke1824: 3 with grief? And this very thing†, which made you sad, I writ to you, not coming myself; on purpose that, when I came, I might not have sorrow from those, from whom I ought to receive comfort: having this belief and confidence in you all, that you, all of you, make my joy and satisfaction so much your own, that you would remove all cause of disturbance,Locke1824: 4 before I came. For I writ unto you with great sadness of heart and many tears; not with an intention to grieve you, but that you might know the overflowLocke1824: 5 of tenderness and affection, which I have for you. But if the fornicator has been the cause of grief, I do not say, he has been so to me, but in some degree to you Edition: current; Page: [215] Locke1824: 6 all; that I may not lay a load on him*. The correction he hath received from the majority of you, isLocke1824: 7 sufficient in the case. So that, on the contrary†, it is fit rather that you forgive and comfort him, lest he‡ should be swallowed up, by an excess of sorrow.Locke1824: 8 Wherefore, I beseech you to confirm your love toLocke1824: 9 him, which I doubt not of. For this, also, was one end of my writing to you, viz. To have a trial of you, and to know whether you are ready to obey me inLocke1824: 10 all things. To whom you forgive any thing, I also forgive. For if I have forgiven any thing, I have forgiven it to him for your sakes, by the authority,Locke1824: 11 and in the name of Christ; That we may not be over-reached by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his wiles. Edition: current; Page: [216] Locke1824: 12 Furthermore, being arrived at Troas, because Titus, whom I expected from Corinth, with news of you, was not come, I was very uneasy* there; insomuch that I made not use of the opportunity, which was put into my hands by the Lord, of preaching theLocke1824: 13 gospel of Christ, for which I came thither. I hastily left those of Troas, and departed thence to Macedonia.Locke1824: 14 But thanks be to God, in that he always makes me triumph every-where†, through Christ, who gives me success in preaching the gospel, andLocke1824: 15 spreads the knowledge of Christ by me. For my ministry, and labour in the gospel, is a service, or sweet-smelling sacrifice to God, through Christ, both in regard of those that are saved, and those that perish.Locke1824: 16 To the one my preaching is of ill savour, unacceptable and offensive, by their rejecting whereof they draw death on themselves; and to the other, being as a sweet savour, acceptable, they thereby receive eternal life. And who is sufficient for these things‡? Edition: current; Page: [217] And yet, as I said, my service in the gospel is well-pleasingLocke1824: 17 to God. For I am not, as several* are, who are hucksters of the word of God, preaching it for gain; but I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, in sincerity. I speak, as from God himself, and I deliver it, as in the presence of God.

SECT. II. No. 3.

CHAP. III. 1.—VII. 16.

CONTENTS.

His speaking well of himself (as he did sometimes in his first epistle, and, with much more freedom, in this, which, as it seems, had been objected to him, amongst the corinthians) his plainness of speech, and his sincerity in preaching the gospel, are the things, which he chiefly justifies, in this section, many ways. We shall observe his arguments, as they come in the order of St. Paul’s discourse, in which are mingled, with great insinuation, many expressions of an overflowing kindness to the corinthians, not without some exhortations to them.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Do we begin, again, to commend ourselves? or need we as some others, epistles of commendation, to you, or letters of commendation, from you?

Locke1824: 2Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

Locke1824: 3Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.

Locke1824: 4And such trust have we, through Christ to Godward.

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Locke1824: 5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think any thing, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God:

Locke1824: 6Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Locke1824: 7But if the ministration of death written and ingraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away;

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Locke1824: 8How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?

Locke1824: 9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

Locke1824: 10For even that, which was made glorious, had no glory, in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

Locke1824: 11For, if that which is done away was glorious, much more that, which remaineth, is glorious.

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Locke1824: 12Seeing then, that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.

Locke1824: 13And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.

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Locke1824: 14But their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away, in the reading of the Old Testament; which veil is done away in Christ.

Locke1824: 15But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.

Locke1824: 16Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

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Locke1824: 17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Locke1824: 18But we all, with open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

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Locke1824: IV. 1.Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not:

Locke1824: 2But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience, in the sight of God.

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Locke1824: 3But, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

Locke1824: 4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Locke1824: 5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Locke1824: 6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.

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Locke1824: 7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Locke1824: 8We are troubled, on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Locke1824: 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

Locke1824: 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Locke1824: 11For we, which live, are alway delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Locke1824: 12So then death worketh in us; but life in you.

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Locke1824: 13We having the same Spirit of faith according as it is written, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken:” we also believe, and therefore speak;

Locke1824: 14Knowing that he, which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also, by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

Locke1824: 15For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God.

Locke1824: 16For which cause we faint not; but, though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Locke1824: 17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

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Locke1824: 18While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen, are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal.

Locke1824: V. 1For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Locke1824: 2For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be cloathed upon, with our house, which is from heaven:

Locke1824: 3If so be, that being cloathed we shall not be found naked.

Locke1824: 4For we, that are in this tabernacle, do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

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Locke1824: 5Now he, that hath wrought us for the self-same thing, is God; who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Locke1824: 6Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord:

Locke1824: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight.)

Locke1824: 8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

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Locke1824: 9Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

Locke1824: 10For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Locke1824: 11Knowing, therefore, the terrour of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust, also, are made manifest in your consciences.

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Locke1824: 12For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that you may have somewhat to answer them, which glory in appearance, and not in heart.

Locke1824: 13For, whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or, whether we be sober, it is for your cause.

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Locke1824: 14For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that, if one died for all, then were all dead:

Locke1824: 15And that he died for all, that they, which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him, which died for them, and rose again.

Locke1824: 16Wherefore, henceforth, know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

Locke1824: 17Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away, behold, all things are become new.

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Locke1824: 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Locke1824: 19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Locke1824: 20Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Locke1824: 21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Locke1824: VI. 1.We then as workers together with him, beseech you also, that ye receive not the grace of God in vain:

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Locke1824: 2(For he saith, “I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee:” behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!)

Locke1824: 3Giving no offence, in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:

Locke1824: 4But, in all things, approving ourselves, as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

Locke1824: 5In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings.

Locke1824: 6By pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love, unfeigned.

Locke1824: 7By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness, on the right hand, and on the left.

Locke1824: 8By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

Locke1824: 9As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed;

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Locke1824: 10As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Locke1824: 11O ye corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

Locke1824: 12Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

Locke1824: 13Now, for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children) be ye also enlarged.

Locke1824: 14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?

Locke1824: 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

Locke1824: 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For Edition: current; Page: [236] ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Locke1824: 17Wherefore, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

Locke1824: 18“And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,” saith the Lord Almighty.

Locke1824: VII. 1Having therefore these promises, (dearly beloved) let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Locke1824: 2Receive us: we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

Locke1824: 3I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that you are in our hearts, to die and live with you.

Locke1824: 4Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful, in all our tribulation.

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Locke1824: 5For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

Locke1824: 6Nevertheless, God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us, by the coming of Titus:

Locke1824: 7And not by his coming only, but by the consolation, wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.

Locke1824: 8For, though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent; though I did repent; for I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

Locke1824: 9Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry, after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

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Locke1824: 10For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Locke1824: 11For, behold, this self-same thing that ye sorrowed, after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you: yea, what clearing of yourselves; yea, what indignation; yea, what fear; yea, what vehement desire; yea, what zeal; yea, what revenge! in all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Locke1824: 12Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause, Edition: current; Page: [239] that had done the wrong, nor for his cause, that suffered wrong, but that our care for you, in the sight of God, might appear unto you.

Locke1824: 13Therefore, we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we, for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.

Locke1824: 14For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth.

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Locke1824: 15And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him.

Locke1824: 16I rejoice, therefore, that I have confidence in you, in all things.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Do I begin again to commend myself*; or need I, asLocke1824: 2 some†, commendatory letters to, or from you? You are my commendatory epistle, written in my heart,Locke1824: 3 known and read by all men. I need no other commendatory letter, but that you being manifested to be the commendatory epistle of Christ, written on my behalf; not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone‡, but of the heart, whereof I was the amanuensis; i. e. your conversationLocke1824: 4 was the effect of my ministry. §And this so great confidence have I, through Christ, in God. Edition: current; Page: [219] Locke1824: 5 Not as if I were sufficient of myself to reckon* upon any thing, as of myself; but my sufficiency, my ability,Locke1824: 6 to perform any thing, is wholly from God: Who has fitted and enabled me to be a minister of the New Testament, not of the letter†, but of the spirit; forLocke1824: 7 the letter kills‡, but the spirit gives life. But, if the ministry of the law written in stone, which condemns to death, were so glorious to Moses, that his face shone so, that the children of Israel could not steadily Edition: current; Page: [220] behold the brightness of it, which was but temporary,Locke1824: 8 and was quickly to vanish*; How can it be otherwise, but that the ministry of the Spirit which giveth life should confer more glory and lustre on the ministersLocke1824: 9 of the gospel? For, if the ministration of condemnation were glory, the ministry of justification†, in the gospel, doth certainly much more exceed inLocke1824: 10 glory. Though even the glory, that Moses’s ministration had, was no glory, in comparison of the far moreLocke1824: 11 excelling glory of the gospel-ministry‡. Farther, if that which is temporary, and to be done away, were Edition: current; Page: [221] delivered with glory, how much rather is that, which remains, without being done away, to appearLocke1824: 12 in glory*? Wherefore, having such hope†, weLocke1824: 13 use great freedom and plainness of speech. And not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, do we veil the light; so that the obscurity of what we deliver should hinder‡ the children of Israel from seeing, Edition: current; Page: [222] in the law, which was to be done away, Christ,Locke1824: 14 who was the end* of the law. But their not seeing it, is from the blindness of their own minds: for, unto this day, the same veil remains upon their understandings, in reading of the Old Testament; which veil is done away in Christ; i. e. Christ, now he is come, so exactly answers all the types, prefigurations, and predictions of him, in the Old Testament, that presently, upon turning our eyes upon him, he visibly appears to be the person designed, and all the obscurity of those passages concerning him, which before were not understood, is takenLocke1824: 15 away, and ceases. Nevertheless, even until now, when the writings of Moses are read, the veil† remains upon their hearts, they see not the spiritual andLocke1824: 16 evangelical truths contained in them. But, when their heart shall turn to the Lord, and, laying by prejudice and aversion, shall be willing to receive the truth, the veil shall be taken away, and they shall plainly see him to be the person spoken of, and intended‡. Edition: current; Page: [223] Locke1824: 17 But the Lord is the Spirit*, whereof we are ministers; and they, who have this Spirit, they have liberty†, so that they speak openly and freely.Locke1824: 18 But we, all the faithful ministers of the New Testament, not veiled‡, but with open countenances, as mirrours, reflecting the glory of the Lord, Edition: current; Page: [224] are changed into his very image, by a continued succession of glory, as it were, streaming upon us from the Lord, who is the Spirit, who gives us thisLocke1824: IV. 1. clearness and freedom. Seeing, therefore, I am intrusted with such a ministry, as this, according as I have received great mercy, being extraordinarily and miraculously called, when I was a persecutor, I do not fail*, nor flag: I do not behave myself unworthily in it, nor misbecoming the honourLocke1824: 2 and dignity of such an employment: But, having renounced all unworthy and indirect designs, which will not bear the light, free from craft, and from playing any deceitful tricks, in my preaching the word of Edition: current; Page: [225] God; I recommend myself to every one’s conscience, only by making plain* the truth which I deliver, asLocke1824: 3 in the presence of God. But if the gospel, which I preach, be obscure and hidden, it is so, only to thoseLocke1824: 4 who are lost: In whom, being unbelievers, the God of this world† has blinded their minds‡, so that the glorious§ brightness of the light of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, cannot enlighten them.Locke1824: 5 For I seek not my own glory, or secular advantage, in preaching, but only the propagating of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; professing myself your servantLocke1824: 6 for Jesus’ sake. For God, who made light to shine out of darkness, hath enlightened also my dark heart, who before saw not the end of the law, that I might communicate the knowledge and light of the glory of God, which shines in the face∥ of Jesus Edition: current; Page: [226] Locke1824: 7 Christ. But yet we, to whom this treasure of knowledge, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is committed, to be propagated in the world, are but frail men: that so the exceeding great power, that accompanies it, mayLocke1824: 8 appear to be from God and not from us. I am pressed on every side, but do not shrink; I am perplexed,Locke1824: 9 but yet not so as to despond; Persecuted, but yet not left to sink under it; thrown down, butLocke1824: 10 not slain; Carrying about every-where, in my body, the mortification, i. e. a representation of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, that also the life of Jesus, risen from the dead, may be made manifest by the energy, that accompanies my preaching in this frailLocke1824: 11 body. For, as long as I live, I shall be exposed to the danger of death, for the sake of Jesus, that the life of Jesus, risen from the dead, may be made manifest by my preaching, and sufferings, in this mortalLocke1824: 12 flesh of mine. So that the preaching of the gospel Edition: current; Page: [227] procures sufferings and danger of death to me; but to you it procures life, i. e. the energy of the Spirit of Christ, whereby he lives in, and gives life to thoseLocke1824: 13 who believe in him. Nevertheless, though suffering and death accompany the preaching of the gospel; yet, having the same Spirit of faith that David had, when he said, “I believe, therefore have ILocke1824: 14 spoken,” I also, believing, therefore speak; Knowing that he, who raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise me up also, by Jesus, and present me, with you,Locke1824: 15 to God. For I do, and suffer, all things, for your sakes, that the exuberant favour of God may abound, by the thanksgiving of a greater number, to the glory of God; i. e. I endeavour, by my sufferings and preaching, to make as many converts as I can, that so the more partaking of the mercy and favour of God, of which there is a plentiful and inexhaustible store, the more may give thanks unto him, it being more for the glory of God, that a greaterLocke1824: 16 number should give thanks and pray to him. For which reason I faint not*, I flag not; but though my bodily strength decay, yet the vigour of my mindLocke1824: 17 is daily renewed. For the more my sufferings are Edition: current; Page: [228] here in propagating the gospel, which at worst are but transient and light, the more will they procure me an exceedingly far greater addition of that glory*Locke1824: 18 in heaven, which is solid and eternal; I having no regard to the visible things of this world, but to the invisible things of the other: for the things, that are seen, are temporal; but those, that are not seen, eternal.Locke1824: V. 1 For I know, that if this my body, which is but as a tent for my sojourning here upon earth, for a short time, were dissolved, I shall have another, of a divine original, which shall not, like buildings made with men’s hands, be subject to decay, but shall beLocke1824: 2 eternal in the heavens. For in this tabernacle†, I groan earnestly, desiring, without putting off this mortal, earthly body, by death, to have that celestialLocke1824: 3 body superinduced; If so be the coming‡ of Christ shall overtake me, in this life, before I put offLocke1824: 4 this body. For we, that are in the body, groan under the pressures and inconveniencies, that attend us Edition: current; Page: [229] in it; which yet we are not, therefore, willing to put off, but had rather, without dying, have it changed* into a celestial, immortal body, that so this mortal state may be put an end to, by an immediate entranceLocke1824: 5 into an immortal life. Now it is God, who prepares and fits us for this immortal state, who alsoLocke1824: 6 gives us the Spirit as a pledge† of it. Wherefore, being always undaunted‡, and knowing, that whilst I dwell, or sojourn, in this body, I am absent from myLocke1824: 7 proper home, which is with the Lord, (For I regulate my conduct, not by the enjoyment of the visible things of this world, but by my hope and expectation of theLocke1824: 8 invisible things of the world to come) I, with boldness‡, preach the gospel, preferring, in my choice, the Edition: current; Page: [230] quitting this habitation to get home to the Lord.Locke1824: 9 Wherefore, I make this my only aim, whether staying* here in this body, or departing out of it, so toLocke1824: 10 acquit myself, as to be acceptable to him†. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive according to what he has done in the body, whether it be good,Locke1824: 11 or bad. Knowing, therefore, this terrible judgment of the Lord, I preach the gospel, persuading men Edition: current; Page: [231] to be christians. And with what integrity I discharge that duty, is manifest to God, and I trust, you also are convinced of it, in your consciences.Locke1824: 12 And this I say, not that I commend* myself again: but that I may give you an occasion not to be ashamed of me, but to glory on my behalf, having wherewithal to reply to those, who make a show of glorying in outward appearance, without doing soLocke1824: 13 inwardly in their hearts†. For if‡ I am besides myself§, in speaking, as I do of myself, it is between God and me; he must judge: men are not concerned in it, nor hurt by it. Or, if I do it soberly, Edition: current; Page: [232] and upon good ground; if what I profess of myself be in reality true, it is for your sake and advantage.Locke1824: 14 For it is the love of Christ constraineth me, judging as I do, that, if Christ died for all, thenLocke1824: 15 all were dead: And that, if he died for all, his intention was, that they who by him have attained to a state of life, should not any longer live to themselves alone, seeking only their own private advantage; but should employ their lives in promoting the gospel and kingdom of Christ, who for them died,Locke1824: 16 and rose again: So that, from henceforth, I have no regard to any one, according to the flesh*, i. e. for being circumcised, or a jew. For, if I myself have gloried in this, that Christ himself was circumcised, as I am, and was of my blood and nation, I do soLocke1824: 17 now no more any longer. So that if any one be in Christ, it is, as if he were in a new creation†, wherein all former, mundane relations, considerations, and Edition: current; Page: [233] interests*, are ceased, and at an end; all things inLocke1824: 18 that state are new to him: And he owes his very being in it, and the advantages he therein enjoys, not, in the least measure, to his birth, extraction, or any legal observances, or privileges, but whollyLocke1824: 19 and solely to God alone; Reconciling the world to himself by Jesus Christ, and not imputing their trespasses to them. And therefore I, whom God hath reconciled to himself, and to whom he hath given the ministry, and committed the word of his reconciliation;Locke1824: 20 As an ambassador for Christ, as though God did by me beseech you, I pray you in Christ’sLocke1824: 21 stead, be ye reconciled to God. For God hath made him subject to sufferings and death, the punishment and consequence of sin, as if he had been a sinner, though he were guilty of no sin; that we, in and by him, might be made righteous, by a righteousnessLocke1824: VI. 1 imputed to us by God. I therefore, working together with him, beseech you also, that Edition: current; Page: [234] you receive not the favour of God, in the gospel,Locke1824: 2 preached to you, in vain*. (For he saith, “I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee:” behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!)Locke1824: 3 Giving no offence to any one, in any thing, that theLocke1824: 4 ministry be not blamed: But, in every thing, approving myself, as becomes the minister of God, by muchLocke1824: 5 patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in straits, In stripes, in imprisonments, in being tossed up andLocke1824: 6 down, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By a life undefiled; by knowledge; by long-sufferings; by theLocke1824: 7 gifts of the Holy Ghost; by love unfeigned; By preaching the gospel of truth sincerely; by the power of God, assisting my ministry; by uprightness of mind, wherewith I am armed at all points, both to doLocke1824: 8 and to suffer; By honour and disgrace; by good andLocke1824: 9 bad report: as a deceiver†, and yet faithful; As an Edition: current; Page: [235] obscure, unknown man, but yet known and owned; as one often in danger of death, and yet, behold, ILocke1824: 10 live; as chastened, but yet not killed; As sorrowful, but yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessingLocke1824: 11 all things. O ye corinthians, my mouth is opened to you, my heart is enlarged* to you; my affection, my tenderness, my compliance for you is not strait,Locke1824: 12 or narrow. It is your own narrowness makes youLocke1824: 13 uneasy. Let me speak to you, as a father to his children; in return, do you, likewise, enlarge yourLocke1824: 14 affections and deference to me. Be ye not associated with unbelievers, having nothing to do with them in their vices, or worship†: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? WhatLocke1824: 15 communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial‡? Or what partLocke1824: 16 hath a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye Edition: current; Page: [236] are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, “I will dwell in them, among them will I walk; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”Locke1824: 17 Wherefore, “Come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not theLocke1824: 18 unclean thing, and I will receive you to me; And I will be a Father, and ye shall be my sons andLocke1824: VII. 1 daughters,” saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore, these promises, (dearly beloved) let us cleanse ourselves from the defilement of all sorts of sins, whether of body or mind, endeavouring afterLocke1824: 2 perfect holiness, in the fear of God. Receive me, as one to be hearkened to, as one to be followed, as one that hath done nothing to forfeit your esteem. I have wronged no man: I have corrupted no man:Locke1824: 3 I have defrauded no man†. I say not this to reflect on your carriage towards me‡: for I have already assured you, that I have so great an affectionLocke1824: 4 for you, that I could live and die with you. But, Edition: current; Page: [237] in the transport of my joy, I use great liberty of speech towards you. But let it not be thought to be of ill-will, for I boast much of you: I am filled with comfort, and my joy abounds exceedingly in all myLocke1824: 5 afflictions. For when I came to Macedonia, I had no respite from continual trouble, that beset me on every side. From without, I met with strife and opposition, in preaching the gospel: and within, I was filled with fear, upon your account; lest the false apostle, continuing his credit and faction amongst you, should pervert you from the simplicity of theLocke1824: 6 gospel*. But God, who comforteth those who are cast down, comforted me, by the coming of Titus.Locke1824: 7 Not barely by his presence, but by the comfort I received from you, by him, when he acquainted me with your great desire of conforming yourselves to my orders; your trouble for any neglects, you have been guilty of, towards me; the great warmth of your affection and concern for me; so that I rejoicedLocke1824: 8 the more, for my past fears; Having writ to you a letter, which I repented of, but now do not repent of, perceiving, that, though that letter grieved you,Locke1824: 9 it made you sad but for a short time: But now I Edition: current; Page: [238] rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to repentance. For this proved a beneficial sorrow, acceptable to God, that, in nothing, you might have cause to complain, that you wereLocke1824: 10 damaged by me. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of: but sorrow arising from worldly interest, worketh death.Locke1824: 11 In the present case, mark it*, that godly sorrow, which you had, what carefulness it wrought in you, to conform yourselves to my orders†; yea, what clearing yourselves from your former miscarriages; yea, what indignation against those who led you into them; yea, what fear to offend me; yea, what vehement desire of satisfying me; yea, what zeal for me; yea, what revenge against yourselves, for having been so misled! You have shown yourselves to be set right‡, and be, as you should be, in everyLocke1824: 12 thing, by this carriage of yours§. If, therefore, I Edition: current; Page: [239] wrote unto you, concerning the fornicator, it was not for his sake, that had done, nor his that had suffered the wrong; but principally, that my care and concern for you might be made known to you,Locke1824: 13 as in the presence of God. Therefore, I was comforted in your comfort: but much more exceedingly rejoiced I, in the joy of Titus; because his mind was set at ease, by the good disposition he found you allLocke1824: 14 in towards me*. So that I am not ashamed of having boasted of you to him. For all that I have said to you, is truth; so, what I said to Titus, in your commendation, he has found to be true; Edition: current; Page: [240] Locke1824: 15 Whereby his affection to you is abundantly increased, he carrying in his mind the universal obedience of you all, unanimously to me, and the manner of your receiving him with fear and trembling.Locke1824: 16 I rejoice, therefore, that I have confidence in you in all things.

SECT. III.

CHAP. VIII. 1.—IX. 15.

CONTENTS.

The apostle having employed the seven foregoing chapters, in his own justification, in the close whereof he expresses the great satisfaction he had, in their being all united again, in their affection, and obedience to him; he, in the two next chapters, exhorts them, especially by the example of the churches of Macedonia, to a liberal contribution to the poor christians in Judea.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God, bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.

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Locke1824: 2How that, in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

Locke1824: 3For to their power, (I bear record) yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves;

Locke1824: 4Praying us, with much intreaty, that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

Locke1824: 5And this they did, not as we hoped; but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

Locke1824: 6Insomuch that we desired Titus, that, as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.

Locke1824: 7Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, in utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us; see that you abound in this grace also.

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Locke1824: 8I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.

Locke1824: 9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet, for your sakes, he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be rich.

Locke1824: 10And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.

Locke1824: 11Now, therefore, perform the doing of it; that, as there was a Edition: current; Page: [243] readiness to will, so there may be a performance also, out of that which you have.

Locke1824: 12For, if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.

Locke1824: 13For I mean not, that other men may be eased, and you burdened:

Locke1824: 14But, by an equality, that now, at this time, your abundance may be a supply for their want; that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality;

Locke1824: 15As it is written, “He that hath gathered much, had nothing over; and he that had gathered little, had no lack.”

Locke1824: 16But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus, for you.

Locke1824: 17For, indeed, he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord, he went unto you.

Locke1824: 18And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel, throughout all the churches:

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Locke1824: 19(And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us, with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind)

Locke1824: 20Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance, which is administered by us:

Locke1824: 21Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

Locke1824: 22And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things; but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you.

Locke1824: 23Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner, and fellow-helper concerning you: or our brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ.

Locke1824: 24Wherefore show ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.

Locke1824: IX. 1.For, as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you.

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Locke1824: 2For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked very many.

Locke1824: 3Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain, in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

Locke1824: 4Lest haply, if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not you) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

Locke1824: 5Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up before-hand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

Locke1824: 6But this I say, He, which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly: and he, which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully.

Locke1824: 7Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a chearful giver.

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Locke1824: 8And God is able to make all grace abound towards you; that ye, always having all-sufficiency, in all things, may abound to every good work:

Locke1824: 9(As it is written, “He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.”

Locke1824: 10Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:)

Locke1824: 11Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth, through us, thanksgiving to God.

Locke1824: 12For the administration of this service, not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also, by many thanksgivings unto God.

Locke1824: 13(Whilst, by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God, for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;)

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Locke1824: 14And, by their prayer for you, which long after you, for the exceeding grace of God in you.

Locke1824: 15Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Moreover, brethren, I make known to you the gift*, which, by the grace of God, is given in the churches Edition: current; Page: [241] Locke1824: 2 of Macedonia: viz. That amidst the afflictions* they have been much tried with, they have, with exceeding chearfulness and joy, made their very low estate of poverty yield a rich contribution of liberality:Locke1824: 3 Being forward of themselves (as I must bear them witness) to the utmost of their power; nay, and beyondLocke1824: 4 their power: Earnestly intreating me to receive their contribution, and be a partner with others, in the charge of conveying and distributing it to theLocke1824: 5 saints. And in this they out-did my expectation, who could not hope for so large a collection from them. But they gave themselves first to the Lord, and to me, to dispose of what they had, according as the goodLocke1824: 6 pleasure of God should direct. Insomuch that I was moved to persuade Titus, that, as he had begun, so he would also see this charitable contribution carriedLocke1824: 7 on among you, till it was perfected: That, as you excel in every thing, abounding in faith, in well-speaking, in knowledge, in every good quality, and in Edition: current; Page: [242] your affection to me; ye might abound in this act ofLocke1824: 8 charitable liberality also. This I say to you, not as a command from God, but on occasion of the great liberality of the churches of Macedonia, and to show the world a proof of the genuine, noble temper of yourLocke1824: 9 love*. For ye know the munificence† of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, being rich, made himself poor for your sakes, that you, by his poverty, might becomeLocke1824: 10 rich. I give you my opinion in the case, because it becomes you so to do, as having begun not only to do something in it, but to show a willingness to it,Locke1824: 11 above a year ago. Now, therefore, apply yourselves Edition: current; Page: [243] to the doing of it in earnest; so that, as you undertook it readily, you would as readily perform it, outLocke1824: 12 of what you have: For every man’s charity is accepted by God, according to the largeness and willingness of his heart, in giving, and not accordingLocke1824: 13 to the narrowness of his fortune. For my meaning is not, that you should be burthened to ease others:Locke1824: 14 But that, at this time, your abundance should make up, what they, through want, come short in; that, on another occasion, their abundance may supplyLocke1824: 15 your deficiency, that there may be an equality: As it is written, “He that had much, had nothingLocke1824: 16 over, and he that had little, had no lack.” But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus theLocke1824: 17 same concern for you, Who not only yielded to my exhortation*: but, being more than ordinary concerned for you, of his own accord went unto you:Locke1824: 18 With whom I have sent the brother†, who has praise through all the churches, for his labour in the Edition: current; Page: [244] Locke1824: 19 gospel: (And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches, to accompany me, in the carrying this collection, which service I undertook for the glory of our Lord, and for your encouragement toLocke1824: 20 a liberal contribution:) To prevent any aspersion might be cast on me, by any one, on occasion of my meddling with the management of so great a sum;Locke1824: 21 And to take care, by having such men joined with me, in the same trust, that my integrity and credit should be preserved, not only in the sight of theLocke1824: 22 Lord, but also in the sight of men. With them I have sent our brother, of whom I have had frequent experience, in sundry affairs, to be a forward, active man; but now much more earnestly intent, by reason of the strong pursuasion he has, of your contributingLocke1824: 23 liberally. Now, whether I speak of Titus, he is my partner, and one, who, with me, promotes your interest; or the two other brethren sent with him, they are the messengers of the churches of Macedonia, by whom their collection is sent, and areLocke1824: 24 promoters of the glory of Christ. Give, therefore, to them, and, by them, to those churches, a demonstration of your love, and a justification of my boastingLocke1824: IX. 1 of you. For, as touching the relief of the poor Edition: current; Page: [245] christians in Jerusalem, it is needless for me to writeLocke1824: 2 to you. For I know the forwardness of your minds, which I boasted of on your behalf, to the macedonians, that Achaia* was ready a year ago, and your zeal inLocke1824: 3 this matter hath been a spur to many others. Yet I have sent these brethren, that my boasting of you may not appear to be vain and groundless, in this part; but that you may, as I said, have your collectionLocke1824: 4 ready: Lest, if perchance the macedonians should come with me, and find it not ready, I (not to say, you) should be ashamed in this matter, whereof ILocke1824: 5 have boasted. I thought it, therefore, necessary to put the brethren upon going before unto you, to prepare things, by a timely notice before-hand, that your contribution may be ready, as a free benevolence of yours, and not as a niggardly gift, extorted fromLocke1824: 6 you. This I say, “He who soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he who soweth plentifully,Locke1824: 7 shall also reap plentifully.” So give, as you find Edition: current; Page: [246] yourselves disposed, every one, in his own heart, not grudgingly, as if it were wrung from you; forLocke1824: 8 God loves a chearful giver. For God is able to make every charitable gift* of yours redound to your advantage; that, you having in every thing, always, a fulness of plenty, ye may abound in everyLocke1824: 9 good work: (As it is written, “He hath scattered, he hath given to the poor, and his liberality† remainethLocke1824: 10 for ever.” Now he, that supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply your stock of seed‡, and increase the fruit ofLocke1824: 11 your liberality:) Enriched in every thing to all beneficence, which, by me, as instrumental in it,Locke1824: 12 procureth thanksgiving to God. For the performance of this service doth not only bring supply to the wants of the saints, but reacheth farther, evenLocke1824: 13 to God himself, by many thanksgivings (Whilst Edition: current; Page: [247] they, having such a proof of you, in this your supply, glorify God for your professed subjection to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberality, in communicatingLocke1824: 14 to them, and to all men;) And to the procuring their prayers for you, they having a great inclination towards you, because of that gracious gift of God bestowed on them, by your liberality.Locke1824: 15 Thanks be to God for this his unspeakable gift.

SECT. IV.

CHAP. X. 1.—XIII. 10.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul having finished his exhortation to liberality, in their collection for the christians at Jerusalem, he here resumes his former argument, and prosecutes the main purpose of this epistle, which was totally to reduce and put a final end to the adverse faction, (which seems not yet to be entirely extinct,) by bringing the corinthians wholly off from the false apostle they had adhered to: and to re-establish himself and his authority in the minds of all the members of that church. And this he does, by the steps contained in the following numbers.

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SECT. IV. No. 1.

CHAP. X. 1—6.

CONTENTS.

He declares the extraordinary power he hath in preaching the gospel, and to punish his opposers amongst them.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Now I Paul, myself, beseech you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

Locke1824: 2But I beseech you, that I may not be bold, when I am present, with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us, as if we walked according to the flesh.

Locke1824: 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

Locke1824: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds:)

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Locke1824: 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing, that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God; and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ:

Locke1824: 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Now I, the same Paul, who am (as it is said amongst you*) base and mean, when present with you, but bold towards you, when absent, beseech you, by theLocke1824: 2 meekness and gentleness† of Christ; I beseech you, I say, that I may not, when present among you, be bold, after that manner I have resolved to be bold towards some, who account that, in my conduct and ministry, I regulate myself wholly by carnal considerations.Locke1824: 3 For, though I live in the flesh, yet I do not carry on the work of the gospel (which is a warfare)Locke1824: 4 according to the flesh: (For the weapons of my warfare are not fleshly‡, but such, as God hath made Edition: current; Page: [249] mighty, to the pulling down of strong holds, i. e.Locke1824: 5 whatever is made use of in opposition:) Beating down human reasonings, and all the towering and most elevated superstructures raised thereon, by the wit of men, against the knowledge of God, as held forth in the gospel; captivating all their notions, and bringingLocke1824: 6 them into subjection to Christ: And having by me, in a readiness, power wherewithal to punish and chastise all disobedience, when you, who have been misled by your false apostle, withdrawing yourselves from him, shall return to a perfect obedience*.

SECT. IV. No. 2.

CHAP. X. 7—18.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul examines the false apostle’s pretensions, and compares his own with his performances.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 7Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself, that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

Locke1824: 8For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, (which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction,) I should not be ashamed.

Locke1824: 9That I may not seem, as if I would terrify you by letters.

Locke1824: 10“For his letters,” say they, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”

Locke1824: 11Let such an one think this, that such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed, when we are present.

Locke1824: 12For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some, that commend themselves: but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves amongst themselves, are not wise.

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Locke1824: 13But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule, which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

Locke1824: 14For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also, in preaching the gospel of Christ:

Locke1824: 15Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other Edition: current; Page: [252] men’s labours: but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you, according to our rule, abundantly:

Locke1824: 16To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast, in another man’s line, of things made ready to our hand.

Locke1824: 17But he, that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Locke1824: 18For not he, that commendeth himself, is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 7Do ye judge of men, by the outward appearance of things? Is it by such measures you take an estimate of me and my adversaries? If he has confidence in himself, that he is Christ’s, i. e. assumes to himself the authority of one employed and commissioned by Christ*, let him, on the other side, count thus with himself, that, as he is Christ’s, soLocke1824: 8 I also am Christ’s. Nay, if I should boastingly say something more†, of the authority and power, which the Lord has given me for your edification, and not for your destruction‡, I should not be putLocke1824: 9 to shame§: But that I may not seem to terrifyLocke1824: 10 you by letters, as is objected to me by some, Who say that my letters are weighty and powerful, but my bodily presence weak, and my discourse contemptible.Locke1824: 11 Let him, that says so, reckon upon this, that such as I am in word, by letters, when I am absent, such shall I be also in deed, when present.Locke1824: 12 For I dare not be so bold, as to rank or compare myself with some, who vaunt themselves: but Edition: current; Page: [251] they measuring themselves within themselves*, and comparing themselves with themselves, do not understand†.Locke1824: 13 But I, for my part, will not boast of myself in what has not been measured out, or allotted to me‡; i. e. I will not go out of my own province, to seek matter of commendation; but proceeding orderly, in the province, which God hath measured out, and allotted to me, I have reached even unto you; i. e. I preached the gospel in everyLocke1824: 14 country, as I went, till I came as far as you. For I do not extend myself farther than I should, as if I had skipped over other countries in my way, without proceeding gradually to you; no, for I have reached even unto you, in preaching of the gospel inLocke1824: 15 all countries, as I passed along§: Not extending my boasting∥, beyond my own bounds, into provinces Edition: current; Page: [252] not allotted to me, nor vaunting myself of any thing, I have done, in another’s labour*, i. e. in a church planted by another man’s pains: but having hope, that, your faith increasing, my province willLocke1824: 16 be enlarged by you yet farther: So that I may preach the gospel to the yet unconverted countries beyond you, and not take glory to myself, from another man’s province, where all things are madeLocke1824: 17 ready to my hand*. But he that will glory, let him glory, or seek praise, from that which is committed to him by the Lord, or in that which is acceptableLocke1824: 18 to the Lord. For not he, who commends himself, does thereby give a proof of his authority, or mission; but he, whom the Lord commends by the gifts of the Holy Ghost†.

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SECT. IV. No. 3.

CHAP. XI. 1—6.

CONTENTS.

He shows that their pretended apostle, bringing to them no other Saviour or gospel, nor conferring greater power of miracles, than he [St. Paul] had done, was not to be preferred before him.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Would to God ye could bear with me a little, in my folly; and, indeed, bear with me.

Locke1824: 2For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Locke1824: 3But I fear lest, by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Locke1824: 4For if he, that cometh, preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached; or if ye receive another Spirit, which ye have not received; or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

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Locke1824: 5For, I suppose, I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

Locke1824: 6But, though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been thoroughly made manifest, among you, in all things.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Would you could bear me a little, in my folly*;Locke1824: 2 and, indeed, to bear with me. For I am jealous over you, with a jealousy, that is for God: for I have fitted and prepared you for one alone, to be your husband, viz. that I might deliver you up a pureLocke1824: 3 virgin, to Christ. But, I fear, lest, some way or other, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning; so your minds should be debauched from that singlenessLocke1824: 4 which is due to Christ†. For if this intruder, who Edition: current; Page: [254] has been a leader amongst you, can preach to you another Saviour, whom I have not preached; or if you receive from him other, or greater gifts of the Spirit, than those you received from me; or another gospel than what you accepted from me; you might well bear with him, and allow his pretensions of beingLocke1824: 5 a new and greater apostle. For, as to the apostles of Christ, I suppose I am not a whit behind theLocke1824: 6 chiefest of them. For though I am but a mean speaker, yet I am not without knowledge; but in every thing have been made manifest unto you, i. e. to be an apostle.

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SECT. IV. No. 4.

CHAP. XI. 7—15.

CONTENTS.

He justifies himself to them, in his having taken nothing of them. There had been great talk about this, and objections raised against St. Paul thereupon; vid. 1 Cor. ix. 1—3. As if, by this, he had discovered himself not to be an apostle: to which he there answers, and here toucheth it again, and answers another objection, which it seems was made, viz. that he refused to receive maintenance from them out of unkindness to them.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 7Have I committed an offence, in abasing myself, that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

Locke1824: 8I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

Locke1824: 9And, when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man; for that, which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia, supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

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Locke1824: 10As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting, in the regions of Achaia.

Locke1824: 11Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

Locke1824: 12But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them, which desire occasion, that, wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

Locke1824: 13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

Locke1824: 14And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Locke1824: 15Therefore it is no great thing, if his ministers also be transformed, as the ministers of righteousness: whose end shall be according to their works.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 7Have I committed an offence* in abasing myself, to work with my hands, neglecting my right of maintenance, due to me, as an apostle, that you might be exalted in christianity, because I preached the gospelLocke1824: 8 of God to you gratis? I robbed other churches, takingLocke1824: 9 wages of them, to do you service. And, being with you and in want, I was chargeable to not a man of you: for the brethren, who came from Macedonia, Edition: current; Page: [256] supplied me with what I needed: and, in all things, I have kept myself from being burdensomeLocke1824: 10 to you, and so I will continue to do. The truth and sincerity I owe to Christ is, in what I say to you, viz. This boasting of mine shall not in theLocke1824: 11 regions of Achaia be stopped in me. Why so? Is it, because I love you not? For that God can beLocke1824: 12 my witness, he knoweth. But what I do, and shall do*, is, that I may cut off all occasion from those, who, if I took any thing of you, would be glad of that occasion to boast, that in it they had me for a pattern, and did nothing but what even I myselfLocke1824: 13 had done. For these are false† apostles, deceitful labourers in the gospel, having put on the counterfeitLocke1824: 14 shape and outside of apostles of Christ: And no marvel; for Satan himself is sometimes transformedLocke1824: 15 into an angel of light. Therefore it is not strange, if so be his ministers are disguised so, as to appear ministers of the gospel: whose end shall be according to their works.

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SECT. IV. No. 5.

CHAP. XI. 16—33.

CONTENTS.

He goes on, in his justification, reflecting upon the carriage of the false apostle towards the corinthians, ver. 16—21. He compares himself with the false apostle, in what he boasts of, as being a Hebrew, ver. 21, 22, or minister of Christ, ver. 23, and here St. Paul enlarges upon his labours and sufferings.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 16I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

Locke1824: 17That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but, as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

Locke1824: 18Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

Locke1824: 19For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

Locke1824: 20For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour Edition: current; Page: [258] you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

Locke1824: 21I speak, as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak: howbeit, whereinsoever any are bold, (I speak foolishly) I am bold also.

Locke1824: 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.

Locke1824: 23Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more: in Edition: current; Page: [259] labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

Locke1824: 24Of the jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

Locke1824: 25Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep:

Locke1824: 26In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

Locke1824: 27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Locke1824: 28Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Locke1824: 29Who is weak, and I am not weak; who is offended, and I burn not?

Locke1824: 30If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

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Locke1824: 31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lye not.

Locke1824: 32In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the damascenes, with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

Locke1824: 33And, through a window, in a basket, was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 16I say again, Let no man think me a fool, that I speak so much of myself: or, at least, if it be a folly in me, bear with me as a fool, that I too, as well asLocke1824: 17 others*, may boast myself a little. That, which I say on this occasion, is not by command from Christ, but, as it were, foolishly, in this matter of boasting.Locke1824: 18 Since many glory† in their circumcision, or extraction‡,Locke1824: 19 I will glory also. For ye bear with foolsLocke1824: 20 easily§, being yourselves wise. For you bear with it, if a man bring you into bondage∥, i. e. domineer Edition: current; Page: [258] over you, and use you like his bondmen; if he make a prey of you; if he take, or extort presents, or a salary, from you; if he be elevated, and high, amongst you; if he smite you on the face, i. e. treat you contumeliously.Locke1824: 21 I speak, according to the reproach has been cast upon me, as if I were weak, i. e. destitute of what might support me in dignity and authority, equal to this false apostle, as if I had not as fair pretencesLocke1824: 22 to power and profit amongst you, as he. Is he an hebrew*, i. e. by language an hebrew? So am I. Is he an israelite, truly of the jewish nation, and bred up in that religion? So am I. Is he of the seed of Abraham, really descended from him? And not a proselyte, of a foreign extraction? So am I.Locke1824: 23 Is he a minister of Jesus Christ? (I speak in my foolish way of boasting) I am more so: in toilsome labours I surpass him: in stripes I am exceedingly beyond him†: in prisons I have been oftener; and Edition: current; Page: [259] Locke1824: 24 in the very jaws of death, more than once: Of the jews I have, five times, received forty stripes saveLocke1824: 25 one. Thrice was I whipped with rods: once was I stoned: thrice shipwrecked: I have passed a nightLocke1824: 26 and a day in the sea: In journeyings often: in perils by water; in perils by robbers; in perils by mine own countrymen; in perils from the heathen; in perils in the city; in perils in the country; in perilsLocke1824: 27 at sea; in perils among false brethren; In toil and trouble, and sleepless nights, often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings, often; in cold and nakedness.Locke1824: 28 Besides these troubles from without the disturbance that comes daily upon me, from my concern for allLocke1824: 29 the churches. Who is a weak christian, in danger, through frailty or ignorance, to be misled, whose weakness I do not feel and suffer in, as if it were my own? Who is actually misled, for whom my zeal and concern do not make me uneasy, as if I had a fireLocke1824: 30 in me? If I must be compelled* to glory†, I will Edition: current; Page: [260] glory of those things which are of my weak and sufferingLocke1824: 31 side. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lyeLocke1824: 32 not. In Damascus, the governor, under Aretas the king, who kept the town with a garrison, being desirousLocke1824: 33 to apprehend me; I was, through a window, let down in a basket, and escaped his hands.

SECT. IV. No. 6.

CHAP. XII. 1—11.

CONTENTS.

He makes good his apostleship, by the extraordinary visions and revelations, which he had received.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory: I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

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Locke1824: 2I knew a man in Christ, above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth,) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

Locke1824: 3And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth)

Locke1824: 4How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Locke1824: 5Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.

Locke1824: 6For, though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

Locke1824: 7And, lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance Edition: current; Page: [262] of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Locke1824: 8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

Locke1824: 9And he said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Locke1824: 10Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Locke1824: 11I am become a fool in glorying: ye have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you; for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1If I must be forced to glory* for your sakes; (for me it is not expedient) I will come to visions and revelations Edition: current; Page: [261] Locke1824: 2 of the Lord. I knew a man*, by the power of Christ, above fourteen years ago, caught up into the third heaven, whether the intire man, body and all, or out of the body in an ecstacy, I know not; God knows.Locke1824: 3 And I knew such an one*, whether in the body, or outLocke1824: 4 of the body, I know not, God knows, That he was caught up into paradise, and there heard what is not inLocke1824: 5 the power of man to utter. Of such an one, I will glory; but myself I will not mention, with any boasting, unless in things that carry the marks of weakness,Locke1824: 6 and show my sufferings. But if I should have a mind to glory in other things, I might do it, without being a fool; for I would speak nothing but what is true, having matter in abundance†, but I forbear, lest any one should think of me beyond what he sees me, orLocke1824: 7 hears commonly reported of me. And that I might not be exalted above measure, by reason of the abundance of revelations that I had, there was given me a thorn in the flesh‡, the messenger of Satan to buffet Edition: current; Page: [262] Locke1824: 8 me, that I might not be over-much elevated. Concerning this thing, I besought the Lord thrice, thatLocke1824: 9 it might depart from me. And he said, My favour is sufficient for thee: for my power exerts itself, and its sufficiency is seen the more perfectly, the weaker thou thyself art. I, therefore, most willingly choose to glory, rather in things that show my weakness, than in my abundance of glorious revelations, that the power of Christ may the more visibly beLocke1824: 10 seen to dwell in me. Wherefore, I have satisfaction in weaknesses, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I, looked upon in my outward state, appear weak, then by the power of Christ, which dwelleth in me,Locke1824: 11 I am found to be strong. I am become foolish in glorying thus: but it is you, who have forced me to it. For I ought to have been commended by you; since in nothing came I behind the chiefest of the apostles, though in myself I am nothing.

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SECT. IV. No. 7.

CHAP. XII. 12, 13.

CONTENTS.

He continues to justify himself to be an apostle, by the miracles he did, and the supernatural gifts he bestowed amongst the corinthians.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 12Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you, in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

Locke1824: 13For what is it wherein ye were inferiour to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 12Truly the signs whereby an apostle might be known, were wrought among you, by me, in all patience* and submission, under the difficulties I there met with, in miraculous, wonderful and mighty works,Locke1824: 13 performed by me. For what is there, which you were any way shortened in, and had not equally with other churches†, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this injury.

SECT. IV. No. 8.

CHAP. XII. 14—21.

CONTENTS.

He farther justifies himself, to the corinthians, by his past disinterestedness, and his continued kind intentions to them.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 14Behold, the third time, I am ready to come to you; and will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

Locke1824: 15And I will very gladly spend, and be spent, for you, though, the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

Locke1824: 16“But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless being crafty, I caught you with guile.”

Locke1824: 17Did I make a gain of you, by any of them, whom I sent unto you?

Locke1824: 18I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother; did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?

Locke1824: 19Again, think you that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak Edition: current; Page: [265] before God, in Christ; but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.

Locke1824: 20For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you, such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

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Locke1824: 21And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many, which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness, which they have committed.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 14Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come unto you; but I will not be burdensome to you; for I seek not what is yours, but you: for it is not expected, nor usual, that children should lay up forLocke1824: 15 their parents, but parents* for their children. I will gladly lay out whatever is in my possession, or power; nay, even wear out and hazard myself for your souls†, though it should so fall out that the more I love you, the less I should be beloved byLocke1824: 16 you‡. “Be it so, as some suggest, that I was not burdensome to you; but it was in truth out of cunning, with a design to catch you, with that trick, drawing from you, by others, what I refusedLocke1824: 17 in person.” In answer to which, I ask, Did I, by any of those, I sent unto you, make aLocke1824: 18 gain of you? I desired Titus to go to you, and with him I sent a brother: did Titus make a gain of you? Did not they behave themselves with the same temper, that I did, amongst you? Did we not walk in the same steps? i. e. neither they, norLocke1824: 19 I, received any thing from you. Again§, do not, Edition: current; Page: [265] upon my mentioning my sending of Titus to you, think that I apologize for my not coming myself: I speak, as in the presence of God, and as a christian, there is no such thing: in all my whole carriage towards you, beloved, all that has been done, has been done only for your edification. No, there is no need of an apology for my not coming to youLocke1824: 20 sooner: For I fear, when I do come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that you will find me such as you would not: I am afraid, that among you there are disputes, envyings, animosities, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings of mind, disturbances: Edition: current; Page: [266] Locke1824: 21 And that my God, when I come to you again, will humble me amongst you, and I shall bewail many, who have formerly sinned, and have not yet repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lasciviousness, whereof they are guilty.

SECT. IV. No. 9.

CHAP. XIII. 1—10.

CONTENTS.

He re-assumes what he was going to say, ch. xii. 14, and tells them, how he intends to deal with them, when he comes to them: and assures them, that, however they question it, he shall be able, by miracles, to give proof of his authority and commission from Christ.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1This is the third time I am coming to you: in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Locke1824: 2I told you before, and foretel you, as if I were present the second time; and, being absent, now I write to them, which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

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Locke1824: 3Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

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Locke1824: 4For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God: for we also are weak in him, but we shall live, with him, by the power of God towards you.

Locke1824: 5Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves: know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Locke1824: 6But I trust that ye shall know, that we are not reprobates.

Locke1824: 7Now I pray to God, that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.

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Locke1824: 8For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

Locke1824: 9For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.

Locke1824: 10Therefore I write these things, being absent; lest, being present, I should use sharpness, according to the power, which the Lord hath given me, to edification, and not to destruction.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1This is now, the third time, I am coming to you; and, when I come, I shall not spare you, having proceeded, according to our Saviour’s rule, and endeavoured by fair means, first to reclaim you, before ILocke1824: 2 come to the last extremity. And of this my former Edition: current; Page: [267] epistle, wherein I applied myself to you, and this, wherein I now, as if I were present wiih you, foretel those, who have formerly sinned, and all the rest, to whom, being now absent, I write, that when I come, I will not spare you. I say, these two letters are my witnesses, according to our Saviour’s rule, which says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every wordLocke1824: 3 shall be established*:” Since you demand a proof of my mission, and of what I deliver, that it is dictated by Christ speaking in me, who must be acknowledged not to be weak to you-ward, but has given sufficient Edition: current; Page: [268] Locke1824: 4 marks of his power amongst you. For, though his crucifixion and death were with appearance* of weakness; yet he liveth with the manifestation* of the power of God, appearing in my punishing you.Locke1824: 5 You examine me, whether I can, by any miraculous operation, give a proof, that Christ is in me. Pray, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; make a trial upon yourselves, whether you yourselves are not somewhat destitute of proofs†. Or, are you so little acquainted with yourselves, as notLocke1824: 6 to know, whether Christ be in you? But, if you do not know yourselves, whether you can give proofs or no, yet I hope, you shall know, that I am not unableLocke1824: 7 to give proof† of Christ in me. But I pray to God that you may do no evil, wishing not for an opportunity to show my proofs†: but that you, doing what is right, I may be, as if I had no proofs†, no supernatural Edition: current; Page: [269] Locke1824: 8 power. For though I have the power of punishing supernaturally, I cannot show this power upon any of you, unless it be that you are offenders, and yourLocke1824: 9 punishment be for the advantage of the gospel. I am, therefore, glad, when I am weak, and can inflict no punishment upon you; and you are so strong, i. e. clear of faults, that ye cannot be touched. For all the power I have is only for promoting the truth of the gospel; whoever are faithful and obedient to that, I can do nothing to; I cannot make examples of them, by all the extraordinary power I have, if I would: nay, this also I wish, even your perfection.Locke1824: 10 These things, therefore, I write to you, being absent, that when I come, I may not use severity, according to the power which the Lord hath given me, for edification, not for destruction.

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SECT. V.

CHAP. XIII. 11—14.

CONCLUSION.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 11Finally, brethren, farewell; be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Locke1824: 12Greet one another with an holy kiss.

Locke1824: 13All the saints salute you.

Locke1824: 14The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 11Finally, brethren, farewell: bring yourselves into one well-united, firm, unjarring society*; be of good comfort; be of one mind; live in peace, andLocke1824: 12 the God of love and peace shall be with you. SaluteLocke1824: 13 one another with an holy kiss: All the saints saluteLocke1824: 14 you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

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A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

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THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS;
WRIT IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 57, OF NERO III.

SYNOPSIS.

Before we take into consideration the epistle to the Romans in particular, it may not be amiss to premise, that the miraculous birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, were all events, that came to pass within the confines of Judea; and that the ancient writings of the jewish nation, allowed by the christians to be of divine original, were appealed to, as witnessing the truth of his mission and doctrine; whereby it was manifest, that the jews were the depositaries of the proofs of the christian religion. This could not choose but give the jews, who were owned to be the people of God, even in the days of our Saviour, a great authority among the convert gentiles, who knew nothing of the Messiah, they were to believe in, but what they derived from that nation, out of which he and his doctrine sprung. Nor did the jews fail to make use of this advantage, several ways to the disturbance of the gentiles, that embraced christianity. The jews, even those of them that received the gospel, were for the most part, so devoted to the law of Moses and their ancient rites, that they could by no means, bring themselves to think, that they were to be laid aside. They were, every-where, stiff and zealous for them, and contended that they were necessary to be observed, even by christians, by all that pretended to be the people of God, and hoped to be accepted by him. This gave no small trouble to the newly-converted gentiles, and was Edition: current; Page: [274] a great prejudice to the gospel, and therefore we find it complained of, in more places than one; vid. Acts xv. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 3; Gal. ii. 4, and v. 1, 10, 12; Phil. iii. 2; Col. ii. 4, 8, 16; Tit. i. 10, 11, 14, &c. This remark may serve to give light, not only to this epistle to the romans, but to several other of St. Paul’s epistles, written to the churches of converted gentiles.

As to this epistle to the romans, the apostle’s principal aim in it seems to be, to persuade them to a steady perseverance in the profession of christianity, by convincing them, that God is the God of the gentiles, as well as of the jews; and that now, under the gospel, there is no difference between jew and gentile. This he does several ways:

1. By showing, that, though the gentiles were very sinful, yet the jews, who had the law, kept it not, and so could not, upon account of their having the law (which being broken aggravated their faults, and made them as far from righteous, as the gentiles themselves) have a title to exclude the gentiles, from being the people of God, under the gospel.

2. That Abraham was a father of all that believe, as well uncircumcised, as circumcised; so that those, that walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham, though uncircumcised, are the seed, to which the promise is made, and shall receive the blessing.

3. That it was the purpose of God, from the beginning, to take the gentiles to be his people under the Messias, in the place of the jews, who had been so, till that time, but were then nationally rejected, because they nationally rejected the Messias, whom he sent to them to be their King and Deliverer, but was received by but a very small number of them, which remnant was received into the kingdom of Christ, and so continued to be his people, with the converted gentiles, who all together made now the church and people of God.

4. That the jewish nation had no reason to complain of any unrighteousness in God, or hardship from him, in their being cast off, for their unbelief, since they had been warned of it, and they might find it threatened in their ancient prophets. Besides, the raising or depressing Edition: current; Page: [275] of any nation is the prerogative of God’s sovereignty. Preservation in the land, that God has given them, being not the right of any one race of men, above another. And God might, when he thought fit, reject the nation of the jews, by the same sovereignty, whereby he at first chose the posterity of Jacob to be his people, passing by other nations, even such as descended from Abraham and Isaac: but yet he tells them, that at last they shall be restored again.

Besides the assurance he labours to give the romans, that they are, by faith in Jesus Christ, the people of God, without circumcision, or other observances of the jews, whatever they may say, (which is the main drift of this epistle,) it is farther remarkable, that this epistle being writ to a church of gentiles, in the metropolis of the roman empire, but not planted by St. Paul himself; he, as apostle of the gentiles, out of care that they should rightly understand the gospel, has woven into his discourse the chief doctrines of it, and given them a comprehensive view of God’s dealing with mankind, from first to last, in reference to eternal life. The principal heads whereof are these:

That, by Adam’s transgression, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death reigned over all men, from Adam to Moses.

That, by Moses, God gave the children of Israel (who were his people, i. e. owned him for their God, and kept themselves free from the idolatry and revolt of the heathen world) a law, which if they obeyed they should have life thereby, i. e. attain to immortal life, which had been lost by Adam’s transgression.

That though this law, which was righteous, just, and good, were ordained to life, yet, not being able to give strength to perform what it could not but require, it failed, by reason of the weakness of human nature, to help men to life. So that, though the israelites had statutes, which if a man did, he should live in them; yet they all transgressed, and attained not to righteousness and life, by the deeds of the law.

That, therefore, there was no way to life left to those under the law, but by the righteousness of faith in Jesus Edition: current; Page: [276] Christ, by which faith alone they were that seed of Abraham, to whom the blessing was promised.

This was the state of the israelites.

As to the gentile world, he tells them,

That, though God made himself known to them, by legible characters of his being and power, visible in the works of the creation; yet they glorified him not, nor were thankful to him; they did not own nor worship the one, only, true, invisible God, the creator of all things, but revolted from him, to gods set up by themselves, in their own vain imaginations, and worshipped stocks and stones, the corruptible images of corruptible things.

That, they having thus cast off their allegiance to him, their proper Lord, and revolted to other gods, God, therefore cast them off, and gave them up to vile affections, and to the conduct of their own darkened hearts, which led them into all sorts of vices.

That both jews and gentiles, being thus all under sin, and coming short of the glory of God; God, by sending his Son Jesus Christ, shows himself to be the God both of the jews and gentiles; since he justifieth the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith, so that all, that believe, are freely justified by his grace.

That though justification unto eternal life be only by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ; yet we are, to the utmost of our power, sincerely to endeavour after righteousness, and from our hearts obey the precepts of the gospel, whereby we become the servants of God; for his servants we are whom we obey, whether of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness.

These are but some of the more general and comprehensive heads of the christian doctrine, to be found in this epistle. The design of a synopsis will not permit me to descend more minutely to particulars. But this let me say, that he, that would have an enlarged view of true christianity, will do well to study this epistle.

Several exhortations, suited to the state that the christians of Rome were then in, make up the latter part of the epistle.

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This epistle was writ from Corinth, the year of our Lord, according to the common account, 57, the third year of Nero, a little after the second epistle to the corinthians.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1—15.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION,
With his profession of a desire to see them.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Locke1824: 2(Which he had promised afore, by his prophets, in the holy scriptures)

Locke1824: 3Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, (which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh;

Locke1824: 4And declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

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Locke1824: 5By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name;

Locke1824: 6Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ.)

Locke1824: 7To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 8First, I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all, that your faith is spoken of, throughout the whole world.

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Locke1824: 9For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

Locke1824: 10Making request (if by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey, by the will of God) to come unto you.

Locke1824: 11For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established;

Locke1824: 12That is, that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me.

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Locke1824: 13Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (but was let hitherto) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other gentiles.

Locke1824: 14I am debtor both to the greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.

Locke1824: 15So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called* to be an apostle, separated† to the preaching of the gospel ofLocke1824: 2 God (Which he had heretofore promised, by his prophets,Locke1824: 3 in the holy scriptures) Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, (who according to the flesh, i. e. as to the body, which he took in the womb of the blessed virgin, his mother, was of the posterityLocke1824: 4 and lineage of David‡; According to the spirit of Edition: current; Page: [278] holiness*, i. e. as to that more pure and spiritual part, which in him over-ruled all, and kept even his frail flesh holy and spotless from the least taint of sin†, and was of another extraction, with most mighty power‡ declared§ to be the son of God, by his resurrectionLocke1824: 5 from the dead; By whom I have received favour, and the office of an apostle, for the bringing of the gentiles, every where, to the obedience of faith,Locke1824: 6 which I preach in his name; Of which number∥, i. e. gentiles, that I am sent to preach to, are ye whoLocke1824: 7 are already called¶, and become christians.) To all the beloved of God¶, and called to be saints, who are in Rome, favour and peace be to you from GodLocke1824: 8 our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first Edition: current; Page: [279] place, I thank my God, through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the wholeLocke1824: 9 world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with the whole bent of my mind, in preaching the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I constantly makeLocke1824: 10 mention of you in my prayers. Requesting (if it be God’s will, that I may now at length, if possible,Locke1824: 11 have a good opportunity) to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may communicate to you some spiritual gift*, for your establishment† in theLocke1824: 12 faith; That is‡, that, when I am among you, I may be comforted together with you, both with your Edition: current; Page: [280] Locke1824: 13 faith and my own. This I think fit you should know, brethren, that I often purposed to come unto you, that I may have some fruit of my ministry,Locke1824: 14 among you also, even as among other gentiles. I owe, what service I can do, to the gentiles of all kinds, whether greeks or barbarians, to both the more knowing and civilized, and the uncultivatedLocke1824: 15 and ignorant: So that, as much as in me lies, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also, who are at Rome.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 16.—II. 29.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul, in this section, shows, that the jews exclude themselves from being the people of God, under the gospel, by the same reason that they would have the gentiles excluded.

It cannot be sufficiently admired how skilfully, to avoid offending those of his own nation, St. Paul here enters into an argument, so unpleasing to the jews, as this of persuading them, that the gentiles had as good a title to be taken in, to be the people of God, under the Messias, as they themselves, which is the main design of this epistle.

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In this latter part of the first chapter, he gives a description of the gentile world in very black colours, but very adroitly interweaves such an apology for them, in respect of the jews, as was sufficient to beat that assuming nation out of all their pretences to a right to continue to be alone the people of God, with an exclusion of the gentiles. This may be seen, if one carefully attends to the particulars, that he mentions, relating to the jews and gentiles; and observes how, what he says of the jews, in the second chapter, answers to what he had charged on the gentiles, in the first. For there is a secret comparison of them, one with another, runs through these two chapters, which, as soon as it comes to be minded, gives such a light and lustre to St. Paul’s discourse, that one cannot but admire the skilful turn of it: and look on it as the most soft, the most beautiful, and most pressing argumentation, that one shall any where meet with, altogether: since it leaves the jews nothing to say for themselves, why they should have the privilege continued to them, under the gospel, of being alone the people of God. All the things they stood upon, and boasted in, giving them no preference, in this respect, to the gentiles; nor any ground to judge them to be incapable, or unworthy to be their fellow-subjects, in the kingdom of the Messias. This is what he says, speaking of them nationally. But as to every one’s personal concerns in a future state, he assures them, both jews and gentiles, that the unrighteous of both nations, whether admitted, or not, into the visible communion of the people of God, are liable to condemnation. Those, who have sinned without law, shall perish without law; and those, who have sinned in the law, shall be judged, i. e. condemned by the law.

Perhaps some readers will not think it superfluous, if I give a short draught of St. Paul’s management of himself here for allaying the sourness of the jews, against the gentiles, and their offence at the gospel, for allowing any of them place among the people of God, under the Messias.

After he had declared that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to those who believe; to the jew first, and also to the gentile; and that the way of this Edition: current; Page: [282] salvation is revealed to be, by the righteousness of God, which is by faith; he tells them, that the wrath of God is also now revealed against all atheism, polytheism, idolatry, and vice whatsoever, of men holding the truth in unrighteousness, because they might come to the knowledge of the true God, by the visible works of the creation; so that the gentiles were without excuse, for turning from the true God to idolatry, and the worship of false gods, whereby their hearts were darkened; so that they were without God in the world. Wherefore, God gave them up to vile affections, and all manner of vices, in which state, though, by the light of nature, they know what was right, yet understanding not that such things were worthy of death, they not only do them themselves, but abstaining from censure, live fairly and in fellowship with those that do them. Whereupon he tells the jews, that they are more inexcusable than the heathen, in that they judge, abhor, and have in aversion, the gentiles, for what they themselves do with greater provocation. Their censure and judgment in the case is unjust and wrong: but the judgment of God is always right and just, which will certainly overtake those who judge others, for the same things they do themselves; and do not consider, that God’s forbearance to them ought to bring them to repentance. For God will render to every one according to his deeds; to those that in meekness and patience continue in well-doing, everlasting life; but to those who are censorious, proud and contentious, and will not obey the gospel, condemnation and wrath, at the day of judgment, whether they be jews or gentiles: for God puts no difference between them. Thou, that art a jew, boastest that God is thy God; that he has enlightened thee by the law that he himself gave thee from heaven, and hath, by that immediate revelation, taught thee what things are excellent and tend to life, and what are evil and have death annexed to them. If, therefore, thou transgressest, dost not thou more dishonour God and provoke him, than a poor heathen, that knows not God, nor that the things he doth, deserve death, which is their reward? Shall not he, if, by the light of nature, he do what is conormable to the revealed law of God, judge thee, who Edition: current; Page: [283] hast received that law from God, by revelation, and breakest it? Shall not this, rather than circumcision, make him an israelite? For he is not a jew, i. e. one of God’s people, who is one outwardly, by circumcision of the flesh; but he that is one inwardly, by the circumcision of the flesh; but he that is one inwardly, by the circumcision of the heart.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the jew first, and also to the greek.

Locke1824: 17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

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Locke1824: 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

Locke1824: 19Because that, which may be known of God, is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.

Locke1824: 20For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, Edition: current; Page: [285] even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse.

Locke1824: 21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Locke1824: 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools:

Locke1824: 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image, made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

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Locke1824: 24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

Locke1824: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lye, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Locke1824: 26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Locke1824: 27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust, one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their errour, which was meet.

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Locke1824: 28And, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient:

Locke1824: 29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers,

Locke1824: 30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

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Locke1824: 31Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful;

Locke1824: 32Who knowing the judgment of God (that they which commit such things are worthy of death) not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

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Locke1824: II. 1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou, that judgest, dost the same thing.

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Locke1824: 2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, against them which commit such things.

Locke1824: 3And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

Locke1824: 4Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Locke1824: 5But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

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Locke1824: 6Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

Locke1824: 7To them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality; eternal life:

Locke1824: 8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness; indignation and wrath;

Locke1824: 9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doth evil, of the jew first, and also of the gentile.

Locke1824: 10But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the jew first, and also to the gentile.

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Locke1824: 11For there is no respect of persons with God.

Locke1824: 12For, as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law;

Locke1824: 13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Locke1824: 14For when the gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.

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Locke1824: 15Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the mean while, accusing, or else excusing one another)

Locke1824: 16In the day, when God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

Locke1824: 17Behold, thou art called a jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God:

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Locke1824: 18And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law.

Locke1824: 19And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

Locke1824: 20An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge, and of the truth in the law.

Locke1824: 21Thou, therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

Locke1824: 22Thou, that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou, that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

Locke1824: 23Thou, that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonourest thou God?

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Locke1824: 24For the name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles, through you, as it is written.

Locke1824: 25For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

Locke1824: 26Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

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Locke1824: 27And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

Locke1824: 28For he is not a jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

Locke1824: 29But he is a jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 16For I am not ashamed to preach the gospel of Christ, even at Rome itself, that mistress of the world: for, whatever it may be thought of there*, by that vain and haughty people, it is that, wherein God exerts himself, and shows his power†, for the salvation of those who believe, of the jews in theLocke1824: 17 first place‡, and also of the gentiles. For therein is the righteousness§, which is of the free grace of God, through Jesus Christ, revealed to be wholly by faith∥, as it is written, The just shall live by Edition: current; Page: [284] Locke1824: 18 faith. And it is no more than need, that the gospel, wherein the righteousness of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, is revealed, should be preached to you gentiles, since the wrath of God is now revealed* from heaven, by Jesus Christ, against all ungodliness† and unrighteousness of men‡, who live notLocke1824: 19 up to the light that God has given them§. Because God, in a clear manifestation of himself amongst them, has laid before them, ever since the creation of the world, his divine nature and eternalLocke1824: 20 power; So that what is to be known, of his invisible Edition: current; Page: [285] being, might be clearly discovered and understood, from the visible beauty, order, and operations, observable in the constitution and parts of the universe, by all those, that would cast their regards, and apply their minds* that way: insomuch thatLocke1824: 21 they are utterly without excuse: For that, when the Deity was so plainly discovered to them, yet they glorified him not, as was suitable to the excellency of his divine nature: nor did they, with due thankfulness, acknowledge him as the author of their being, and the giver of all the good they enjoyed: but, following the vain fancies of their own vain† minds, set up to themselves fictitious no-gods, andLocke1824: 22 their foolish understandings were darkened. Assuming to themselves the opinion and name‡ ofLocke1824: 23 being wise, they became fools; And, quitting the incomprehensible majesty and glory of the eternal, Edition: current; Page: [286] incorruptible Deity, set up to themselves the images of corruptible men, birds, beasts, and insects, as fitLocke1824: 24 objects of their adoration and worship. Wherefore, they having forsaken God, he also left them to the lusts of their own hearts, and that uncleanness their darkened hearts led them into, to dishonourLocke1824: 25 their bodies among themselves: Who so much debased themselves, as to change the true God, who made them, for a lye* of their own making, worshipping and serving the creature, and things even of a lower rank than themselves, more than the Creator, who is God over all, blessed for evermore. Amen.Locke1824: 26 (For this cause God gave them up to shameful and infamous lusts and passions, for even their women did change their natural use, into that which isLocke1824: 27 against nature: And likewise, their men, leaving also the natural use of the women, burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men practising that which is shameful, and receiving in themselves a fit reward of their errour, i. e. idolatry†.) Edition: current; Page: [287] Locke1824: 28 And.*, as they did not search out† God, whom they had in the world, so as to have him with a due acknowledgment‡ of him, God gave them up to an unsearching and unjudicious§ mind, to do thingsLocke1824: 29 incongruous, and not meet∥ to be done; Being filled with all manner of iniquity, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malice, full of envy, contention,Locke1824: 30 deceit, malignity even to murder, Backbiters, haters of God, insulters of men, proud, boasters, inventors of new arts of debauchery, disobedient to parents, Edition: current; Page: [288] Locke1824: 31 Without understanding, covenant-breakers, withoutLocke1824: 32 natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who, though they acknowledge the rule of right* prescribed them by God, and discovered by the light of nature, did not yet understand† that those, who did such things, were worthy of death, do‡ not only do them themselves, but live well together, without any mark of Edition: current; Page: [289] disesteem, or censure, with them that do them.Locke1824: II. 1 Therefore*, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art†, that judgest‡ or censurest another: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself: Edition: current; Page: [290] for thou, that judgest, art alike guilty, in doingLocke1824: 2 the same things. But this we are sure of, that the judgment, that God passes upon any offenders, is accordingLocke1824: 3 to* truth, right and just. Canst thou, who dost those things which thou condemnest in another, think that thou shalt escape the condemning sentenceLocke1824: 4 of God? Or slightest thou the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing, nor considering, that the goodness of God ought to lead theeLocke1824: 5 to repentance? But layest up to thyself wrath and Edition: current; Page: [291] punishment, which thou wilt meet with, at the day of judgment, and that just retribution, which shall be awarded thee by God, in proportion to thy impenitency,Locke1824: 6 and the hardness of thy heart; Who will retribute to every one according to his works, viz.Locke1824: 7 Eternal life to all those who by patience* and gentleness in well-doing seek glory and honour, and aLocke1824: 8 state of immortality: But to them who are contentiousa and forward, and will not obey the truth†, but subject themselves to unrighteousness;Locke1824: 9 indignation and wrath; Tribulation and anguish shall be poured out upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the jew first‡, and also of the gentile.Locke1824: 10 But glory, honour, and peace, shall be bestowed on every man, that worketh good, on the jew first‡, Edition: current; Page: [292] Locke1824: 11 and also on the gentile. For with God there is noLocke1824: 12 respect of persons. For all, that have sinned without having the positive law of God, which was given the israelites, shall perish* without the law; and all, who have sinned, being under the law, shall beLocke1824: 13 judged by the law, (For the bare hearers of the law are not thereby just, or righteous, in the sight of God, but the doers of the law; they, who exactly performLocke1824: 14 all that is commanded in it, shall be justified. For, when the gentiles, who have no positive law given them by God†, do, by the direction of the Edition: current; Page: [293] light of nature, observe, or keep to the moral rectitude, contained in the positive law, given by God to the israelites, they being without any positive law given them, have nevertheless a law within themselves.Locke1824: 15 And show the rule of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness to that law, they amongst themselves, in the reasoning of their own minds, accusing, or excusing oneLocke1824: 16 another) At the day of judgment, when, as I make known in my preaching the gospel*, God shallLocke1824: 17 judge all the actions of men, by Jesus Christ. Behold, thou art named† a jew; and thou, with satisfaction, restest in the privilege of having the law, as a mark of God’s peculiar favour‡, whom thou gloriest in, as being thy God, and thou one of his people; a people, who alone know and worship the Edition: current; Page: [294] Locke1824: 18 true God; And thou knowest his will, and hast the touch-stone of things excellent*, having been educatedLocke1824: 19 in the law, And takest upon thee as one, who art a guide to the blind†, a light to the ignorantLocke1824: 20 gentiles, who are in darkness†, An instructor of the foolish†, a teacher of babes†, having an exact draught, and a complete system‡ of knowledge andLocke1824: 21 truth in the law. Thou, therefore, who art a master in this knowledge, and teachest others, teachest thou not thyself? Thou, that preachest that a man shouldLocke1824: 22 not steal, dost thou steal? Thou, that declarest adultery to be unlawful, dost thou commit it? Thou, that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?Locke1824: 23 Thou, who gloriest in the law, dost thou, by breaking Edition: current; Page: [295] of the law, dishonour God? For the name of God is blasphemed amongst the gentiles, by reasonLocke1824: 25 of your miscarriages, as it is written*, Circumcision† indeed, and thy being a jew, profiteth‡, if thou keep the law: but, if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision;Locke1824: 26 thou art no way better than an heathen. If, therefore, an uncircumcised gentile keep the moral rectitudes§ of the law, shall he not be reckoned Edition: current; Page: [296] Edition: current; Page: [297] and accounted of, as if he were circumcised, and everyLocke1824: 27 way a jew? And shall not a gentile, who, in his natural state of uncircumcision, fulfils the law, condemn* thee, who, notwithstanding the advantage of having the law and circumcision†, art a transgressorLocke1824: 28 of the law? For he is not a jew, who is one in outward appearance and conformity‡, nor is that the circumcision, which renders a man acceptable toLocke1824: 29 God, which is outwardly in the flesh. But he is a jew, and one of the people of God, who is one in an inward conformity to the law: and that is the circumcision which avails a man, which is of the heart§, according to the spiritual sense of the law, which is the purging our hearts from iniquity, by faith in Jesus Christ, and not in an external observance Edition: current; Page: [298] of the letter*, by which a man cannot attain life; such true israelites as these, though they are judged, condemned, and rejected by men of the jewish nation, are nevertheless honoured and accepted by God.

SECT.

CHAP. III. 1—31.

CONTENTS.

In this third chapter, St. Paul goes on to show, that the national privileges the jews had over the gentiles, in being the people of God, gave them no peculiar right, or better title to the kingdom of the Messias, than what the gentiles had. Because they, as well as the gentiles, all sinned, and, not being able to attain righteousness by the deeds of the law, more than the gentiles, justification was to be had, only by the free grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ; so that, upon their believing, God, who is the God not of the jews alone, but also of the gentiles, accepted the gentiles, as well as the jews; and now admits all, who profess faith in Jesus Christ, to be equally his people.

To clear his way to this, he begins, with removing an objection of the jews, ready to say: “if it be so, as ye have told us in the foregoing section, that it is the circumcision of the heart alone that availeth, what advantage have the jews, who keep to the circumcision of the flesh, and the other observances of the law, by being the people of God?” To which he answers, that the jews had many advantages above the gentiles; but yet that, in respect of their acceptance with God under the gospel, they had none at all. He declares that both jews and gentiles are sinners, both Edition: current; Page: [299] equally uncapable of being justified by their own performances: that God was equally the God, both of jews and gentiles, and out of his free grace justified those, and only those, who believed, whether jews, or gentiles.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1What advantage then hath the jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

Locke1824: 2Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Locke1824: 3For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

Locke1824: 4God forbid! yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is Edition: current; Page: [300] written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Locke1824: 5But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

Locke1824: 6God forbid! for then, how shall God judge the world?

Locke1824: 7For, if the truth of God hath more abounded, through my lye, unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

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Locke1824: 8And not rather (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say) “Let us do evil, that good may come?” whose damnation is just.

Locke1824: 9What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both jews and gentiles, that they are all under sin:

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Locke1824: 10As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one:

Locke1824: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

Locke1824: 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one.

Locke1824: 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips;

Locke1824: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Locke1824: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Locke1824: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways:

Locke1824: 17And the way of peace have they not known.

Locke1824: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Locke1824: 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

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Locke1824: 20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Locke1824: 21But now the righteousness of God, without the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

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Locke1824: 22Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all, and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference:

Locke1824: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Locke1824: 24Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ:

Locke1824: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in Edition: current; Page: [305] his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.

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To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Locke1824: 27Where is boasting then? it is excluded. By what law? of works? nay: but by the law of faith.

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Locke1824: 28Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.

Locke1824: 29Is he the God of the jews only? Is he not also of the gentiles? yes, of the gentiles also.

Locke1824: 30Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

Locke1824: 31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1If it be thus, that circumcision, by a failure of obedience to the law, becomes uncircumcision; and that the gentiles, who keep the righteousness, or moral part of the law, shall judge the jews, that transgress the law, what advantage have the jews? or whatLocke1824: 2 profit is there of circumcision? I answer, Much every way*; chiefly, that God, particularly present amongst them, revealed his mind and will, and engaged himself in promises to them, by Moses and other his prophets, which oracles they had, and kept amongst them, whilst the rest of mankind had no such communication with the Deity, had no revelation of his purposes of mercy to mankind, but wereLocke1824: 3 as it were, without God in the world. For, though some of the jews, who had the promises of the Messias, did not believe in him, when he came, and so did not receive the righteousness, which is by faith in Jesus Christ: yet their unbelief cannot render the faithfulness and truth of God of no effect, who had promised to be a God to Abraham and his seed afterLocke1824: 4 him, and bless them to all generations†. No, by no Edition: current; Page: [300] means, God forbid that any one should entertain such a thought: yea, let God be acknowledged to be true, and every man a liar, as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings,Locke1824: 5 and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But you will say farther, if it be so, that our sinfulness commendeth the righteousness of God, shown in keeping his word given* to our forefathers, what shall I say, is it not injustice in God to punish us for it, and cast us off? (I must be understood to say this, in the person of a carnal man, pleading for himself)Locke1824: 6 God forbid! For if God be unrighteous, howLocke1824: 7 shall he judge the world†? For‡, if the truth and Edition: current; Page: [301] veracity of God hath the more appeared to his glory, by reason of my lye*, i. e. my sin, why yet am I condemnedLocke1824: 8 for a sinner, and punished for it? Why rather should not this be thought a right consequence, and a just excuse? Let us do evil that good may come of it, that glory may come to God by it. This† some maliciously and slanderously report us christians to say, for which they deserve, and will from God receive, punishment, as they deserve.Locke1824: 9 Are we jews, then, in any whit a better condition than the gentiles‡? Not at all. For I have already§ brought a charge of guilt and sin, both against jews Edition: current; Page: [302] and gentiles, and urged that there is not one of them clear, which I shall prove now against youLocke1824: 10 jews; For it is written, There is none righteous, noLocke1824: 11 not one: There is none that understandeth, thereLocke1824: 12 is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doth good, no, not one.Locke1824: 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of aspsLocke1824: 14 is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursingLocke1824: 15 and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood:Locke1824: 16 17 Destruction and misery are in their ways: And theLocke1824: 18 way of peace have they not known. There is noLocke1824: 19 fear of God before their eyes. This is all said in the sacred book of our law*; and what is said there, we know is said to the jews, who are under the law, Edition: current; Page: [303] that the mouth of every jew, that would justify himself, might be stopped, and all the world, jews as well as gentiles, may be forced to acknowledgeLocke1824: 20 themselves guilty before God. From whence it is evident, that by his own performances, in obedience a law*, no† man can attain to an exact conformity to the rule of right, so as to be righteous in the sight of God. For by law, which is the publishing the rule with a penalty, we are not delivered from the power of sin, nor can it help men to righteousness‡, but by law we come experimentally to know sin, in the force and power of it, since we find it prevail upon us, notwithstanding the punishment ofLocke1824: 21 death is, by the law, annexed to it§. But the righteousness of God, that righteousness which he intended, and will accept, and is a righteousness not within the rule and rigour of law, is now made manifest, and confirmed by the testimony of the law and the prophets, which bear witness of this truth, that Jesus is the Messias, and that it is according Edition: current; Page: [304] Locke1824: 22 to his purpose and promise, That the righteousness of God, by faith in Jesus the Messias, is extended to, and bestowed on all who believe in him*,Locke1824: 23 (for there is no difference between them. They have all, both jews and gentiles, sinned, and fail of attaining that glory† which God hath appointedLocke1824: 24 for the righteous,) Being made righteous gratis, by the favour of God, through the redemption‡Locke1824: 25 which is by Jesus Christ; Whom God hath set Edition: current; Page: [305] forth to be the propitiatory, or mercy-seat* in his own blood†, for the manifestation of his [God’s] righteousness‡, by passing over§ their transgressions, Edition: current; Page: [306] formerly committed, which he hath borne with hitherto, so as to withhold his hand from casting off the nation of the jews, as their past sins deserved.Locke1824: 26 For the manifesting of his righteousness* at this time†, that he might be just, in keeping his promise, and be the justifier of every one, not who is of the jewish nation, or extraction, but of the faith‡Locke1824: 27 in Jesus Christ. What reason, then, have you jews to glory§, and set yourselves so much above the Edition: current; Page: [307] gentiles, in judging them, as you do? None at all: boasting is totally excluded. By what law? By theLocke1824: 28 law of works? No, but by the law of faith. I conclude therefore*, that a man is justified by faith,Locke1824: 29 and not by the works of the law†. Is God the God of the jews only, and not of the gentiles also?Locke1824: 30 Yea, certainly of the gentiles also. Since the time is come that God is no longer one to the jews, and another to the gentiles, but he is now become one and the same‡ God to them all, and will justify the jews by faith, and the gentiles also through faith, who, by the law of Moses, were heretofore shut out§Locke1824: 31 from being the people of God. Do we then make the law∥ insignificant, or useless, by our doctrine Edition: current; Page: [308] of faith? By no means: but, on the contrary, we establish* and confirm the law.

SECT. IV.

CHAP. IV. 1—25.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul having, in the foregoing section, cut off all glorying from the jews upon the account of their having the law, and shown, that that gave them no manner of title or pretence to be the people of God, more than the gentiles under the Messias, and so they had no reason to judge, or exclude the gentiles, as they did; he comes here to prove that their lineal extraction from their father Abraham gave them no better a pretence of glorying, or of setting themselves upon that account above the gentiles, now, in the time of the gospel.

1. Because Abraham himself was justified by faith, and so had not whereof to glory; for as much as he that receiveth righteousness, as a boon, has no reason to glory: but he that attains it by works.

2. Because neither they, who had circumcision derived down to them, as the posterity of Abraham, nor they who had the law; but they only, who had faith, were the seed of Abraham, to whom the promise was made. And therefore the blessing of justification was intended for the gentiles, and bestowed on them as well as on the jews, and upon the same ground.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1What shall we say then, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

Locke1824: 2For, if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.

Locke1824: 3For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Locke1824: 4Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

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Locke1824: 5But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Locke1824: 6Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.

Locke1824: 7Saying, Blessed are they, whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Locke1824: 8Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Locke1824: 9Cometh this blessedness, then, upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

Locke1824: 10How was it, then, reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

Locke1824: 11And he received a sign of circumcision, a seal of righteousness Edition: current; Page: [311] of the faith, which he had, being yet uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

Locke1824: 12And the father of circumcision to them, who are not of the circumcision only, but also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Locke1824: 13For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

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Locke1824: 14For if they, which are of the law, be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.

Locke1824: 15Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

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Locke1824: 16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only, which is of the law, but to that also, which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

Locke1824: 17(As it is written, “I have made thee a father of many nations”) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things, which be not, as though they were;

Locke1824: 18Who, against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the Edition: current; Page: [314] father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, “So shall thy seed be.”

Locke1824: 19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

Locke1824: 20He staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God:

Locke1824: 21And being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Locke1824: 22And, therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Locke1824: 23Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

Locke1824: 24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,

Locke1824: 25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1What then shall we say of Abraham our father, according to the flesh*, what has he obtained? hasLocke1824: 2 not he found matter of glorying? Yes; if he were justified by works, he had matter of glorying†, he might then have gloried over the rest of the gentile world, in having God for his God, and he and his family being God’s people; but he had no subject ofLocke1824: 3 glorying before God. As it is evident from sacred scripture, which telleth us, that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.Locke1824: 4 Now there had been no need of any such counting, any such allowance, if he had attained righteousness by works of obedience, exactly conformable, and coming up, to the rule of righteousness. For what reward a man has made himself a title to, by the performances, that he receives as a debt that is due, Edition: current; Page: [310] Locke1824: 5 and not as a gift of favour. But to him, that by his works attains not righteousness, but only believeth on God, who justifieth him, being ungodly*, to him justification is a favour of grace: because his believing is accounted to him for righteousness, orLocke1824: 6 perfect obedience. Even as David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God reckoneth†Locke1824: 7 righteousness without works, Saying, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sinsLocke1824: 8 are covered. Blessed is the man to whom theLocke1824: 9 Lord will not reckon sin.” Is this blessedness then upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? for we say that faith was reckoned toLocke1824: 10 Abraham for righteousness. When, therefore, was it reckoned to him? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? not in circumcision,Locke1824: 11 but in uncircumcision. For he received the sign Edition: current; Page: [311] of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had, being yet uncircumcised*, that he might be the father of all those who believed, being uncircumcised, that righteousness might beLocke1824: 12 reckoned to them also; And the father of the circumcised, that righteousness might be reckoned, not to those who were barely of the circumcision, but to such of the circumcision as did also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham,Locke1824: 13 which he had, being uncircumcised†. For the promise*, Edition: current; Page: [312] that he should be possessor of the world, was not that Abraham, and those of his seed, who were under the law, should, by virtue of their having and owning the law, be possessed of it; but by the righteousness of faith, whereby those who were, without the law, scattered all over the world, beyond the borders of Canaan, became his posterity, and had him for their father†, and inherited theLocke1824: 14 blessing of justification by faith. For, if they only who had the law of Moses given them, were heirs of Abraham, faith is made void and useless‡, it receiving no benefit of the promise, which was made to the heirs of Abraham’s faith, and so the promiseLocke1824: 15 becomes of no effect. Because the law procures them not justification§, but renders them liable to the wrath and punishment of God∥, who, by the Edition: current; Page: [313] law, has made known to them what is sin, and what punishment he has annexed to it. For there is no incurring wrath, or punishment, where there is noLocke1824: 16 law that says any thing of it*: Therefore the inheritance† is of faith, that it might be merely of favour, to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed of Abraham; not to that part of it only, which has faith, being under the law; but to that part also, who without the law, inherit the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all who believe,Locke1824: 17 whether jews or gentiles, (As it is written‡, “I have made thee a father of many nations.”) I say the father of us all (in the account of God, whom he believed, and who accordingly quickened the dead, i. e. Abraham and Sarah, whose bodies were dead: and called things that are not, as if they were§;)Locke1824: 18 Who without any hope, which the natural course of things could afford, did in hope believe, that he Edition: current; Page: [314] should become the father of many nations, according to what God had spoken, by God’s showing him the stars of heaven, saying, So shall thy seed be.Locke1824: 19 And being firm and unshaken in his faith, he regarded not his own body, now dead, he being about an hundred years old; nor the deadness of Sarah’sLocke1824: 20 womb; He staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief, but was strong in faith, therebyLocke1824: 21 giving glory to God; By the full persuasion he had, that God was able to perform what he had promised:Locke1824: 22 And therefore it was accounted to him forLocke1824: 23 righteousness. Now this, of its being reckoned toLocke1824: 24 him, was not written for his sake alone, But for ours also, to whom faith also will be reckoned for righteousness, viz. to as many as believe in him, whoLocke1824: 25 raised Jesus our Lord from the dead*, Who was delivered to death for our offences†, and was raised again for our justification‡.

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SECT. V.

CHAP. V. 1—11

CONTENTS.

St. Paul, in the foregoing chapters, has examined the glorying of the jews, and their valuing themselves so highly above the gentiles, and shown the vanity of their boasting in circumcision and the law, since neither they, nor their father Abraham, were justified, or found acceptance with God, by circumcision, or the deeds of the law: and therefore they had no reason so as they did to press circumcision and the law on the gentiles, or exclude those who had them not, from being the people of God, and unfit for their communion, in and under the gospel. In this section, he comes to show what the convert gentiles, by faith, without circumcision, or the law, had to glory in, viz. the hope of glory, ver. 2, their sufferings for the gospel, ver. 3. And God as their God, ver. 11. In these three it is easy to observe the thread and coherence of St. Paul’s discourse here, the intermediate verses, (according to that abounding with matter and overflowing of thought, he was filled with) being taken up with an accidental train of considerations, to show the reason they had to glory in tribulations.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 2By whom also we have access, by faith, into this grace, wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Locke1824: 3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

Locke1824: 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope;

Locke1824: 5And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.

Locke1824: 6For, when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

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Locke1824: 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die.

Locke1824: 8But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Locke1824: 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

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Locke1824: 10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his son; much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Locke1824: 11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Therefore, being justified by faith, we* have peaceLocke1824: 2 with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, By whom we have had admittance, through faith, into that favour, in which we have stood, and glory† in the hopeLocke1824: 3 of the glory, which God has in store for us. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowingLocke1824: 4 that tribulation worketh patience; And patience giveth us a proof of ourselves, which furnishes us withLocke1824: 5 hope; And our hope maketh not ashamed, will not deceive us, because‡ the sense of the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which isLocke1824: 6 given unto us (a). For, when the gentiles were yet Edition: current; Page: [317] without strength (b), void of all help, or ability to deliver ourselves, Christ, in the time that God had appointed and foretold, died for us, who lived without the acknowledgment and worship of theLocke1824: 7 true God (b). Scarce is it to be found that any one will die for a just man, if peradventure one shouldLocke1824: 8 dare to die for a good man; But God recommends, and herein shows the greatness of his love* towards us, in that, whilst we gentiles were a mass ofLocke1824: 9 profligate sinners†, Christ died for us. Much Edition: current; Page: [318] Edition: current; Page: [319] more, therefore, now being justified by his death, shall Edition: current; Page: [320] we through him be delivered from condemnation*Locke1824: 10 at the day of judgment. For if, when we were enemies†, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his son, much more, being reconciled, shall we beLocke1824: 11 saved by his life. And not only‡ do we glory in tribulation, but also in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom now§ we have received reconciliation.

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SECT. VI.

CHAP. V. 12.—VII. 25.

CONTENTS.

The apostle here goes on with his design, of showing that the gentiles, under the gospel, have as good a title to the favour of God, as the jews; there being no other way for either jew or gentile, to find acceptance with God, but by faith in Jesus Christ. In the foregoing section he reckoned up several subjects of glorying, which the convert gentiles had without the law, and concludes them with this chief and principal matter of glorying, even God himself, whom, now that they were, by Jesus Christ their Lord, reconciled to him, they could glory in as their God.

To give them a more full and satisfactory comprehension of this, he leads them back to the times before the giving of the law, and the very being of the jewish nation; and lays before them, in short, the whole scene of God’s œconomy, and his dealing with mankind, from the beginning, in reference to life and death.

1. He teaches them, that by Adam’s lapse all men were brought into a state of death, and by Christ’s death all are restored to life. By Christ also, as many as believe are instated in eternal life.

2. That the law, when it came, laid the israelites faster under death, by enlarging the offence, which had death annexed to it. For, by the law, every transgression that any one under the law committed, had death for its punishment, notwithstanding which, by Christ, those under the law, who believe, receive life.

3. That, though the gentiles, who believe, come not under the rigour of the law, yet the covenant of grace, which they are under, requires that they should not be servants and vassals to sin, to obey it in the lusts of it, but sincerely endeavour after righteousness, the end whereof would be everlasting life.

4. That the jews also, who receive the gospel, are Edition: current; Page: [322] delivered from the law; not that the law is sin; but because, though the law forbid the obeying of sin, as well as the gospel; yet not enabling them to resist their sinful lusts, but making each compliance with any sinful lust deadly, it settles upon them the dominion of sin, by death, from which they are delivered by the grace of God alone, which frees them from the condemnation of the law, for every actual transgression, and requires no more, but that they should, with the whole bent of their mind, serve the law of God, and not their carnal lusts. In all which cases the salvation of the gentiles is wholly by grace, without their being at all under the law. And the salvation of the jews is wholly by grace also, without any aid, or help from the law: from which also, by Christ, they are delivered.

Thus lies the thread of St. Paul’s argument, wherein we may see how he pursues his design, of satisfying of gentile converts at Rome, that they were not required to submit to the law of Moses; and of fortifying them against the jews, who troubled them about it.

For the more distinct and easy apprehension of St. Paul’s discoursing on these four heads, I shall divide this section into the four following numbers, taking them up, as they lie in the order of the text.

SECT. VI. No. I.

CHAP. V. 12—19.

CONTENTS.

Here he instructs them in the state of mankind in general, before the law, and before the separation that was made thereby of the israelites from all the other nations of the earth. And here he shows, that Adam, transgressing the law, which forbad him the eating of the tree of knowledge, upon pain of death, forfeited immortality, and becoming thereby mortal, all his posterity, descending from the loins of a mortal man, were mortal too, and all died, though none of them broke that Edition: current; Page: [323] law, but Adam himself: but, by Christ, they are all restored to life again. And, God justifying those who believe in Christ, they are restored to their primitive state of righteousness and immortality; so that the gentiles, being the descendants of Adam, as well as the jews, stand as fair for all the advantages, that accrue to the posterity of Adam, by Christ, as the jews themselves, it being all wholly and solely from grace.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

Locke1824: 13For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

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Locke1824: 14Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over Edition: current; Page: [325] them that had not sinned, after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Locke1824: 15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if, through the offence of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

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Locke1824: 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment Edition: current; Page: [327] was by one, to condemnation; but the free gift is of many offences, unto justification.

Locke1824: 17For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 18Therefore as, by the offence of one, judgment came upon all Edition: current; Page: [328] men to condemnation: even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men, unto justification of life.

Locke1824: 19For, as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners: so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 12Wherefore, to give you a state of the whole matter, from the beginning you must know, that, as by the act of one man, Adam, the father of us all, sin entered into the world, and death, which was the punishment annexed to the offence of eating the forbidden fruit, entered by that sin, for that allLocke1824: 13 Adam’s posterity thereby became mortal*. It is true, indeed, sin was universally committed in the Edition: current; Page: [324] world by all men, all the time before the positive law of God delivered by Moses: but it is as true* that there is no certain, determined punishment affixedLocke1824: 14 to sin, without a positive law† declaring it. Nevertheless, Edition: current; Page: [325] we see that, in all that space of time, which was before the positive law of God by Moses, men from the beginning of the world, died, all as well as their father Adam; though none of them, but he alone, had eaten of the forbidden fruit*; and thereby, as he had committed that sin, to which sin alone the punishment of death was annexed, by the positive sanction of God, denounced to Adam, who was the figure and type of Christ, who was toLocke1824: 15 come. But yet though he were the type of Christ, yet the gift, or benefit, received by Christ, is not exactly conformed and confined to the dimensions of the damage, received by Adam’s fall. For if, by the lapse of one man, the multitude†, i. e. all men died†, much more did the favour of God; and the free gift by the bounty or good-will which is in Jesus Christ, exceed to the multitude†, i. e. to all men. Edition: current; Page: [326] Locke1824: 16 Furthermore, neither is the gift, as was the lapse, by one sin*. For the judgment or sentence was for one* offence, to condemnation: but the gift of favour reaches, notwithstanding many* sins, to Edition: current; Page: [327] Locke1824: 17 justification of life*. For if, by one lapse, death reigned, by reason of one offence, much more shall they who receiving the surplusage† of favour, and of the gift of righteousness, reign in life by one, evenLocke1824: 18 Jesus Christ. Therefore‡ as, by one§ offence, (viz.) Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit, all men fell under Edition: current; Page: [328] the condemnation of death: so, by one act of righteousness, viz. Christ’s obedience to death upon theLocke1824: 19 cross*, all men are restored to life†. For as, by one man’s disobedience, many were brought into a state of mortality, which is the state of sinners‡; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous, i. e. be restored to life again, as if they were not sinners.

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SECT. VI. No. 2.

CHAP. V. 20, 21.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul, pursuing his design in this epistle, of satisfying the gentiles, that there was no need of their submitting to the law, in order to their partaking of the benefits of the gospel, having, in the foregoing eight verses taught them, that Adam’s one sin had brought death upon them all, from which they were all restored by Christ’s death, with addition of eternal bliss and glory, to all those who believe in him; all which being the effect of God’s free grace and favour, to those who were never under the law, excludes the law from having any part in it, and so fully makes out the title of the gentiles to God’s favour, through Jesus Christ, under the gospel, without the intervention of the law. Here, for the farther satisfaction of the gentile converts, he shows them, in these two verses, that the nation of the hebrews, who had the law, were not delivered from the state of death by it, but rather plunged deeper under it, by the law, and so stood more in need of favour, and indeed had a greater abundance of grace afforded them, for their recovery to life by Jesus Christ, than the gentiles themselves. Thus the jews themselves, not being saved by the law, but by an excess of grace, this is a farther proof of the point St. Paul was upon, viz. that the gentiles had no need of the law, for the obtaining of life, under the gospel.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 20Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound: but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound;

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Locke1824: 21That, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign Edition: current; Page: [332] through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ, our Lord.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 20This was the state of all* mankind, before the law, Edition: current; Page: [330] they all died for the one παράπτωμα, lapse, or offence, of one man which was the only irregularity, that had death annexed to it: but the law entered, and took place over a small part of mankind*, that this παράπτωμα, lapse, or offence, to which death was Edition: current; Page: [331] annexed, might abound, i. e. the multiplied transgressions of many men, viz. all that were under the law of Moses, might have death annexed to them, by the positive sanction of that law, whereby the offence*, to which death was annexed, did abound, i. e. sins that had death for their punishment, were increased. But, by the goodness of God, where sin†, with death annexed to it, did abound, graceLocke1824: 21 did much more abound‡. That as sin had reigned, or showed its mastery, in the death of the israelites, Edition: current; Page: [332] who were under the law; so grace, in its turn, might reign, or show its mastery, by justifying them, from all those many sins, which they had committed, each whereof, by the law, brought death with it; and so bestowing on them the righteousness of faith, instate them in eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

SECT. VI. No. 3.

CHAP. VI. 1—23.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul having, in the foregoing chapter, very much magnified free grace, by showing that all men, having lost their lives by Adam’s sin, were, by grace, through Christ, restored to life again; and also, as many of them as believed in Christ, were re-established in immortality by grace; and that even the jews, who, by their own trespasses against the law, had forfeited their lives, over and over again, were also, by grace, restored to life, grace super-abounding, where sin abounded; he here obviates a wrong inference, which might be apt to mislead the convert gentiles, viz. “therefore, let us continue in sin, that grace may abound.” The contrary whereof he shows their very taking upon them the profession of christianity required of them, by the very initiating ceremony of baptism, wherein they were typically buried with Christ, to teach them that they, as he did, ought to die to sin; and, as he rose to live to God, they should rise to a new life of obedience to God, and be no more slaves to sin, in an obedience and resignation of themselves to its commands. For, if their obedience Edition: current; Page: [333] were to sin, they were vassals of sin, and would certainly receive the wages of that master, which was nothing but death: but, if they obeyed righteousness, i. e. sincerely endeavoured after righteousness, though they did not attain it, sin should not have dominion over them, by death, i. e. should not bring death upon them. Because they were not under the law, which condemned them to death for every transgression; but under grace, which, by faith in Jesus Christ, justified them to eternal life, from their many transgressions. And thus he shows the gentiles not only the no necessity, but the advantage of their not being under the law.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1What shall we say then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Locke1824: 2God forbid: how shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

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Locke1824: 3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?

Locke1824: 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism, into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Locke1824: 5For, if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Locke1824: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

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Locke1824: 7For he that is dead, is freed from sin.

Locke1824: 8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

Locke1824: 9Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Locke1824: 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

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Locke1824: 11Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin; but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Locke1824: 12Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it, in the lusts thereof.

Locke1824: 13Neither yield ye your members, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead; and your members, as instruments of righteousness, unto God.

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Locke1824: 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Locke1824: 15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!

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Locke1824: 16Know ye not, that, to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.

Locke1824: 17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin: but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which was delivered you.

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Locke1824: 18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Locke1824: 19I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness.

Locke1824: 20For, when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

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Locke1824: 21What fruit had ye then, in those things, whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Locke1824: 22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Locke1824: 23For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin,Locke1824: 2 that grace may abound? God forbid: how can it be that we*, who, by our embracing christianity, have renounced our former sinful courses, and have professed a death to sin, should live any longer in it? Edition: current; Page: [334] Locke1824: 3 For this I hope you are not ignorant of, that we christians, who by baptism were admitted into the kingdom and church of Christ, were baptized into aLocke1824: 4 similitude of his death: We did own some kind of death, by being buried under water, which, being buried with him, i. e. in conformity to his burial, as a confession of our being dead, was to signify, that as Christ was raised up from the dead, into* a glorious life with his Father, even so we, being raised from our typical death and burial in baptism, should lead a new sort of life, wholly different from our former, in some approaches towards that heavenly life thatLocke1824: 5 Christ is risen to. For, if we have been ingrafted into him, in the similitude of his death, we shall be also in a conformity to the life, which he is enteredLocke1824: 6 into, by his resurrection: Knowing this, that we are to live so, as if our old man, our wicked and corrupt fleshly self† which we were before, were crucified with him, that the prevalency of our carnal sinful propensities, which are from our bodies, might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin‡, Edition: current; Page: [335] Locke1824: 7 as vassals to it. For he, that is dead, is set free from the vassalage* of sin, as a slave is from the vassalageLocke1824: 8 of his master. Now, if we understand by our being buried in baptism, that we died with Christ, we cannot but think and believe, thatLocke1824: 9 we should live a life conformable to his; Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, returns no more to a mortal life, death hath no more dominionLocke1824: 10 over him, he is no more subject to death. For in that he died, he died unto sin, i. e. upon the account of sin, once† for all: but his life, now after his resurrection, is a life wholly appropriated Edition: current; Page: [336] to God, with which sin, or death, shall never have any more to do, or come in reach of.Locke1824: 11 In like manner, do you also make your reckoning, account yourselves dead to sin*, freed from that master; so as not to suffer yourselves, any more, to be commanded, or employed by it, as if it were still your master; but alive to God, i. e. that it is your business now to live wholly for his service, and toLocke1824: 12 his glory†, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Permit not, therefore, sin to reign over you, by your mortal bodies‡, which you will do, if you obeyLocke1824: 13 your carnal lusts: Neither deliver up your members§ to sin, to be employed by sin, as instruments of iniquity, but deliver up yourselves unto God, as those who have got to a new life from among the dead∥, and choosing him for your Lord and Master, Edition: current; Page: [337] yield your members to him, as instruments ofLocke1824: 14 righteousness. For if you do so, sin shall not have dominion over you*, you shall not be as its slaves, in its power, to be by it delivered over to death. For† you are not under the law, in the legal state; but you are under grace, in the gospel-state of theLocke1824: 15 covenant of grace. What then, shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under the covenantLocke1824: 16 of grace‡? God forbid! Know ye not that, to whom Edition: current; Page: [338] you subject yourselves* as vassals, to be at his beck, his vassals you are whom you thus obey, whether it be of sin, which vassalage ends in death; or of Christ, in obeying the gospel, to the obtaining ofLocke1824: 17 righteousness and life. But God be thanked, that you who were the vassals of sin, have sincerely, and from your heart, obeyed, so as to receive the form, or be cast into the mould of that doctrine, under Edition: current; Page: [339] whose direction or regulation* you were put, thatLocke1824: 18 you might conform yourselves to it. Being therefore set free from the vassalage of sin, you becameLocke1824: 19 the servants or vassals of righteousness†. (I make use of this metaphor, of the passing of slaves from one master to another‡, well known to you romans, the better to let my meaning into your understandings, that are yet weak in these matters, being more accustomed to fleshly than spiritual things.) For as you yielded your natural§ faculties obedient, slavish instruments to uncleanness, to be wholly employed in all manner of iniquity∥; so now ye ought to yield up your natural faculties to a perfectLocke1824: 20 and ready obedience to righteousness. For, when you were the vassals of sin, you were not at all subject to, nor paid any obedience to righteousness: therefore, by a parity of reason, now righteousness is your master, you ought to pay no obedience to Edition: current; Page: [340] Locke1824: 21 sin. What fruit, or benefit, had you then in those things, in that course of things, whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things, whichLocke1824: 22 are done in obedience to sin, is death. But now, being set free from sin, being no longer vassals to that master, but having God now for your lord and master, to whom you are become subjects or vassals, your course of life tends to holiness, and will end inLocke1824: 23 everlasting life. For the wages* that sin pays, is death: but that which God’s servants receive, from his bounty, is the gift of eternal life†, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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SECT. VI. No. 4.

CHAP. VII. 1—25.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul, in the foregoing chapter, addressing himself to the convert gentiles, shows them, that, not being under the law, they were obliged only to keep themselves free from the vassalage of sin, by a sincere endeavour after righteousness, forasmuch as God gave eternal life to all those who, being under grace, i. e. being converted to christianity, did so.

In this chapter, addressing himself to those of his own nation in the roman church, he tells them, that, the death of Christ having put an end to the obligation of the law, they were at their liberty to quit the observances of the law, and were guilty of no disloyalty, in putting themselves under the gospel. And here St. Paul shows the deficiency of the law, which rendered it necessary to be laid aside, by the coming and reception of the gospel. Not that it allowed any sin, but, on the contrary, forbad even concupiscence, which was not known to be sin, without the law. Nor was it the law that brought death upon those who were under it, but sin, that herein it might show the extreme malignant influence it had, upon our weak fleshly natures, in that it could prevail on us to transgress the law, (which we could not but acknowledge to be holy, just and good) though death was the declared penalty of every transgression: but herein lay the deficiency of the law, as spiritual and opposite to sin as it was, that it could not master and root it out, but sin remained and dwelt in men, as before, and by the strength of their carnal appetites, which were not subdued by the law, carried them to transgressions, that they approved not. Nor did it avail them to disapprove, or struggle, since, though the bent of their minds were the other way, yet their endeavours after obedience delivered them not from that death, which their bodies, or carnal appetites, running them into transgressions, brought upon them. That deliverance was to be had from grace, by Edition: current; Page: [342] which those who, putting themselves from under the law into the gospel-state, were accepted, if with the bent of their minds they sincerely endeavoured to serve and obey the law of God, though sometimes, through the frailty of their flesh, they fell into sin.

This is a farther demonstration to the converted gentiles of Rome, that they are under no obligation of submitting themselves to the law, in order to be the people of God, or partake of the advantages of the gospel, since it was necessary, even to the jews themselves, to quit the terms of the law, that they might be delivered from death, by the gospel. And thus we see how steadily and skilfully he pursues his design, and with what evidence and strength he fortifies the gentile converts, against all attempts of the jews, who went about to bring them under the observances of the law of Moses.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man, as long as he liveth.

Locke1824: 2For the woman, which hath an husband, is bound by the law to Edition: current; Page: [343] her husband, so long as he liveth: but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

Locke1824: 3So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but, if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Locke1824: 4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law, by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him, who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

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Locke1824: 5For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death.

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Locke1824: 6But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

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Locke1824: 7What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Locke1824: 8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

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Locke1824: 9For I was alive without the law, once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

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Locke1824: 10And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

Locke1824: 11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Locke1824: 12Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

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Locke1824: 13Was then that, which is good, made death unto me? God forbid! but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me, by that which is good; that sin, by the commandment, might become exceeding sinful.

Locke1824: 14For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.

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Locke1824: 15For that which I do, I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do.

Locke1824: 16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law, that it is good.

Locke1824: 17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Locke1824: 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not.

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Locke1824: 19For the good, that I would, I do not: but the evil, which I would not, that I do.

Locke1824: 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I, that do it; but sin, that dwelleth in me.

Locke1824: 21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Locke1824: 22For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man.

Locke1824: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

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Locke1824: 24O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Locke1824: 25I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1I have let those of you, who were formerly gentiles, see, that they are not under the law, but under grace*: I now apply myself to you, my brethren, of my own nation†, who know the law. You cannot be ignorant that the authority of the law reaches, or concerns aLocke1824: 2 man‡, so long as he liveth, and no longer. For§ Edition: current; Page: [343] a woman who hath an husband, is bound by the law* to her living husband; but if her husband dieth, she is loosed from the law, which made her her husband’s, because the authority of the law, whereby he had a right to her, ceased in respect of him, as soon as he died.Locke1824: 3 Wherefore she shall be called an adulteress, if while her husband liveth, she become another man’s. But if her husband dies, the right he had to her by the law ceasing, she is freed from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she become another man’s.Locke1824: 4 So that even ye, my brethren†, by the body of Edition: current; Page: [344] Christ*, are become dead† to the law, whereby the dominion of the law over you has ceased, that you should subject yourselves to the dominion of Christ, in the gospel, which you may do with as much freedom from blame, or the imputation of disloyalty‡, as a woman whose husband is dead, may, without the imputation of adultery, marry another man. And this making yourselves another’s, even Christ’s, who is risen from the dead, is, that we§ Edition: current; Page: [345] Locke1824: 5 should bring forth fruit unto God*. For when we were after so fleshly† a manner, under the law, as not to comprehend the spiritual meaning of it, that directed us to Christ, the spiritual end of the law, our sinful lust‡, that remained in us under the law§, or in the state under the law, wrought in our members, Edition: current; Page: [346] i. e. set our members and faculties* on work, inLocke1824: 6 doing that, whose end was death†. But now the law, under which we were heretofore held in subjection, being dead, we are set free from the dominion of the law, that we should perform our obedience, as under the new‡ and spiritual covenant of the gospel, wherein there is a remission of frailties, and not as still under the old rigour of the letter of the law, which condemns every one, who does not perform exact obedience Edition: current; Page: [347] Locke1824: 7 to every tittle*. What shall we then think, that the law, because it is set aside, was unrighteous, or gave any allowance, or contributed any thing to sin†? By no means: for the law, on the contrary, tied men stricter up from sin, forbidding concupiscence, which they did not know to be sin, but by the law. For I‡ had not known concupiscence to be sin, unless the lawLocke1824: 8 had said, Thou shalt not covet. Nevertheless sin, taking opportunity§, during the law∥, or whilst I was under the commandment, wrought in me all Edition: current; Page: [348] manner of concupiscence: for without the law, sin isLocke1824: 9 dead*, not able to hurt me; And there was a time once†, when I being without the law, was in a state of life; but the commandment coming, sin got life and strength again, and I found myself a dead man; Edition: current; Page: [349] Locke1824: 10 And that very law, which was given me for the attaining of life*, was found to produce death† toLocke1824: 11 me. For my mortal enemy, sin, taking the opportunity of my being under‡ the law, slew me by the law, which it inveigled§ me to disobey, i. e. the frailty and vicious inclinations of nature remaining in me under the law, as they were before, able still to bring me into transgressions, each whereof was mortal, sin had, by my being under the law, a sureLocke1824: 12 opportunity of bringing death upon me. So that∥ the law is holy, just, and good, such as the eternal, immutable rule of right and good required it to be. Edition: current; Page: [350] Locke1824: 13 Was then the law, that in itself was good, made death to me? No*, by no means: but it was sin, that by the law was made death unto me, to the end that the power† of sin might appear, by its being able to bring death upon me, by that very law, that was intended for my good, that so, by the commandment, the power‡ of sin and corruption in me mightLocke1824: 14 be shown to be exceeding great; For we know that the law is spiritual, requiring actions quite opposite§ to our carnal affections. But I am so carnal, as to be enslaved to them, and forced against my will to Edition: current; Page: [351] do the drudgery of sin, as if I were a slave, that had been sold into the hands of that my domineeringLocke1824: 15 enemy. For what I do, is not of my own contrivance*; for that which I have a mind to, I do not;Locke1824: 16 and what I have an aversion to, that I do. If then my transgressing the law be what I, in my mind, am against, it is plain, the consent of my mind goesLocke1824: 17 with the law that it is good. If so, then it is not I, a willing agent of my own free purpose, that do what is contrary to the law, but as a poor slave in captivity, not able to follow my own understanding and choice, forced by the prevalency of my own sinful affections, and sin that remains still in me notwithstandingLocke1824: 18 the law. For I know, by woeful experience, that in me, viz. in my flesh†, that part, which is the seat of carnal appetites, there inhabits no good. For, in the judgment and purpose of my Edition: current; Page: [352] mind, I am readily carried into a conformity and obedience to the law: but, the strength of my carnal affections not being abated by the law, I am not able to execute what I judge to be right, andLocke1824: 19 intend to perform. For the good, that is my purpose and aim, that I do not: but the evil, that is contrary to my intention, that in my practice takes place, i. e. I purpose and aim at universal obedience,Locke1824: 20 but cannot in fact attain it. Now if I do that, which is against the full bent and intention of me* myself, it is, as I said before, not I, my true self, who do it, but the true author of it is my old enemy, sin, which still remains and dwells in me, and I would fain getLocke1824: 21 rid of. I find it, therefore, as by a law settled in me, that when my intentions aim at good, evil is ready atLocke1824: 22 hand, to make my actions wrong and faulty. For that which my inward man is delighted with, that, which with satisfaction my mind would make its rule, isLocke1824: 23 the law of God. But I see in my members† another principle of action, equivalent to a law‡, directly Edition: current; Page: [353] waging war against that law, which my mind would follow, leading me captive into an unwilling subjection to the constant inclination and impulse of my carnal appetite, which, as steadily as if it were aLocke1824: 24 law, carries me to sin. O miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me* from this body of death?Locke1824: 25 The grace of God†, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Edition: current; Page: [354] To comfort myself, therefore, as that state requires, for my deliverance from death, I myself*, with full purpose and sincere endeavours of mind, give up myself to obey† the law of God; though my carnal inclinations are enslaved, and have a constant tendency to sin. This is all I can do, and this is all, I being under grace, that is required of me, and through Christ will be accepted.

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SECT. VII.

CHAP. VIII. 1—39.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul having, chap. vi. shown that the gentiles, who were not under the law, were saved only by grace, which required that they should not indulge themselves in sin, but steadily and sincerely endeavour after perfect obedience: having also, ch. vii. shown, that the jews who were under the law, were also saved by grace only, because the law could not enable them wholly to avoid sin, which, by the law, was in every the least slip made death; he in this chapter shows, that both jews and gentiles, who are under grace, i. e. converts to christianity, are free from condemnation, if they perform what is required of them; and thereupon he sets forth the terms of the covenant of grace, and presses their observance, viz. not to live after the flesh, but after the spirit, mortifying the deeds of the body; forasmuch as those, that do so, are the sons of God. This being laid down, he makes use of it to arm them with patience against afflictions, assuring them, that, whilst they remain in this state, nothing can separate them from the love of God, nor shut them out from the inheritance of eternal life with Christ, in glory, to which all the sufferings of this life bear not any the least proportion.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

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Locke1824: 2For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

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For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh:

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Locke1824: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

Locke1824: 5For they, that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh: but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.

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Locke1824: 6For to be carnally minded, is death; but to be spiritually minded, is life and peace:

Locke1824: 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

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Locke1824: 8So then they that are in the flesh, cannot please God.

Locke1824: 9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Locke1824: 10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin, but the spirit is life, because of righteousness.

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Locke1824: 11But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you: he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.

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Locke1824: 12Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh.

Locke1824: 13For, if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

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Locke1824: 14For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Locke1824: 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Locke1824: 16The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

Locke1824: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Locke1824: 18For I reckon, that the sufferings of this present time are not Edition: current; Page: [365] worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Locke1824: 19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Locke1824: 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope:

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Locke1824: 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Locke1824: 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together, until now.

Locke1824: 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Locke1824: 24For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen, is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

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Locke1824: 25But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Locke1824: 26Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for, as we ought: but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings, which cannot be uttered.

Locke1824: 27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God.

Locke1824: 28And we know that all things work together for good, to them that love God, to them, who are the called according to his purpose.

Locke1824: 29For whom he did fore-know, he also did predestinate to be conformed Edition: current; Page: [368] to the image of his son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.

Locke1824: 30Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Locke1824: 31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Locke1824: 32He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Locke1824: 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth:

Locke1824: 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather Edition: current; Page: [369] that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Locke1824: 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Locke1824: 36(As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter).

Locke1824: 37Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us.

Locke1824: 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Locke1824: 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1There is, therefore*, now†, no condemnation‡ to, i. e. no sentence of death shall pass upon, those who Edition: current; Page: [356] are christians*, if so be they obey† not the sinful lusts of the flesh, but follow, with sincerity of heart,Locke1824: 2 the dictates of the ‡spirit, §in the gospel. For the ∥grace of God, which is effectual to life, has set me free from the law in my members, which cannot now produce sin in me, unto death¶. Edition: current; Page: [357] Locke1824: 3 For this (viz. the delivering us from sin) being beyond the power of the law, which was too weak* to master the propensities of the flesh, God, sending his son in flesh, that in all things, except sin, was like unto our frail, sinful flesh†, and sending‡ him also to be an offering§ for sin, he put to death, or extinguished, or Edition: current; Page: [358] suppressed sin* in the flesh, i. e. sending his son into the world, with the body, wherein the flesh couldLocke1824: 4 never prevail, to the producing of any one sin; To the end that, under this example of the flesh, wherein sin was perfectly mastered and excluded from any life, the moral rectitude of the law† might be conformed to‡ by us, who, abandoning the lusts of the flesh, follow the guidance of the spirit, in the law of our minds, and make it our business to live, not afterLocke1824: 5 the flesh, but after the spirit. For as for those who § are still under the direction of the flesh, and its sinful appetites, who are under obedience to the law in their Edition: current; Page: [359] members, they have the thoughts and bent of their minds set upon the things of the flesh, to obey it in the lusts of it: but they, who are under the spiritual law of their minds, the thoughts and bent of their hearts is to follow the dictates of the spirit, in thatLocke1824: 6 law. For* to have our minds set upon the satisfaction of the lusts of the flesh, in a slavish obedience to them, does certainly produce and bring death upon us; but our setting ourselves, seriously and sincerely, to obey the dictates and direction of the spirit, produces life† and peace, which are not to be had in the contrary,Locke1824: 7 carnal state: Because to be carnally minded‡ is direct enmity and opposition against God, for such a temper of mind, given up to the lusts of the flesh, is in no subjection to the law of God, nor indeed can be§, it Edition: current; Page: [360] Locke1824: 8 having a quite contrary tendency. So then* they that are in the flesh, i. e. under the fleshly dispensation of the law†, without regarding Christ,Locke1824: 9 the spirit of it, in it cannot please God. But ye are not in that state, of having all your expectation from the law, and the benefits, that are to be obtained barely by that; but are in the spiritual state of the law, i. e. the gospel‡, which is the end of the law, and to which the law leads you. And so, having received the gospel, you have therewith received the spirit of God: for, as many as receive Christ, he gives power to become the § sons of God: and toLocke1824: 10 those that are his sons, God gives his spirit∥. And if Christ be in you, by his spirit, the body is dead Edition: current; Page: [361] as to all activity to sin*, sin no longer reigns in it†, but your sinful, carnal lusts are mortified. But the spirit of your mind liveth, i. e. is enlivened, in order to righteousness, or living righteously.Locke1824: 11 But, if the spirit of God, who had power able to raise Jesus Christ from the dead, dwell in you, as certainly it does, he, that raised Christ from the dead, is certainly able, and will, by his spirit that dwells in you, enliven even your‡ mortal bodies*, Edition: current; Page: [362] Edition: current; Page: [363] that sin shall not have the sole power and rule there, but your members may be made livingLocke1824: 12 instruments of righteousness. Therefore, brethren, we are not under any obligation to the flesh, to obeyLocke1824: 13 the lusts of it. For, if ye live after the flesh, that mortal part shall lead you to death irrecoverable; but if by the spirit, whereby Christ totally suppressed Edition: current; Page: [364] and hindered sin from having any life in his flesh, you mortify the deeds of the body*, ye shall haveLocke1824: 14 eternal life. For, as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God, of an immortal race, and consequently like their Father immortal†.Locke1824: 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage‡ again§, to fear; but ye have received the spirit∥ of God, (which is given to those who, having received adoption, are sons) whereby we are all enabledLocke1824: 16 to call God our Father¶. The spirit of God himself beareth witness** with our spirits that we areLocke1824: 17 the children of God, And if children, then heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer†† with him, that we may also be glorified with him.Locke1824: 18 For I count that the sufferings of this transitory Edition: current; Page: [365] life bear no proportion to that glorious state, that shall be hereafter *revealed, and set before the eyesLocke1824: 19 of the whole world, at our admittance into it. For the whole race of mankind†, in an earnest expectation of this inconceivable, glorious ‡immortality thatLocke1824: 20 shall be bestowed on the sons§ of God (For mankind, created in a better state, was made subject to the ∥vanity of this calamitous fleeting life, not of its own choice, but by the guile of the devil¶, who brought mankind into this mortal state) waiteth in Edition: current; Page: [366] Locke1824: 21 hope*, That even they also shall be delivered from this subjection to corruption†, and shall be brought into that glorious freedom from death, which is theLocke1824: 22 proper inheritance of the children of God. For we know that mankind, all‡ of them, groan together, and unto this day are in pain, as a woman in labour, to be delivered out of the uneasiness of this mortalLocke1824: 23 state. And not only they, but even those, who have the first fruits of the spirit, and therein the earnest§ of eternal life, we ourselves groan∥ within ourselves, waiting for the fruit of our adoption, which is, that, as we are by adoption made sons and co-heirs with Jesus Christ, so we may have bodies like unto hisLocke1824: 24 most glorious body, spiritual and immortal. But we must wait with patience, for we have hitherto been Edition: current; Page: [367] saved but in hope and expectation: but hope is of things not in present possession, or enjoyment. For what a man hath, and seeth in his own hands, he noLocke1824: 25 longer hopes for. But if we hope for what is out of sight, and yet to come, then do we withLocke1824: 26 patience wait for it*. Such, therefore, are our groans, which the spirit, in aid to our infirmity, makes use of. For we know not what prayers to make as we ought, but the spirit itself layeth for us our requests before God, in groans that cannot be expressedLocke1824: 27 in words. And God, the searcher of hearts, who understandeth this language of the spirit, knoweth what the spirit would have, because the spirit is wont to make intercession for theLocke1824: 28 saints†, acceptably to God. Bear, therefore, your sufferings with patience and constancy, for we certainly know that all things work together for good, to those that love God, who are the called, accordingLocke1824: 29 to his purpose of calling the gentiles‡. In Edition: current; Page: [368] which purpose the gentiles, whom he fore-knew, as he did the jews*, with an intention of his kindness, and of making them his people, he pre-ordained to be conformable to the image of his son, that he might be the first-born, the chief amongst manyLocke1824: 30 brethren†. Moreover, whom he did thus preordain to be his people, them he also called, by sending preachers of the gospel to them: and whom he called, if they obeyed the truth‡, those he also justified, by counting their faith for righteousness: and whom he justified, them he also glorified, viz. inLocke1824: 31 his purpose. What shall we say, then, to these things? If God be for us, as, by what he has already done for us, it appears he is, who can beLocke1824: 32 against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up to death for us all, gentiles as well as jews, how shall he not with him also give us allLocke1824: 33 things? Who shall be the prosecutor of those, whom God hath chosen? Shall God, who justifiethLocke1824: 34 them§? Who, as judge, shall condemn them? Edition: current; Page: [369] Christ, that died for us, yea rather that is risen again for our justification, and is at the right hand of God,Locke1824: 35 making intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,Locke1824: 36 or sword? For this is our lot, as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accountedLocke1824: 37 as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, we are already more than conquerors, by the grace and assistance of him that loved us.Locke1824: 38 For I am stedfastly persuaded, that neither the terrours of death, nor the allurements of life, nor angels, nor the princes and powers of this world;Locke1824: 39 nor things present; nor any thing future; Nor the height of prosperity; nor the depth of misery; nor any thing else whatsoever; shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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SECT. VIII.

CHAP. IX. 1.—X. 21.

CONTENTS.

There was nothing more grating and offensive to the jews, than the thoughts of having the gentiles joined with them, and partaking equally in the privileges and advantages of the kingdom of the Messiah: and, which was yet worse, to be told that those aliens should be admitted, and they, who presumed themselves children of that kingdom, to be shut out. St. Paul, who had insisted much on this doctrine, in all the foregoing chapters of this epistle, to show that he had not done it out of any aversion, or unkindness, to his nation and brethren, the jews, does here express his great affection to them, and declares an extreme concern for their salvation. But withal he shows, that whatever privileges they had received from God, above other nations, whatever expectation the promises, made to their forefathers, might raise in them, they had yet no just reason of complaining of God’s dealing with them, now under the gospel, since it was according to his promise to Abraham, and his frequent declarations in sacred scripture. Nor was it any injustice to the jewish nation, if God now acted by the same sovereign power, wherewith he preferred Jacob (the younger brother, without any merit of his) and his posterity, to be his people, before Esau and his posterity, whom he rejected. The earth is all his; nor have the nations, that possess it, any title of their own, but what he gives them, to the countries they inhabit, nor the good things they enjoy; and he may dispossess, or exterminate them, when he pleaseth. And as he destroyed the egyptians, for the glory of his name, in the deliverance of the israelites; so he may, according to his good pleasure, raise or depress, take into favour, or reject, the several nations of this world. And particularly, as to the nation of the jews, all, but a small remnant, were rejected, and Edition: current; Page: [371] the gentiles taken in, in their room, to be the people and church of God; because they were a gainsaying and disobedient people, that would not receive the Messiah, whom he had promised, and, in the appointed time, sent to them. He that will, with moderate attention and indifferency of mind, read this ninth chapter, will see that what is said, of God’s exercising of an absolute power, according to the good pleasure of his will, relates only to nations, or bodies politick, of men, incorporated in civil societies, which feel the effects of it only in the prosperity, or calamity, they meet with, in this world, but extends not to their eternal state, in another world, considered as particular persons, wherein they stand each man by himself, upon his own bottom, and shall so answer separately, at the day of judgment. They may be punished here, with their fellow-citizens, as part of a sinful nation, and that be but temporal chastisement for their good, and yet be advanced to eternal life and bliss, in the world to come.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1I say the truth in Christ, I lye not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

Locke1824: 2That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow at my heart.

Locke1824: 3For I could wish, that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

Locke1824: 4Who are israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

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Locke1824: 5Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Locke1824: 6Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.

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Locke1824: 7Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Locke1824: 8That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Locke1824: 9For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.

Locke1824: 10And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,

Locke1824: 11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any Edition: current; Page: [374] good, or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth)

Locke1824: 12It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

Locke1824: 13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Locke1824: 14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

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Locke1824: 15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Locke1824: 16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.

Locke1824: 17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

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Locke1824: 18Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth.

Locke1824: 19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why do he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Locke1824: 20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? shall the thing formed, say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

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Locke1824: 21Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Locke1824: 22What, if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction:

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Locke1824: 23And that he might make known the riches of his glory, on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?

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Locke1824: 24Even us, whom he hath called, not of the jews only, but also of the gentiles.

Locke1824: 25As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

Locke1824: 26And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

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Locke1824: 27Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.

Locke1824: 28For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Locke1824: 29And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabbaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodome, and been made like unto Gomorrah.

Locke1824: 30What shall we say then? That the gentiles, which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

Locke1824: 31But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

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Locke1824: 32Wherefore? Because they sought it, not by faith, but (as it were) by the works of the law: for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone.

Locke1824: 33As it is written, Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone, and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed.

Locke1824: X. 1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Locke1824: 2For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Locke1824: 3For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

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Locke1824: 4For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness, to every one that believeth.

Locke1824: 5For Moses describeth the righteousness, which is of the law, That the man, which doth these things, shall live by them.

Locke1824: 6But the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above)

Locke1824: 7Or who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again, from the dead)

Locke1824: 8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach,

Locke1824: 9That, if thou shalt confess, with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and Edition: current; Page: [383] shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Locke1824: 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

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Locke1824: 11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Locke1824: 12For there is no difference between the jew and the greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Locke1824: 13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.

Locke1824: 14How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Locke1824: 15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, Edition: current; Page: [385] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things?

Locke1824: 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

Locke1824: 17So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

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Locke1824: 18But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

Locke1824: 19But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

Locke1824: 20But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.

Locke1824: 21But to Israel he saith, All day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1I as a christian speak truth, and my conscience, guided and enlightened by the Holy Ghost, bears meLocke1824: 2 witness, that I lye not, In my profession of greatLocke1824: 3 heaviness and continual sorrow of heart; I could even wish that* the destruction and extermination, to which my brethren the jews are devoted by Christ, might, if it could save them from ruin, be executed on me, in the stead of those my kinsmen after theLocke1824: 4 flesh; Who are israelites, a nation dignified with Edition: current; Page: [372] these privileges, which were peculiar to them; adoption, whereby they were in a particular manner the sons of God*; the glory† of the divine presence amongst them; covenants‡, made between them and the great God of heaven and the earth; the moral law§, a constitution of civil government, and a form of divine worship prescribed by God himself; and allLocke1824: 5 the promises of the Old Testament; Had the patriarchs, to whom the promises were made, for their fore-fathers∥; and of them, as to his fleshly extraction, Christ is come, he who is over all, God beLocke1824: 6 blessed for ever, Amen. I commiserate my nation for not receiving the promised Messiah, now he is come; and I speak of the great prerogatives, they had from God, above other nations; but I say not this, as if it were possible, that the promise of God should fail of performance, and not have its effect¶. But it is to be observed, for a right understanding of the promise, that the sole descendants of Jacob, or Israel, do not make up the whole nation of Israel**, or the people of God, comprehended Edition: current; Page: [373] Locke1824: 7 in the promise; Nor are they, who are the race of Abraham, all children, but only his posterity by Isaac, as it is said, “In Isaac shall thy seed beLocke1824: 8 “called.” That is, the children of the flesh, descended out of Abraham’s loins, are not thereby the children of God*, and to be esteemed his people: but the children of the promise, as Isaac was, areLocke1824: 9 alone to be accounted his seed. For thus runs the word of promise, “At this time I will come, andLocke1824: 10 Sarah shall have a son.” Nor was this the only limitation of the seed of Abraham, to whom the promise belonged; but also, when Rebecca had conceived by that one of Abraham’s issue, to whom the promise was made, viz. our father Isaac, and thereLocke1824: 11 were twins in her womb, of that one father, Before Edition: current; Page: [374] the children were born, or had done any good, or evil*, to show that his making any stock, or race, of men his peculiar people, depended solely on his own purpose and good pleasure, in choosing and calling them, and not on any works or deserts of theirs, he, acting here in the case of Jacob and Esau, accordingLocke1824: 12 to the predetermination of his own choice, It was declared unto her, that there were two nations† in her womb, and that the descendants of the elderLocke1824: 13 brother should serve those of the younger, As it is written, “Jacob have I loved‡, so as to make his posterity my chosen people; and Esau I put so much behind him§, as to lay his mountains andLocke1824: 14 his heritage waste∥.” What shall we say then, is there any injustice with God, in choosing one people Edition: current; Page: [375] to himself before another, according to his goodLocke1824: 15 pleasure? By no means. My brethren, the jews themselves cannot charge any such thing on what I say; since they have it from Moses himself*, that God declared to him, that he would be gracious, to whom he would be gracious; and show mercy, onLocke1824: 16 whom he would show mercy. So then, neither the purpose of Isaac, who designed it for Esau, and willed† him to prepare himself for it; nor the endeavours of Esau, who ran a hunting for venison to come and receive it, could place on him the blessing; but the favour of being made, in his posterity, a great and prosperous nation, the peculiar people of God, preferred to that which should descend from his brother, was bestowed on Jacob, by the mereLocke1824: 17 bounty and good pleasure of God himself. The like hath Moses left us upon record, of God’s dealing with Pharaoh and his subjects, the people of Egypt, to whom God saith‡, “Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be Edition: current; Page: [376] Locke1824: 18 renowned through all the earth.” Therefore*, that his name and power may be made known, and taken notice of, in the world, he is kind and bountiful† to one nation, and lets another go on obstinately, in their opposition to him, that his taking them off, by some signal calamity and ruin, brought on them by the visible hand of his providence, may be seen, and acknowledged to be an effect of their standing out against him, as in the case of Pharaoh: for this end he is bountiful, to whom he will be bountiful; and whom he will, he permits to make such an use of his forbearance towards them, as to persist obdurate in their provocation of him, and draw on themselvesLocke1824: 19 exemplary destruction‡. To this, some may be ready to say, why then does he find fault? For who, at any time, hath been able to resist hisLocke1824: 20 will? Say you so, indeed? But who art thou, O man, that repliest thus to God? shall the nations§, Edition: current; Page: [377] that are made great or little, shall kingdoms, that are raised or depressed, say to him, in whose hands they are, to dispose of them as he pleases, “WhyLocke1824: 21 hast thou made us thus?” Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make thisLocke1824: 22 a vessel of honour, and that of dishonour*? But what hast thou to say, O man of Judea, if God, willing to show his wrath, and have his power taken Edition: current; Page: [378] notice of, in the execution of it, did, with much long-suffering*, bear with the sinful nation of the jews, even when they were proper objects of that wrath, fit to have it poured out upon them, in their destruction;Locke1824: 23 That† he might make known the riches of Edition: current; Page: [379] his glory*, on those whom, being objects of hisLocke1824: 24 mercy, he had before prepared to glory? Even us christians, whom he hath also called, not only ofLocke1824: 25 the jews, but also of the gentiles; As he hath declared in Osee; “I will call them my people, who were not my people; and her beloved, who wasLocke1824: 26 not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place, where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children Edition: current; Page: [380] Locke1824: 27 “of the living God.” Isaiah crieth also, concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet it is but* a remnantLocke1824: 28 that shall be saved. For the Lord, finishing and contracting the account in righteousness, shall make aLocke1824: 29 short, or small remainder† in the earth.” And, as Isaiah said before, “Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed‡, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah;” we had utterlyLocke1824: 30 been extirpated. What then remains to be said, but this? That the gentiles who sought not after righteousness, have obtained the righteousness, which is by faith, and thereby are become the people ofLocke1824: 31 God; But the children of Israel, who followed the law, which contained the rule of righteousness, have not attained to that law, whereby righteousness is to be attained, i. e. have not received the gospel§, Edition: current; Page: [381] Locke1824: 32 and so are not the people of God. How came they to miss it? Because they sought not to attain it by faith; but as if it were to be obtained by the works of the law. A crucified Messiah was a stumblingblock to them*; and at that they stumbled, As itLocke1824: 33 is written, “Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone, and a rock of offence: and whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed.”

Locke1824: X. 1Brethren, my hearty desire and prayer to God forLocke1824: 2 Israel is, that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they are zealous†, and as they think for God and his law; but their zeal is not guided byLocke1824: 3 true knowledge; For they, being ignorant of the righteousness that is of God, viz. That righteousness which he graciously bestows and accepts of; and going about to establish a righteousness of their own, which they seek for, in their own performances; Edition: current; Page: [382] have not brought themselves to submit to the law of the gospel, wherein the righteousness of God,Locke1824: 4 i. e. righteousness by faith is offered. For the end of the law* was to bring men to Christ, that, by believing in him, every one, that did so, might be justifiedLocke1824: 5 by faith; For Moses describeth the righteousness, that was to be had by the law, thus: “That the man, which doth the things required in the law, shallLocke1824: 6 have life thereby.” But the righteousness, which is of faith, speaketh after this manner: “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven;” that is, to bring down the Messiah from thence, whom weLocke1824: 7 expect personally here on earth to deliver us? “Or who shall descend into the deep?” i. e. to bring up Christ again from the dead, to be our Saviour? you mistake the deliverance, you expect by the Messiah, there needs not the fetching him from the otherLocke1824: 8 world, to be present with you: The deliverance, by him, is a deliverance from sin, that you may be made righteous by faith in him, and that speaks thus: “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart;” that is, the word of faith, or the doctrineLocke1824: 9 of the gospel, which we preach†, viz. If thou Edition: current; Page: [383] shalt confess with “thy mouth*,” i. e. openly own Jesus the Lord, i. e. Jesus to be the Messiah, thy Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart, that God hath raised him from the dead†, otherwise he cannot be believed to be the Messiah; thou shalt be saved.Locke1824: 10 It was not for nothing that Moses, in the place Edition: current; Page: [384] above-cited, mentioned both heart and mouth; there is use of both in the case. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with theLocke1824: 11 mouth confession* is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, “Whosoever believe on him, shall not be ashamed:” shall not repent his having believed,Locke1824: 12 and owning it. The scripture saith, Whosoever, for in this case there is no distinction of jew and gentile. For it is he, the same who is Lord of them all, and is abundantly bountiful to all that callLocke1824: 13 upon him. For whosoever shall† call upon hisLocke1824: 14 name, shall be saved. But how shall they call upon him, on whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without aLocke1824: 15 preacher? And how shall they preach, except Edition: current; Page: [385] they be sent*? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things?”Locke1824: 16 But, though there be messengers sent from God, to preach the gospel; yet it is not to be expected, that all should receive and obey it†. For Isaiah hath foretold that they should not, saying, “Lord, whoLocke1824: 17 hath believed our report?” That which we may learn from thence is, that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing from the word of God, i. e. the revelation of the gospel, in the writings of the sacred scriptures, communicated by those, whom God sends as preachers thereof, to those who are ignorant of it; and there is no need, that Christ should be brought down from heaven, to be personally with Edition: current; Page: [386] Locke1824: 18 you, to be your Saviour. It is enough, that both jews and gentiles have heard of him, by messengers, whose voice is gone out into the whole earth, and words unto the ends of the world, far beyond theLocke1824: 19 bounds of Judea. But I ask, Did not Israel know* this, that the gentiles were to be taken in, and made the people of God? First Moses tells it them, from God, who says, “I will provoke you to jealousy, by them who are no people; and by aLocke1824: 20 foolish nation I will anger you.” But Isaiah declares it yet much plainer, in these words: “I was found of them that sought me not; I was madeLocke1824: 21 manifest to them that asked not after me.” And to Israel, to show their refusal, he saith: “All day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.”

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SECT. IX.

CHAP. XI. 1—36.

CONTENTS.

The apostle, in this chapter, goes on to show the future state of the jews and gentiles, in respect of christianity; viz. that, though the nation of the jews were, for their unbelief, rejected, and the gentiles taken, in their room, to be the people of God; yet there were a few of the jews, that believed in Christ, and so a small remnant of them continued to be God’s people, being incorporated, with the converted gentiles, into the christian church. But they shall, the whole nation of them, when the fulness of the gentiles is come in, be converted to the gospel, and again be restored to be the people of God.

The apostle takes occasion also, from God’s having rejected the jews, to warn the gentile converts, that they take heed: since, if God cast off his ancient people, the jews, for their unbelief, the gentiles could not expect to be preserved, if they apostatized from the faith, and kept not firm in their obedience to the gospel.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Locke1824: 2God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Wot Edition: current; Page: [388] ye not what the scripture saith, of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

Locke1824: 3Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

Locke1824: 4But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

Locke1824: 5Even so, then, at this present time also, there is a remnant, according to the election of grace.

Locke1824: 6And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is Edition: current; Page: [389] no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Locke1824: 7What then? Israel hath not obtained that, which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded:

Locke1824: 8According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day.

Locke1824: 9And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompence unto them:

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Locke1824: 10Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

Locke1824: 11I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy.

Locke1824: 12Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the gentiles: how much more their fulness?

Locke1824: 13For I speak to you gentiles, in as much as I am the apostle of the gentiles, I magnify mine office:

Locke1824: 14If, by any means, I may provoke to emulation them, which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

Locke1824: 15For, if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

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Locke1824: 16For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Locke1824: 17And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, were graffed in amongst them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree;

Locke1824: 18Boast not against the branches: but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

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Locke1824: 19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

Locke1824: 20Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear.

Locke1824: 21For, if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

Locke1824: 22Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Locke1824: 23And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

Locke1824: 24For, if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree, which is wild by nature, Edition: current; Page: [393] and wert graffed, contrary to nature, into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree?

Locke1824: 25For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits) that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the gentiles be come in.

Locke1824: 26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

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Locke1824: 27For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

Locke1824: 28As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

Locke1824: 29For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Locke1824: 30For as ye, in times past, have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy, through their unbelief:

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Locke1824: 31Even so have these also now not believed, that, through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy.

Locke1824: 32For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

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Locke1824: 33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Locke1824: 34For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?

Locke1824: 35Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

Locke1824: 36For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1I say then, “Has *God wholly cast away his people, the jews, from being his people?” By no means, for I myself am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham,Locke1824: 2 of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not utterly cast off his people, whom he formerly owned†, with so Edition: current; Page: [388] peculiar a respect. Know ye not what the scripture saith, concerning Elijah? How he complained toLocke1824: 3 the God of Israel, in these words: “Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and have digged down thine altars, and of all that worshipped thee, ILocke1824: 4 alone am left, and they seek my life also.” But what saith the answer of God to him? “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal*,” i.e. have not beenLocke1824: 5 guilty of idolatry. Even so at this time also, there is a remnant reserved and segregated, by the favourLocke1824: 6 and free choice of God. Which reservation of a remnant, if it be by grace and favour, it is not of works†, for then grace would not be grace. But if Edition: current; Page: [389] it were of works, then is it not grace. For then work would not be work, i. e. work gives a right, grace bestows the favour, where there is no right to it; so that what is conferred by the one, cannot be ascribedLocke1824: 7 to the other. How is it then? Even thus, Israel, or the nation of the jews, obtained not what it seeks*, but the election†, or that part, which was to remain God’s elect, chosen people, obtained it, butLocke1824: 8 the rest of them were blinded‡: According as it is written§, “God hath given them the spirit of slumber; eyes that they should not see, and ears thatLocke1824: 9 they should not hear, unto this day.” And David saith∥, “Let their table be made a snare and a trap, Edition: current; Page: [390] and a stumbling-block, and a recompence untoLocke1824: 10 them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.”Locke1824: 11 What then do I say, that they have so stumbled, as to be fallen past recovery? By no means: but this I say, that by their fall, by their rejection for refusing the* gospel, the privilege of becoming the people of God, by receiving the doctrine of salvation, is come to the gentiles, to provoke the jews toLocke1824: 12 jealousy. Now, if the fall of the jews hath been to the enriching of the rest of the world, and their damage an advantage to the gentiles, by letting them into the church, how much more shall their completion be so, when their whole nation shallLocke1824: 13 be restored? This I say to you gentiles, forasmuch as being apostle of the gentiles, I magnify†Locke1824: 14 mine office: If, by any means, I may provoke to emulation the jews, who are my own flesh and blood, and bring some of them into the way ofLocke1824: 15 salvation. For, if the casting them off be a means of reconciling the world, what shall their Edition: current; Page: [391] restoration be, when they are taken again into favour, but as it were life from the dead, which is toLocke1824: 16 all mankind of all nations? For if the first fruits* be holy† and accepted, the whole product of the year is holy, and will be accepted. And if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from whom the jewish nation had their original, were holy, the branches also, thatLocke1824: 17 sprang from this root, are holy. If then some of the natural branches were broken off: if some of the natural jews, of the stock of Israel, were broken off and rejected, and thou a heathen, of the wild gentile race, wert taken in, and ingrafted into the church of God, in their room; and there partakest of the blessings,Locke1824: 18 promised to Abraham and his seed; Be not so conceited of thyself, as to show any disrespect‡ to the jews. If any such vanity possesses thee, remember that the privilege thou hast, in being a christian, is derived to thee from the promise made to Abraham, and his seed, but nothing accrues to Abraham, or his Edition: current; Page: [392] Locke1824: 19 race, by any thing derived from thee. Thou wilt perhaps say, “The jews were rejected to make wayLocke1824: 20 for me.” Well, let it be so; but remember that it was because of unbelief, that they were broken off, and that it is by faith alone, that thou hast obtained, and must keep thy present station. This ought to be a warning to thee, not to have any haughty conceitLocke1824: 21 of thyself, but with modesty to fear. For if God spared not the seed of Abraham, but cast off even the children of Israel, for their unbelief he will certainly not spare thee, if thou art guilty of the likeLocke1824: 22 miscarriage. Mind, therefore, the benignity and rigour of God; rigour to them that stumbled at the gospel and fell, but benignity to thee, if thou continue within the sphere of his benignity, i. e. in the faith, by which thou partakest of the privilege of being one of his people; otherwise even thou alsoLocke1824: 23 shalt be cut off. And the jews also, if they continue not in unbelief, shall be again grafted into the stock of Abraham, and be re-established the people of God. For, however they are now scattered, and under subjection to strangers, God is able to collect them again into one body, make them his people, and set themLocke1824: 24 in a flourishing condition, in their own land*. For Edition: current; Page: [393] if you, who are heathens by birth, and not of the promised seed, were, when you had neither claim, nor inclination to it, brought into the church, and made the people of God; how much more shall those, who are the posterity and descendants of him to whom the promise was made, be restored to the state,Locke1824: 25 which the promise vested in that family? For to prevent your being conceited of yourselves, my brethren, let me make known to you, which has yet been undiscovered to the world, viz. That the blindness, which has fallen upon part of Israel, shall remain upon them, but till the time be come, wherein the whole* gentile world shall enter into the church,Locke1824: 26 and make profession of christianity. And so all Israel shall be converted† to the christian faith, and the whole nation become the people of God: as it is written, “There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, Edition: current; Page: [394] and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.Locke1824: 27 For this is my covenant to them, when ILocke1824: 28 shall take away* their sins.” They are, indeed, at present, strangers to the gospel, and so are in the state of enemies†; but this is for your sakes: their fall and loss is your enriching, you having obtained admittance, through their being cast out: but yet they, being within the election, that God made, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their posterity, to be his people, are still his beloved people, for Abraham, Isaac, andLocke1824: 29 Jacob’s sake, from whom they are descended. For the favours, that God showed those their fathers, in calling them and their posterity to be his people, he doth not repent of; but his promise, that theyLocke1824: 30 shall be his people, shall stand good‡. For as you, the gentiles, formerly stood out, and were not the people of God, but yet have now obtained mercy, Edition: current; Page: [395] so as to be taken in, through the standing out of theLocke1824: 31 jews, who submit not to the gospel*: Even so they, now, have stood out, by reason of your being in mercy admitted, that they also, through the mercy you have received, may again hereafter be admitted.Locke1824: 32 For God hath put up together, in a state of revolt from their allegiance† to him, as it were in one fold, Edition: current; Page: [396] all men, both jews and gentiles, that, through his mercy, they might all, both jews and gentiles, come to be his people, i. e. he hath suffered both jews and gentiles, in their turns, not to be his people, that he might bring the whole body both of jews and gentiles,Locke1824: 33 to be his people. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God*! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways not to beLocke1824: 34 traced! For who hath known the mind of the Lord;Locke1824: 35 or who hath sat in counsel with him? Or who hath been before-hand with him, in bestowing any thing upon him, that God may repay it to him again†?Locke1824: 36 The thought of any such thing is absurd. For from him all things have their being and original; Edition: current; Page: [397] by him they are all ordered and disposed of, and, for him and his glory, they are all made and regulated, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

SECT. X.

CHAP. XII. 1—21.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul, in the end of the foregoing chapter, with a very solemn epiphonema, closes that admirable, evangelical discourse, to the church at Rome, which had taken up the eleven foregoing chapters. It was addressed to the two sorts of converts, viz. gentiles and jews, into which, as into two distinct bodies, he all along, through this epistle, divides all mankind, and considers them, as so divided, into two separate corporations.

1. As to the gentiles, he endeavours to satisfy them, that though they, for their apostacy from God to idolatry, and the worship of false gods, had been abandoned by God, and lived in sin and blindness, without God in the world, strangers from the knowledge and acknowledgment of him; yet that the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, was extended to them, whereby there was a way now open to them, to become the people of God. For since no man could be saved, by his own righteousness, no not the jews themselves, by the deeds of the law; the only way to salvation, both for jews and gentiles, was by faith in Jesus Christ. Nor had the jews any other way, now, to continue themselves the people of God, than by receiving the gospel; which way was opened also to the gentiles, and they as freely admitted into the kingdom of God, now erected under Jesus Christ, as the jews, and upon the sole terms of believing. So that there was no need at all for the gentiles to be circumcised, to become jews, that they might be partakers of the benefits of the gospel.

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2. As to the jews, the apostle’s other great aim, in the foregoing discourse, is to remove the offence the jews took at the gospel, because the gentiles were received into the church, as the people of God, and were allowed to be subjects of the kingdom of the Messiah. To bring them to a better temper, he shows them, from the sacred scripture, that they could not be saved by the deeds of the law, and therefore the doctrine of righteousness, by faith, ought not to be so strange a thing to them. And, as to their being, for their unbelief, rejected from being the people of God, and the gentiles taken in their room, he shows plainly, that this was foretold them in the Old Testament; and that herein God did them no injustice. He was sovereign over all mankind, and might choose whom he would, to be his people, with the same freedom that he chose the posterity of Abraham, among all the nations of the earth, and of that race chose the descendants of Jacob, before those of his elder brother Esau, and that, before they had a being, or were capable of doing good or evil. In all which discourse of his it is plain, the election spoken of has for its object only nations, or collective bodies politic, in this world, and not particular persons, in reference to their eternal state in the world to come.

Having thus finished the principal design of his writing, he here, in this, as is usual with him in all his epistles, concludes with practical and moral exhortations, whereof there are several in this chapter, which we shall take in their order.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1I 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.

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Locke1824: 2And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

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Locke1824: 3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Locke1824: 4For, as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office;

Locke1824: 5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Locke1824: 6Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to Edition: current; Page: [401] us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.

Locke1824: 7Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching;

Locke1824: 8Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity: he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with chearfulness.

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Locke1824: 9Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.

Locke1824: 10Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.

Locke1824: 11Not slothful in business: fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.

Locke1824: 12Rejoicing in hope: patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer:

Locke1824: 13Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

Locke1824: 14Bless them which persecute you: bless and curse not.

Locke1824: 15Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Locke1824: 16Be of the same mind one towards another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Locke1824: 17Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

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Locke1824: 18If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Locke1824: 19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Locke1824: 20Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink, for, in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Locke1824: 21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1It being so then, that you are become the people of God, in the room of the jews, do not ye fail to offer him that sacrifice, that it is reasonable for you to do, I mean your bodies*, not to be slain, but the lusts Edition: current; Page: [399] thereof being mortified, and the body cleansed from the spots and blemishes of sin, will be an acceptable offering to him, and such a way of worship, as becomes a rational creature, which therefore I beseech you, by the mercies of God to you, who has made you hisLocke1824: 2 people to present to him. And be not conformed to the fashion of this world*: but be ye transformed, in the renewing of your minds†; that you may, upon examination, find out what is the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God, which now, under the gospel, has shown itself to be in purity and holiness of life: the ritual observances, which he once instituted, not being that, his good, acceptable, and perfect will, which he always intended, they were made only the types and preparatory way to this more perfect Edition: current; Page: [400] Locke1824: 3 state under the gospel*. For by virtue of that commission, to be the apostle of the gentiles, which, by the favour of God, is bestowed on me, I bid every one of you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to have sober and modest thoughts of himself, according to that measure of spiritual gifts†, which God has bestowed upon him.Locke1824: 4 For, as there are many members in one and the same body, but all the members are not appointed to theLocke1824: 5 same work; So we, who are many, make all but one body in Christ, and are all fellow members oneLocke1824: 6 of another‡. But having, according to the respective favour that is bestowed upon us, every one of us different gifts; whether it be prophecy§, let us prophesy, according to the proportion of faith∥; or gift of interpretation, which is given us, Edition: current; Page: [401] i. e. as far forth as we are enabled by revelation and an extraordinary illumination to understand and expoundLocke1824: 7 it, and no farther: Or, if it be ministry, let us wait on our ministering; he that is a teacher, let himLocke1824: 8 take care to teach. He, whose gift is exhortation, let him be diligent in exhorting: he that giveth, let him do it liberally, and without the mixture of any Edition: current; Page: [402] self-interest: he that presideth*, let him do it with diligence: he that showeth mercy, let him doLocke1824: 9 it with chearfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, stick to thatLocke1824: 10 which is good. Be kindly affectioned one towards another, with brotherly love: in honour preferringLocke1824: 11 one another. Not slothful in business; but active and vigorous in mind, directing all the service ofLocke1824: 12 Christ and the gospel, Rejoicing in the hope you have of heaven and happiness; patient in tribulation;Locke1824: 13 frequent and instant in prayer: Forward to help christians in want, according to their necessities;Locke1824: 14 given to hospitality. Bless them who persecuteLocke1824: 15 you: bless and curse not. Rejoice with themLocke1824: 16 that rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one towards another. Do not mind only high things; but suit yourselves to the mean condition and low concerns of persons beneath you.Locke1824: 17 Be not wise in your own conceits. Render to no man evil for evil; but take care that your carriage Edition: current; Page: [403] Locke1824: 18 be such as may be approved by all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably withLocke1824: 19 all men. Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather leave that to God. For it is written, “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it, saith theLocke1824: 20 Lord.” Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; if this prevail on him, thou subduest an enemy, and gainest a friend; if he persists still in his enmity, in so doing, thou heapest coals of fire on his head, i. e. exposest himLocke1824: 21 to the wrath of God, who will be thy avenger. Be not overcome and prevailed on, by the evil thou receivest, to retaliate; but endeavour to master the malice of an enemy in injuring thee, by a return of kindness and good offices to him.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. XIII. 1—7.

CONTENTS.

This section contains the duty of christians to the civil magistrate: for the understanding this right, we must consider these two things:

1. That these rules are given to christians, that were members of a heathen commonwealth, to show them that, by being made christians and subjects of Christ’s kingdom, Edition: current; Page: [404] they were not, by the freedom of the gospel, exempt from any ties of duty, or subjection, which by the laws of their country, they were in, and ought to observe, to the government and magistrates of it, though heathens, any more than any of their heathen subjects. But, on the other side, these rules did not tie them up, any more than any of their fellow-citizens, who were not christians, from any of those due rights, which, by the law of nature, or the constitutions of their country, belonged to them. Whatsoever any other of their fellow-subjects, being in a like station with them, might do without sinning, that they were not abridged of, but might do still, being christians. The rule here being the same with that given by St. Paul, 1 Cor. vii. 17, “As God has called every one, so let him walk.” The rules of civil right and wrong, that he is to walk by, are to him the same they were before.

2. That St. Paul, in this direction to the romans, does not so much describe the magistrates that then were in Rome, as tells whence they, and all magistrates, everywhere, have their authority; and for what end they have it, and should use it. And this he does, as becomes his prudence, to avoid bringing any imputation on christians, from heathen magistrates, especially those insolent and vicious ones of Rome, who could not brook any thing to be told them as their duty, and so might be apt to interpret such plain truths, laid down in a dogmatical way, into sauciness, sedition, or treason, a scandal cautiously to be kept off from the christian doctrine! nor does he, in what he says, in the least flatter the roman emperor, let it be either Claudius, as some think, or Nero, as others, who then was in possession of that empire. For he here speaks of the higher powers, i. e. the supreme, civil power, which is, in every commonwealth, derived from God, and is of the same extent everywhere, i. e. is absolute and unlimited by any thing, but the end for which God gave it, viz. the good of the people, sincerely pursued, according to the best of the skill of those who share that power, and so not to be resisted. But, how men come by a rightful title to this power, or who has that title, he is wholly silent, and says nothing of it. To Edition: current; Page: [405] have meddled with that, would have been to decide of civil rights, contrary to the design and business of the gospel, and the example of our Saviour, who refused meddling in such cases with this decisive question, “Who made me a judge, or divider, over you?” Luke xii. 14.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power, but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

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Locke1824: 2Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation.

Locke1824: 3For rulers are not a terrour to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.

Locke1824: 4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid: for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil.

Locke1824: 5Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

Locke1824: 6For, for this cause, pay you tribute also; for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

Locke1824: 7Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is Edition: current; Page: [407] due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Let every one of you, none excepted*, be subject to the over-ruling powers† of the government he lives in. Edition: current; Page: [406] Locke1824: 2 There is no power but what is from God: The powers that are in being, are ordained by God: so that he, who resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist, will be punished by thoseLocke1824: 3 powers that they resist. What should you be afraid of? Rulers are no terrour to those that do well, but to those that do ill. Wilt thou then not live in dread of the civil power? Do that which is good and right, and then praise only is thy due from the magistrate.Locke1824: 4 For he is the officer and minister of God, appointed only for thy good. But, if thou doest amiss, then thou hast reason to be afraid. For he bears not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, and executioner of wrath and punishment upon him thatLocke1824: 5 doth ill. This being the end of government, and the business of the magistrate, to cherish the good, and punish ill men, it is necessary for you to submit to government, not only in apprehension of the punishment, which disobedience will draw on you, but out of conscience, as a duty required of you by God.Locke1824: 6 This is the reason why also you pay tribute, which is due to the magistrates, because they employ their care, time and pains, for the publick weal, in punishing and restraining the wicked and vicious; and in countenancing and supporting the virtuousLocke1824: 7 and good. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute Edition: current; Page: [407] to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, and honour to whom honour.

SECT. XII.

CHAP. XIII. 8—14.

CONTENTS.

He exhorts them to love, which is, in effect, the fulfilling of the whole law.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 8Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he, that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law.

Locke1824: 9For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet; and, if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Locke1824: 10Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

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Locke1824: 11And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Locke1824: 12The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Locke1824: 13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Locke1824: 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 8Owe nothing to any body, but affection and good will, mutually to one another: for he, that loves others sincerely, as he does himself, has fulfilled the law.Locke1824: 9 For this precept, Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet; and whatever other command there be, concerning social duties, it in short is comprehended in this, “ThouLocke1824: 10 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Love permits us to do no harm to our neighbour, and therefore is the fulfilling of the whole law of the second Edition: current; Page: [408] Locke1824: 11 table. And all this do, considering that it is now high time that we rouse ourselves up, shake off sleep, and betake ourselves, with vigilancy and vigour, to the duties of a christian life. For the time of your removal, out of this place of exercise and probationership, is nearer than when you first enteredLocke1824: 12 into the profession of christianity*. The night, the dark state of this world, wherein the good and the bad can scarce be distinguished, is far spent. The day, that will show every one in his own dress and colours, is at hand. Let us, therefore, put away the works, that we should be ashamed of, but in the dark; and let us put on the dress† and ornaments, that we should be willing to appear in, in the light.Locke1824: 13 Let our behaviour be decent, and our carriage such, as fears not the light, nor the eyes of men; not in disorderly feastings and drunkenness; nor in dalliance and wantonness‡: nor in strife and envy§.Locke1824: 14 But walk in newness of life, in obedience to the precepts of the gospel, as becomes those who are baptized Edition: current; Page: [409] into the faith of Christ, and let not the great employment of your thoughts and cares be wholly in making provision for the body, that you may have wherewithal to satisfy your carnal lusts.

SECT. XIII.

CHAP. XIV. 1.—XV. 13.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul instructs both the strong and the weak in their mutual duties one to another, in respect of things indifferent, teaching them, that the strong should not use their liberty, where it might offend a weak brother: nor the weak censure the strong, for using their liberty.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Him that is weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations.

Locke1824: 2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

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Locke1824: 3Let not him, that eateth, despise him that eateth not: and let not him, which eateth not, judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

Locke1824: 4Who art thou, that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth: yea, he shall be holden up; for God is able to make him stand.

Locke1824: 5One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

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Locke1824: 6He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Locke1824: 7For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

Locke1824: 8For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

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Locke1824: 9For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

Locke1824: 10But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Locke1824: 11For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Locke1824: 12So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Locke1824: 13Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion to fall, in his brother’s way.

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Locke1824: 14I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Locke1824: 15But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ did.

Locke1824: 16Let not then your good be evil spoken of.

Locke1824: 17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Locke1824: 18For he that in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

Locke1824: 19Let us, therefore, follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

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Locke1824: 20For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

Locke1824: 21It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Locke1824: 22Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself, in that thing which he alloweth.

Locke1824: 23And he that doubteth, is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.

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Locke1824: XV. 1.We then that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Locke1824: 2Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.

Locke1824: 3For even Christ pleased not himself; but as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee, fell on me.

Locke1824: 4For whatsoever things were written, aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.

Locke1824: 5Now the God of patience and consolation, grant you to be likeminded one towards another, according to Christ Jesus:

Locke1824: 6That ye may, with one mind and one mouth, glorify God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 7Wherefore, receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.

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Locke1824: 8Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

Locke1824: 9And that the gentiles might glorify God, for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the gentiles, and sing unto thy name.

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Locke1824: 10And again he saith, Rejoice, ye gentiles, with his people.

Locke1824: 11And again, Praise the Lord, all ye gentiles, and laud him, all ye people.

Locke1824: 12And again Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the gentiles, in him shall the gentiles trust.

Locke1824: 13Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Him, that is weak in the faith, i. e. not fully persuaded of his christian liberty, in the use of some indifferent thing, receive you into your friendship and conversation*, without any coldness, or distinction, but do not engage him in disputes and controversiesLocke1824: 2 about it. For such variety is there in men’s persuasions, about their christian liberty, that one believeth Edition: current; Page: [410] that he may, without restraint, eat all things; another is so scrupulous, that he eateth nothing butLocke1824: 3 herbs. Let not him, that is persuaded of his liberty, and eateth, despise him that, through scruple, eateth not: and let not him, that is more doubtful, and eateth not, judge, or censure, him that eateth, for God hath received* him into his church and family:Locke1824: 4 And who art thou, that takest upon thee to judge the domestic of another, whether he be of his family, or no? It is his own master alone, who is to judge, whether he be, or shall continue, his domestic, or no: what hast thou to do, to meddle in the case? But trouble not thyself, he shall stand and stay in the family. For God is able to confirm and establish himLocke1824: 5 there†. One man judgeth one† day to be set apart Edition: current; Page: [411] to God, more than another: another man judgeth every day to be God’s alike. Let every one take care to be satisfied in his own mind, touching theLocke1824: 6 matter. But let him not censure* another in what he doth. He that observeth a day, observeth it as the Lord’s servant, in obedience to him: and he that observeth it not, passes by that observance, as the Lord’s servant, in obedience also to the Lord. He that eateth what another out of scruple forbears, eateth it as the Lord’s servant: for he giveth God thanks. And he that, out of scruple, forbeareth to eat, does it also as the Lord’s servant: for he giveth God thanks, even for that which he doth,Locke1824: 7 and thinks he may not eat. For no one of us christians liveth, as if he were his own man, perfectly at his own disposal: and no one† of us diesLocke1824: 8 so. For, whether we live, our life is appropriated to the Lord: or, whether we die, to him we die, as his servants. For whether we live, or die, we are his, in his family, his domestics‡, appropriated to him. Edition: current; Page: [412] Locke1824: 9 For to this end Christ died, and rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord and proprietor of us*, bothLocke1824: 10 dead and living. What hast thou then to do, to judge thy brother, who is none of thy servant, but thy equal? Or how darest thou to think contemptibly of him? For we shall, thou, and he, and all of us, be brought before the judgment-seat of Christ, and there we shall answer, every one for himself, toLocke1824: 11 our Lord and master. For it is written, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, andLocke1824: 12 every tongue shall confess to God.” So then every one of us shall give an account of himself toLocke1824: 13 God. Let us not, therefore, take upon us to judge one another; but rather come to this judgment, or determination of mind, that no man put† a tsumbling-block, or an occasion of falling, in his brother’s Edition: current; Page: [413] Locke1824: 14 way. I know and am fully assured by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean or unlawful to be eaten, of itself. But to him, that accounts anyLocke1824: 15 thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved* with thy meat, thy carriage is uncharitable to him. Destroy not him with thyLocke1824: 16 meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your liberty, which is a good† you enjoy, under the gospel,Locke1824: 17 be evil spoken of. For the privileges and advantages of the kingdom of God do not consist in the enjoyment of greater variety of meats and drinks, but in uprightness of life, peace of all kinds, and joy in the gifts and benefits of the Holy Ghost,Locke1824: 18 under the gospel. For he that, in these things, pays his allegiance and service to Jesus Christ, as a dutiful subject of his kingdom, is acceptable to God,Locke1824: 19 and approved of men. The things, therefore, that we set our hearts upon, to pursue and promote, let them be such as tend to peace and good-will, and Edition: current; Page: [414] Locke1824: 20 the mutual edification of one another. Do not, for a little meat, destroy a man, that is the work* of God, and no ordinary piece of workmanship. It is true, all sort of wholesome food is pure, and defileth not a man’s conscience; but yet it is evil to him, whoLocke1824: 21 eateth any thing so as to offend his brother. It is better to forbear flesh, and wine, and any thing, rather than in the use of thy liberty, in any indifferent things, to do that, whereby thy brotherLocke1824: 22 stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak†. Thou art fully persuaded of the lawfulness of eating the meat which thou eatest: it is well. Happy is he, that is not self-condemned, in the thing that he practises. But have a care to keep this faith or persuasion, to thyself; let it be between God and thy own conscience: raise no dispute about it; neither makeLocke1824: 23 ostentation of it‡, by thy practice before others. But he that is in doubt, and balanceth§, is self-condemned, if he eat; because he doth it, without a full persuasion of the lawfulness of it. For whatever a man doth, which he is not fully persuaded in his own Edition: current; Page: [415] Locke1824: XV. 1. mind to be lawful, is sin. We, then, that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to indulge our own appetites, or inclinations, in such an use of indifferent things, as may offend theLocke1824: 2 weak. But let every one of us please his neighbour, comply with his infirmities for his good, and to edification.Locke1824: 3 For even Christ, our Lord, pleased not himself: but as it is written, “The reproaches of themLocke1824: 4 that reproached thee, are fallen upon me.” For whatsoever was heretofore written, i. e. in the Old Testament, was written for our learning, that we through patience, and the comfort which the scriptures giveLocke1824: 5 us, might have hope. Now God, who is the giver of patience and consolation, make you to be at unity one with another, according to the will of Christ Jesus;Locke1824: 6 That you may, with one mind and one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.Locke1824: 7 Wherefore, admit and receive one another* into fellowship Edition: current; Page: [416] and familiarity, without shyness, or distance, upon occasion of differences about things indifferent,Locke1824: 8 even as Christ received us jews to glorify* God, (For† I must tell you, ye converted romans, that Christ was sent to the jews, and employed all his ministry‡ on those of the circumcision) for his truth, in making good his promise made to the fathers, i. e. Abraham,Locke1824: 9 Isaac, and Jacob; And received you, the gentiles, Edition: current; Page: [417] to glorify God for his mercy to you, as it is written, “For this cause I will confess to thee among the gentiles, and sing unto thy name.”Locke1824: 10 And again, he saith, “Rejoice, ye gentiles, withLocke1824: 11 his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all yeLocke1824: 12 gentiles, and laud him, all ye nations.” And again, Isaiah saith, “There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the gentiles,Locke1824: 13 in him shall the gentiles trust*.” Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost†.

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SECT. XIV.

CHAP. XV. 14—33.

CONTENTS.

In the remaining part of this chapter, St. Paul makes a very kind and skilful apology to them, for this epistle: expresses an earnest desire of coming to them: touches upon the reasons, that hitherto had hindered him: desires their prayers for his deliverance from the jews, in his journey to Jerusalem, whither he was going; and promises that, from thence, he will make them a visit in his way to Spain.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 14And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

Locke1824: 15Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you, in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace, that is given to me of God.

Locke1824: 16That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

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Locke1824: 17I have therefore whereof I may glory, through Jesus Christ, in those things which pertain unto God.

Locke1824: 18For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the gentiles obedient, by word and deed.

Locke1824: 19Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Locke1824: 20Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.

Locke1824: 21But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard, shall understand.

Locke1824: 22For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.

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Locke1824: 23But now, having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire, these many years, to come unto you,

Locke1824: 24Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thither-ward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.

Locke1824: 25But now I go unto Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints.

Locke1824: 26For it hath pleased them of Macedonia, and Achaia, to make a certain contribution for the poor saints, which are at Jerusalem.

Locke1824: 27It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For, if the gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.

Locke1824: 28When, therefore, I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come, by you, into Spain.

Locke1824: 29And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the gospel of Christ.

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Locke1824: 30Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the spirit, that ye strive, together with me, in your prayers to God for me.

Locke1824: 31That I may be delivered from them that do not believe, in Judea; and that my service, which I have for Jerusalem, may be accepted of the saints;

Locke1824: 32That I may come unto you with joy, by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.

Locke1824: 33Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 14As to my own thoughts concerning you, my brethren, I am persuaded that you also, as well as others, are full of goodness, abounding in all knowledge, andLocke1824: 15 able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written to you, in some things, pretty freely, as your remembrancer, which I have been emboldened to do, by the commission, which God has beenLocke1824: 16 graciously pleased to bestow on me, Whom he hath made to be the minister of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, in the gospel of God, in which holy ministration I officiate, that the gentiles may be made an acceptable offering* to God, sanctified by the pouring Edition: current; Page: [419] Locke1824: 17 out of the Holy Ghost upon them. I have, therefore, matter of glorying, through Jesus Christ,Locke1824: 18 as to those things that pertain* to God. For I shall not venture to trouble you with any concerning myself, but only what Christ hath wrought by me, for the bringing of the gentiles to christianity, bothLocke1824: 19 in profession and practice. Through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Ghost, so that, from Jerusalem and the neighbouring countries, all along, quite to Illyricum, I have effectuallyLocke1824: 20 preached the gospel of Christ; But so as studiously to avoid the carrying of it to those places, where it was already planted, and where the people were already christians, lest I should build upon anotherLocke1824: 21 man’s foundation†. But as it is written‡, “To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they,Locke1824: 22 that have not heard, shall understand.” This has Edition: current; Page: [420] Locke1824: 23 often hindered me from coming to you: But now, having in these parts no place, where Christ hath not been heard of, to preach the gospel in; and having had, for these many years, a desire to come toLocke1824: 24 you; I will, when I take my journey to Spain, take you in my way: for I hope, then, to see you, and to be brought on my way thither-ward by you, when I have, for some time, enjoyed your company, and pretty well satisfied my longing, on that account.Locke1824: 25 But, at present, I am setting out for Jerusalem,Locke1824: 26 going to minister to the saints there. For it hath pleased those of Macedonia and Achaia to make a contribution for the poor, among the saints at Jerusalem.Locke1824: 27 It hath pleased them to do so, and they are, indeed, their debtors. For, if the gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they are bound, on their side, to minister to them, for theLocke1824: 28 support of this temporal life. When, therefore, I have dispatched this business, and put this fruit of my labours into their hands, I will come to you inLocke1824: 29 my way to Spain. And I know that, when I come unto you, I shall bring with me to your full satisfaction, concerning the blessedness, which you receive Edition: current; Page: [421] Locke1824: 30 by the gospel* of Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love which comes from the spirit of God, to joinLocke1824: 31 with me in earnest prayers to God for me, That I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea; and that the service I am doing the saints there,Locke1824: 32 may be acceptable to them: That, if it be the will of God, I may come to you with joy, and may beLocke1824: 33 refreshed together with you. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

SECT. XV.

CHAP. XVI. 1—27.

CONTENTS.

The foregoing epistle furnishes us with reasons to conclude, that the divisions and offences, that were in the roman church, were between the jewish and gentile converts, whilst the one, over-zealous for the rituals of the law, endeavoured to impose circumcision and other mosaical rites, as necessary to be observed, by all that professed christianity; and the other, without due regard Edition: current; Page: [422] to the weakness of the jews, showed a too open neglect of those their observances, which were of so great account with them. St. Paul was so sensible, how much the churches of Christ suffered, on this occasion, and so careful to prevent this, which was a disturbance almost every where (as may be seen in the history of the Acts, and collected out of the epistles) that, after he had finished his discourse to them, (which we may observe solemnly closed, in the end of the foregoing chapter) he here, in the middle of his salutations, cannot forbear to caution them against the authors and fomenters of these divisions, and that very pathetically, ver. 17—20. All the rest of this chapter is spent, almost wholly, in salutations. Only the four last verses contain a conclusion, after St. Paul’s manner.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1I commend unto you Phœbe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Kenchrea:

Locke1824: 2That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her, in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and myself also.

Locke1824: 3Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus:

Locke1824: 4(Who have, for my life, laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the gentiles.)

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Locke1824: 5Likewise greet the church that is in their house, Salute my well-beloved Epænetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ.

Locke1824: 6Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.

Locke1824: 7Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

Locke1824: 8Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

Locke1824: 9Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.

Locke1824: 10Salute Apelles, approved in Christ. Salute them, which are of Aristobulus’ houshold.

Locke1824: 11Salute Herodian, my kinsman. Greet them that be of the houshold of Narcissus, which are in the Lord.

Locke1824: 12Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord.

Locke1824: 13Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

Locke1824: 14Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.

Locke1824: 15Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.

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Locke1824: 16Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

Locke1824: 17Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

Locke1824: 18For they, that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and, by good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple.

Locke1824: 19For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad, therefore, on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good; and simple concerning evil.

Locke1824: 20And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

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Locke1824: 21Timotheus, my work-fellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.

Locke1824: 22I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.

Locke1824: 23Gaius mine host, and of the whole church saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluteth you, and Quartus, a brother.

Locke1824: 24The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Locke1824: 25Now to him, that is of power to stablish you, according to my Edition: current; Page: [426] gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, (according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret, since the world began;

Locke1824: 26But now is made manifest, and, by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations, for the obedience of faith.)

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Locke1824: 27To God, only wise, be glory, through Jesus Christ, for ever. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1I commend to you Phœbe, our sister, who is a servantLocke1824: 2 of the church, which is at Kenchrea*, That you receive her, for Christ’s sake, as becomes christians, and that you assist her, in whatever business she has need of you, for she has assisted† many, andLocke1824: 3 me in particular. Salute Priscilla and Aquila, myLocke1824: 4 fellow-labourers in the gospel, (Who have, for my life, exposed their own to danger, unto whom not Edition: current; Page: [423] only I give thanks, but also all the churches of theLocke1824: 5 gentiles.) Greet also the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epænetus, who isLocke1824: 6 the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ. Greet Mary,Locke1824: 7 who took a great deal of pains for our sakes. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsfolk and fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, whoLocke1824: 8 also were christians before me. Greet Amplias, myLocke1824: 9 beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbane, our helper inLocke1824: 10 Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute those who are of theLocke1824: 11 houshold of Aristobulus. Salute Herodian, my kinsman. Salute all those of the houshold of Narcissus,Locke1824: 12 who have embraced the gospel. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who take pains in the gospel. Salute the beloved Persis, who laboured much in theLocke1824: 13 Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen, or selected to be aLocke1824: 14 disciple of the Lord; and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes,Locke1824: 15 and the brethren who are with them. Salute Philologus, Edition: current; Page: [424] and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas,Locke1824: 16 and all the saints who are with them. Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.Locke1824: 17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark those who cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine, whichLocke1824: 18 you have learned, and avoid them. For they serve* not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, and by good words and fair speeches, insinuating themselves,Locke1824: 19 deceive well-meaning, simple men. Your conversion and ready compliance with the doctrine of the gospel, when it was brought to you, is known in the world†, and generally talked of: I am glad, for your sakes, that you so forwardly obeyed the gospel. But give me leave to advise you to be wise and cautious in preserving yourselves steady in what is wise and good‡; but employ no thought, or skill, how to circumvent, or injure another: be in this regardLocke1824: 20 very plain and simple. For God, who is the giver and lover of peace, will soon rid you of these ministers of Satan§, the disturbers of your peace, Edition: current; Page: [425] who make divisions amongst you*. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Locke1824: 21Timothy, my work-fellow, and Lucius and Jason,Locke1824: 22 and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you. I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.Locke1824: 23 Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, salutethLocke1824: 24 you; and Quartus, a brother. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Locke1824: 25Now, to him that is able to settle and establish you in an adherence to my† gospel, and to that which I Edition: current; Page: [426] deliver, concerning Jesus Christ, in my preaching, conformable to the revelation of the mystery*,Locke1824: 26 which lay unexplained in the† secular times; But now is laid open, and, by the writings of the prophets, Edition: current; Page: [427] made known (according to the commandment of the everlasting God) to the gentiles of all nations, for the bringing them in, to the obedience of the lawLocke1824: 27 of faith. To the only wise God be glory, through Jesus Christ, for ever. Amen.

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A PARAPHRASE AND NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS.

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THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS;
WRIT IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 63, OF NERO IX.

SYNOPSIS.

Our Saviour had, so openly and expressly, declared, to his disciples, the destruction of the temple, that they could, by no means, doubt of it; nor of this consequence of it, viz. that the ἔθη, customs or rites of the mosaical law, as they are called, Acts vi. 14, and xxi. 21, were to cease with it. And this St. Stephen, by what is laid to his charge, Acts vi. 13, 14, seems to have taught. And upon this ground it might very well be, that the apostles and church of Jerusalem required no more of the convert gentiles, than the observance of such things as were sufficient to satisfy the jews, that they were not still heathens and idolaters. But, as for the rest of the mosaical rites, they required not the convert gentiles (to whom the mosaical law was not given) to observe them. This being a very natural and obvious consequence, which they could not but see, that if by the destruction of the temple and worship of the jews, those rites were speedily to be taken away, they were not observances necessary to the people of God, and of perpetual obligation. Thus far, it is plain, the other apostles were instructed, and satisfied of the freedom of the gentile converts from complying with the ritual law. But, whether it was revealed to them, with the same clearness as it was to St. Paul, that the jews too, as well as the gentiles, who were converted to the christian faith, were discharged from their former obligation to the ritual law Edition: current; Page: [432] of Moses, and freed from those observances, may be doubted: because, as we see, they had not at all instructed their converts of the circumcision, of their being set at liberty from that yoke; which, it is very likely, they would not have forborn to have done, if they had been convinced of it themselves. For, in all that discourse concerning this question, Acts xv. 1—21, there is not one syllable said, of the jews being discharged, by faith in the Messiah, from the observance of any of the mosaical rites. Nor does it appear, that the apostles of the circumcision ever taught their disciples, or suggested to them, any such thing, which one can scarce imagine, they could have neglected, if it had been revealed to them, and so given them in charge. It is certain, their converts had never been taught any such thing. For St. James himself acquaints us, Acts xxi. 20, that the “many thousands, that believed, were all zealous of the law.” And what his own opinion of those rites, was, may be seen, ver. 24, where he calls keeping this part of the law, “walking orderly:” and he is concerned to have St. Paul thought a strict observer thereof. All which could not have been, if it had been revealed to him, as positively and expressly as it was to St. Paul, that all believers, in the Messiah, jews as well as gentiles, were absolved from the law of Moses, and were under no obligation to observe those ceremonies any longer, they being now no longer necessary to the people of God, in this his new kingdom, erected under the Messiah; nor indeed was it necessary, that this particular point should have been, from the beginning, revealed to the other apostles, who were sufficiently instructed for their mission, and the conversion of their brethren, the jews, by the Holy Ghost bringing to their minds (as was promised) all that our Saviour had said unto them, in his life-time here, amongst them, in the true sense of it. But the sending them to the jews with this message, that the law was abolished, was to cross the very design of sending them; it was to bespeak an aversion to their doctrine; and to stop the ears of the jews, and turn their hearts from them. But St. Paul, receiving his whole knowledge of the gospel, immediately from heaven, by revelation, seems to have this particular instruction Edition: current; Page: [433] added, to fit him for the mission he was chosen to, and make him an effectual messenger of the gospel, by furnishing him presently with this necessary truth, concerning the cessation of the law, the knowledge whereof could not but come in time to the other apostles, when it should be seasonable. Whether this be not so, I leave it to be considered.

This, at least, is certain, that St. Paul alone, more than all the rest of the apostles, was taken notice of to have preached, that the coming of Christ put an end to the law, and that, in the kingdom of God, erected under the Messiah, the observation of the law was neither required, nor availed aught; faith in Christ was the only condition of admittance, both for jew and gentile, all, who believed, being now equally the people of God, whether circumcised, or uncircumcised. This was that, which the jews, zealous of the law, which they took to be the irrevocable, unalterable charter of the people of God, and the standing rule of his kingdom, could by no means bear. And therefore, provoked by this report of St. Paul, the jews, both converts as well as others, looked upon him as a dangerous innovator, and an enemy to the true religion, and, as such, seized on him in the temple, Acts xxi. upon occasion whereof it was, that he was a prisoner at Rome, when he writ this epistle, where he seems to be concerned, lest now, he, that was the apostle of the gentiles, from whom alone the doctrine of their exemption from the law had its rise and support, was in bonds, upon that very account, it might give an opportunity to those judaizing professors of christianity, who contended that the gentiles, unless they were circumcised after the manner of Moses, could not be saved, to unsettle the minds, and shake the faith of those, whom he had converted. This being the controversy, from whence rose the great trouble and danger that, in the time of our apostle, disturbed the churches collected from among the gentiles. That, which chiefly disquieted the minds, and shook the faith of those, who from heathenism were converted to christianity, was this doctrine, that, except the converts from paganism were circumcised, and thereby subjected themselves to the law and the jewish rites, they Edition: current; Page: [434] could have no benefit by the gospel, as may be seen all through the Acts, and in almost all St. Paul’s epistles. Wherefore, when he heard that the ephesians stood firm in the faith, whereby he means their confidence of their title to the privileges and benefits of the gospel, without submission to the law (for the introducing the legal observances into the kingdom of the Messiah, he declared to be a subversion of the gospel, and contrary to the great and glorious design of that kingdom) he thanks God for them, and, setting forth the gracious and glorious design of God towards them, prays that they may be enlightened, so as to be able to see the mighty things done for them, and the immense advantages they receive by it. In all which he displays the glorious state of that kingdom, not in the ordinary way of argumentation and formal reasoning; which had no place in an epistle, writ as this is, all as it were in a rapture, and in a style far above the plain, didactical way; he pretends not to teach them any thing, but couches all, that he would drop into their minds, in thanksgivings and prayers, which affording a greater liberty and flight to his thoughts, he gives utterance to them, in noble and sublime expressions, suitable to the unsearchable wisdom and goodness of God, shown to the world in the work of redemption. This, though perhaps at first sight, it may render his meaning a little obscure, and his expressions the harder to be understood, yet, by the assistance of the two following epistles, which were both writ, whilst he was in the same circumstances, upon the same occasion, and to the same purpose, the sense and doctrine of the apostle here may be so clearly seen, and so perfectly comprehended, that there can hardly be a doubt left about it, to any one, who will examine them diligently and carefully compare them together. The epistle to the colossians seems to be writ the very same time, in the same run and warmth of thoughts, so that the very same expressions, yet fresh in his mind, are repeated in many places; the form, phrase, matter, and all the parts quite through, of these two epistles do so perfectly correspond, that one cannot be mistaken, in thinking one of them very fit to give light to the other. And that to the philippians, writ also by St. Paul, during his bonds at Rome, when attentively looked into, will be Edition: current; Page: [435] found to have the same aim with the other two; so that, in these three epistles taken together, one may see the great design of the gospel laid down, as far surpassing the law, both in glory, greatness, comprehension, grace, and bounty, and therefore they were opposers, not promoters of the true doctrine of the gospel, and the kingdom of God under the Messiah, who would confine it to the narrow and beggarly elements of this world, as St. Paul calls the positive ordinances of the mosaical institution. To confirm the gentile churches, whom he had converted, in this faith which he had instructed them in, and keep them from submitting to the mosaical rites, in the kingdom of Christ, by giving them a nobler and more glorious view of the gospel, is the design of this and the two following epistles. For the better understanding these epistles, it might be worth while to show their harmony all through, but this synopsis is not a place for it; the following paraphrase and notes will give an opportunity to point out several passages wherein their agreement will appear.

The latter end of this epistle, according to St. Paul’s usual method, contains practical directions and exhortations.

He that desires to inform himself in what is left upon record, in sacred scripture, concerning the church of the ephesians, which was the metropolis of Asia, strictly so called, may read the 19th and 20th of the Acts.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. 1, 2.

CONTENTS.

These two verses contain St. Paul’s inscription, or introduction of this epistle; what there is in it remarkable for its difference, from what is to be found in his other epistles, we shall take notice of in the notes.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Locke1824: 2Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the declared will and special appointment of God, to the professors of the gospel*, who are in Ephesus; converts, whoLocke1824: 2 stand firm in the faith† of Christ Jesus; Favour and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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SECT. II.

CHAP. I. 3—14.

CONTENTS.

In this section St. Paul thanks God for his grace and bounty to the gentiles, wherein he so sets forth both God’s gracious purpose of bringing the gentiles into his kingdom under the Messiah, and his actual bestowing on them blessings of all kinds, in Jesus Christ, for a complete re-instating them in that his heavenly kingdom, that there could be nothing stronger suggested to make the ephesians, and other gentile converts, not to think any more of the law, and that much inferiour kingdom of his, established upon the mosaical institution, and adapted to a little canton of the earth, and a small tribe of men; as now necessary to be retained under this more spiritual institution, and celestial kingdom, erected under Jesus Christ, intended to comprehend men of all nations, and extend itself to the utmost bounds of the earth, for the greater honour of God, or, as St. Paul speaks, “to the praise of the glory of God.”

TEXT.

Locke1824: 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, in Christ:

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Locke1824: 4According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love:

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Locke1824: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

Locke1824: 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

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Locke1824: 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace;

Locke1824: 8Wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence,

Locke1824: 9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself:

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Locke1824: 10That, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things, in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him:

Locke1824: 11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated Edition: current; Page: [443] according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things, after the counsel of his own will:

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Locke1824: 12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

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Locke1824: 13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.

Locke1824: 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 3Blessed and magnified be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has, in and by Jesus Christ*, furnished us† gentiles with all sorts of blessings, that Edition: current; Page: [438] Edition: current; Page: [439] may fit us to be partakers of his heavenly kingdom,Locke1824: 4 without need of any assistance from the law, According as he chose us gentiles, upon Christ’s account alone*, before the law was, even before the foundation of the world, to be his people† under Jesus the Messiah, and to live unblameable lives‡ before him, in all love and affection§, to all the saints, or believers, Edition: current; Page: [440] Locke1824: 5 of what nation soever; Having predetermined to take us gentiles, by* Jesus Christ, to be his sons† and people, according to the good pleasure of hisLocke1824: 6 will‡. To the end that the gentiles too might praise him for his grace and mercy to them, and all mankind magnify his glory for his abundant goodness to them, by receiving them freely into the kingdom of the Messiah, to be his people again, in a state of peace with him§, barely for the sake∥ of him, that is his Edition: current; Page: [441] Locke1824: 7 beloved: In whom we* have redemption by his blood, viz. the forgiveness of transgressions, according to theLocke1824: 8 greatness of his grace and favour, Which he has overflowed in towards us, in bestowing on us so full a knowledge and comprehension of the extent and design of the gospel†, and prudence to comply with it,Locke1824: 9 as it becomes you‡; In that he hath made known to you the good pleasure of his will and purpose, which was a §mystery, that he hath purposed Edition: current; Page: [442] Locke1824: 10 in himself*. Until the coming of the due time of that dispensation, wherein he hath predetermined to reduce all things again, both in heaven andLocke1824: 11 earth, under one head† in Christ; In whom we became Edition: current; Page: [443] his possession* and the lot of his inheritance, Edition: current; Page: [444] being predetermined thereunto, according to the purpose of him, who never fails to bring to passLocke1824: 12 what he hath purposed within himself*: That we of the gentiles, who first through Christ entertained hope†, might bring praise and glory to God. Edition: current; Page: [445] Locke1824: 13 And ye, ephesians, are also, in Jesus Christ, become God’s people and inheritance*, having heard the word of truth, the good tidings of your salvation, and, having believed in him, have been sealed by theLocke1824: 14 Holy Ghost; Which was promised, and is the pledge and evidence of being the people of God†, his inheritance given out‡ for the redemption§ of the Edition: current; Page: [446] purchased possession, that ye might also bring praise and glory to God*.

SECT. III.

CHAP. I. 15.—II. 10.

CONTENTS.

Having in the foregoing section thanked God for the great favours and mercies which, from the beginning, he had purposed for the gentiles, under the Messiah, in such a description of that design of the Almighty, as was fit to raise their thoughts above the law, and, as St. Paul calls them, beggarly elements of the jewish constitution, which was nothing in comparison of the great and glorious design of the gospel, taking notice Edition: current; Page: [447] of their standing firm in the faith he had taught them, and thanking God for it: he here, in this, prays God, that he would enlighten the minds of the ephesian converts, to see fully the great things, that were actually done for them, and the glorious estate, they were in, under the gospel, of which, in this section, he gives such a draught, as in every part of it shows, that in the kingdom of Christ they are set far above the mosaical rites, and enjoy the spiritual and incomprehensible benefits of it, not by the tenure of a few outward ceremonies: but by their faith, alone, in Jesus Christ, to whom they are united, and of whom they are members, who is exalted to the top of all dignity, dominion, and power, and they with him, their head.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

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Locke1824: 16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

Locke1824: 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knewledge of him:

Locke1824: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

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Locke1824: 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power;

Locke1824: 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, in the heavenly places,

Locke1824: 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, Edition: current; Page: [451] and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.

Locke1824: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.

Locke1824: 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

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Locke1824: II. 1And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins,

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Locke1824: 2Wherein, in time past, ye walked, according to the course of this Edition: current; Page: [454] world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

Locke1824: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

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Locke1824: 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Locke1824: 5Even when ye were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)

Locke1824: 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.

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Locke1824: 7That, in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus.

Locke1824: 8For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

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Locke1824: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast:

Locke1824: 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 15Wherefore, I also, here, in my confinement, having heard* of the continuance of your faith in Christ Jesus, Edition: current; Page: [448] Edition: current; Page: [449] Locke1824: 16 and your love to all the saints*, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;Locke1824: 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory† would endow your spirits, with wisdom‡ and revelation§, whereby you may knowLocke1824: 18 him; And enlighten the eyes of your understandings, that you may see what hope his calling you to be christians carries with it, and what an abundant Edition: current; Page: [450] glory it is to the saints to become his people, andLocke1824: 19 the lot of his inheritance; And what an exceeding great power he has employed upon us* who believe:Locke1824: 20 A power corresponding to that mighty power, which he exerted in the raising Christ from the dead, and in setting him next to himself, over all things, relatingLocke1824: 21 to his heavenly kingdom†; Far above all Edition: current; Page: [451] principality, and power, and might, and dominion*, and any other, either man or an angel, of greater dignity or excellency, that we may come to be acquainted with, or hear the names of, either in thisLocke1824: 22 world, or the world to come: And hath put all things in subjection to him; and him, invested with a power over all things, he hath constituted head ofLocke1824: 23 the church, Which is his body, which is completed by him alone†, from whom comes all, that gives any Edition: current; Page: [452] thing of excellency and perfection to any of the members of the church: where to be a jew, or a greek, circumcised, or uncircumcised, a barbarian, or a scythian, a slave, or a freeman, matters not; but to be united to him, to partake of his influence and spirit, is all in all.

Locke1824: II. 1And* you, being also dead in trespasses and sins, Edition: current; Page: [453] Locke1824: 2 In which you gentiles, before you were converted to the gospel, walked, according to the state and constitution of this world*, conforming yourselves to the will and pleasure of the prince of the power Edition: current; Page: [454] of the air*, the spirit that now yet possessesLocke1824: 3 and works† in the children of disobedience‡. Of which number even we all having formerly been§, lived in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires∥ Edition: current; Page: [455] Locke1824: 4 thereof, and of our blinded perverted mind. But* God, who is rich in mercy†, through his great love,Locke1824: 5 wherewith he loved us, Even us, gentiles, who were dead in trespasses‡, hath he quickened§, togetherLocke1824: 6 with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) And hath raised∥ us up together with Christ, and made us partakers, in and with Jesus Christ, of the glory and power of his heavenly kingdom, which God has put into his Edition: current; Page: [456] Locke1824: 7 hands, and put under his rule: That, in the ages* to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through ChristLocke1824: 8 Jesus. For by God’s free grace it is, that ye† are, through faith in Christ, saved‡ and brought into the Edition: current; Page: [457] Edition: current; Page: [458] kingdom of God, and made his people, not by any thing you did yourselves to deserve it; it is the free gift of God, who might, if he had so pleased, with Edition: current; Page: [459] Locke1824: 9 justice have left you in that forlorn state. That no man might have any pretence of boasting of himself,Locke1824: 10 or his own works, or merit. So that, in this new state in the kingdom of God, we are (and ought to look upon ourselves, as not deriving any thing from ourselves, but as) the mere workmanship of God, created* in Christ Jesus, to the end we should do good works, for which he had prepared and fitted us, to live in them†.

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SECT. IV.

CHAP. II. 11—22.

CONTENTS.

From this doctrine of his, in the foregoing section, that God of his free grace, according to his purpose from the beginning, had quickened and raised the convert gentiles, together with Christ, and seated them with Christ, in his heavenly kingdom; St. Paul here, in this section, draws this inference, to keep them from judaizing, that, though they (as was the state of the heathen word) were heretofore, by being uncircumcised, shut out from the kingdom of God, strangers from the covenants of promise, without hope, and without God in the world; yet they were, by Christ, who had taken away the ceremonial law, that wall of partition, that kept them in that state of distance and opposition, now received, without any subjecting them to the law of Moses, to be the people of God, and had the same admittance into the kingdom of God, with the jews themselves, with whom they were now created into one new man, or body of men, so that they were no longer to look on themselves, any more, as aliens, or remoter from the kingdom of God, than the jews themselves.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 11Wherefore, remember that ye being, in time past, gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands;

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Locke1824: 12That, at that time, ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Locke1824: 13But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh, by the blood of Christ.

Locke1824: 14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Locke1824: 15Having abolished, in his flesh, the enmity, even the law of commandments, Edition: current; Page: [462] Edition: current; Page: [463] Edition: current; Page: [464] contained in ordinances, for to make in himself, of twain, one new man, so making peace;

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Locke1824: 16And that he might reconcile both unto God, in one body, by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Locke1824: 17And came and preached peace to you, which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

Locke1824: 18For, through him, we both have access, by one Spirit, unto the Father.

Locke1824: 19Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and the household of God;

Locke1824: 20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.

Locke1824: 21In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

Locke1824: 22In whom you, also, are builded together, for an habitation of God, through the Spirit.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 11Wherefore remember, that ye, who were heretofore gentiles, distinguished and separated from the jews, who are circumcised by a circumcision made with hands, in their flesh, by your not being circumcised in your flesh*, Edition: current; Page: [461] Locke1824: 12 Were, at that time, without all knowledge of the Messiah, or any expectation of deliverance, or salvation, by him*; aliens from the commonwealth of Israel†, and strangers to the covenants of promise‡, not having any hope of any such thing, and living in the world without having the true God for yourLocke1824: 13 God§, or your being his people. But now you, that were formerly remote and at a distance, are, by JesusLocke1824: 14 Christ, brought near by his death∥. For it is he, that reconcileth us¶ to the jews, and hath brought us and them, who were before at an irreconcileable distance, into unity one with another, by removing the middle wall of partition**, that kept us at a distance,Locke1824: 15 Having taken away the cause of enmity††, or Edition: current; Page: [462] distance, between us, by abolishing* that part Edition: current; Page: [463] Edition: current; Page: [464] of the law, which consisted in positive commands and ordinances, that so he might make*, or frame the two, viz. jews and gentiles, into one new society, or body of God’s people, in a new constitution, under himself†, so making peace Edition: current; Page: [465] Locke1824: 16 between them; And might reconcile them both to God, being thus united into one body, in him, by the cross, whereby he destroyed that enmity, or incompatibility, that was between them, by nailing to his cross the law of ordinances, that kept them at aLocke1824: 17 distance: And, being come, preached the good tidings of peace to you gentiles that were far off from the kingdom of heaven, and to the jews, that wereLocke1824: 18 near, and in the very precincts of it. For it is by him, that we, both jews and gentiles, have accessLocke1824: 19 to the Father, by one and the same Spirit. Therefore ye, ephesians, though heretofore gentiles, now believers in Christ, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but without any more a-do fellow-citizens of the saints, and domestics of God’s own family:Locke1824: 20 Built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, whereof Jesus Christ is the corner-stone:Locke1824: 21 In whom all the building, fitly framed together,Locke1824: 22 groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In which even the gentiles*, also are built up, together with Edition: current; Page: [466] the believing jews, for an habitation of God, through the Spirit.

SECT. V.

CHAP. III. 1—21.

CONTENTS.

This section gives a great light to those foregoing, and more clearly opens the design of this epistle: for here St. Paul, in plain words, tells them it is for preaching this doctrine, that was a mystery till now, being hid from former ages, viz. that the gentiles should be coheirs, with the believing jews, and, making one body, or people, with them, should be equally partakers of the promises, under the Messiah, of which mystery he, by particular favour and appointment, was ordained the preacher. Whereupon he exhorts them not to be dismayed, or flinch, in the least, from the belief, or profession of this truth, upon his being persecuted and in bonds upon that account. For his suffering for it, who was the preacher and propagator of it, was so far from being a just discouragement to them, for standing firmly in the belief of it, that it ought to be to them a glory, and a confirmation of this eminent truth of the gospel, which he peculiarly taught: and thereupon he tells them, he makes it his prayer to God, that they might be strengthened herein, and be able to comprehend the largeness of the love of God in Christ, not confined to Edition: current; Page: [467] the jewish nation and constitution, as the jews conceited; but far surpassing the thoughts of those who, presuming themselves knowing, would confine it to such only, who were members of the jewish church, and observers of their ceremonies.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 1For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you gentiles:

Locke1824: 2If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward;

Locke1824: 3How that, by revelation, he made known unto me the mystery, (as I wrote afore in few words.

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Locke1824: 4Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Locke1824: 5Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets, by the Spirit;

Locke1824: 6That the gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise, in Christ, by the gospel:

Locke1824: 7Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me, by the effectual working of his power.

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Locke1824: 8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace Edition: current; Page: [470] given, that I should preach, among the gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Locke1824: 9And to make all men see, what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

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Locke1824: 10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers, in heavenly places, might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God,

Locke1824: 11According to the eternal purpose, which he purposed, in Christ Jesus our Lord:

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Locke1824: 12In whom we have boldness and access with confidence, by the faith of him.

Locke1824: 13Wherefore, I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Locke1824: 14For this cause, I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Locke1824: 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

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Locke1824: 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might, by his spirit, in the inner man;

Locke1824: 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Locke1824: 18May be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

Locke1824: 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

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Locke1824: 20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

Locke1824: 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1For my preaching of this*, I Paul am a prisoner, upon account of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the sake and service of you gentiles†: Which you cannot doubt of, since‡ ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which was given to me,Locke1824: 3 in reference to you gentiles: How that, by special revelation, he made known unto me, in particular§, the mystery∥, (as I hinted to you above, viz. Edition: current; Page: [468] Locke1824: 4 chap. i. 9. By the bare reading whereof ye may be assured of my knowledge in this formerly concealedLocke1824: 5 and unknown part of the gospel of Christ*:) Which in former ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles andLocke1824: 6 prophets, by the Spirit, viz. That the gentiles should be fellow heirs, be united into one body, and partake of his promise† in Christ, jointly with the jews‡, inLocke1824: 7 the time§ of the gospel; Of which doctrine I, in Edition: current; Page: [469] particular, was made the minister*, according to the free and gracious gift of God, given unto me, by the effectual working of his power, in his so wonderfulLocke1824: 8 converting the gentiles by my preaching†; Unto Edition: current; Page: [470] me, I say, who am less than the least of all saints, is this favour given, that I should preach among theLocke1824: 9 gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ*: And make all men† perceive, how this mystery comes now to be communicated‡ to the world, which has been concealed from all past ages, lying hid in the secret purpose of God, who frames and manages this whole new creation, by Jesus Christ§: Edition: current; Page: [471] Locke1824: 10 To the intent that now, under the gospel, the manifold wisdom of God, in the ordering and management of his heavenly kingdom, might be made known to principalities and powers by the church* Edition: current; Page: [472] Edition: current; Page: [473] Locke1824: 11 According to that pre-disposition* of the ages, or several dispensations, which he made in Christ JesusLocke1824: 12 our Lord; By whom we have boldness and access to God the father, with confidence, by faith† inLocke1824: 13 him. Wherefore my desire is, that ye be not dismayed by my present affliction, which I suffer for your sake, and is in truth a glory to you, that ought to raise your hearts, and strengthen your resolutions.Locke1824: 14 Upon this account, I bend my knees, inLocke1824: 15 prayer to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ‡, From Edition: current; Page: [474] whom the whole family, or lineage, both in heaven and earth have their denomination, viz. Jesus Christ, that is already in heaven, and believers that are still on earth, have all God for their father, are all theLocke1824: 16 sons of God. That he would grant you, according to the great glory he designed to you, gentiles, who should receive the gospel under the Messiah*, to be strengthened with might, by his spirit, in the inwardLocke1824: 17 man†; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being settled and established in the sense of the love of God to you, in Jesus Christ,Locke1824: 18 May be able, together with all christians, to comprehend the length, and breadth, and height, and depth, of this mystery, of God’s purpose of calling and taking in the gentiles, to be his people, in theLocke1824: 19 kingdom of his Son‡: And to understand the exceeding§ love of God, in bringing us to the knowledge Edition: current; Page: [475] of Christ: that you may be filled with that knowledge, and all other gifts, with God’s plenty, or to that degree of fulness, which is suitable to his purpose of munificence and bounty towards you*.Locke1824: 20 Now to him that worketh in us, by a power†, whereby he is able to do, exceedingly beyond allLocke1824: 21 that we can ask or think; Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

SECT. VI.

CHAP. IV. 1—16.

CONTENTS.

St. Paul having concluded the special part of his epistle, with the foregoing chapter, he comes in this, as his manner is, to practical exhortations. He begins with unity, love, and concord, which he presses upon them, upon a consideration that he makes use of, in more of his epistles than one, i. e. their being all members of one and the same body, whereof Christ is the head.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 1I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith ye are called.

Locke1824: 2With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love;

Locke1824: 3Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit, in the bond of peace.

Locke1824: 4There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

Locke1824: 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Locke1824: 6One God and father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Locke1824: 7But unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Locke1824: 8Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Locke1824: 9(Now that he ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first, into the lower parts of the earth?

Locke1824: 10He that descended, is the same also, that ascended up, far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

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Locke1824: 11And he gave some, apostles: and some, prophets: and some, evangelists: and some, pastors and teachers;

Locke1824: 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Locke1824: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Locke1824: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive:

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Locke1824: 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him, in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Locke1824: 16From whom the whole body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working, in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 1I therefore, who am in bonds, upon account of the gospel, beseech you to walk worthy of the callingLocke1824: 2 wherewith ye are called, With lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with oneLocke1824: 3 another in love; Taking care to preserve the unityLocke1824: 4 of the spirit, in the bond of peace; Considering yourselves as being one body, enlivened and acted by one spirit, as also was your calling, in oneLocke1824: 5 hope: There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,Locke1824: 6 One God and father of you all, who is above all, in the midst amongst you all, and in every one of you.Locke1824: 7 And to every one of us is made a free donation, according to that proportion of gifts, which ChristLocke1824: 8 has allotted to every one. Wherefore the Psalmist saith*, “When he ascended up on high, he ledLocke1824: 9 captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” (Now that he ascended, what is it, but that he descendedLocke1824: 10 first, into the lower parts of the earth? He, that descended, is the same also, that ascended above all Edition: current; Page: [477] heavens, that there, receiving the fulness of power,Locke1824: 11 he might be able to fill all his members*.) And therefore, he alone, framing the constitution of his new government, by his own power, and according to such a model, and such rules as he thought best, making some apostles, others evangelists, and othersLocke1824: 12 pastors and teachers; Putting thus together, in a fit order and frame, the several members of his new collected people, that each, in its proper place and function, might contribute to the whole, and help toLocke1824: 13 build up the body of Christ: Till all cementing together, in one faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, to the full state of a grown man, according to the measure of that stature, which is to make up theLocke1824: 14 fulness of Christ: That we should be no longer Edition: current; Page: [478] children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by men versed in the sleights of cheating, and their cunning artifices, laid in trainLocke1824: 15 to deceive: But being steady in true and unfeigned love, should grow up into a firm union, in all things,Locke1824: 16 with Christ, who is the head: From whom the whole body, fitly framed together, and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper force and function of each particular part, makes an increase of the whole body, building itself up in love, or a mutual concern of the parts*.

SECT. VII.

CHAP. IV. 17—24.

CONTENTS.

In this section, the apostle exhorts them wholly to forsake their former conversation, which they had passed their lives in, whilst they were gentiles, and to take up Edition: current; Page: [479] that, which became them, and was proper to them, now they were christians. Here we may see the heathen and christian state and conversation described, and set in opposition one to the other.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 17This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk, not as other gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Locke1824: 18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Locke1824: 19Who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Locke1824: 20But ye have not so learned Christ;

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Locke1824: 21If so be, that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus;

Locke1824: 22That ye put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts:

Locke1824: 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Locke1824: 24And that ye put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 17This I say, therefore, and testify to you, from the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as the unconverted gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds*.Locke1824: 18 Having their understandings darkened, being alienated† from that rule and course of life, which they own and observe, who are the professed subjects and servants of the true God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts;Locke1824: 19 Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to the committing of all uncleanness, even beyond the bounds of natural desires‡.Locke1824: 20 But you that have been instructed in the religion of Edition: current; Page: [480] Locke1824: 21 Christ, have learned other things; If you have been scholars of his school, and have been taught theLocke1824: 22 truth, as it is in the gospel of Jesus Christ: That you change your former conversation, abandoning those deceitful lusts, wherewith you were entirelyLocke1824: 23 corrupted: And that, being renewed in the spirit ofLocke1824: 24 the mind, You become new men*, framed and fashioned according to the will of God, in righteousness and true holiness.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. IV. 25.—V. 2.

CONTENTS.

After the general exhortation, in the close of the foregoing section, to the ephesians, to renounce the old course of life they led, when they were heathens, and to become Edition: current; Page: [481] perfectly new men, conformed to the holy rules of the gospel, St. Paul descends to particulars, and here, in this section, presses several particulars of those great social virtues, justice and charity, &c.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 25Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Locke1824: 26Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Locke1824: 27Neither give place to the devil.

Locke1824: 28Let him that stole, steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Locke1824: 29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good, to the use of edifying; that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Locke1824: 30And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God; whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

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Locke1824: 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.

Locke1824: 32And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Locke1824: V. 1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Locke1824: 2And walk in love; as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 25Wherefore, putting away lying, let every man speak truth to his neighbour; for we are members one ofLocke1824: 26 another. If you meet with provocations, that move you to anger, take care that you indulge it not so far, as to make it sinful: defer not its cure, till sleep calm the mind, but endeavour to recover yourself forthwith, and bring yourself into temper;Locke1824: 27 Lest you give an opportunity to the devil, to produceLocke1824: 28 some mischief, by your disorder. Let him that hath stole, steal no more, but rather let him labour in some honest calling that he may have even wherewithalLocke1824: 29 to relieve others, that need it. Let not any filthy language, or a misbecoming word, come out of your mouths, but let your discourse be pertinent on the occasion, and tending to edification, and such as may have a becoming gracefulness in the ears ofLocke1824: 30 the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed* to the day of temptation. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, Edition: current; Page: [482] and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away fromLocke1824: 32 you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even asLocke1824: V. 1 God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you. Therefore, as becomes children, that are beloved and cherished by God, propose him as an example to yourselves,Locke1824: 2 to be imitated; And let love conduct and influence your whole conversation, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and an acceptable sacrifice* to God.

SECT. IX.

CHAP. V. 3—20.

CONTENTS.

The next sort of sins he dehorts them from are those of intemperance, especially those of uncleanness, which were so familiar and so unrestrained among the heathens.

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TEXT.

Locke1824: 3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not once be named amongst you, as becometh saints:

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Locke1824: 4Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

Locke1824: 5For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, and of God.

Locke1824: 6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for, because of these things, cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

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Locke1824: 7Be not ye, therefore, partakers with them.

Locke1824: 8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

Locke1824: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth)

Locke1824: 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Locke1824: 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Locke1824: 12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

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Locke1824: 13But all things, that are reproved, are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest, is light.

Locke1824: 14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Locke1824: 15See, then, that ye walk circumspectly; not as fools, but as wise;

Locke1824: 16Redeeming the time; because the days are evil.

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Locke1824: 17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Locke1824: 18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

Locke1824: 19Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

Locke1824: 20Giving thanks always for all things, unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 3But fornication and all uncleanness, or exorbitant desires in venereal matters*, let it not be once named Edition: current; Page: [484] Locke1824: 4 amongst you, as becometh saints: Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor pleasantry of discourse of this kind, which are none of them convenient, but ratherLocke1824: 5 giving of thanks. For this you are thoroughly instructed in, and acquainted with, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor lewd, lascivious libertine, in such matters, who is in truth an idolater, shall haveLocke1824: 6 any part in the kingdom of Christ, and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain, empty talk*; these things in themselves are highly offensive to God, and are that which he will bring the heathen world (who Edition: current; Page: [485] will not come in, and submit to the law of Christ)Locke1824: 7 to judgment for*. Be ye not, therefore, partakersLocke1824: 8 with them. For ye were heretofore, in your gentile state, perfectly in the dark†, but now, by believing in Christ, and receiving the gospel, light‡ and knowledge is given to you, walk as those who areLocke1824: 9 in a state of light (For the fruit of the Spirit is inLocke1824: 10 all goodness, righteousness, and truth§) Practising that which, upon examination, you find acceptableLocke1824: 11 to the Lord. And do not partake in the fruitless works of darkness∥; do not go on in the practice of those shameful actions, as if they were indifferent,Locke1824: 12 but rather reprove them. For the things, that the gentile idolaters¶ do in secret, are so filthy and Edition: current; Page: [486] abominable, that it is a shame so much as to nameLocke1824: 13 them. This you now see, which is an evidence of your being enlightened; for all things, that are discovered to be amiss, are made manifest by the light*.Locke1824: 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light; for whatsoever shows them to be such, isLocke1824: 15 light. Since, then, you are in the light, make use of your eyes to walk exactly in the right way, not as fools, rambling at adventures, but as wise, in aLocke1824: 16 steady, right-chosen course, Securing yourselves† by your prudent carriage, from the inconveniencies of Edition: current; Page: [487] those difficult times, which threaten them withLocke1824: 17 danger. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understandingLocke1824: 18 what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunken with wine, wherein there is excess*; seek not diversion in the noisy and intemperate jollity of drinking; but, when you are disposed to a chearful entertainment of one another, let it be with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that you are filled with,Locke1824: 19 Singing hymns, and psalms, and spiritual songs among yourselves; this makes real and solid mirth in the heart, and is melody well pleasing to GodLocke1824: 20 himself; Giving thanks always, for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father.

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SECT. X.

CHAP. V. 21.—VI. 9.

CONTENTS.

In this section he gives rules concerning the duties arising from the several relations men stand in one to another, in society; those which he particularly insists on, are these three, husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 21Submitting yourselves one to another, in the fear of God.

Locke1824: 22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Locke1824: 23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour of the body.

Locke1824: 24Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

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Locke1824: 25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it:

Locke1824: 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water, by the word,

Locke1824: 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish.

Locke1824: 28So ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies: he that loveth his wife, loveth himself.

Locke1824: 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

Locke1824: 30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

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Locke1824: 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Locke1824: 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Locke1824: 33Nevertheless, let every one of you, in particular, so love his wife, even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

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Locke1824: VI. 1Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

Locke1824: 2Honour thy father and mother, (which is the first commandment with promise)

Locke1824: 3That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Locke1824: 4And ye, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Locke1824: 5Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ:

Locke1824: 6Not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

Locke1824: 7With good-will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:

Locke1824: 8Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

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Locke1824: 9And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatning: knowing that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 21Submit* yourselves one to another, in the fear ofLocke1824: 22 God. As for example, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, or, as being members of theLocke1824: 23 church, you submit yourselves to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ himself is the head of the church, and it is he, the head, that preserves that his body†; so stands it betweenLocke1824: 24 man and wife. Therefore, as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their husbands, in every Edition: current; Page: [489] Locke1824: 25 thing. And, you husbands, do you, on your side, love your wives, even as Christ also loved theLocke1824: 26 church, and gave himself to death for it; That he might sanctify and fit it to himself, purifying it by the washing of baptism, joined with the preachingLocke1824: 27 and reception of the gospel*; That so he himself† might present it to himself an honourable spouse, without the least spot of uncleanness, or misbecoming feature, or any thing amiss; but that it might be holy, and without all manner of blemish.Locke1824: 28 So ought men to love their wives, as their ownLocke1824: 29 bodies; he that loveth his wife, loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord Christ doth theLocke1824: 30 church: For we are members of his body, of his Edition: current; Page: [490] Locke1824: 31 flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh*.Locke1824: 32 These words contain a very mystical sense in them†,Locke1824: 33 I mean in reference to Christ and the church. But laying that aside, their literal sense lays hold on you, and therefore do you husbands, every one of you in particular, so love his wife, as his own self, Edition: current; Page: [491] Locke1824: VI. 1 and let the wife reverence her husband. Children, obey your parents, performing it as required thereunto by our Lord Jesus Christ; for this is rightLocke1824: 2 and conformable to that command, Honour thy father and mother, (which is the first command withLocke1824: 3 promise) That it may be well with thee, and thouLocke1824: 4 mayest be long-lived upon the earth. And on the other side, ye fathers, do not, by the austerity of your carriage, despise and discontent your children, but bring them up, under such a method of discipline, and give them such instruction, as is suitable to theLocke1824: 5 gospel. Ye that are bondmen, be obedient to those who are your masters, according to the constitution of human affairs, with great respect and subjection, and with that sincerity of heart which should beLocke1824: 6 used to Christ himself: Not with service only in those outward actions, that come under their observation; aiming at no more but the pleasing of men; but, as the servants of Christ, doing whatLocke1824: 7 God requires of you, from your very hearts; In this with good-will paying your duty to the Lord, andLocke1824: 8 not unto men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any one doth to another, he shall be considered and rewarded for it by God, whether he be bond or free. Edition: current; Page: [492] Locke1824: 9 And ye masters, have the like regard and readiness to do good to your bond-slaves, forbearing the roughness even of unnecessary menaces, knowing that even you yourselves have a Master in heaven above, who will call you, as well as them, to an impartial account for your carriage one to another, for he is no respecter of persons.

SECT. XI.

CHAP. VI. 10—20.

CONTENTS.

He concludes this epistle, with a general exhortation to them, to stand firm against the temptations of the devil, in the exercise of christian virtues and graces, which he proposes to them, as so many pieces of christian armour fit to arm them cap-a-pee, and preserve them in the conflict.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Locke1824: 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Locke1824: 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, Edition: current; Page: [493] against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Locke1824: 13Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Locke1824: 14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness;

Locke1824: 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Locke1824: 16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Locke1824: 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God:

Locke1824: 18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and Edition: current; Page: [494] watching thereunto, with all perseverance, and supplication, for all saints:

Locke1824: 19And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel:

Locke1824: 20For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 10Finally, my brethren, go on resolutely in the profession of the gospel, in reliance upon that power, and in the exercise of that strength, which isLocke1824: 11 ready for your support, in Jesus Christ; Putting on the whole armour of God, that ye may beLocke1824: 12 able to resist all the attacks of the devil: For our conflict is not barely with men, but with principalities, Edition: current; Page: [493] and with powers*, with the rulers of the darkness, that is in men, in the present constitution of the world, and the spiritual managers of the oppositionLocke1824: 13 to the kingdom of God. Wherefore, take unto yourselves the whole armour of God, that you may be able to make resistance in the evil day, when you shall be attacked, and, having acquitted yourselves in every thing as you ought, to standLocke1824: 14 and keep your ground: Stand fast, therefore, having your loins girt with truth; and having on the breastplateLocke1824: 15 of righteousness; And your feet shod with a readiness to walk in the way of the gospel of peace,Locke1824: 16 which you have well studied and considered. Above all taking the shield of faith, wherein you may receive, and so render ineffectual all the fiery darts ofLocke1824: 17 the wicked one, i. e. the devil. Take also the hopes of salvation for an helmet; and the sword of theLocke1824: 18 spirit, which is the word of God†: Praying, at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Edition: current; Page: [494] spirit, attending and watching hereunto, with all perseverance, and supplication, for all the saints;Locke1824: 19 And for me, in particular, that I may, with freedom and plainness of speech, preach the word, to the manifesting and laying open that part of the gospel, that concerns the calling of the gentiles, which has hitherto, as a mystery, lain concealed, and not beenLocke1824: 20 at all understood. But I, as an ambassador, am sent to make known to the world, and am now in prison, upon that very account: but let your prayers be, that, in the discharge of this my commission, I may speak plainly and boldly, as an ambassador from God ought to speak.

SECT. XII.

CHAP. VI. 21—24.

EPILOGUS.

TEXT.

Locke1824: 21But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things.

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Locke1824: 22Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

Locke1824: 23Peace be to the brethren, and love, with faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Locke1824: 24Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

Locke1824: 21Tychicus, a beloved brother, and faithful minister of the Lord, in the work of the gospel, shall acquaint Edition: current; Page: [495] you how matters stand with me, and how I do, and give you a particular account how all things standLocke1824: 22 here. I have sent him, on purpose, to you, that you might know the state of our affairs, and that heLocke1824: 23 might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren, and love, with faith, from God the Father,Locke1824: 24 and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those that love our Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity*.

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C. Baldwin, Printer, New Bridge-street, London.

*

1 Οὐϰ ἀπ’ ἀνθρώπων “not of men,” i. e. not sent by men at their pleasure, or by their authority; not instructed by men what to say or do, as we see Timothy and Titus were, when sent by St. Paul; and Judas and Silas, sent by the church of Jerusalem.

†

Οὐδὲ δἰ ἀνθρώπȣ, “nor by man,” i. e. his choice and separation to his ministry and apostleship was so wholly an act of God and Christ, that there was no intervention of any thing done by any man in the case, as there was in the election of Matthias. All this we may see explained at large, ver. 10—12, and ver. 16, 17, and chap. ii. 6—9.

‡

2 “Churches of Galatia.” This was an evident seal of his apostleship to the Gentiles; since, in no bigger a country than Galatia, a small province of the lesser Asia, he had, in no long stay among them, planted several distinct churches.

§

3 “Peace.” The wishing of peace, in the scripture-language, is the wishing of all manner of good.

*

4 Ὄπως ἐξέληgreektαι ἡμᾶς ἐϰ τȣ͂ ἐνεϛῶτος αἰῶνος ϖονηρgreekt. “That he might take us out of this present evil world,” or age; so the Greek words signify. Whereby it cannot be thought, that St. Paul meant, that christians were to be immediately removed into the other world. Therefore ἐνεϛὼς αἰὼν must signify something else, than present world, in the ordinary import of those words in English. Αἰὼν ȣ͂̔τος, 1 Cor. ii. 6, 8, and in other places, plainly signifies the Jewish nation, under the Mosaical constitution; and it suits very well with the apostle’s design in this epistle, that it should do so here. God has, in this world, but one kingdom, and one people. The nation of the jews were the kingdom and people of God, whilst the law stood. And this kingdom of God, under the Mosaical constitution, was called αἰὼν ȣ͂̔τος, this age, or as it is commonly translated, this world, to which αἰὼν ἐνεϛὼς, the present world, or age, here answers. But the kingdom of God, which was to be under the Messiah, wherein the economy and constitution of the Jewish church, and the nation itself, that, in opposition to Christ, adhered to it, was to be laid aside, is in the new testament called αἰὼν μέλλων, the world, or age to come; so that “Christ’s taking them out of the present world” may, without any violence to the words, be understood to signify his setting them free from the Mosaical constitution. This is suitable to the design of this epistle, and what St. Paul has declared in many other places. See Col. ii. 14—17, and 20, which agrees to this place, and Rom. vii. 4, 6. This law is said to be contrary to us, Col. ii. 14, and to “work wrath,” Rom. iv. 15, and St. Paul speaks very diminishingly of the ritual parts of it in many places: but yet if all this may not be thought sufficient to justify the applying of the epithet ϖονηρȣ͂, evil to it; that scruple will be removed if we take ἐνεϛὼς αἰὼν, “this present world,” here, for the Jewish constitution and nation together; in which sense it may very well be called “evil;” though the apostle, out of his wonted tenderness to his nation, forbears to name them openly, and uses a doubtful expression, which might comprehend the heathen world also; though he chiefly pointed at the Jews.

*

6 “So soon.” The first place we find Galatia mentioned, is Acts xvi. 6. And therefore St. Paul may be supposed to have planted these churches there, in his journey mentioned, Acts xvi. which was anno Domini 51. He visited them again, after he had been at Jerusalem, Acts xviii. 21—53. ad 54. From thence he returned to Ephesus, and staid there about two years, during which time this epistle was writ: so that, counting from his last visit, this letter was writ to them within two or three years from the time he was last with them, and had left them confirmed in the doctrine he had taught them; and therefore he might with reason wonder at their forsaking him so soon, and that gospel he had converted them to.

†

“From him that called you.” These words plainly point out himself; but then one might wonder how St. Paul came to use them; since it would have sounded better to have said, “Removed from the gospel I preached to you, to another gospel, than removed from me that preached to you, to another gospel.” But if it be remembered, that St. Paul’s design here, is to vindicate himself from the aspersion cast on him, that he preached circumcision, nothing could be more suitable to that purpose, than this way of expressing himself.

*

7 Ὃ ȣ̓ϰ ἔϛιν ἂλλο I take to signify “which is not any thing else.” The words themselves, the context, and the business the apostle is upon here, do all concur to give these words the sense I have taken them in. For, 1, If [Editor: illegible character] had referred to εὐαγgreektελιον, it would have been more natural to have kept to the word ἕτερον, and not have changed it into ἄλλο. 2. It can scarce be supposed, by any one who reads what St. Paul says, in the following words of this verse, and the two adjoining; and also chap. iii. 4, and ver. ii. 4 and 7, that St. Paul should tell them, that what he would keep them from, “is not another gospel.” 3. It is suitable to St. Paul’s design here, to tell them, that to their being removed to “another gospel,” nobody else had contributed, but it was wholly owing to those judaizing seducers.

†

See Acts xv. 1, 5, 23, 24.

‡

9 “Accursed.” Though we may look upon the repetition of the anathema here, to be for the adding of force to what he says, yet we may observe, that by joining himself with an angel, in the foregoing verse, he does as good as tell them, that he is not guilty of what deserves it, by skilfully insinuating to the galatians, that they might as well suspect an angel might preach to them a gospel different from his, i. e. a false gospel, as that he himself should: and then, in this verse, lays the anathema, wholly and solely, upon the judaizing seducers.

§

10 Ἄρȣ̓ι, “now,” and ἔτι, “yet,” cannot be understood without a reference to something in St. Paul’s past life; what that was, which he had particularly then in his mind, we may see by the account he gives of himself, in what immediately follows, viz. that before his conversion he was employed by men, in their designs, and made it his business to please them, as may be seen, Acts ix. 1, 2. But when God called him, he received his commission and instructions from him alone, and set immediately about it, without consulting any man whatsoever, preaching that, and that only, which he had received from Christ. So that it would be senseless folly in him, and no less than the forsaking his Master, Jesus Christ, if he should now, as was reported of him, mix any thing of men’s with the pure doctrine of the Gospel, which he had received immediately by revelation from Jesus Christ, to please the jews, after he had so long preached only that; and had, to avoid all appearance or pretence to the contrary, so carefully shunned all communication with the churches of Judea; and had not, until a good while after, and that very sparingly, conversed with any, and those but a few, of the apostles themselves, some of whom he openly reproved for their judaizing. Thus the narrative, subjoined to this verse, explains the “now,” and “yet,” in it, and all tends to the same purpose.

*

Πείθω, translated “persuade,” is sometimes used for making application to any one to obtain his good-will, or friendship: and hence, Acts xii. 20, ωείσαντες Βλάϛον is translated “having made Blastus their friend:” the sense is here the same which, 1 Thess. ii. 4. he expresses in these words, ȣ̓χ ὡς ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσϰοντες ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ, “not as pleasing men but, God.”

†

11 Τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν ὑπ’ ἐμȣ͂, “which has been preached by me:” this being spoken indefinitely, must be understood in general, every where, and so is the import of the forgoing verse.

*

15 “Separated.” This may be understood by Jer. i. 5.

†

“Called.” The history of this call, see Acts ix. 1, &c.

‡

16 “Flesh and blood,” is used for man, see Eph. vi. 12.

§

“For advice;” this, and what he says in the following verse, is to evidence to the galatians the full assurance he had of the truth and perfection of the gospel, which he had received from Christ, by immediate revelation; and how little he was disposed to have any regard to the pleasing of men in preaching it, that he did not so much as communicate, or advise, with any of the apostles about it, to see whether they approved of it.

∥

17 Εὐθέως, immediately, though placed just before ȣ̓ and ϖροσανεθέμην, “I conferred not;” yet it is plain, by the sense and design of St. Paul here, that it principally relates to, “I went into Arabia;” his departure into Arabia, presently upon his conversion, before he had consulted with any body, being made use of, to show that the gospel he had received by immediate revelation from Jesus Christ, was complete, and sufficiently instructed and enabled him to be a preacher and an apostle to the gentiles, without borrowing any thing from any man, in order thereunto; no not with any of the apostles, no one of whom he saw, until three years after.

*

18 “Three years,” i. e. from his conversion.

†

22 “In Christ,” i. e. believing in Christ, see Rom. xvi. 7.

‡

This, which he so particularly takes notice of, does nothing to the proving, that he was a true apostle; but serves very well to show, that, in what he preached, he had no communication with those of his own nation, nor took any care to please the Jews.

*

2 “I communicated.” The conference he had in private with the chief of the church of Jerusalem, concerning the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, seems not to have been barely concerning the doctrine of their being free from the law of Moses, that had been openly and hotly disputed at Antioch, and was known to be the business they came about to Jerusalem; but it is probable, it was to explain to them the whole doctrine he had received by revelation, by the fulness and perfection whereof, (for it is said, ver. 6, that, in that conference, they added nothing to it) and by the miracles he had done in confirmation of it, (see ver. 8.) they might see and own what he preached, to be the truth, and him to be one of themselves, both by commission and doctrine, as indeed they did; αὐτοῖς, “them,” signifies those at Jerusalem; ϰατ’ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς δοϰȣ͂σι, are exegetical, and show the particular manner and persons, import “nempe privatim, eminentioribus.” It was enough to his purpose to be owned by those of greatest authority, and so we see he was, by James, Peter, and John, ver. 9, and therefore it was safest and best to give an account of the gospel he preached, in private to them, and not publicly to the whole church.

†

“Running,” St. Paul uses for taking pains in the gospel. See Phil. ii. 16. A metaphor, I suppose, taken from the Olympic games, to express his utmost endeavours to prevail in the propagating the gospel.

‡

“In vain:” He seems here to give two reasons why, at last, after 14 years, he communicated to the chief of the apostles at Jerusalem, the gospel that he preached to the gentiles, when, as he shows to the galatians, he had formerly declined all communication with the convert jews. 1. He seems to intimate, that he did it by revelation. 2. He gives another reason, viz. That, if he had not communicated, as he did, with the leading men there, and satisfied them of his doctrine and mission, his opposers might unsettle the churches he had, or should plant, by urging, that the apostles knew not what it was that he preached, nor had ever owned it for the gospel, or him for an apostle. Of the readiness of the judaizing seducers, to take any such advantage against him, he had lately an example in the church of Corinth.

*

3 ȣ̓ϰ ἠναγϰάσθη is rightly translated, “was not compelled,” a plain evidence to the galatians, that the circumcising of the convert gentiles, was no part of the gospel which he laid before these men of note, as what he preached to the gentiles. For if it had, Titus must have been circumcised; for no part of his gospel was blamed, or altered by them, ver. 6. Of what other use his mentioning this, of Titus here can be, but to show to the galatians, that what he preached, contained nothing of circumcising the convert gentiles, it is hard to find. If it were to show that the other apostles, and church at Jerusalem, dispensed with circumcision, and other ritual observances of the Mosaical law, that was needless; for that was sufficiently declared by their decree, Acts xv. which was made and communicated to the churches, before this epistle was writ, as may be seen, Acts xvi. 4, much less was this of Titus of any force, to prove that St. Paul was a true apostle, if that were what he was here labouring to justify. But considering his aim here, to be the clearing himself from a report, that he preached up circumcision, there could be nothing more to his purpose, than this instance of Titus, whom, uncircumcised as he was, he took with him to Jerusalem; uncircumcised he kept with him there, and uncircumcised he took back with him, when he returned. This was a strong and pertinent instance to persuade the galatians that the report of his preaching circumcision was a mere aspersion.

†

4 Οὐδὲ, “Neither,” in the third verse, according to propriety of speech, ought to have a “nor,” to answer it, which is the ȣ̓δὲ, “nor,” here; which, so taken, answers the propriety of the Greek, and very much clears the sense; ȣ̓δὲ Τίτος ἠναγϰάσθη, ȣ̓δὲ ϖρὸς ὤραν εἴξαμεν, “Neither was Titus compelled, nor did we yield to them a moment.”

‡

Τῆ ὑποταγῆ, “by subjection.” The point those false brethren contended for, was, That the law of Moses was to be kept, see Acts xv. 5. St. Paul, who, on other occasions, was so complaisant, that to the jews he became as a jew, to those under the law, as under the law (see 1 Cor. ix. 19—22), yet when subjection to the law was claimed, as due in any case, he would not yield the least matter; this I take to be his meaning of ȣ̓δὲ εἴξαμεν τῆ ὑποταγῆ for, where compliance was desired of him, upon the account of expedience, and not of subjection to the law, we do not find it stiff and inflexible, as may be seen, Acts xxi. 18—26, which was after the writing of this epistle.

*

“Bondage,” What this bondage was, see Acts xv. 1, 5, 10.

†

“The truth of the gospel.” By it he means here, the doctrine of freedom from the law; and so he calls it again, ver. 14, and chap. iii. 1, and iv. 16.

‡

“Might remain among you.” Here he tells the reason himself, why he yielded not to those judaizing false brethren: it was, that the true doctrine, which he had preached to the gentiles, of their freedom from the law, might stand firm. A convincing argument to the galatians, that he preached not circumcision.

4, 5. “And that,—to whom.” There appears a manifest difficulty in these two verses, which has been observed by most interpreters, and is by several ascribed to a redundancy, which some place in δὲ, in the beginningof ver. 4, and others to οἷς in the beginning of ver. 5. The relation between ȣ̓δὲ, ver. 3, and ȣ̓δὲ, ver. 5, methinks puts an easy end to the doubt, by the showing St. Paul’s sense to be, that he neither circumcised Titus, nor yielded in the least to the false brethren; he having told the galatians, That, upon his laying, before the men of most authority in the church at Jerusalem, the doctrine which he preached, Titus was not circumcised; he, as a further proof of his not preaching circumcision, tells them how he carried it toward the false brethren, whose design it was, to bring the convert gentiles into subjection to the law. “And,” or “moreover,” (for so δὲ often signifies) says he, “in regard to the false brethren,” &c. Which way of entrance on the matter, would not admit of ȣ̓δὲ after it, to answer ȣ̓δὲ, ver. 3, which was already writ, but without οἷς the negation must have been expressed by ȣ̓ϰ, as any one will perceive, who attentively reads the Greek original. And thus οἷς may be allowed for an Hebrew pleonasm, and the reason of it to be the preventing the former ȣ̓δὲ to stand alone, to the disturbance of the sense.

§

6 He that considers the beginning of this verse, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοϰȣ́ντων, with regard to the Διὰ δὲ τȣ̀ς ψευδαδέλϕȣς, in the beginning of the fourth verse, will easily be induced, by the Greek idiom, to conclude, that the author, by these beginnings, intimates a plain distinction of the matter separately treated of, in what follows each of them, viz. what passed between the false brethren, and him, contained in ver. 4 and 5, and what passed between the chief of the brethren and him, contained ver. 6—10. And therefore, some (and I think with reason), introduce this verse with these words: “Thus we have behaved ourselves towards the false brethren; but,” &c.

∥

7 Τῶν δοϰȣ́ντων εἶναι τι, our translation renders, “who seemed to be somewhat” which however it may answer the words, yet to an English ear it carries a diminishing and ironical sense, contrary to the meaning of the apostle, who speaks here of those, for whom he had a real esteem, and were truly of the first rank; for it is plain, by what follows, that he means Peter, James, and John. Besides, οἱ δοϰȣ͂ντες, being taken in a good sense, ver. 2, andtranslated, “those of reputation,” the same expression should have been kept in rendering ver. 6 and 9, where the same term occurs again three times, and may be presumed in the same sense that it was at first used in ver. 2.

*

Every body sees that there is something to be supplied to make up the sense; most commentators, that I have seen, add these words, “I learned nothing:” but then, that enervates the reason that follows, “for in conference they added nothing to me,” giving the same thing as a reason for itself, and making St. Paul talk thus; “I learnt nothing of them, for they taught me nothing.” But it is very good reasoning, and suited to his purpose, that it was nothing at all to him how much those great men were formerly in Christ’s favour: this hindered not but that God, who was no respecter of persons, might reveal the gospel to him also, as it was evident he had done, and that in its full perfection; for those great men, the most eminent of the apostles, had nothing to add to it, or except against it. This was proper to persuade the galatians, that he had no-where, in his preaching, receded from that doctrine of freedom from the law, which he had preached to them, and was satisfied it was the truth, even before he had conferred with these apostles. The bare supplying of οἱ, in the beginning of the verse, takes away the necessity of any such addition. Examples of the like ellipses we have, Matt. xxvii. 9, where we read ἀπὸ ὑιῶν, for οἱ ἀπὸ ὑιῶν; and John xvi. 17. ἐϰ τῶν μαθητῶν, for οἱ ἐϰ τῶν μαθητῶν; and so here, taking ἀπὸ τῶν δοϰȣ́ντων, to be for οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν δοϰȣ́ντων, all the difficulty is removed: and St. Paul having in the foregoing verse ended the narrative of his deportment towards the false brethren, he here begins an account of what passed between him and the chief of the apostles.

†

Peter, James, and John, who, it is manifest, by ver. 9, are the persons here spoken of, seem, of all the apostles, to have been most in esteem and favour with their master, during his conversation with them on earth. See Mark v. 37, and ix. 2, and xiv. 33. “But yet that,” says St. Paul, “is of no moment now to me. The gospel, which I preach,and which God, who is no respecter of persons, has been pleased to commit to me by immediate revelation, is not the less true, nor is there any reason for me to recede from it, in a tittle; for these men of the first rank could find nothing to add, alter, or gainsay in it.” This is suitable to St. Paul’s design here, to let the galatians see, that as he, in his carriage, had never favoured circumcision; so neither had he any reason, by preaching circumcision, to forsake the doctrine of liberty from the law, which he had preached to them as a part of that gospel, which he had received by revelation.

*

8 Ενεργήσας, “working in,” may be understood here to signify, both the operation of the spirit upon the mind of St. Peter and St. Paul, in sending them, the one to the jews, the other to the gentiles: and also the Holy Ghost bestowed on them, whereby they were enabled to do miracles for the confirmation of their doctrine. In neither of which St. Paul, as he shows, was inferior, and so had as authentic a seal of his mission and doctrine.

†

9 Καὶ, “and,” copulates γνόντες, “knowing,” in this verse, with ἰδόντες, “seeing,” ver. 7, and makes both of them to agree with the nominative case to the verb ἒδωϰαν, “gave,” which is no other but James, Cephas, and John, and so justifies my transferring those names to ver. 7, for the more easy construction and understanding of the text, though St. Paul defers the naming of them, until he is, as it were against his will, forced to it, before the end of his discourse.

‡

The giving “the right hand,” was a symbol amongst the jews, as well as other nations, of accord, admitting men into fellowship.

*

11 “I opposed him.” From this opposition to St. Peter, which they suppose to be before the council at Jerusalem, some would have it that this epistle to the galatians was writ before that council; as if what was done before the council, could not be mentioned in a letter writ after the council. They also contend, that this journey, mentioned here by St. Paul, was not that wherein he and Barnabas went up to that council to Jerusalem, but that mentioned Acts xi. 30, but this, with as little ground as the former. The strongest reason they bring is, that if this journey had been to the council, and this letter after that council, St. Paul would not certainly have omitted to have mentioned to the galatians that decree. To which I answer, 1. The mention of it was superfluous; for they had it already, see Acts xvi. 4. 2. The mention of it was impertinent to the design of St. Paul’s narrative here. For it is plain, that his aim, in what he relates of himself, and his past actions, is to show, that having received the gospel from Christ, by immediate revelation, he had all along preached that, and nothing but that, every-where; so that he could not be supposed to have preached circumcision, or by his carriage to have shown any subjection to the law; all the whole narrative following, being to make good what he says, ch. i. 11, “That the gospel which he preached, was not accommodated to the humouring of men; nor did he seek to please the jews (who were the men here meant) in what he taught.” Taking this to be his aim, we shall find the whole account he gives of himself, from that ver. 11, of ch. i. to the end of this second, to be very clear and easy, and very proper to invalidate the report of his preaching circumcision.

*

14 Αλήθεια τȣ͂ εὐαγγελίȣ, “the truth of the gospel,” is put here for that freedom from the law of Moses, which was a part of the true doctrine of the gospel. For it was in nothing else, but their undue and timorous observing some of the mosaical rites, that St. Paul here blames St. Peter, and the other judaizing converts at Antioch. In this sense he uses the word “truth,” all along through this epistle, as ch. ii. 5, 14, and iii. 1, and v. 7, insisting on it, that this doctrine of freedom from the law, was the true gospel.

†

15 Φύσει Ἰȣ̓δαῖοι “jews by nature.” What the jews thought of themselves in contradistinction to the gentiles, see Rom. ii. 17, 23.

*

17 “Sinners.” Those who are under the law, having once transgressed, remain always sinners, unalterably so, in the eye of the law, which excludes all from justification. The apostle, in this place, argues thus: “We jews, who are by birth God’s holy people, and not as the profligate gentiles, abandoned to all manner of pollution and uncleanness, not being nevertheless able to attain righteousness by the deeds of the law, have believed in Christ, that we might be justified by faith in him. But if even we, who have betaken ourselves to Christ for justification, are ourselves found to be unjustified sinners, liable still to wrath, as also under the law, to which we subject ourselves; what deliverance have we from sin by Christ? None at all: we are as much concluded under sin and guilt, as if we did not believe in him. So that by joining him and the law together for justification, we shut ourselves out from justification, which cannot be had under the law, and make Christ the minister of sin, and not of justification, which God forbid.”

†

18 Whether this be part of what St. Paul said to St. Peter, or whether it be addressed to the galatians, St. Paul, by speaking in his own name, plainly declares, that if he sets up the law again, he must necessarily be an offender: whereby he strongly insinuates to the galatians, that he was no promoter of circumcision, especially when what he says, chap. v. 2—4, is added to it.

‡

19 “By the tenour of the law itself.” See Rom. iii. 21, Gal. iii. 24, 25, and iv. 21, &c.

§

Being discharged from the law, St. Paul expresses by “dead to the law;” compare Rom. vi. 14, with vii. 4.

∥

“Live to God.” What St. Paul says here, seems to imply, that living under the law, was to live not acceptably to God; a strange doctrine certainly to the jews, and yet it was true now, under the gospel, for God having put his kingdom in this world wholly under his Son, when he raised him from the dead, all who, after that, would be his people in his kingdom, were to live by no other law, but the gospel, which was now the law of his kingdom. And hence we see God cast off the jews; because sticking to their old constitution, they would not have this man reign over them: so that what St. Paul says here, is in effect this: “By believing in Christ, I am discharged from the mosaical law, that I may wholly conform myself to the rule of the gospel, which is now the law, which must be owned and observed by all those, who, as God’s people, will live acceptably to him.” This, I think, is visibly his meaning, though the accustoming himself to antitheses, may possibly be the reason why, after having said, “I am dead to the law,” he expresses his putting himself under the gospel, by living to God.

*

20 “Crucified with Christ;” see this explained, Rom. vii. 4, and vi. 2—14.

†

i. e. The whole management of myself is conformable to the doctrine of the gospel, of jutisfication in Christ alone, and not by the deeds of the law. This, and the former verse, seem to be spoken in opposition to St. Peter’s owning a subjection to the law of Moses, by his walking, mentioned, ver. 14.

‡

21 “Grace of God;” see chap. i. 6, 7, to which this seems here opposed.

§

“In vain,” read this explained in St. Paul’s own words, chap. v. 3—6.

*

1 “Obey the truth,” i. e. stand fast in the liberty of the gospel; truth being used in this epistle, as we have already noted, chap. ii. 14, for the doctrine of being free from the law, which St. Paul had delivered to them. The reason whereof he gives, chap. v. 3—5.

†

St. Paul mentions nothing to them here but Christ crucified, as knowing that, when formerly he had preached Christ crucified to them, he had shown them, that, by Christ’s death on the cross, believers were set free from the law, and the covenant of works was removed, to make way for that of grace. This we may find him inculcating to his other gentile converts. See Eph. ii. 15, 16. Col. ii. 14, 20. And accordingly he tells the galatians, chap. v. 2, 4, that if, by circumcision, they put themselves under the law, they were fallen from grace, and Christ should profit them nothing at all: things, which they are supposed to understand, at his writing to them.

*

3 It is a way of writing very familiar to St. Paul, in opposing the law and the gospel, to call the law Flesh, and the gospel Spirit. The reason whereof is very plain to any one conversant in his epistles.

†

5 “He.” The person meant here by ὁ ἐπιχορηγῶη, “he that ministereth,” and chap. i. 6, by ὁ ϰαλέσας, “he that called,” is plainly St. Paul himself, though, out of modesty, he declines naming himself.

*

Gen. xiii. 3.

†

9, 10 “Of faith,” and “of the works of the law;” spoken of two races of men, the one as the genuine posterity of Abraham, heirs of the promise, the other not.

‡

“Blessed,” and “under the curse.” Here again there is another division, viz. into the blessed, and those under the curse, whereby is meant such as are in a state of life, or acceptance with God; or such as are exposed to his wrath, and to death, see Deut. xxx. 19.

§

10 “Written,” Deut. xxvii. 26.

*

11 Hab. ii. 4.

†

12 See Acts xiii. 39.

‡

Lev. xviii. 5.

§

13 Deut. xii. 21, 23.

∥

14 “Blessing:” “That blessing,” ver. 8, 9, 14. “Justification,” ver. 11. “Righteousness,” ver. 21. “Life,” ver. 11, 12, 21. “Inheritance,” ver. 18. “Being the children of God,” ver. 26, are in effect all the same, on the one side: And the “curse,” ver. 13, the direct contrary, on the other side; so plain is St. Paul’s discourse here, that no-body, who reads it with the least attention, will be in any doubt about it.

¶

“Promised.” St. Paul’s argument to convince the galatians, that they ought not to be circumcised, or submit to the law, from their having received the spirit from him, upon their having received the gospel, which he preached to them, ver. 2 and 5, stands thus: The blessing promised to Abraham, and to his seed, was wholly upon the account of faith, ver. 7. There were not different seeds, who should inherit the promise; the one by the works of the law, and the other by faith. For there was but “one seed, which was Christ,” ver. 16, and those who should claim in, and under him, by faith. Among those there was no distinction of jew and gentile. They, and they only, who believed, were all one and the same true seed of Abraham, and “heirs according to the promise,” ver. 28, 29. And therefore the promise, made to the people of God, of giving them the spirit under the gospel, was performed only to those who believed in Christ; a clear evidence, that it was not by putting themselves under the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, that “they were the people of God, and heirs of the promise.”

*

16 “And to seeds:” By seeds, St. Paul here visibly means the δι ἐϰ ϖίϛεως, “those of faith,” and the δι ἐξ ἒργων νόμȣ, “those of the works of the law,” spoken of above, ver. 9, 10, as two distinct seeds, or descendants claiming from Abraham.

†

“And to thy seed;” See Gen. xii. 7. repeated again in the following chapters.

‡

“Mystical body;” see ver. 27.

*

19 That this is the meaning of, “because of transgressions,” the following part of this section shows, wherein St. Paul argues to this purpose: the jews were sinners as well as other men, ver. 22. The law denouncing death to all sinners, could save none, ver. 21, but was thereby useful to bring men to Christ, that they might be justified by faith, ver. 24. See ch. ii. 15, 16.

*

Mediator. See Deut. v. 5. Lev. xxvi. 46. Where it is said, the law was made between God and the children of Israel, by the hand of Moses.

†

20 But God is one: To understand this verse, we must carry in our minds what St. Paul is here doing, and that from ver. 17, is manifest, that he is proving that the law could not disannul the promise; and he does it upon this known rule, that a covenant, or promise, once ratified, cannot be altered, or disannulled, by any other, but by both the parties concerned. Now, says he, God is but one of the parties concerned in the promise; the gentiles and israelites together made up the other, ver. 14. But Moses, at the giving of the law, was a mediator only between the israelites and God; and, therefore, could not transact any thing to the disannulling the promise, which was between God, and the israelites and gentiles together, because God was but one of the parties to that covenant; the other, which was the gentiles, as well as israelites, Moses appeared, or transacted, not for. And so what was done at mount Sinai, by the mediation of Moses, could not affect a covenant made between parties whereof only one was there. How necessary it was for St. Paul to add this, we shall see, if we consider, that without it his argument of 430 years distance would have been deficient, and hardly conclusive. For if both the parties concerned in the promise had transacted by Moses the mediator, (as they might if none but the nation of the israelites had been concerned in the promise made by God to Abraham) they might, by mutual consent, have altered, or set aside, the former promise, as well four hundred years, as four days after. That which hindered it, was, that at Moses’s mediation, on mount Sinai, God, who was but one of the parties to the promise, was present; but the other party, Abraham’s seed, consisting of israelites and gentiles together, was not there; Moses transacted for the nation of the israelites alone: the other nations were not concerned in the covenant made at mount Sinai, as they were in the promise made to Abraham and his seed; which, therefore, could not be disannulled without their consent. For that both the promise to Abraham and his seed, and the covenant with Israel at mount Sinai, was national, is in itself evident.

*

21 Ζωοποιῆσαι, “Put into a state of life.” The Greek word signifies to make alive. St. Paul considers all men here, as in a mortal state; and to be put out of that mortal state, into a state of life, he calls being made alive. This, he says, the law could not do, because it could not confer righteousness.

†

Ἔϰ νόμȣ, by law, i. e. by works, or obedience to that law, which tended towards righteousness, as well as the promise, but was not able to reach, or confer it. See Rom. viii. 3, i. e. frail men were not able to attain righteousness by an exact conformity of their actions to the law of righteousness.

‡

22 Τὰ ϖάνgreektα, All, is used here for all men. The apostle, Rom. iii. 9, and 19, expresses the same thing by ϖάνgreektας, all men; and ϖᾶς ὁ ϰόσμος, all the world. But speaking in the text here of the jews, in particular, he says, We, meaning those of his own nation, as is evident from ver. 24, 25.

§

Under sin, i. e. rank them all together, as one guilty race of sinners: see this proved, Rom. iii. 9. i. 18, &c. To the same purpose of putting both jews and gentiles into one state, St. Paul uses συνέϰλεισε ϖάνgreektας, “hath shut them up all together,” Rom. xi. 32.

∥

The thing promised in this chapter, sometimes called Blessing, ver. 9, 14; sometimes Inheritance, ver. 18; sometimes Justification, ver. 11, 24; sometimes Righteousness, ver. 21; and sometimes Life, ver. 11, 21.

¶

23 By faith, see ver. 14.

**

Justification by faith, see ver. 24.

*

26 All, i. e. both jews and gentiles.

†

27 Put on Christ. This, which, at first sight, may seem a very bold metaphor, if we consider what St. Paul has said, ver. 16, and 26, is admirably adapted to express his thoughts in a few words, and has a great grace in it. He says, ver. 16, that “the seed to which the promise was made, was but one, and that one was Christ.” And ver. 26, he declares, “that by faith in Christ, they all became the sons of God.” To lead them into an easy conception how this is done, he here tells them, that, by taking on them the profession of the gospel, they have, as it were, put on Christ; so that to God, now looking on them, there appears nothing but Christ. They are, as it were, covered all over with him, as a man is with the cloaths he hath put on. And hence he says, in the next verse, that “they are all one in Christ Jesus,” as if there were but that one person.

*

29 The Clermont copy reads εἰ δὲ ὑμεῖς ἐἶς ἐϛὲ ἐν Χριϛῷ Ἱησȣ͂, “And if ye are one in Christ Jesus,” more suitable as it seems, to the apostle’s argument. For, ver. 28, he says, “They are all one in Christ Jesus;” from whence the inference in the following words of the Clermont copy, is natural: “And if ye be one in Christ Jesus, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise.”

*

1 Bondman; so δοῦλος signifies; and unless it be so translated, ver 7, 8, Bondage; ver. 3, 7, will scarce be understood by an English reader; but St. Paul’s sense will be lost to one, who, by Servant, understands not one in a state of bondage.

†

3 We. It is plain, St. Paul speaks here in the name of the jews, or jewish church, which, though God’s peculiar people, yet was to pass its nonage (so St. Paul calls it) under the restraint and tutorage of the law, and not to receive the possession of the promised inheritance until Christ came.

‡

The law, he calls here ϛοιχεῖα τȣ͂ ϰόσμȣ, “Elements, or rudiments of the world.” Because the observances and discipline of the law, which had restraint and bondage enough in it, led them not beyond the things of this world, into the possession, or state, of their spiritual and heavenly inheritance.

§

6 The same argument, of proving their sonship from their having the Spirit, St. Paul uses to the Romans, Rom. viii. 16. And he that will read 2 Cor. iv. 17.—v. 6, and Eph. i. 11—14, will find, that the Spirit is looked on, as the seal and assurance of the inheritance of life, to those “who have received the adoption of sons,” as St. Paul speaks here, ver. 5. The force of the argument seems to lie in this, that as he, that has the spirit of a man in him, has an evidence that he is the son of a man, so he, that hath the Spirit of God, has thereby an assurance that he is the Son of God. Conformable hereunto the opinion of the jews was, that the Spirit of God was given to none but themselves, they alone being the people or children of God; for God calls the people of Israel his sons, Exod. iv. 22, 23. And hence, we see, that when, to the astonishment of the jews, the Spirit was given to the gentiles, the jews no longer doubted, that the inheritance of eternal life was also conferred on the gentiles. Compare Acts x. 44—48, with Acts xi. 15—18.

*

7 St. Paul from the galatians having received the Spirit, (as appears chap. iii. 2,) argues, that they are the sons of God without the law; and consequently heirs of the promise, without the law; for, says he, ver. 1—6, the jews themselves were fain to be redeemed from the bondage of the law, by Jesus Christ, that, as sons, they might attain to the inheritance. But you, galatians, says he, have, by the Spirit that is given you by the ministry of the gospel, an evidence that God is your Father; and, being sons, are free from the bondage of the law, and heirs without it. The same sort of reasoning St. Paul uses to the Romans, ch. viii. 14—17.

†

9 Known. It has been before observed, how apt St. Paul is to repeat his words, though something varied in their signification. We have here another instance of it: having said, “Ye have known God,” he subjoins, “or rather are known of him,” in the Hebrew latitude of the word known; in which language, it sometimes signifies knowing, with choice and approbation. See Amos iii. 2. 1 Cor. viii. 3.

*

The law is here called weak, because it was not able to deliver a man from bondage and death, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, Rom. viii. 1—3. And it is called beggarly, because it kept men in the poor estate of pupils, from the full possession and enjoyment of the inheritance, ver. 1—3.

†

The apostle makes it matter of astonishment, how they, who had been in bondage to false gods, having been once set free, could endure the thoughts of parting with their liberty, and of returning into any sort of bondage again, even under the mean and beggarly rudiments of the Mosaical institution, which was not able to make them sons, and instal them in the inheritance. For St. Paul, ver. 7. expressly opposes bondage to sonship; so that all, who are not in the state of sons, are in the state of bondage. Πάλιν, again, cannot here refer to ϛοίχεια, elements, which the galatians had never been under hitherto, but to bondage, which he tells them, ver. 8, they had been in to false gods.

*

14 What this weakness, and trial in the flesh, was, since it has not pleased the apostle to mention it, is impossible for us to know: but may be remarked here, as an instance, once for all, of that unavoidable obscurity of some passages, in epistolary writings, without any fault in the author. For some things, necessary to the understanding of what is writ, are usually of course and justly omitted, because already known to him the letter is writ to, and it would be sometimes ungraceful, oftentimes superfluous, particularly to mention them.

†

15 The context makes this sense of the words so necessary and visible, that it is to be wondered how any one could overlook it.

‡

16 Your enemy. See chap. i. 6.

*

18 That by ϰαλῷ here, he means a person and himself, the scope of the context evinces. In the six preceding verses he speaks only of himself, and the change of their affection to him, since he left them. There is no other thing mentioned, as peculiarly deserving their affection, to which the rule given in this verse could refer. He had said, ver. 17, ζηλȣ͂σιν ὑμᾶς, “they affect you;” and ἵνα αὐgreektȣ̀ς ζηλȣ͂τε, “that you might affect them;” this is only of persons, and therefore ζηλȣ͂σθαι ἐν ϰαλῷ, which immediately follows, may be best understood of a person; else the following part of the verse, though joined by the copulative ϰαὶ, and, will make but a disjointed sense with the preceding. But there can be nothing plainer, nor more coherent than this, which seems to be St. Paul’s sense here: “You were very affectionate to me, when I was with you. You are since estranged from me; it is the artifice of the seducers, that have cooled you to me. But if I am the good man you took me to be, you will do well to continue the warmth of your affection to me, when I am absent, and not to be well affected towards me, only when I am present among you.” Though this be his meaning, yet the way he has taken to express it, is much more elegant, modest, and graceful. Let any one read the original, and see whether it be not so.

†

19 If this verse be taken for an intire sentence by itself, it will be a parenthesis, and that not the most necessary, or congruous, that is to be found in St. Paul’s epistles; or δὲ, but, must be left out, as we see it is in our translation. But if τεϰνία μȣ͂, “my little children,” be joined, by apposition, to ὑμᾶς, you, the last word of the foregoing verse, and so the two verses 18 and 19, be read as one sentence, ver. 20, with δὲ, but, in it, follows very naturally. But, as we now read it in our English bible, δὲ, but, is forced to be left out, and ver. 20, stands alone by itself, without any connexion with what goes before, or follows.

‡

20 Ἀλλάξαι φωνὴν, “to change the voice,” seems to signify the speaking higher or lower; changing the tone of the voice, suitably to the matter one delivers, v. g. whether it be advice, or commendation, or reproof, &c. For each of these have their distinct voices. St. Paul wishes himself with them, that he might accommodate himself to their present condition and circumstances, which he confesses himself to be ignorant of, and in doubt about.

*

21 The vulgar has, after some greek manuscripts, Read.

†

22 Written there, viz. Gen. xvi. 15, and xxi. 1. The term, Law, in the foregoing verse, comprehends the five books of Moses.

*

Written, viz. Isaiah liv. 1.

*

29 ‘Ο ϰαgreektὰ σάϱϰα γεννηθεὶς, “born after the flesh;” and τὸν ϰαgreektὰ ϖνεῦμα, “born of the Spirit.” These expressions have, in their original brevity, with regard to the whole view, wherein St. Paul uses them, an admirable beauty and force, which cannot be retained in a paraphrase.

†

30 Scripture, viz. Gen. xxi. 10.

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31 The apostle, by this allegorical history, shows the galatians, that they who are sons of Agar, i. e. under the law given at mount Sinai, are in bondage, and intended to be cast out, the inheritance being designed for those only, who are the free-born sons of God, under the spiritual covenant of the gospel. And thereupon he exhorts them, in the following words, to preserve themselves in that state of freedom.

*

2 Ἰδὲ, ἐγὼ Παῦλος, “Behold, I Paul,” I the same Paul, who am reported to preach circumcision, μαρgreektύρομαι δὲ ϖάλιν ϖανgreektὶ ἀνθρώπω, v. 3, witness again, continue my testimony, to every man, to you and all men. This so emphatical way of speaking may very well be understood to have regard to what he takes notice, ver. 11, to be cast upon him, viz. his preaching circumcision, and is a very significant vindication of himself.

†

3 “Cannot be saved.” This was the ground upon which the jews and judaizing christians urged circumcision. See Acts xv. 1.

‡

5 “We.” It is evident from the context, that St. Paul here means himself. But We is a more graceful way of speaking than I; though he be vindicating himself alone from the imputation of setting up circumcision.

§

4 “Spirit.” The law and the gospel opposed, under the titles of Flesh and Spirit, we may see, chap. iii. 3, of this epistle. The same opposition it stands in here to the law, in the foregoing verse, points out the same signification.

*

6 “Which worketh by love.” This is added to express the animosities which were amongst them, probably raised by this question about circumcision. See ver. 11—15.

†

8 This expression of “him that calleth, or calleth you,” he used before, chap. i. 6, and, in both places, means himself, and here declares, that this ϖεισμονὴ (whether taken for persuasion, or for subjection, as it may be in St. Paul’s style, considering ϖείθεσθαι, in the end of the foregoing verse (came not from him, for he called them to liberty from the law, and not subjection to it; see ver. 13. “You were going on well, in the liberty of the gospel; who stopped you? I, you may be sure, had no hand in it; I, you know, called you to liberty, and not to subjection to the law, and therefore you can, by no means, suppose that I should preach up circumcision.” Thus St. Paul argues here.

‡

9 By this and the next verse, it looks as if all this disorder arose from one man.

§

10 “Will not be otherwise minded,” will beware of this leaven, so as not to be put into a ferment, nor shaken in your liberty, which you ought to stand fast in; and to secure it, I doubt not (such confidence I have in you) will with one accord cast out him that troubles you. For, as for me, you may be sure I am not for circumcision, in that the jews continue to persecute me. This is evidently his meaning, though not spoken out, but managed warily, with a very skilful and moving insinuation. For, as he says of himself, chap. iv. 20, he knew not, at that distance, what temper they were in.

*

Κρῖμα. Judgment, seems here to mean expulsion by a church-censure; see ver. 12. We shall be the more inclined to this, if we consider that the apostle uses the same argument of “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” 1 Cor. v. 6, where he would persuade the corinthians to purge out the fornicator.

†

11 Persecution. The persecution St. Paul was still under, was a convincing argument that he was not for circumcision, and subjection to the law; for it was from the jews, upon that account, that, at this time, rose all the persecution, which the christians suffered; as may be seen through all the history of the Acts. Nor are there wanting clear footsteps of it, in several places of this epistle, besides this here, as chap. iii. 4. and vi. 12.

‡

12 Offence of the cross, see chap. vi. 12—14.

*

13 Δυλεύεgreektε, serve, has a greater force in the greek, than our english word, serve, does in the common acceptation of it express. For it signifies the opposite to ἐλευθερία, freedom. And so the apostle elegantly informs them, that though by the gospel they are called to a state of liberty from the law; yet they were still as much bound and subjected to their brethren, in all the offices and duties of love and good-will, as if, in that respect, they were their vassals and bondmen.

†

14 Lev. xix. 18.

‡

16 That which he here, and in the next verse, calls spirit, he calls, Rom. vii. 22, the inward man; ver. 23, the law of the mind; ver. 25, the mind.

*

17 Do not; so it is in the greek, and ours is the only translation that I know which renders it cannot.

16, 17. There can be nothing plainer, than that the state St. Paul describes here, in these two verses, he points out more at large, Rom. vii. 17, &c. speaking there in the person of a jew. This is evident, that St. Paul supposes two principles in every man, which draw him different ways; the one he calls Flesh, the other Spirit. These, though there be other appellations given them, are the most common and usual names given them in the New Testament: by flesh, is meant all those vicious and irregular appetites, inclinations, and habitudes, whereby a man is turned from his obedience to that eternal law of right, the observance whereof God always requires and is pleased with. This is very properly called flesh, this bodily state being the source, from which all our deviations from the straight rule of rectitude do for the most part take their rise, or else do ultimately terminate in: on the other side, spirit is the part of a man, which is endowed with light from God, to know and see what is righteous, just and good, and which, being consulted and hearkened to, is always ready to direct and prompt us to that which is good. The flesh, then, in the gospel language, is that principle, which inclines and carries men to ill; the spirit, that principle which dictates what is right, and inclines to good. But because, by prevailing custom, and contrary habits, this principle was very much weakened, and almost extinct in the gentiles, see Eph. iv. 17—21. he exhorts them to “be renewed in the spirit of their minds,” ver. 23, and to “put off the old man,” i. e. fleshly corrupt habits, and to “put on the new man,” which, he tells them, ver. 24, “is created in righteousness and true holiness.” This is called, “renewing of the mind,” Rom. xii. 2. “Renewing of the inward man,” 2 Cor. iv. 16. Which is done by the assistance of the Spirit of God, Eph. iii. 16.

†

18 The reason of this assertion we may find, Rom. viii. 14, viz. Because, “they who are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God,” and so heirs, and free without the law, as he argues here, chap. iii. and iv.

‡

This is plainly the sense of the apostle, who teaches all along in the former part of this epistle, and also that to the Romans, that those, who put themselves under the gospel, are not under the law: the question, then, that remains, is only about the phrase, “led by the Spirit.” And as to that, it is easy to observe how natural it is for St. Paul, having in the foregoing verses more than once mentioned the Spirit, to continue the same word, though somewhat varied in the sense. In St. Paul’s phraseology, as the irregularities of appetite, and the dictates of right reason, are opposed under the titles of Flesh and Spirit, as we have seen: so the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace, law, and gospel, are opposed under the titles of Flesh and Spirit. 2 Cor. iii. 6, 8, he calls the gospel Spirit; and Rom. vii. 5, in the flesh, signifies in the legal state. But we need go no further than chap. iii. 3, of this very epistle, to see the law and the gospel opposed by St. Paul, under the titles of Flesh and Spirit. The reason of thus using the word Spirit, is very apparent in the doctrine of the New Testament, which teaches, that those who receive Christ by faith, with him receive his Spirit, and its assistance against the flesh; see Rom. viii. 9—11. Accordingly, for the attaining salvation, St. Paul joins together belief of the truth, and sanctification of the Spirit, 2 Thess. ii. 13. And so Spirit, here, may be taken for “the Spirit of their minds,” but renewed and strengthened by the Spirit of God; see Eph. iii. 16, and iv. 23.

*

20 Φαρμαϰεία signifies witchcraft, or poisoning.

†

21 Κῶμοι, Revellings, were, amongst the greeks, disorderly spending of the night in feasting, with a licentious indulging to wine, good cheer, music, dancing, &c.

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24 Οἱ τȣ͂ Χριϛȣ͂, “Those who are of Christ,” are the same “with those who are led by the Spirit,” ver. 18, and are opposed to “those who live after the flesh,” Rom. viii. 13, where it is said, conformably to what we find here, “they, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body.”

§

“Crucified the flesh.” That principle in us, from whence spring vicious inclinations and actions, is, as we have observed above, called sometimes the Flesh, sometimes the Old Man. The subduing and mortifying of this evil principle, so that the force and power, wherewith it used to rule in us, is extinguished, the apostle, by a very engaging accommodation to the death of our Saviour, calls “Crucifying the old man,” Rom. vi. 6. Crucifying the flesh, here. “Putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, Col. ii. 11. Putting off the old man, Eph. iv. 22. Col. iii. 8, 9. It is also called, Mortifying the members which are on earth, Col. iii. 5. Mortifying the deeds of the body,” Rom. viii. 13.

*

26 Whether the vain-glory and envying, here, were about their spiritual gifts, a fault which the corinthians were guilty of, as we may see at large, 1 Cor. xii. 13, 14, or upon any other occasion, and so contained in ver. 26, of this chapter; I shall not curiously examine: either way, the sense of the words will be much the same, and accordingly this verse must end the 5th, or begin the 6th chapter.

*

1 Πνευμαgreektιϰοὶ, Spiritual, in 1 Cor. iii. 1, and xii. 1, taken together, has this sense.

†

2 See a parallel exhortation, 1 Thess. v. 14, which will give light to this, as also Rom. xv. 1.

‡

See John xiii. 34, 35, and xiv. 2. There were some among them very zealous for the observation of the law of Moses: St. Paul, here, puts them in mind of a law which they were under, and were obliged to observe, viz. “the law of Christ.” And he shows them how to do it, viz. by helping to bear one another’s burdens, and not increasing their burdens, by the observances of the levitical law. Though the gospel contain the law of the kingdom of Christ, yet I do not remember that St. Paul any where calls it “the law of Christ,” but in this place; where he mentions it, in opposition to those, who thought a law so necessary, that they would retain that of Moses, under the gospel.

§

4 Καύχημα, I think, should have been translated here, Glorying, as Καυχήσωνgreektαι is, ver. 13, the apostle, in both places, meaning the same thing, viz. glorying in another, in having brought him to circumcision, and other ritual observances of the mosaical law. For thus St. Paul seems to me to discourse, in this section: “Brethren, there be some among you, that would bring others under the ritual observances of the mosaical law, a yoke, which was too heavy for us and our fathers to hear. They would do much better to ease the burdens of the weak; this is suitable to the law of Christ, which they are under, and is the law, which they ought strictly to obey. If they think, because of their spiritual gifts, that they have power to prescribe in such matters, I tell them that they have not, but do deceive themselves. Let them rather take care of their own particular actions, that they be right, and such as they ought to be. This will give them matter of glorying in themselves, and not vainly in others, as they do, when they prevail with them to be circumcised. For every man shall be answerable for his own actions.” Let the reader judge, whether this does not seem to be St. Paul’s view here, and suit with his way of writing.

Ἐχειν ϰαύχημα is a phrase whereby St. Paul signifies “to have matter of glorying,” and to that sense it is rendered, Rom. iv. 2.

*

7 Soweth. A metaphor used by St. Paul, for men’s laying out their worldly goods. See 2 Cor. ix. 6, &c.

†

8 Rom. viii. 13, and ii. 12.

*

11 St. Paul mentions the “writing with his own hand,” as an argument of his great concern for them in the case. For it was not usual for him to write his epistles with his own hand, but to dictate them to others, who writ them from his mouth. See Rom. xvi. 22. 1 Cor. xvi. 21.

†

12 “In the flesh,” i. e. in the ritual observances of the law, which Heb. ix. 10, are called διϰαιώμαgreektα σαρϰος.

‡

13 See chap. v. 11.

§

14 See chap. v. 11.

*

15 See Eph. ii. 10, and iv. 21.

†

16 St. Paul having, in the foregoing verse, asserted, that it is the new creation alone, that puts men into the kingdom of Christ, and into the possession of the privileges thereof, this verse may be understood also, as assertory, rather than as a prayer, unless there were a verb that expressed it; especially considering, that he writes his epistle to encourage them to refuse circumcision. To which end, the assuring them, that those, who do so, shall have peace and mercy from God, is of more force than to tell them, that he prays that they may have peace and mercy. And, for the same reason, I understand “the Israel of God” to be the same with “those, who walk by this rule,” though joined with them, by the copulative ϰαὶ, and; no very unusual way of speaking.

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1 St. Paul, in most of his epistles, mentions his being called to be an “apostle by the will of God;” which way of speaking being peculiar to him, we way suppose him therein to intimate his extraordinary and miraculous call, Acts ix. and his receiving the gospel by immediate revelation, Gal. i. 11, 12. For he doubted not of the will and providence of God governing all things.

†

Acts xviii. 17.

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2 Ἡγιασμένοις ἐν Χριϛῷ Ἰησȣ͂. “Sanctified in Christ Jesus,” does not signify here, whose lives are pure and holy; for there were many, amongst those he writ to, who were quite otherwise; but, sanctified, signifies separate from the common state of mankind, to be the people of God, and to serve him. The Heathen world had revolted from the true God, to the service of idols and false gods, Rom. i. 18—25. The Jews being separated from this corrupted mass, to be the peculiar people of God, were called holy. Exod. xix. 5, 6. Numb. xv. 40. They being cast off, the professors of christianity were separated to be the people of God, and so became holy, 1 Pet. ii. 9, 10.

§

Ἐπιϰαλȣ́ριενοι ὄνομα Χριϛȣ͂, “that are called christians;” these Greek words being a periphrasis for christians, as is plain from the design of this verse. But he that is not satisfied with that, may see more proofs of it, in Dr. Hammond upon the place.

∥

What the apostle means by, Lord, when he attributes it to Christ, vid. ch. viii. 6.

*

7 Vid. 2 Cor. xii. 12, 13.

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10 “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth, is, and ought to be named.” If any one has thought St. Paul a loose writer, it is only because he was a loose reader. He that takes notice of St. Paul’s design, shall find that there is not a word scarce, or expression, that he makes use of, but with relation and tendency to his present mainpurpose: as here, intending to abolish the names of leaders, they distinguished themselves by, he beseeches them, by the name of Christ, a form that I do not remember he elsewhere uses.

*

11 “Brethren,” a name of union and friendship, used here twice together, by St. Paul, in the entrance of his persuasion to them, to put an end to their divisions.

†

13 Εἰς properly signifies into; so the French translate it here; the phrase Βϰπgreektισϑῆναι εἰς, “to be baptized into any one’s name, or into any one,” is solemnly, by that ceremony, to enter himself a disciple of him, into whose name he is baptized, with profession to receive his doctrine and rules, and submit to his authority; a very good argument here, why they should be called by no one’s name, but Christ’s.

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20 Scribe was the title of a learned man amongst the jews; one versed in their law and rites, which was the study of their doctors and rabbies. It is likely the false apostle, so much concerned in these two epistles to the corinthians, who was a jew, pretended to something of this kind, and magnified himself thereupon; otherwise it is not probable, that St. Paul should name, to the corinthians, a sort of men not much known, or valued, amongst the greeks. This, therefore, may be supposed to be said to take off their glorying in their false apostle.

†

22 Ἐπειδὲ ϰαὶ, “since both.” Thesewords used here, by St. Paul, are not certainly idle and insignificant, and therefore I see not how they can be omitted in the translation.

Ἐπειδὲ is a word of reasoning, and, if minded, will lead us into one of St. Paul’s reasonings here, which the neglect of this word makes the reader overlook. St. Paul, in ver. 21, argues thus in general: “Since the world, by their natural parts and improvements, did not attain to a right and saving knowledge of God, God by the preaching of the gospel, which seems foolishness to them, was pleased to communicate that knowledge to those who believed.”

In the three following verses, he repeats the same reasoning, a little more expressly applied to the people he had here in his view, viz. jews and greeks; and his sense seems to be this: “Since the jews, to make any doctrine go down with them, require extraordinary signs of the power of God to accompany it, and nothing will please the nice palates of the learned greeks, but wisdom; and though our preaching of a crucified. Messiah be a scandal to the jews, and foolishness to the greeks, yet we have what they both seek; for both jew and gentile, when they are called, find the Messiah, whom we preach, to be the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

25, 27, 28. He that will read the context, cannot doubt but that St. Paul, by what he expresses in these verses, in the neuter gender, means persons, the whole argument of the place being about persons, and their glorying: and not about things.

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28 Τὰ μὴ ὂντα, “Things that are not,” I think may well be understood of the gentiles, who were not the people of God, and were counted as nothing, by the jews; and we are pointed to this meaning by the words ϰαταισχύνη and ϰαταργήση, “by the foolish and weak things,” i. e. by simple, illiterate, and mean men, God would make ashamed the learned philosophers, and great men of the nations; but, by the μὴ ὄντα, “things that are not,” he would abolish the things that are, as, in effect, he did abblish the jewish church, by the christian, taking in the gentiles to be his people, in the place of the rejected jews, who, until then, were his people. This St. Paul mentions here, not by chance, but pursuant to his main design, to stay their glorying in their false apostle, who was a jew; by showing that, whatever that head of the faction might claim, under that pretence, as it is plain he did stand upon it (see 2 Cor. xi. 21, 22.) he had not any the least title to any esteem, or respect, upon that account; since the jewish nation was laid aside, and God had chosen the gentiles to take their place, and to be his church and people instead of them; vid. note on ch. ii. ver. 6. There one may see who are the ϰαταργȣ́μενοι, “the abolished,” whom God says here, ϰαταργήση, “he will abolish.”

*

1 Τὸ μαρτύριον τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, “The testimony of God,” i. e. what God hath revealed and testified in the Old Testament; the apostle here declares to the corinthians, that, when he brought the gospel to them, he made no use of any human science, improvement, or skill; no insinuations of eloquence, no philosophical speculations, or ornaments of human learning, appeared in any thing he said to persuade them: all his arguments were, as he tells them, verse 4, from the revelation of the Spirit of God, in the predictions of the Old Testament, and the miracles, which he (Paul) did among them, that their faith might be built wholly upon the Spirit of God, and not upon the abilities and wisdom of man; though μαρgreektύριον τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, “The testimony of God,” agrees very well with so much of St. Paul’s meaning, as relates to his founding his preaching on the testimony of God, yet those copies, which read μυϛήριον, mystery, for μαρgreektύριον, testimony, seem more perfectly to correspond with St. Paul’s sense in the whole latitude of it. For though he owns the doctrine of the gospel, dictated by the Spirit of God, to be contained in the scriptures of the Old Testament, and builds upon revelation; yet he every-where teaches, that it remained a secret there, not understood till they were led into the hidden, evangelical meaning of those passages, by the coming of Jesus Christ, and by the assistance of the Spirit, in the times of the Messiah, and then published to the world, by the preachers of the gospel: and therefore he calls it, especially that part of it which relates to the gentiles, almost every where, μυϛήριον, mystery. See, particularly, Rom. xvi. 25, 26.

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2 St. Paul, who was himself a learned man, especially in the jewishknowledge, having, in the foregoing chapter, told them, that neither the jewish learning, nor grecian sciences, give a man any advantage, as a minister of the gospel; he here reminds them, that he made no show or use of either, when he planted the gospel among them; intimating thereby, that those were not things for which their teachers were to be valued, or followed.

†

3 St. Paul, by thus setting forth his own modest and humble behaviour amongst them, reflects on the contrary carriage of their false apostle, which he describes in words at length, 2 Cor. xi. 20.

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4 There were two sorts of arguments, wherewith the apostle confirmed the gospel; the one was the revelations made concerning our Saviour, by types and figures, and prophecies of him, under the law: the other, miracles and miraculous gifts accompanying the first preachers of the gospel, in the publishing and propagating of it. The latter of these St. Paul here calls Power; the former, in this chapter, he terms Spirit: so ver. 12, 14. “Things of the Spirit of God, and spiritual things,” are things which are revealed by the Spirit of God, and not discoverable byour natural faculties.

§

5 Their faith being built wholly on divine revelation and miracles, whereby all human abilities were shut out, there could be no reason for any of them to boast themselves of their teachers, or value themselves upon their being the followers of this or that preacher, which St. Paul hereby obviates.

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6 [Perfect] here is the same with spiritual, ver. 15; one, that is so perfectly well apprised of the divine nature and original of the christian religion, that he sees and acknowledges it to be all a pure revelation from God, and not, in the least, the product of human discovery, parts, or learning; and so, deriving it wholly from what God hath taught, by his Spirit, in the sacred scriptures, allows not the least part of it to be ascribed to the skill or abilities of men, as authors of it, but received as a doctrine coming from God alone. And thus, Perfect, is opposed to, Carnal, ch. iii. 1, 3. i. e. such babes in christianity, such weak and mistaken christians, that they thought the gospel was to be managed, as human arts and sciences amongst men of the world; and those were better instructed, and were more in the right, who followed this master or teacher, rather than another; and so glorying in being the scholars, one of Paul, and another of Apollos, fell into divisions and parties about it, and vaunted one over another; whereas, in the school of Christ, all was to be built on the authority of God alone, and the revelation of the Spirit in the sacred scriptures.

†

“Wisdom of this world,” i. e. the knowledge, arts and sciences attainable by man’s natural parts and faculties; such as man’s wit could find out, cultivate and improve: “or of the princes of this world,” i. e. such doctrines, arts and sciences, as the princes of the world approve, encourage, and endeavour to propagate.

*

Though by Ἄρχονgreektες τȣ͂ αἰῶνος τȣ́τȣ, may here be understood the princes, or great men, of this world, in the ordinary sense of these words; yet he that well considers ver. 28. of the foregoing chapter, and ver. 8. of this chapter, may find reason to think, that the apostle here principally designs the rulers and great men of the jewish nation. If it be objected, that there is little ground to think that St. Paul, by the wisdom he disowns, should mean that of his own nation, which the greeks of Corinth (whom he was writing to) had little acquaintance with, and had very little esteem for; I reply, that to understand this right, and the pertinency of it, we must remember, that the great design of St. Paul, in writing to the corinthians, was, to take them off from the respect and esteem that many of them had for a false apostle, that was got in among them, and had there raised a faction against St. Paul. This pretended apostle, it is plain, from 2 Cor. 11, 22, was a jew, and as it seems, 2 Cor. v. 16, 17, valued himself upon that account, and possibly boasted himself to he a man of note, either by birth, or alliance, or place, or learning, among that people, who counted themselves the holy and illuminated people of God; and therefore, to have a right to sway among these new heathen converts. To obviate this claim of his to any authority, St. Paul here tells the corinthians, that the wisdom and learning of the jewish nation led them not into the knowledge of the wisdom of God, i. e. the gospel revealed in the Old Testament, evident in this, that it was their rulers and rabbies, who, stiffly adhering to the notions and prejudices of their nation, had crucified Jesus, the Lord of glory, and were now themselves, with their state and religion, upon the point to be swept away and abolished. It is to the same purpose, that 2 Cor. v. 16—19, he tells the corinthians, That, “he knows no man after the flesh,” i. e. that he acknowledges no dignity of birth, or descent, or outward national privileges. The old things of the jewish constitution are past and gone; whoever is in Christ, and entereth into his kingdom, is in a new creation, wherein all things are new, all things are from God: no right, no claim, or preference, derived to any one, from any former institution; but every one’s dignity consists solely in this, that God had reconciled him to himself, not imputing his former trespasses to him.

†

Αἰών ȣ͂̔τος, which we translate “this world,” seems to me to signify commonly, if not constantly, in the New Testament, that state which, during the mosaical constitution, men, either jews or gentiles, were in, as contradistinguished to the evangelical state, or constitution, which is commonly called, Αἰών μέλλων, or ἐρχόμειος, “the world to come.”

‡

Τῶν ϰαgreektαργȣμένων, “who are brought to nought,” i. e. who are vanishing. If “the wisdom of this world, and of the princes of this world,” be to be understood, of the wisdom and learning of the world, in general, as contradistinguished to the doctrine of the gospel, then the words are added, to show what folly it is for them to glory, as they do, in their teachers, when all that worldly wisdom and learning, and the great men, the supporters of it, would quickly be gone; whereas all true and lasting glory came only from Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. But if these words are to be understood of the jews, as seems most consonant, both to the main design of the epistle, and to St. Paul’s expressions here; then his telling them, that the princes of the jewish nation are brought to nought, is to take them off from glorying in their judaizing, false apostle; since the authority of the rulers of that nation, in matters of religion, was now at an end, and they, with all their pretences, and their very constitution itself, were upon the point of being abolished and swept away, for having rejected and crucified the Lord of glory.

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7 “Wisdom of God,” is used here for the doctrine of the gospel, coming immediately from God, by the revelation of his Spirit; and, in this chapter, is set in opposition to all knowledge, discoveries and improvements whatsoever, attainable by human industry, parts and study; all which he calls, “the wisdom of the world, and man’s wisdom.” Thus distinguishing the knowledge of the gospel, which was derived wholly from revelation, and could be had no other way, from all other knowledge whatsoever.

†

What the Spirit of God had revealed of the gospel, during the times of the law, was so little understood by the jews, in whose sacred writings it was contained, that it might well be called the “wisdom of God in a mystery,” i. e. declared in obscure prophecies, and mysterious expressions, and types. Though this be undoubtedly so, as appears by what the jews both thought and did, when Jesus the Messiah, exactly answering what was foretold of him, came amongst them, yet by “the wisdom of God, in the mystery, wherein it was hid though purposed by God, before the settling of the jewish economy,” St. Paul seems more peculiarly to mean, what the gentiles, and consequently the corinthians, were more peculiarly concerned in, viz. God’s purpose of calling the gentiles to be his people under the Messiah; which, though revealed in the Old Testament, yet was not in the least understood, until the times of the gospel, and the preaching of St. Paul, the apostle of the gentiles; which, therefore, he so frequently calls a mystery. The reading and comparing Rom. xvi. 25, 26. Eph. iii. 3—9. ch. vi. 19, 20. Col. i. 26, 27. and ii. 1, 8. and iv. 3, 4. will give light to this. To which give me leave to observe, upon the use of the word Wisdom, here, that St. Paul, speaking of God’s calling the gentiles, cannot, in mentioning it, forbear expressions of his admiration of the great and incomprehensible wisdom of God therein. See Eph. iii. 8, 10. Rom. xi. 33.

‡

Πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, signifies properly “before the ages,” and I think it may be doubted, whether these words, “before the world,” do exactly render the sense of the place. That αἰὼν, or αἰῶνες, should not be translated, “the world,” as in many places they are, I shall give one convincing instance, among many, that may be brought, viz. Eph. iii. 9. compared with Col. i. 26. The words in Colossians are, τὸ μυϛηριον τὸ ἀποϰεϰρυμμένον ἀπὸ τῶν ἀιώνων, thus rendered in the English translation, “which hath been hidden from ages;” but in Eph. iii. 9, a parallel place, the same words, τȣ͂ μυϛηρίȣ τȣ͂ ἀποϰεϰρυμμένȣ ἀπὸ τῶν αἰωνων, are translated, “The mystery which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid.” Whereas it is plain from Col. i. 26, ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων does not signify the epoch, or commencement of the concealment, but those from whom it was concealed. It is plain, the apostle, in the verse immediately preceding, and that following this, which we have before us, speaks of the jews;” and therefore ϖρὸ τῶν αἰώνων here may be well understood to mean, “Before the ages of the jews;” and so ἀπ’ αἰώνων, “from the ages of the jews,” in the other two-mentioned texts. Why αἰῶνες in these, and other places, as Luke i. 70, and Acts iii. 21, and elsewhere, should be appropriated to the ages of the jews, may be owing to their counting by ages, or jubilees, vid. Dr. Burthogge in his judicious treatise, “Christianity a revealed mystery,” cap. 2, page 17.

*

St. Paul here opposes the true glory of a christian, to the glorying, which was amongst the corinthians, in the eloquence, learning, or any other quality of their factious leaders; for St. Paul, in all his expressions, has an eye on his main purpose; as if he should have said, “Why do you make divisions, by glorying, as you do, in your distinct teachers; the glory that God has ordained us christian teachers and professors to, is to be expounders, preachers, and believers of those revealed truths and purposes of God, which, though contained in the sacred scriptures of the Old Testament, were not understood in former ages. This is all the glory that belongs to us, the disciples of Christ, who is the Lord of all power and glory, and herein has given us, what far excels all, that either jews, or gentiles, had any expectation of, from what they gloried in:” vid. ver. 9. Thus St. Paul takes away all matter of glorying from the false apostle, and his factious followers among the corinthians. The excellency of the gospel-administration, see also 2 Cor. iii. 6—11.

*

12 We, the true apostles, or rather I; for though he speaks in the plural number, to avoid ostentation, as it might be interpreted; yet he is here justifying himself, and showing the corinthians, that none of them had reason to forsake and slight him, to follow and cry up their false apostle. And that he speaks of himself, is plain from the next verse, where he saith, “We speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth,” the same which he says of himself, ch. i. ver. 17, “I was sent to preach, not with wisdom of words.” And chap. ii. ver. 1, “I came to you, not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom.”

†

As he puts princes of the world, ver. 6, 8, for the rulers of the jews, so here he puts “Spirit of the world” for the notions of the jews: that worldly spirit, wherewith they interpreted the Old Testament, and the prophecies of the Messiah and his kingdom; which spirit, in contradistinction to the Spirit of God, which the Roman converts had received, he calls the spirit of bondage, Rom. iii. 15.

‡

13 It is plain “the spiritual things,” he here speaks of, are the unsearchable counsels of God, revealed by the Spirit of God, which therefore he calls “spiritual things.”

*

14, 15. Ψυχιϰὸς, “the animal man,” and ϖνευμαgreektιϰὸς, “the spiritual man,” are opposed by St. Paul, in ver. 14, 15, the one signifying a man, that has no higher principles to build on, than those of natural reason; the other, a man, that founds his faith and religion on divine revelation. This is what appears to be meant by natural, or rather animal man, and spiritual, as they stand opposed, in these two verses.

†

16 Αὐτὸν, him, refers here to spiritual man, in the former verse, and not to Lord, in this. For St. Paul is showing here, not that a natural man, and a mere philosopher, cannot instruct Christ; this no-body, pretending to be a christian, could own; but that a man, by his bare natural parts, not knowing the mind of the Lord, could not instruct, could not judge, could not correct a preacher of the gospel, who built upon revelation, as he did, and therefore it was sure he had the mind of Christ.

*

14, 15. Ψυχιϰὸς, “the animal man,” and ϖνευμαgreektιϰὸς, “the spiritual man,” are opposed by St. Paul, in ver. 14, 15, the one signifying a man, that has no higher principles to build on, than those of natural reason; the other, a man, that founds his faith and religion on divine revelation. This is what appears to be meant by natural, or rather animal man, and spiritual, as they stand opposed, in these two verses.

*

1 Vid. ch. i. 22, and iii. 18.

†

Here ϖνευματιϰὸς, spiritual, is opposed to σαρϰιϰὸς, carnal, as ch. ii. 14, it is to ψυχιϰὸς, natural, or rather animal: so that here we have three sorts of men, 1. Carnal, i. e. such as are swayed by fleshly passions and interests. 2. Animal, i. e. such as seek wisdom, or a way to happiness, only by the strength and guidance of their own natural parts, without any supernatural light, coming from the Spirit of God, i. e. by reason without revelation, by philosophy without scripture. 3. Spiritual, i. e. such as seek their direction to happiness, not in the dictates of natural reason and philosophy, but in the revelations of the Spirit of God, in the holy scriptures.

‡

1 Here σαρϰιϰὸς, carnal, is opposed to ϖνευματιϰὸς, spiritual, in the same sense, that ψυχιϰὸς, natural, or animal, is opposed to ϖνευματιϰὸς, spiritual, chap. ii. 14, as appears by the explication, which St. Paul himself gives here to σαρϰιϰὸς, carnal: for he makes the carnal to be all one with babes in Christ, v. 1, i. e. such as had not their understandings yet fully opened to the true grounds of the christian religion, but retained a great many childish thoughts about it, as appeared by their divisions; one for the doctrine of his master, Paul; another for that of his master, Apollos; which, if they had been spiritual, i. e. had looked upon the doctrine of the gospel to have come sosely from the Spirit of God, and to be had only from revelation, they could not have done. For then all human mixtures, of any thing derived, either from Paul orApollos, or any other man, had been wholly excluded. But they, in these divisions, professed to hold their religion, one from one man, and another from another; and were thereupon divided into parties. This, he tells them, was to be carnal, and ϖεριπατεῖν ϰατὰ ἄνθρωπον, to be led by principles purely human, i. e. to found their religion upon men’s natural parts and discoveries, whereas the gospel was wholly built upon divine revelation, and nothing else; and from thence alone those, who were ϖνευματιϰοὶ, took it.

*

That this is the meaning of the apostle’s metaphor of milk and babes, may be seen Heb. v. 12—14.

†

2 Vid. chap. ii. 13.

‡

Vid. Heb. v. 14.

§

3 Κατ’ ἄνθρωπον, “speaking according to man,” signifies speaking according to the principles of natural reason, in contradistinction to revelation: vid. 1 Cor. ix. 8. Gal. i. 11. And so “walking according to man” must here be understood.

∥

4 From this 4th verse, compared with chap. iv. 6, it may be no improbable conjecture, that the division in this church was only into two opposite parties, whereof the one adhered to St. Paul, the other stood up for their head, a false apostle, who opposed St. Paul. For the Apollos, whom St. Paul mentions here, was one (as he tells us, ver. 6.) who came in, and watered what he had planted: i. e. when St. Paul had planted a church at Corinth, this Apollos got into it, and pretended to instruct them farther, and boasted in his performances amongst them, which St. Paul takes notice of again, 2 Cor. x. 15, 16. Now the Apollos that he here speaks of, he himself tells us, chap. iv. 6, was another man, under that borrowed name. It is true, St. Paul, in his epistles to the corinthians, generally speaks of these his opposers in the plural number; but it is to be remembered, that he speaks so of himself too, which, as it was the less invidious way, in regard of himself, so it was the softer way towards his opposers, though he seems to intimate plainly, that it was one leader that was set up against him.

*

11 Chap. iv. 15. In this he reflects on the false apostle, 2 Cor. x, 15, 16.

*

12 When the day of trial and recompence shall be; see chap. iv. 5, where he speaks of the same thing.

†

16 Vid. ver. 9.

‡

17 It is not incongruous to think, that, by any man, here, St. Paul designs one particular man, viz. the false apostle, who, it is probable, by the strength of his party, supporting and retaining the fornicator, mentioned ch. v. in the church, had defiled it; which may be the reason, why St. Paul so often mentions fornication, in this epistle, and that, in some places, with particular emphasis, as chap. v. 9, and vi. 13—20. Most of the disorders, in this church, we may look on, as owing to this false apostle; which is the reason, why St. Paul sets himself so much against him, in both these epistles, and makes almost the whole business of them, to draw the corinthians off from their leader, judging, as it is like, that this church could not be reformed, as long as that person was in credit, and had a party among them.

*

18 What it was, wherein the craftiness of the person mentioned had appeared, it was not necessary for St. Paul, writing to the corinthians, who knew the matter of fact, to particularize to us: therefore it is left to guess, and possibly we shall not be much out, if we take it to be the keeping the fornicator from censure, so much insisted on by St. Paul, chap. v.

†

That by σοφὸς, here, the apostle means a cunning man in business, is plain from his quotation in the next verse, where the Wise, spoken of, are the crafty.

*

6 Vid. chap. iii. 4.

†

Vid. chap. iii. 6, 9. chap. iv. 1.

*

9 The apostle seems here to allude to the custom of bringing those last upon the theatre, who were to be destroyed by wild beasts.

†

10 So he uses the word weakness, often, in his epistles to the corinthians, applied to himself: vid. 2 Cor. xii. 10.

*

14 Vid. 2 Cor xi. 20. St. Paul here, from ver. 8 to 17, by giving an account of his own carriage, gently rebukes them for following men of a different character, and exhorts them to be followers of himself.

†

16 This he presses again, chap. xi. 1. and it is not likely he would have proposed himself, over and over again, to them, to be followed by them, had the question and contest amongst them been only, whose name they should have borne, his, or their new teacher’s. His proposing himself, therefore, thus to be followed, must be understood, in direct opposition to the false apostle, who misled them, and was not to be suffered to have any credit, or followers, amongst them.

‡

17 This he does to show, that what he taught them, and pressed them to, was not in a pique against his opposer, but to convince them, that all he did, at Corinth, was the very same, and no other, than what he did every where, as a faithful steward and minister of the gospel.

*

21 He that shall carefully read 2 Cor. i. 20.—ii. 11, will easily perceive that this last verse here, of this 4th chapter, is an introduction to the severe act of discipline, which St. Paul was going to exercise amongst them, though absent, as if he had been present. And, therefore, this verse ought not to have been separated from the following chapter, as if it belonged not to that discourse.

†

1 Vid. chap. iv. 8, 10. The writers of the New Testament seem to use the Greek word ϖορνεία, which we translate, fornication, in the same sense that the Hebrews used זנות, which we also translate, fornication; though it be certain, both these words, in sacred scripture, have a larger sense than the word, fornication, has in our language; for זנות, amongst the Hebrews, signified, “Turpitudinem,” or “Rem turpem,” uncleanness, or any flagitious scandalous crime, but more especially, the uncleanness of unlawful copulation and idolatry; and not precisely fornication, in our sense of the word, i. e. the unlawful mixture of an unmarried couple.

‡

[Not known] That the marrying of a son-in-law, and a mother-in-law, was not prohibited by the laws of the Roman empire, may be seen in Tully; but yet it was looked on, as so scandalous and infamous, that it never had any countenance from practice. His words in his oration pro Cluentio, § 4, are so agreeable to the present case, that it may not be amiss to set them down: “Nubit genero socrus, nullis auspiciis, nullis auctoribus. O scelus incredibile, et præter hanc unam, in omni vita inauditum!”

*

6 Glorying is all along, in the beginning of this epistle, spoken of the preference they gave to their new leader, in opposition to St. Paul.

†

If their leader had not been guilty of this miscarriage, it had been out of St. Paul’s way here to have reproved them, for their glorying in him. But St. Paul is a close writer, and uses not to mention things, where they are impertinent to his subject.

‡

What reason he had to say this, vid. 2 Cor. xii. 21—“Grex totus in agris Unius seabie cadit, et porrigine porci.”

*

7 and 8 In these two verses he alludes to the jews cleansing their houses, at the feast of the passover, from all leaven, the symbol of corruption and wickedness.

*

1 ᾥγιοι, saints, is put for christians: ἄδιϰοι, unjust, for heathens.

†

4 Ἐξȣθενημένȣς, “judices non authenticos.” Among the jews there was “consessus triumviralis, authenticus,” who had authority, and could hear and determine causes, “ex officio;” there was another “consessus triumviralis,” which were chosen by the parties; these, though they were not authentic, yet could judge and determine the causes referred to them; these were those whom St. Paul calls here, ἐξȣθενημένȣς, “judices non authenticos,” i. e. referees chosen by the parties. See de Dieu. That St. Paul does not mean by ἐξȣθενημένȣς, “those who are least esteemed,” as our English translation reads it, is plain from the next verse.

‡

5 Σοφὸς, “wisemen.” If St. Paul uses this word, in the sense of the synagogue, it signifies one ordained, or a rabbi, and so capacitated to be a judge; for such were called “wise men.” If in the sense of the greek schools, then it signifies a man of learning, study and parts: if it be taken in the latter sense, it may seem to be some reflection on their pretending to wisdom.

*

8 That the wrong, here spoken of, was the fornicator’s taking and keeping his father’s wife, the words of St. Paul, 2 Cor. vii. 12, instancing this very wrong, are a sufficient evidence. And it is not wholly improbable, there had been some hearing of this matter, before an heathen judge, or at least talked of: which, if supposed, will give a great light to this whole passage, and several other in these chapters. For thus visibly runs St. Paul’s argument, chap. v. 12, 13, chap. vi. 1, 2, 3, &c. coherent and easy to be understood, if it stood together as it should, and were not chopped in pieces, by a division into two chapters. Ye have a power to judge those, who are of your church; therefore put away from among you that fornicator: you do ill, to let it come before a heathen magistrate. Are you, who are to judge the world and angels, not worthy to judge such a matter as this?

*

11 Ἡγιάσθητε, “sanctified,” i. e. have remission of your sins, so sanctified signifies, Heb. x. 10, and 18, compared. He that would perfectly comprehend, and be satisfied in the meaning of this place, let him read Heb. ix. 10, particularly ix. 13—23.

†

Ἑδιϰαιώθητε, “ye are become just,” i. e. are reformed in your lives. See it used, Rev. xxii. 11.

‡

12 St. Paul having, upon occasion of injustice amongst them, particularly in the matter of the fornicator, warned them against that and other sins, that exclude men from salvation, he here re-assumes his former argument, about fornication; and, by his reasoning here, it looks as if some among them had pleaded, that fornication was lawful. Towhich he answers, that, granting it be so, yet the lawfulness of all wholesome food reaches not the case of fornication, and shows by several instances, (as particularly the degrading the body, and making what, in a christian, is the member of Christ, the member of an harlot,) that fornication, upon several accounts, might be so unsuitable to the state of a christian man, that a christian society might have reason to animadvert upon a fornicator, though fornication might pass for an indifferent action in another man.

§

13 “Expedient, and brought under power,” in this verse, seems to refer to the two parts of the following verse: the first of them to eating, in the first part of the 13th verse, and the latter of them to fornication, in the latter part of the 13th verse. To make this more intelligible, it may be fit to remark, that St. Paul seems here to obviate such a sort of reasoning as this, in behalf of the fornicator: “All sorts of meats are lawful to christians, who are set free from the law of Moses; and why are they not so, in regard of women, who are at their own disposals?” To which St. Paul replies, “Though my belly was made only for eating, and all sorts of meat were made to be eaten, and so are lawful for me, yet I will abstain from what is lawful, if it be not convenient for me, though my belly will be certain to receive no prejudice by it, which will affect it in the other world; since God will there put an end to the belly, and all use of food. But, as to the body of a christian, the case is quite otherwise; that was not made for the enjoyment of women, but for a much nobler end, to be a member of Christ’s body; and so shall last for ever, and not be destroyed, as the belly shall be. Therefore, supposing fornication to be lawful in itself, I will not so debase and subject my body, and do it that prejudice, as to take that, which is a member of Christ, and make it the member of an harlot; this ought to be had in detestation by all christians.” The context is soplain in the case, that interpreters allow St. Paul to discourse here, upon a supposition of the lawfulness of fornication. Nor will it appear at all strange, that he does so, if we consider the argument he is upon. He is here convincing the corinthians, that though fornication were to them an indifferent thing, and were not condemned in their country, more than eating any sort of meat; yet there might be reasons why a christian society might punish it, in their own members, by church censures, and expulsion of the guilty. Conformably hereunto we see, in what follows here, that all the arguments used by St. Paul, against fornication, are brought from the incongruity it hath with the state of a christian, as a christian; but nothing is said against it as a fault in a man, as a man; no plea used, that it is a sin, in all men, by the law of nature. A christian society, without entering into that inquiry, or going so far as that, had reason to condemn and censure it, as not comporting with the dignity and prineiples of that religion, which was the foundation of their society.

*

“Woman,” I have put in this, to make the apostle’s sense understood the easier. For he arguing here, as he does, upon the supposition, that fornication is in itself lawful; fornication, in these words, must mean the supposed, lawful enjoyment of a woman: otherwise it will not answer the foregoing instance, of the belly and eating.

*

“And the Lord for the body;” see Heb. ii. 5—18.

†

14 Διὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀυgreektȣ͂. “To his power.” The context and design of St. Paul in this place strongly incline one to take διὰ here to signify, as it does 2 Pet. i. 3, to, and not, by. St. Paul is here making out to the corinthian converts, that they have a power to judge. He tells them, that they shall judge the world, ver. 2, and that they shall judge angels, much more than things of this life, ver. 3. And for their not judging he blames them, and tells them, it is a lessening to them, not to exercise this power, ver. 7. And for it he gives a reason in this verse, viz. That Christ is raised up into the power of God, and so shall they be. Unless it be taken in this sense, this verse seems to stand alone here. For what connexion has the mention of the resurrection, in the ordinary sense of this verse, with what the apostle is saying here, but raising us up with bodies to be members of his glorious body, and to partake in his power, in judging the world? This adds a great honour and dignity to our bodies, and is a reason why we should not debase them into the members of an harlot. These words also give a reason of his saying, “He would not be brought under the power of any thing,” ver. 12. viz. “Shall I, whose body is a member of Christ, and shall be raised to the power he has now in heaven, suffer my body to be a member, and under the power of an harlot? That I will never do, let fornication in itself be ever so lawful.” If this be not the meaning of St. Paul here, I desire to know to what purpose it is, that he so expressly declares, that the belly and meat should be destroyed, and does so manifestlyput an opposition between the body and belly? ver. 13.

*

19 This question, “Know ye not?” is repeated six times in this one chapter, which may seem to carry with it a just reproach to the corinthians, who had got a new and better instructor than himself, in whom they so much gloried, and may not unfitly be thought to set on his irony, ch. iv. 10, where he tells them, they are wise.

*

3 Εὔνοια, “Benevolence,” signifies here that complaisance and compliance, which every married couple ought to have for each other, when either of them shows an inclination to conjugal enjoyments.

†

4 The woman (who in all other rights is inferiour) has here the same power given her over the man’s body, that the man has over her’s. The reason whereof is plain; because if she had not her man, when she had need of him, as well as the man his woman, when he had need of her, marriage would be no remedy against fornication.

*

12 and 13 Ἀφιέτω, the greek word in the original, signifying “putaway,” being directed here, in these two verses, both to the man and the woman, seems to intimate the same power, and the same act of dismissing in both; and, therefore, ought in both places to be translated alike.

*

14 Ἡγιαϛα, “sanctified, ἅγια, holy, and ἀϰάθαρgreektα, unclean,” are used here by the apostle, in the jewish sense. The jews called all that were jews holy, and all others they called unclean. Thus, “proles genita extra sanctitatem,” was a child begot by parents, whilst they were yet heathens; “genita intra sanctitatem,” was a child begot by parents, after they were proselytes. This way of speaking St. Paul transfers from the jewish into the christian church, calling all, that are of the christian church, saints, or holy; by which reason, all that were out of it, were unclean. See note, chap. i. 2.

*

14 Ἡγιαϛα, “sanctified, ἅγια, holy, and ἀϰάθαρgreektα, unclean,” are used here by the apostle, in the jewish sense. The jews called all that were jews holy, and all others they called unclean. Thus, “proles genita extra sanctitatem,” was a child begot by parents, whilst they were yet heathens; “genita intra sanctitatem,” was a child begot by parents, after they were proselytes. This way of speaking St. Paul transfers from the jewish into the christian church, calling all, that are of the christian church, saints, or holy; by which reason, all that were out of it, were unclean. See note, chap. i. 2.

*

14 Ἡγιαϛα, “sanctified, ἅγια, holy, and ἀϰάθαρgreektα, unclean,” are used here by the apostle, in the jewish sense. The jews called all that were jews holy, and all others they called unclean. Thus, “proles genita extra sanctitatem,” was a child begot by parents, whilst they were yet heathens; “genita intra sanctitatem,” was a child begot by parents, after they were proselytes. This way of speaking St. Paul transfers from the jewish into the christian church, calling all, that are of the christian church, saints, or holy; by which reason, all that were out of it, were unclean. See note, chap. i. 2.

*

17 Ὡς signifies here, not the manner of his calling, but of the state and condition of life he was in when called; and therefore ȣ́τως, must signify the same too, as the next verse shows.

†

20 Μενέτω, “Let him abide.” It is plain, from what immediately follows, that this is not an absolute command; but only signifies, that a man should not think himself discharged, by the privilege of his christian state, and the franchises of the kingdom of Christ, which he was entered into, from any ties or obligations he was in, as a member of the civil society. And, therefore, for the settling a true notion thereof, in the mind of the reader, it has been thought convenient to give that, which is the apostle’s sense, to ver. 17, 20, and 24, of this chapter, in words somewhat different from the apostle’s. The thinking themselves freed by christianity, from the ties of civil society and government, was a fault it seems, that those christians were very apt to run into. For St. Paul, for the preventing their thoughts of any change, of any thing, of their civil state, upon their embracing christianity, thinks it necessary to warn them against it three times, in the compass of seven verses; and that, in the form of a direct command, not to change their condition, or state of life. Whereby he intends, that they should not change upon a presumption that christianity gave them a new, or peculiar liberty so to do. For, notwithstanding the apostle’s positively bidding them remain in the same condition, in which they were at their conversion; yet it is certain, it was lawful for them, as well as others, to change, where it was lawful for them to change, without being christians.

*

22 Ἀπελεύθερος, in Latin, “libertus,” signifies not simply a freeman, but one who having been a slave, has had his freedom given him by his master.

†

23 Slaves were bought and sold in the market, as cattle are; and so, by the price paid, there was a property acquired in them. This, therefore, here is a reason for what he advised, ver. 21, that they should not be slaves to men, because Christ had paid a price for them, and they belonged to him. The slavery he speaks of is civil slavery, which he makes use of here, to convince the corinthians, that the civil ties of marriage were not dissolved by a man’s becoming a christian, since slavery itself was not; and, in general, in the next verse, he tells them, that nothing in any man’s civil estate, or rights, is altered by his becoming a christian.

‡

25 By virgins, it is plain St. Paul here means those of both sexes, who are in a celibate state. It is probable he had formerly dissuaded them from marriage, in the present state of the church. This, it seems, they were uneasy under, ver. 28 and 35, and therefore, sent some questions to St. Paul about it, and particularly, What, then, should men do with their daughters? Upon which occasion, ver. 25—37, he gives directions to the unmarried, about their marrying, or not marrying; and in the close, ver. 38, answers to the parents, about marrying their daughters: and then, ver. 39 and 40, he speaks of widows.

*

In this sense he uses ϖιϛὸς ἄνθρωπος, and ϖιϛὸς λόγος, 2 Tim. ii. 2.

†

29 Said, possibly, out of a prophetical foresight of the approaching persecution under Nero.

*

31 Καgreektαχρώμενοι does not here signify “abusing,” in our English sense of the word, but “intently using.”

†

All, from the beginning of ver. 28, to the end of this ver. 31, I think, may be looked on, as a parenthesis.

‡

35 Βρόχος, which we translate, a snare, signifies a cord, which possibly the apostle might, according to the language of the hebrew school, use here for binding; and then his discourse runs thus: Though I have declared it my opinion that it is best for a virgin to remain unmarried, yet I bind it not, i. e. I do not declare it to be unlawful to marry.

*

37 Παρθὲνον seems used here for the virgin state, and not the person of a virgin: whether there be examples of the like use of it, I know not; and therefore I propose it as my conjecture, upon these grounds: 1. Because the resolution of mind, here spoken of, must be in the person to be married, and not in the father, that has the power over the person concerned: for how will the firmness of mind, of the father, hinder fornication in the child, who has not that firmness? 2. The necessity of marriage can only be judged of by the persons themselves. A father cannot feel the child’s flames, which make the need of marriage. The persons themselves only know, whether they burn, or have the gift of continence. 3. Ἐξȣσίαν ἔχει ϖερὶ τȣ͂ ἰδίȣ ϑελήμαgreektος, “hath the power over his own will,” must either signify, “can govern his own desires, is master of his own will:” but this cannot be meant here, because it is sufficiently expressed before, by ἑδραῖος τῆ ϰαρδία, “stedfast in heart;” and afterwards too, by ϰέϰριϰεν ἐν τῆ ϰαρδία, “decreed in heart;” or must signify, “has the disposal of himself,” i. e. is free from the father’s power, of disposing their children in marriage. For, I think, the words should be translated, “hath a power concerning his own will,” i. e. concerning what he willeth. For if, by it, St. Paul meant a power over his own will, one might think he would have expressed that thought, as he does chap. ix. 12, and Rom. ix. 21, without περὶ, or by the preposition, ἐπὶ, as it is Luke ix. 1. 4. Because, if “keep his virgin” had here signified, keep his children from marrying, the expression had been more natural to have used the word τέϰνα, which signifies both sexes, than ϖαρθένος, which belongs only to the female. If therefore ϖαρθἕνος, be taken abstractly for virginity, the precedent verse must be understood thus: “But if any one think it a shame to pass the flower of his age unmarried, and he finds it necessary to marry, let him do as he pleases; he sins not: let such marry.” I confess it is hard to bring these two verses to the same sense, and both of them to the design of the apostle here, without taking the words in one, or both of them, very figuratively. St. Paul here seems to obviate an objection, that might be made against his dissuasion from marriage, viz. that it might be an indecency one should be guilty of, if one should live unmarried past one’s prime, and afterwards be forced to marry. To which he answers, That no body should abstain upon the account of being a christian, but those, who are of steady resolutions, are at their own disposal, and have fully determined it in their own minds.

*

37 Καλῶς, here, as in ver. 1, 8, and 26, signifies not simply good, but preferable.

†

38 Παρθένος being taken in the sense before-mentioned, it is necessary, in this verse, to follow the copies, which read γαμίζων, “marrying,” for ἐϰῖαμίζων, “giving in marriage.”

*

1 To continue the thread of the apostle’s discourse, the 7th verse must be read as joined to the 1st, and all between looked on as a parenthesis.

†

3 Ἔγνωϛαι, “is made to know,” or “is taught.” The apostle, though writing in greek, yet often uses the greek verbs according to the Hebrew conjugations. So chap. xiii. 12, ἐπιγνώσομαι, which, according to the greek propriety, signifies, “I shall be known,” is used for, “I shall be made to know;” and so, Gal. iv. 9, γνωσθέντες is put to signify, “being taught.”

‡

5 “In heaven and earth.” The heathens had supreme sovereign gods, whom they supposed eternal, remaining always in the heavens; those were called Θεοὶ, gods: they had besides another order of inferior gods, “gods upon earth,” who, by the will and direction of the heavenly gods, governed terrestrial things, and were the mediators between the supreme, heavenly gods, and men, without whom there could he no communication between them. These were called in scripture, Baalim, i. e. Lords: and by the Greeks, Δαίμονες. To this the apostle alludes here, saying, though there be, in the opinion of the heathens, “gods many,” i. e. many celestial, sovereign gods, in heaven: and “lords many, i. e. many Baalim,” or Lords agent, and presidents over earthly things; yet to us, christians, there is but one sovereign God, the Father, of whom are all things, and to whom, as supreme, we are to direct all our services: and but one Lord-agent, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, that come from the Father to us, and, through whom alone we find access unto him. Mede’s disc. on 2 Pet. ii. 1, or disc. 43, p. 242.

*

8 Οὔ ϖαρίϛησι, sets us not before God, i. e. to be taken notice of by him.

†

It cannot be supposed, that St. Paul, in answer to a letter of the corinthians, should tell them, that, if they eat things offered to idols, they were not the better; or, if they eat not, were not the worse, unless they had expressed some opinion of good in eating.

*

1 It was a law amongst the jews, not to receive alms from the gentiles.

*

5 There were not in those parts, as among us, ions, where travellers might have their conveniencies: and strangers could not be accommodated with necessaries, unless they had somebody with them to take that care, and provide for them. They, who would make it their business to preach, and neglect this must needs suffer great hardships.

*

12 For τῆς ἐξȣσίας, I should incline to read, τῆς ȣ̓σίας, if there be, as Vossius says, any mss. to authorise it: and then the words will run thus: “If any partake of your substance.” This better suits the foregoing words, and needs not the addition of the word, this, to be inserted in the translation, which with difficulty enough makes it refer to a power, which he was not here speaking of, but stands eight verses off: besides, in these words St. Paul seems to glance at what they suffered from the false apostle, who did not only pretend to power of maintenance, but did actually devour them: vid. 2. Cor. xi. 20.

*

16 Vid. Acts xxii. 15—21.

*

2 The apostle calls it baptism, which is the initiating ceremony into both the jewish and christian church: and the cloud and the sea, both being nothing but water, are well suited to that typical representation; and that the children of Israel were washed with rain from the cloud, may be collected from Psalm lxviii. 9.

*

5 It may be observed here, that St. Paul, speaking of the israelites, uses the word ϖάντες, all, five times in the four foregoing verses; besides that, he carefully says, τὸ αὐτὸ βρῶμα, the same meat, and τὸ αὐτὸ ϖόμα, the same drink, which we cannot suppose to be done by chance, but emphatically to signify to the corinthians, who, probably, presumed too much upon their baptism, and eating the Lord’s supper, as if that were enough to keep them right in the sight of God: that though the israelites, all to a man, eat the very same spiritual food, and, all to a man, drank the very same spiritual drink; yet they were not all to a man preserved; but many of them, for all that, sinned and fell under the avenging hand of God, in the wilderness.

†

6 Καϰῶν, “evil things:” the fault of the israelites, which this place refers to, seems to be their longing for flesh, Numb. xi. which cost many of them their lives: and that, which he warns the corinthians of, here, is their great propension to the pagan sacrifice feasts.

‡

7 Play, i. e. dance; feasting and dancing usually accompanied the heathen sacrifices.

*

10 Ὀλοθρευτὸς “Destroyer,” was an angel, that had the power to destroy, mentioned Exod. xii. 23, Heb. xi. 28.

†

11 It is to be observed, that all these instances, mentioned by the apostle, of destruction, which came upon the israelites, who were in covenant with God, and partakers in those typical sacraments abovementioned, were occasioned by their luxurious appetites, about meat and drink, by fornication, and by idolatry, sins, which the corinthians were inclined to; and which he here warns them against.

‡

So I think τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων should be rendered, and not, contrary to grammar, “the end of the world;” because it is certain, that τέλη and συνgreektέλεια τȣ͂ αἰώνος, or τῶν αἰώνων, cannot signify every-where, us we render it, “the end of the world;” which denotes but one certain period of time, for the world can have but one end; whereas those words signify, in different places, different periods of time; as will he manifest to any one, who will compare these texts, where they occur, viz. Matt. xiii. 39, 40, and xxiv. 3, and xxviii. 20, 1 Cor. x. 11; Heb. ix. 26. It may be worth while, therefore, to consider, whether αἰων hath not ordinarily a more natural signification in the New Testament, by standing for a considerable length of time, passing under some one remarkable dispensation.

*

15 Vid. chap. viii. 1.

†

16 “Cup of blessing” was the name given by the jews to a cup of wine, which they solemnly drank in the passover, with thanksgiving.

‡

This was also taken from the custom of the jews, in the passover, to break a cake of unleavened bread.

*

19 This is evident from what he says, ver. 25, 27, that things offered to idols may be eaten, as well as any other meat, so it be without partaking in the sacrifice, and without scandal.

†

21 It is plain by what the apostle says, that the thing, he speaks against here, is, their assisting at the heathen sacrifices, or at least at the feasts, in their temples, upon the sacrifice, which was a federal rite.

*

28 The repetition of these words, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” does so manifestly disturb the sense, that the Syriac, Arabic, Vulgar and French translations, have omitted them, and are justified in it by the Alexandrian, and some other Greek copies.

*

1 Rom. xv. 3. This verse seems to belong to the precedent, wherein he had proposed himself as an example, and therefore this verse should not be cut off from the former chapter. In what St. Paul says, in this and the preceding verse, taken together, we may suppose, he makes some reflection on the false apostle, whom many of the corinthians followed, as their leader. At least it is for St. Paul’s justification, that he proposes himself to be followed, no farther than as he sought the good of others, and not his own, and had Christ for his pattern. Vid. ch. iv. 16.

*

3 This, about women, seeming as difficult a passage, as most in St. Paul’s epistles, I crave leave to premise some few considerations, which I hope may conduce to the clearing of it.

(1.) It is to be observed, that it was the custom for women, who appeared in public, to be veiled, ver. 13—16. Therefore it could be no question at all, whether they ought to be veiled, when they assisted at the prayers and praises in the public assemblies; or, if that were the thing intended by the apostle, it had been much easier, shorter, and plainer, for him to have said, that “Women should be covered in the assemblies.”

(2.) It is plain, that this covering the head, in women, is restrained to some particular actions, which they performed in the assembly, expressed by the words, “praying and prophesying,” ver. 4 and 5, which, whatever they signify, must have the same meaning, when applied to the women, in the 5th verse, that they have, when applied to the men in the 4th verse.

It will possibly be objected, “If women were to be veiled in the assemblies, let those actions be what they will, the women, joining in them, were still to be veiled.”

Answ. This would be plainly so, if their interpretation were to be followed, who are of opinion, that by “praying and prophesying,” here, was meant to be present in the assembly, and joining with the congregation, in the prayers that were made, or bymns that were sung, or in hearing the reading and exposition of the holy scriptures there. But against this, that the hearing of preaching, or prophesying, was never called “preaching, or prophesying,” is so unanswerable an objection, that I think there can be no reply to it.

The case, in short, seems to be this: the men prayed and prophesied in the assemblies, and did it, with their heads uncovered: the women also, sometimes, prayed and prophesied too in the assemblies, which, when they did, they thought, during their performing that action, they were excused from being veiled, and might be bare headed, or at least open-faced, as well as the men. This was that which the apostle restrains in them, and directs, that though they prayed or prophesied, they were still to remain veiled.

(3.) The next thing to be considered, is, what is here to be understood by “praying and prophesying.” And that seems to me to be the performing of some particular, public action, in the assembly, by some one person, which was, for that time, peculiar to that person; and, whilst it lasted, the rest of the assembly silently assisted. For it cannot be supposed, that, when the apostle says, a man praying, or prophesying, he means an action, performed in common, by the whole congregation; or, if he did, what pretence could that give the woman to be unveiled, more, during the performance of such an action, than at any other time? A woman must be veiled in the assembly: what pretence then, or claim, could it give her to be unveiled, that she joined with the rest of the assembly, in the prayer, that some one person made? Such a praying as this, could give no more ground for her being unveiled, than her being in the assembly could be thought a reason for her being unveiled. The same may be said of prophesying, when understood to signify a woman’s joining with the congregation, in singing the praises of God. But, if the woman prayed, as the mouth of the assembly, &c. then it was like, she might think, she might have the privilege to be unveiled.

“Praying and prophesying,” as hath been shown, signifying here the doing some peculiar action in the assembly, whilst the rest of the congregation only assisted, let us, in the next place, examine what that action was. As to prophesying, the apostle in express words tells us, ch. xiv. 3, and 12, that it was speaking in the assembly. The same is evident as to praying, that the apostle means, by it, praying publicly, with an audible voice, in the congregation, vid. ch. xiv. 14—19.

(4.) It is to be observed, that, whether any one prayed, or prophesied, they did it alone, the rest remaining silent, chap. xiv. 27—33. So that, even in these extraordinary praises, which any one sung to God, by the immediate motion and impulse of the Holy Ghost, which was one of the actions called prophesying, they sung alone. And, indeed, how could it be otherwise? For who could join with the person so prophesying, in things dictated to him alone, by the Holy Ghost, which the others could not know, till the person prophesying uttered them?

(5.) Prophesying, as St. Paul tells us, chap. xiv. 3, was, “speaking unto others to edification, exhortation, and comfort:” but every speaking to others, to any of these ends, was not prophesying; but only then, when such speaking was a spiritual gift, performed by the immediate and extraordinary motion of the Holy Ghost, vid. chap. xiv. 1, 12, 24, 30. For example, singing praises to God was called prophesying; but we see, when Paul prophesied, the Spirit of God fell upon him, and he was turned into another man, 1 Sam. x. 6. Nor do I think any place, in the New Testament, can be produced, wherein prophesying signifies bare reading of the scripture, or any other action, performed without a supernatural impulse and assistance of the Spirit of God. This we are sure, that the prophesying, which St. Paul here speaks of, is one of the extraordinary gifts, given by the Spirit of God: vid. chap. xii. 10. Now, that the Spirit of God and the gift of prophecy should be poured out upon women, as well as men, in the time of the gospel, is plain from Acts ii. 17, and then, where could be a fitter place for them to utter their prophecies in, than the assemblies?

It is not unlikely, what one of the most learned and sagacious of our interpreters* of scripture suggests upon this place, viz. That Christian women might, out of a vanity incident to that sex, propose to themselves, and affect an imitation of the priests and prophetesses of the gentiles, who had their faces uncovered, when they uttered their oracles, or officiated in their sacrifices: but I cannot but wonder, that that very acute writer should not see, that the bare being in the assembly could not give a christian woman any pretence to that freedom. None of the Bacchæ, or Pythiæ, quitted their ordinary, modest guise, but when she was, as the poets express it, “Rapta,” or “Plena Deo,” possessed and hurried by the Spirit she served. And so, possibly, a christian woman, when she found the Spirit of God poured out upon her, as Joel expresses it, exciting her to pray, or sing praises to God, or discover any truth, immediately revealed to her, might think it convenient, for her better uttering of it, to be uncovered, or at least to be no more restrained in her liberty of showing herself, than the female priests of the heathens were, when they delivered their oracles: but yet, even in these actions, the apostle forbids the women to unveil themselves.

St. Paul’s forbidding women to speak in the assemblies, will probably seem a strong argument against this: but, when well considered, will perhaps prove none. There be two places wherein the apostle forbids women to speak in the church, 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35; and 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12. He that shall attentively read and compare these together, may observe that the silence, injoined the women, is for a mark of their subjection to the male sex: and, therefore, what, in the one, is expressed by “keeping silence, and not speaking, but being under obedience,” in the other, is called, “being in silence, with all subjection; not teaching, or usurping authority over the man.” The women, in the churches, were not to assume the personage of doctors, or speak there as teachers; this carried with it the appearance of superiority, and was forbidden. Nay, they were not so much as to ask questions there, or to enter into any sort of conference. This shows a kind of equality, and was also forbidden: but yet, though they were not to speak in the church, in their own names; or, as if they were raised by the franchises of Christianity, to such an equality with the men, that where knowledge, or presumption of their own abilities emboldened them to it, they might take upon them to be teachers and instructors of the congregation, or might, at least, enter into questionings and debates there; this would have had too great an air of standing upon even ground with the men, and would not have well comported with the subordination of the sex. But yet this subordination, which God, for order’s sake, had instituted in the world, hindered not, but that, by the supernatural gifts of the Spirit, he might make use of the weaker sex, to an extraordinary function, whenever he thought fit, as well as he did of men. But yet, when they thus either prayed or prophesied, by the motion and impulse of the Holy Ghost, care was taken, that, whilst they were obeying God, who was pleased, by his Spirit, to set them a speaking, the subjection of their sex should not be forgotten, but owned and preserved, by their being covered. The christian religion was not to give offence, by any appearance, or suspicion, that it took away the subordination of the sexes, and set the women at liberty from their natural subjection to the man. And, therefore, we see, that in both these cases, the aim was to maintain and secure the confessed superiority and dominion of the man, and not permit it to be invaded, so much as in appearance. Hence the arguments, in the one case, for covering, and in the other for silence, are all drawn from the natural superiority of the man, and the subjection of the woman. In the one, the woman, without an extraordinary call, was to keep silent, as a mark of her subjection: in the other, where she was to speak, by an extraordinary call and commission from God, she was yet to continue the profession of her subjection, in keeping herself covered. Here, by the way, it is to be observed, that there was an extraordinary praying to God, by the impulse of the Spirit, as well as speaking unto men, for their edification, exhortation, and comfort: vid. chap. xiv. 15; Rom. viii. 26; Jude, ver. 20. These things being premised, let us follow the thread of St. Paul’s discourse.

*

Mr. Mede, Disc. 6, p. 61.

*

10 What the meaning of these words is, I confess, I do not understand.

*

16 Why may not this, “any one,” be understood of the false apostles, here glanced at?

*

21 To understand this, we must observe,

(1.) That they had sometimes meetings, on purpose only for eating the Lord’s supper, ver. 33.

(2.) That to those meetings they brought their own supper, ver. 21.

(3.) That though every one’s supper were brought into the common assembly, yet it was not to eat in common, but every one fell to his own supper apart, as soon as he and his supper were there ready for one another, without staying for the rest of the company, or communicating with them in eating, ver. 21, 33.

In this St. Paul blames three things especially.

1st. That they eat their common food in the assembly, which was to be eates at home, in their houses, ver 22, 34.

2dly, That though they eat in the common meeting-place, yet they eat separately, every one his own supper apart. So that the plenty and excess of some shamed the want and penury of others, ver. 22. Hereby also the divisions amongst them were kept up, ver. 18, they being as so many separated and divided societies, not as one united body of christians, commemorating their common head, as they should have been in celebrating the Lord’s supper, chap. x. 16, 17.

3dly, That they mixed the Lord’s supper with their own, eating it as a part of their ordinary meal, where they made not that discrimination between it and their common food, as they should have done, ver. 29.

†

22 He here plainly refers to what he had said to them, ver. 2, where he praised them for remembering him in all things, and for retaining τὰς ϖαραδόσεις ϰαθὼς ϖαρἐδωϰα, what he had delivered to them. This commendation he here retracts; for, in the matter of eating the Lord’s supper, they did not retain [Editor: illegible character] παρέδωϰα, ver. 23, what he had delivered to them, which, therefore, in the immediately following words, he repeats to them again.

*

27 Ἀναξίως, “unworthily.” Our Saviour, in the institution of the Lord’s supper, tells the apostles, that the bread and the cup were sacramentally his body and blood, and that they were to be eaten and drank in remembrance of him; which, as St. Paul interprets it, ver. 26, was to show forth his death till he came. Whoever, therefore, eat and drank them, so as not solemnly to show forth his death, followed not Christ’s institution, but used them unworthily, i. e. not to the end to which they were instituted. This makes St. Paul tell them, ver. 20, that their coming together to eat it, as they did, viz. the sacramental bread and wine promiscuously with their other food, as a part of their meal, and that though in the same place, yet not all together, at one time, and in one company, was not eating of the Lord’s supper.

*

Ἔνοχος ἔϛαι, shall be liable to the punishment due to one, who makes a wrong use of the sacramental body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s supper. What that punishment was, vid. ver. 30.

†

28 St. Paul, as we have observed, tells the Corinthians, ver. 20, That to eat it after the manner they did was not to eat the Lord’s supper. He tells them also, ver. 29, That to eat it, without a due and direct imitating regard had to the Lord’s body, (for so he calls the sacramental bread and wine, as our Saviour did, in the institution) by separating the bread and wine from the common use of eating and drinking, for hunger and thirst, was to eat unworthily. To remedy their disorders herein, he sets before them Christ’s own institution of this sacrament; that in it they might see the manner and end of its institution; and, by that, every one might examine his own comportment herein, whether it were comformable to that institution, and suited to that end. In the account he gives, of Christ’s institution, we may observe, that he particularly remarks to them, that this eating and drinking was no part of common eating and drinking for hunger and thirst, but was instituted in a very solemn manner, after they had supped, and for another end, viz. to represent Christ’s body and blood, and to be eaten and drank in remembrance of him; or, as St. Paul expounds it, to show forth his death. Another thing, which they might observe in the institution, was, that this was done by all who were present, united together in one company, at the same time. All which put together, shows us what the examination here proposed is. For the design of the apostle here, being to reform what he found fault with, in their celebrating the Lord’s supper, it is, by that alone, we must understand the directions he gives them about it, if we will suppose he talked pertinently to this captious and touchy people, whom he was very desirous to reduce from the irregularities they were run into, in this matter, as well as several others. And if the account of Christ’s institution be not for their examining their carriage by it, and adjusting it to it, to what purpose is it, here? The examination, therefore, proposed, was no other but an examination of their manner of eating the Lord’s supper, by Christ’s institution, to see how their behaviour herein comported with the institution, and the end, for which it was instituted. Which farther appears to be so, by the punishment annexed to their miscarriages herein, which was infirmities, sickness, and temporal death, with which God chastened them, that they might not be condemned with the unbelieving world, ver. 30, 31. For if the unworthiness, here spoken of, were either unbelief, or any of those sins, which are usually made the matter of examination, it is to be presumed the apostle would not wholly have passed them over in silence: this, at least, is certain, that the punishment of these sins is infinitely greater than that, which God here inflicts on unworthy receivers, whether they, who are guilty of them, received the sacrament, or no.

*

Καὶ ȣ͂̓τως. These words, as to the letter, are rightly translated, “and so.” But that translation, I imagine, leaves generally a wrong sense of the place, in the mind of an English reader. For in ordinary speaking, these words, “Let a man examine, and so let him eat,” are understood to import the same with these, “Let a man examine, and then let him eat;” as if they signified no more, but that examination should precede, and eating follow; which I take to be quite different from the meaning of the apostle here, whose sense the whole design of the context shows to be this: “I here set before you the institution of Christ: by that, let a man examine his carriage, ϰαὶ ȣ̓́τως, and according to that, let him eat; let him conform the manner of his eating to that.”

†

29 Μὴ διαϰρίνων, “not discriminating,” not, putting a difference between the sacramental bread and wine (which St. Paul, with our Saviour, calls Christ’s body) and other bread and wine, in the solemn and separate use of them. The corinthians, as has been remarked, eat the Lord’s supper in and with their own ordinary supper; whereby it came not to be sufficiently distinguished (as became a religious and christian observance, so solemnly instituted) from common eating for bodily refreshment, nor from the jewish paschal supper, and the bread broken, and the cup of blessing used in that: nor did it, in this way of eating it in separate companies, as it were in private families, show forth the Lord’s death, as it was designed to do, by the concurrence and communion of the whole assembly of christians, jointly united in the partaking of bread and wine, in a way peculiar to them, with reference solely to Jesus Christ. This was that, as appears by this place, which St. Paul, as we have already explained, calls eating unworthily,

‡

29 “Damnation,” by which our translation renders ϰρῖμα, is vulgarly taken for eternal damnation, in the other world; whereas ϰρῖμα here signifies punishment of another nature, as appears by ver. 30, 32.

*

31 Διαϰρίνειν does no where, that I know, signify to judge, as it is here translated, but always signifies “to distinguish,” or “discriminate,” and in this place has the same signification, and means the same thing, that it does, ver. 29. He is little versed in St. Paul’s writings, who has not observed how apt he is to repeat the same word, he had used before, to the same purpose, though in a different, and sometimes a pretty hard construction; as here he applies διαϰρίνειν to the persons discriminating, as in the 29th verse to the thing to be discriminated, though in both places it be but to denote the same action.

†

32 Παιδευόμεθα properly signifies to be corrected, as scholars are by their master, for their good.

‡

Ἐϰρινόμεθα here signifies the same that ϰρῖμα does, ver. 29.

*

1 Πνευματιϰῶν, “spiritual.” We are warranted, by a like use of the word, in several places of St. Paul’s epistles, as chap. ii. 15, and xiv. 37, of this epistle; and Gal. vi. 1, to take it here in the masculine gender, standing for persons, and not gifts. And the context obliges us to understand it so. For if we will have it stand for gifts, and not persons, the sense and coherence of these three first verses will be very hard to be made out. Besides, there is evidence enough, in several parts of it, that the subject of St. Paul’s discourse here, is ϖνευματιϰοὶ, persons endowed with spiritual gifts, contending for precedency, in consideration of their gifts. See ver. 13, &c. of this chapter; and to what purpose, else, says he, chap. xiv. 5, greater is he that prophesieth, than he that speaketh with tongues?

*

3 This is spoken against the jews, who pretended to the Holy Ghost, and yet spoke against Jesus Christ, and denied that the Holy Ghost was ever given to the gentiles: vid. Acts x. 45. Whether their judaizing false apostle were at all glanced at in this, may be considered.

†

Lord. What is meant by Lord, see note, chap. viii. 5.

*

5 These different offices are reckoned up, ver. 28, &c.

†

6 What these ἐνεργήματα were, see ver. 8—11.

‡

They were very properly called ἐνεργήματα—“in workings;” because they were above all human power: men, of themselves, could do nothing of them at all; but it was God, as the apostle tells us here, who, in these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, did all that was done; it was the effect of his immediate operation, as St. Paul assures us, in that parallel place, Phil. ii. 13. In which chapter, ver. 3 and 14, we find that the philippians stood a little in need of the same advice, which St. Paul so at large presses here upon the corinthians.

§

7 Vid. Rom. xii. 3—8.

∥

8 Σοφία. The doctrine of the gospel is, more than once, in the beginning of this epistle, called “the wisdom of God.”

¶

Γνῶσις is used, by St. Paul, for such a knowledge of the law and the prophets.

*

9 In this sense πίϛις, “faith,” is sometimes taken in the New Testament, particularly chap. xiii. 2. It is difficult, I confess, to define the precise meaning of each word, which the apostle uses in the 8th, 9th, and 10th verses here. But if the order, which St. Paul observes, in enumerating by 1st, 2d, 3d, the three first officers set down, ver. 28, viz. “first apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers,” have any relation, or may give any light to these three gifts, which are set down in the first place here, viz. “Wisdom, Knowledge, and Faith,” we may then properly understand, by σοφία, “wisdom,” the whole doctrine of the gospel, as communicated to the apostles: by γνῶσις, “knowledge,” the gift of understanding the mystical sense of the law and the prophets; and by ϖίϛις, “faith,” the assurance and confidence, in delivering, and confirming, the doctrine of the gospel, which became διδασϰάλȣς, “doctors, or teachers.” This, at least, I think, may be presumed, that since σοϕία and γνῶσις have λόγος joined to them, and it is said, “the word of wisdom, and the word of knowledge;” wisdom and knowledge here signify such gifts of the mind as are to be employed in preaching.

†

10 “Prophecy” comprehends these three things, prediction, singing by the dictate of the Spirit, and understanding and explaining the mysterious, hidden sense of scripture, by an immediate illumination and motion of the Spirit, as we have already shown. And that the prophesying, here spoken of, was by immediate revelation, vid. chap. xiv. 29—31.

*

13 The naming of the jews here, with gentiles, and setting both on the same level, when converted to christianity, may probably be done here, by St. Paul, with reference to the false apostle, who was a jew, and seems to have claimed some pre-eminence, as due to him upon that account: whereas, among the members of Christ, which all make but one body, there is no superiority, or other distinction, but, as by the several gifts, bestowed on them by God, they contribute more, or less, to the edification of the church.

*

28 Ἀντιλήψεις, “Helps,” Dr. Lightfoot takes to be those, who accompanied the apostles, were sent up and down by them, in the service of the gospel, and baptized those, that were converted by them.

†

Κυϐερνήσεις, to be the same with discerning of spirits, ver. 10.

*

That this is the apostle’s meaning here, is plain, in that there was an emulation amongst them, and a strife for precedency, on account of the several gifts they had, (as we have already observed, from several passages in this section) which made them, in their assemblies, desire to be heard first. This was the fault the apostle was here correcting; and it is not likely he should exhort them all, promiscuously, to seek the principal and most eminent gifts, at the end of a discourse wherein he had been demonstrating to them, by the example of the human body, that there ought to be diversity of gifts and functions of the church; but that there ought to be no schism, emulation, or contest among them, upon the account of the exercise of those gifts: that they were all useful in their places, and no member was at all to be the less honoured, or valued, for the gift he had, though it were not one of the first rank. And in this sense the word ζηλȣ͂ν is taken, in the next chapter, ver. 4, where St. Paul, pursuing the same argument, exhorts them to mutual charity, good-will and affection, which, he assures them, is preferable to any gifts whatsoever. Besides; to what purpose should he exhort them “to covet earnestly the best gifts,” when the obtaining of this or that gift did not at all lie in their desires or endeavours, the apostle having just before told them, ver. 11, that “the Spirit divides those gifts, to every man, severally, as he will,” and, those, he writ to, had their allotment already? He might as reasonably, according to his own doctrine, in this very chapter, bid the foot covet to be the hand, or the ear to be the eye. Let it be remembered, therefore, to rectify this, that St. Paul says, ver. 17, of this chapter: “If the whole body were the eye, where were the hearing,” &c. St. Paul does not use to cross his own design, nor contradict his own reasoning.

*

1 “Tongues of angels” are mentioned here, according to the conception of the jews.

†

A cymbal consisted of two large, hollowed plates of brass, with broad brims, which were struck one against another, to fill up the symphony, in great concerts of music; they made a great deep sound, but had scarce any variety of musical notes.

‡

2 Any predictions, relating to our Saviour, or his doctrine, or the times of the gospel, contained in the Old Testament, in types, or figurative and obscure expressions, not understood before his coming, and being revealed to the world, St. Paul calls “mystery,” as may be seen all through his writings. So that “mystery and knowledge,” are terms here used by St. Paul, to signify truths concerning Christ to come, contained in the Old Testament; and “prophecy,” the understanding of the types and prophecies containing those truths, so as to be able to explain them to others.

*

“To remove mountains,” is to do what is next to impossible.

†

May we not suppose, that, in this description of charity, St. Paul intimates, and tacitly reproves, their contrary carriage, in their emulation and contests about the dignity and preference of their spiritual gifts?

*

1 Ζηλȣ͂τε τὰ ϖνευματιϰὰ. That ζηλȣ͂ν does not signify to covet or desire, nor can be understood to be so used by St. Paul, in this section; I have already shown, ch. xii. 31. That it has, here, the sense, that I have given it, is plain from the same direction concerning spiritual gifs, repeated ver. 39, in these words, ζηλȣ͂τε τὸ προϕητεύειν ϰαὶ τὸ λαλεῖν γλώσσαις μὴ ϰωλύετι, the meaning, in both places, being evidently this; that they should not neglect the use of their spiritual gifts, especially they should, in the first place, cultivate and exercise the gift of prophesying; but yet should not wholly lay aside the speaking with variety of tongues in their assemblies. It will, perhaps, be wondered, why St. Paul should employ the word ζηλȣ͂ν, in so unusual a sense; but that will easily be accounted for, if what I have remarked, chap. xiv. 15, concerning St. Paul’s custom of repeating words, be remembered. But, besides what is familiar in St. Paul’s way of writing, we may find a particular reason for his repeating the word ζηλȣ͂ν here, though in a somewhat unusual signification. He having, by way of reproof, told them, that they did ζηλȣ͂ν τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ ϰρείττονα, had an emulation, or made a stir about whose gifts were best, and were, therefore, to take place in their assemblies: to prevent their thinking, that ζηλȣ͂ν might have too harsh a meaning, (for he is, in all this epistle, very tender of offending them, and therefore sweetens all his reproofs, as much as possible) he here takes it up again, and uses it, more than once, in a way that approves and advises that they should ζηλȣ͂ν ϖνευματιϰὰ whereby yet he means no more, but that they should not neglect their spiritual gifts: he would have them use them in their assemblies, but yet in such method and order, as he directs.

*

2 He, who attentively reads this section, about spiritual men, and their gifts, may find reason to imagine, that it was those, who had the gift of tongues, who caused the disorder in the church at Corinth, by their forwardness to speak, and striving to be heard first, and so taking up too much of the time in their assemblies, in speaking in unknown tongues. For the remedying this disorder, and better regulating of this matter amongst other things, they had recourse to St. Paul. He will not easily avoid thinking so, who considers,

1st, That the first gift, which St. Paul compares with charity, chap. xiii. and extremely undervalues, in comparison of that divine virtue, is the gift of tongues. As if that were the gift they most affected to show, and most valued themselves upon; as indeed it was, in itself, not fitted for ostentation in their assemblies, of any other, if any one were inclined that way: and that the corinthians, in their present state, were not exempt from emulation, vanity, and ostentation is very evident.

2dly, That chap. xiv. when St. Paul compares their spiritual gifts one with another, the first, nay, and only one, that he debases and depreciates, in comparison of others, is the gift of tongues, which he discourses of, for above 20 verses together, in a way fit to abate a too high esteem, and a too excessive use of it, in their assemblies; which we cannot suppose he would have done, had they not been guilty of some such miscarriages in the case, whereof the 24th verse is not without an intimation.

3dly, When he comes to give direction about the exercise of their gifts in their meetings, this of tongues is the only one that he restrains and limits, ver. 27, 28.

†

3 What is meant by prophesying, see note, chap. xii. 10.

‡

4 By γλώσση, “unknown tongue,” Dr. Lightfoot, in this chapter, understands the Hebrew tongue, which, as he observes, was used in the synagogue, in reading the sacred scripture, in praying and in preaching. If that be the meaning of tongue, here, it suits well the apostle’s design, which was to take them off from their jewish, false apostle, who probably might have encouraged and promoted this speaking of Hebrew, in their assemblies.

*

6 It is not to be doubted but these four distinct terms, used here by the apostle, had each its distinct signification, in his mind and intention: whether what may be collected from these epistles, may sufficiently warrant us to understand them, in the following significations, I leave to the judgment of others: 1st, Ἀποϰάλυψις, “revelation,” something revealed by God, immediately to the person; vid. ver. 30. 2dly, Γνῶσις, “knowledge,” the understanding the mystical and evangelical sense of passages in the Old Testement, relating to our Saviour and the gospel. 3dly, Προφητεία, “prophesy,” an inspired hymn; vid. ver. 26. 4thly, Διδαχὴ, “doctrine,” any truth of the gospel concerning faith, or manners. But whether this or any other, precise meaning of these words can be certainly made out now, it is perhaps of no great necessity to be over curious; it being enough, for the understanding the sense and argument of the apostle here, to know that these terms stand for some intelligible discourse, tending to the edification of the church, though of what kind each of them was, in particular, we certainly know not.

*

14 This is evident from ver. 4, where it is said, “He that speaketh with a tongue, edifies himself.”

*

15 I will not pretend to justify this interpretation of τῷ νοΐ by the exact rules of the Greek idiom; but the sense of the place will, I think, bear me out in it. And, as there is occasion often to remark, he must be little versed in the writings of St. Paul, who does not observe, that when he has used a term, he is apt to repeat it again in the same discourse, in a way peculiar to himself, and somewhat varied from its ordinary signification. So, having here, in the foregoing verse, used νȣ͂ς, for the sentiment of his own mind, which was unprofitable to others, when he prayed in a tongue unknown to them, and opposed it to ϖνιῦμα, which he used there, for his own sense accompanying his own words, intelligible to himself, when, by the impulse of the Spirit, he prayed in a foreign tongue; he here, in this verse, continues to use praying, τῷ ϖνεῦματι, and τῷ νοΐ in the same opposition; the one for praying in a strange tongue, which alone his own mind understood and accompanied; the other, for praying so, as that the meaning of his mind, in those words he uttered, was made known to others, so that they were also benefited. This use of πιεύματι, is farther confirmed, in the next verse: and what he means by νοΐ, here he expresses by διὰ νοός, ver. 19, and there explains the meaning of it.

†

For so he orders, in the use of an unknown tongue, ver. 27.

‡

Here it may be observed, that as, in their public prayer, one prayed, and the others held their peace; so it was in their singing, at least in that singing, which was of extempore hymns, by the impulse of the Spirit.

*

20 By ϰαϰία, “malice,” I think here is to be understood all sorts of ill temper of mind, contrary to the gentleness and innocence of childhood; and, in particular, their emulation and strife about the exercise of their gifts in their assemblies.

†

Vid. Rom. xvi. 19. Eph. iv. 13—15.

‡

21 The books of sacred scripture, delivered to the jews by divine revelation, under the law, before the time of the gospel, which we now call the Old Testament, are, in the writings of the New Testament, called sometimes, “the law, the prophets, and the psalms,” as Luke xxiv. 44; sometimes “the law and the prophets,” as Acts xxiv. 14. And sometimes they are all comprehended under this one name, “the law,” as here; for the passage cited, is in Isaiah, chap. xxviii. 1.

*

26 It is plain, by this whole discourse of the apostle’s, that there were contentions and emulations amongst them for precedency of their gifts; and therefore I think ἕϰαϛος ἕχει may be rendered “every one is ready,” as impatient to be first heard. If there were no such disorder amongst them, there would have been no need for the regulations given, in the end of this verse, and the seven verses following, especially ver. 31, 32, where he tells them, they all may prophesy, one by one, and that the motions of the Spirit were not so ungovernable as not to leave a man master of himself. He must not think himself under a necessity of speaking, as soon as he found any impulse of the Spirit upon his mind.

*

27 St. Paul has said, in this chapter, as much as conveniently could be said, to restrain their speaking in unknown tongues, in their assemblies, which seems to be that, wherein the vanity and ostentation of the corinthians was most forward to show itself. “It is not,” says he, “a gift intended for the edification of believers; however, since you will be exercising it in your meetings, let it always be so ordered, that it may be for edification:” εἴτε, I have rendered “although.” So I think it is sometimes used; but no where, as I remember, simply for “if,” as in our translation; nor will the sense here bear “whether;” which is the common signification of εἴτε. And, therefore, I take the apostle’s sense to be this: “You must do nothing but to edification;” though you speak in an unknown tongue, “even an unknown tongue must be made use of, in your assemblies, only to edification.”

†

Vid. ver. 2 and 4.

‡

The rule of the synagogue was: “in the law, let one read, and one interpret: in the prophets, let one read, and two interpret: in Esther, ten may read, and ten interpret.” It is not improbable, that some such disorder had been introduced into the church of Corinth, by the judaizing, false apostle, which St. Paul would here put an end to.

*

34, 35 Why I apply this prohibition, of speaking, only to reasoning and purely voluntary discourse, but suppose a liberty left women to speak, where they had an immediate impulse and revelation from the spirit of God, vid. note on chap. xi. 3. In the synagogue, it was usual for any man, that had a mind, to demand, of the teacher, a farther explication of what he had said: but this was not permitted to the women.

*

37 Πνευματιϰς, “a spiritual man,” in the sense of St. Paul, is one, who founds his knowledge in what is revealed by the Spirit of God, and not in the bare discoveries of his natural reason and parts: vid. chap. ii. 15.

†

38 By the [any man] mentioned in this, and the foregoing verse, St. Paul seems to intimate the false apostle, who pretended to give laws amongst them, and, as we have observed, may well be supposed to be the author of these disorders; whom, therefore, St. Paul reflects on, and presses in these three verses.

‡

39 Ζηλȣ͂ν, in this whole discourse of St. Paul, taken to refer to the exercise, and not to the obtaining the gifts, to which it is joined, will direct us right, in understanding St. Paul, and make his meaning very easy and intelligible.

*

8 An abortive birth, that comes before its time, which is the name St. Paul gives himself here, is usually sudden and at unawares, and is also weak and feeble, scarce deserving to be called, or counted a man. The former part agrees to St. Paul’s being made a christian and an apostle; though it be in regard of the latter, that, in the following verse, St. Paul calls himself abortive.

†

10 St. Paul drops in this commendation of himself, to keep up his credit in the church of Corinth, where there was a faction labouring to discredit him.

*

12 This may well be understood of the head of the contrary faction, and some of his scholars: 1st, Because St. Paul introduces this confutation, by asserting his mission, which these his opposers would bring in question. 2dly, Because he is so careful to let the corinthians see, he maintains not the doctrine of the resurrection, in opposition to these their new leaders, it being the doctrine he had preached to them, at their first conversion, before any such false apostle appeared among them, and misled them about the resurrection. Their false apostle was a jew, and in all appearance judaized: may he not also be suspected of sadducism? For it is plain, he, with all his might, opposed St. Paul, which must be from some main difference in opinion at the bottom. For there are no footsteps of any personal provocation.

*

20 The first-fruits were a small part, which was first taken and offered to God, and sanctified the whole mass, which was to follow.

*

29 “Else,” here relates to ver. 20, where it is said, “Christ is risen:” St. Paul, having, in that verse, mentioned Christ being the first-fruits from the dead, takes occasion from thence, now that he is upon the resurrection, to inform the corinthians of several particularities, relating to the resurrection, which might enlighten them about it, and could not be known, but by revelation. Having made this excursion, in the eight preceding verses, he here, in the 29th, re-assumes the thread of his discourse, and goes on with his arguments, for believing the resurrection.

†

What this baptizing for the dead was, I confess I know not: but it seems, by the following verses, to be something, wherein they exposed themselves to the danger of death.

*

34 May not this, probably, be said, to make them ashamed of their leader, whom they were so forward to glory in? For it is not unlikely, that their questioning, and denying the resurrection, came from their new apostle, who raised such opposition against St. Paul.

†

35 If we will allow St. Paul to know what he says, it is plain, from what he answers, that he understands these words to contain two questions: First, How it comes to pass, that dead men are raised to life again? Would it not be better they should live on? Why do they die to live again? Secondly, With what bodies shall they return to life? To both these he distinctly answers, viz. That those, who are raised to an heavenly state, shall have other bodies: and next, that it is fit that men should die, death being no improper way to the attaining other bodies. This, he shows there is so plain and common an instance of, in the sowing of all seeds, that he thinks it a foolish thing to make a difficulty of it; and then proceeds to delare, that, as they shall have other, so they shall have better bodies, than they had before, viz. spiritual and incorruptible.

*

39 The scope of the place makes it evident, that by “flesh,” St. Paul here means bodies, viz. that God has given to the several sorts of animals, bodies, in shape, texture, and organization, very different one from another, as he hath thought good; and so he can give to men, at the resurrection, bodies of very different constitutions and qualities from those they had before.

*

42 “The resurrection of the dead,” here spoken of, is not the resurrection of all mankind, in common: but only the resurrection of the just. This will be evident to any one, who observes, that St. Paul, having, ver. 22, declared that all men shall be made alive again, tells the corinthians, ver. 23, That it shall not be all at once, but at several distances of time. First of all, Christ rose; afterwards, next in order to him, the saints should all be raised, which resurrection of the just is that which he treats, and gives an account of, to the end of this discourse and chapter; and so never comes to the resurrection of the wicked, which was to be the third and last in order: so that from the 23d verse, to the end of the chapter, all that he says of the resurrection, is a description only of the resurrection of the just, though he calls it here, by the general name of the resurrection of the dead. That this is so, there is so much evidence, that there is scarce a verse, from the 41st to the end, that does not evince it.

First, What in this resurrection is raised, St. Paul assures us, ver. 43, is raised in glory; but the wicked are not raised in glory.

Secondly, He says, “we,” speaking in the name of all, that shall be then raised, shall bear the image of the heavenly Adam, ver. 49, which cannot belong to the wicked. “We,” shall all be changed, that, by putting on incorruptibility and immortality, death may be swallowed up of victory, which God giveth us, through our Lord Jesus Christ, ver. 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, which cannot likewise belong to the damned. And therefore “we,” and “us,” must be understood to be spoken, in the name of the dead, that are Christ’s, who are to be raised by themselves, before the rest of mankind.

Thirdly, He says, ver. 52, that when the dead are raised, they, who are alive, shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Now, that these dead, are only the dead in Christ, which shall rise first, and shall be caught in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, is plain from 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.

Fourthly, He teaches, ver. 54, that, by this corruptible’s putting on incorruption, is brought to pass the saying, that, “Death is swallowed up of victory.” But I think, nobody will say, that the wicked have victory over death: yet that, according to the apostle, here belongs to all those, whose corruptible bodies have put on incorruption; which, therefore, must be only those, that rise the second in order. From whence it is clear, that their resurrection alone, is that which is here mentioned and described.

Fifthly, A farther proof whereof is, ver. 56, 57, in that their sins being taken away, the sting, whereby death kills, is taken away. And hence St. Paul says, God has given “us” the victory, which is the same “us,” or “we,” who should bear the image of the heavenly Adam, ver. 49. And the same “we,” who should “all” be changed, ver. 51, 52. All which places can, therefore, belong to none, but those, who are Christ’s, who shall be raised by themselves, the second in order, before the rest of the dead.

It is very remarkable what St. Paul says, in the 51st verse, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye.” The reason he gives for it, verse 53, is, because this corruptible thing must put on incorruption, and this mortal thing must put on immortality. How? Why, by putting off flesh and blood, by an instantaneous change, because, as he tells us, ver. 50, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; and therefore, to fit believers for that kingdom, those who are alive at Christ’s coming, shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye; and those, that are in their graves, shall be changed likewise, at the instant of their being raised; and so all the whole collection of saints, all the members of Christ’s body, shall be put into a state of incorruptibility, ver. 52, in a new sort of bodies. Taking the resurrection, here spoken of, to be the resurrection of all the dead, promiscuously, St. Paul’s reasoning in this place can hardly be understood. But, upon a supposition, that he here describes the resurrection of the just only, that resurrection, which, as he says, ver. 23, is to be the next after Christ’s, and separate from the rest, there is nothing can be more plain, natural, and easy, than St. Paul’s reasoning; and it stands thus: “Men alive are flesh and blood; the dead in the graves are but the remains of corrupted flesh and blood; but flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither corruption inherit incorruption, i. e. immortality: therefore, to make all those who are Christ’s, capable to enter into his eternal kingdom of life, as well those of them, who are alive, as those of them, who are raised from the dead, shall, in the twinkling of an eye, be all changed, and their corruptible shall put on incorruption, and their mortal shall put on immortality: and thus God gives them the victory over death, through their Lord Jesus Christ.” This is, in short, St. Paul’s arguing here, and the account he gives of the resurrection of the blessed. But how the wicked, who are afterwards to be restored to life, were to be raised, and what was to become of them, he here says nothing, as not being to his present purpose, which was to assure the corinthians, by the resurrection of Christ, of a happy resurrection to believers, and thereby to encourage them to continue stedfast in the faith, which had such a reward. That this was his design, may be seen by the beginning of his discourse, ver. 12—21, and by the conclusion, ver. 58, in these words: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord: forasmuch as ye know, that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Which words show, that what he had been speaking of, in the immediately preceding verses, viz. their being changed, and their putting on incorruption and immortality, and their having thereby the victory, through Jesus Christ, was what belonged solely to the saints, as a reward to those who remained stedfast, and abounded in the work of the Lord.

The like use, of the like, though shorter discourse of the resurrection, wherein he describes only that of the blessed, he makes to the thessalonians, 1 Thess. iv. 13—18, which he concludes thus: “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Nor is it, in this place alone, that St. Paul calls the resurrection of the just, by the general name, of the resurrection of the dead. He does the same, Phil. iii. 11, where he speaks of his sufferings, and of his endeavours, “if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead:” whereby, he cannot mean the resurrection of the dead in general; which, since he has declared in this very chapter, ver. 22, all men, both good and bad, shall as certainly partake of, as that they shall die, there need no endeavours to attain to it. Our Saviour, likewise, speaks of the resurrection of the just, in the same general terms of the resurrection, Matt. xxii. 30. “And the resurrection from the dead,” Luke xx. 35, by which is meant only the resurrection of the just, as is plain from the context.

*

43 The time that man is in this world, affixed to this earth, is, his being sown; and not when being dead, he is put in the grave, as is evident from St. Paul’s own words. For dead things are not sown; seeds are sown, being alive, and die not, until after they are sown. Besides, he that will attentively consider what follows, will find reason, from St. Paul’s arguing, to understand him so.

†

44 Σῶμα ψυχιϰὸν, which in our Bibles is translated, “a natural body,” should, I think, more suitably to the propriety of the Greek, and more conformably to the apostle’s meaning, be translated “an animal body:” for that, which St. Paul is doing here, is to show, that as we have animal bodies now, (which we derived from Adam) endowed with an animal life, which, unless supported with a constant supply of food and air, will fail and perish, and at last, do what we can, will dissolve and come to an end; so, at the resurrection, we shall have from Christ, the second Adam, “spiritual bodies,” which shall have an essential and natural, inseparable life in them, which shall continue and subsist perpetually of itself, without the help of meat and drink, or air, or any such foreign support; without decay, or any tendency to a dissolution: of which our Saviour speaking, Luke xx. 35, says, “They who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead,” cannot die any more; for they are equal to the angels, i. e. of an angelical nature and constitution.

‡

Vid. Pail. iii. 21.

*

53 Τὸ φθαρτὸν, “corruptible,” and τὲ ϑνητὸν, “mortal,” have not here σῶμα, “body,” for their substantive, as some imagine; but are put in the neuter gender absolute, and stand to represent νεϰροὶ, “dead;” as appears by the immediately preceding verse, and also ver. 42, ȣ̔́τω ϰαὶ ἡ ἀνάϛασις τῶν νεϰρῶν, σπείρεται ἐν φθορᾶ. “So is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption;” i. e. mortal, corruptible men are sown, being corruptible and weak. Nor can it be thought strange, or strained, that I interpret ϕθαρgreektὸν and ϑνητὸν, as adjectives of the neuter gender, to signify persons, when in this very discourse, the apostle uses two adjectives, in the neuter gender, to signify the persons of Adam and Christ, in such a way, as it is impossible to understand them otherwise. The words, no farther off than ver. 46, are these: Ἀλλ’ ȣ́ ϖρῶτον τὸ ϖνευμαgreektιϰὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ψηχιϰὸν, ἔπειgreektα τὸ ϖνευμαgreektιϰὸν. The like way of speaking we have, Matt. i. 20, and Luke i. 35, in both which, the person of our Saviour is expressed by adjectives of the neuter gender. To any, of all which places, I do not think any one will add the substantive σῶμα, “body,” to make out the sense. That, then, which is meant here, being this, that this mortal man should put on immortality, and this corruptible man, incorruptibility; any one will easily find another nominative case to σπείρεgreektαι, “is sown,” and not σῶμα, “body,” when he considers the sense of the place, wherein the apostle’s purpose is to speak of νεϰροὶ, “mortal men,” being dead, and raised again to life, and made immortal. Those, with whom grammatical construction, and the nominative case, weigh so much, may be pleased to read this passage in Virgil:

“— Linquebant dulces animas, aut ægra trahebant

Corpora.” Æneid. l. 3, ver. 140.

where, by finding the nominative case to the two verbs, in it, he may come to discover that personality, as contra-distinguished to both body and soul, may be the nominative case to verbs.

†

54 Νῖϰος, “victory,” often signifies end and destruction. See Vossius “de lxx interpret.” cap. 24.

*

55 This has something of the air of a song of triumph, which St. Paul breaks out into, upon a view of the saints victory over death, in a state, wherein death is never to have place any more.

*

2 Θησαυρίζων seems used here in the sense I have given it. For it is certain that the apostle directs, that they should, every Lord’s day, bring to the congregation what their charity had laid aside, the foregoing week, as their gain came in, that there it might be put into some public box, appointed for that purpose, or officers’ hands. For, if they only laid it aside at home, there would nevertheless be need of a collection, when he came.

†

3 Δοϰιμάσηgreektε, δἰ ἐπιϛολῶν τȣ́τȣς ϖέμψω. This pointing, that makes δἰ ἐπιϛολῶν, belong to ϖέμψω, and not δοϰιμάσηgreektε, the apostle’s sense justifies; he telling them here, that finding their collection ready, when he came, he would write by those, they should think fit to send it by, or go himself with them, if their present were worthy of it. There needed no approbation of their messengers to him, by their letters, when he was present. And if the corinthians, by their letters, approved of them to the saints at Jerusalem, how could St. Paul say, he would send them?

*

12 There be few, perhaps, who need to be told it; yet it may be convenient here, once for all, to remark, that, in the apostle’s time, “brother” was the ordinary compellation that christians used to one another.

†

“The brethren,” here mentioned, seem to be Stephanas, and those others, who, with him, came with a message, or letter, to St. Paul, from the church of Corinth, by whom he returned this epistle in answer.

*

14 His main design being to put an end to the faction and division which the false apostle had made amongst them, it is no wonder that we find unity and charity so much, and so often pressed, in this and the second epistle.

†

18 Viz. by removing those suspicions and fears, that were on both sides.

*

22 This being so different a sentence from any of those, writ with St. Paul’s own hand, in any of his other epistles, may it not with probability be understood to mean the false apostle, to whom St. Paul imputes all the disorders in this church, and of whom he speaks, not much less severely? 2 Cor. xi. 13—15.

*

1 “Brother,” i. e. either in the common faith; and so, as we have already remarked, he frequently calls all the converted, as Rom. i. 13, and in other places; or “brother” in the work of the ministry, vid. Rom. xvi. 21, 1 Cor. xvi. 12. To which we may add, that St. Paul may be supposed to have given Timothy the title of “brother,” here, for dignity’s sake, to give him a reputation above his age, amongst the corinthians, to whom he had before sent him, with some kind of authority, to rectify their disorders. Timothy was but a young man, when St. Paul writ his first epistle to him, as appears, 1 Tim. iv. 12. Which epistle, by the consent of all, was writ to Timothy, after he had been at Corinth; and in the opinion of some very learned men, not less than eight years after: and therefore his calling him “brother,” here, and joining him with himself, in writing this epistle, may be to let the corinthians see, that, though he were so young, who had been sent to them, yet it was one, whom St. Paul thought fit to treat very much as an equal.

†

Achaia, the country wherein Corinth stood.

*

3 That this is the right translation of the Greek here, see Eph. i. 3, and 1 Pet. i. 3, where the same words are so translated; and that it agrees with St. Paul’s sense, see Eph. i. 17.

†

4 He means, here, the corinthians, who were troubled for their miscarriage towards him; vid. chap. vii. 7.

‡

6 Σωτηρία, “relief,” rather than “salvation;” which is understood, of deliverance from death and hell; but here it signifies only deliverance from their present sorrow.

*

12 What “fleshly wisdom” is, may be seen chap. iv. 2, 5.

†

This ἀλλ’ ἐν χάριgreektι Θεȣ, “But in the favour of God,” is the same with ἀλλὰ χάρις Θεȣ͂ ἡ σὺν ἐμοὶ, “the favour of God, that is with me,” i. e. by God’s favourable assistance.

*

14 “That I am your glory;” whereby he signifies that part of them which stuck to him, and owned him as their teacher: in which sense, “glorying” is much used, in these epistles to the corinthians, upon the occasion of the several partisans boasting, some, that they were of Paul; and others, of Apollos.

*

15 By the word χάριν, which our Bibles translate “benefit,” or “grace,” it is plain the apostle means his being present among them a second time, without giving them any grief or displeasure. He had been with them before, almost two years together, with satisfaction and kindness. He intended them another visit; but it was, he says, that they might have the like gratification, i. e. the like satisfaction in his company a second time, which is the same he says, 2 Cor. ii. 1.

*

21 “Anointed,” i. e. set apart to be an apostle, by an extraordinary call. Priests and prophets were set apart, by anointing, as well as kings.

†

22 “Sealed,” i. e. by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost; which are an evidence of the truths he brings from God, as a seal is of a letter.

‡

“Earnest” of eternal life; for of that the Spirit is mentioned, as a pledge, in more places than one, vid. 2 Cor. v. 5; Eph. i. 13, 14. All these are arguments to satisfy the corinthians, that St. Paul was not, nor could be, a shuffling man, that minded not what he said, but as it served his turn.

The reasoning of St. Paul, ver. 18—22, whereby he would convince the corinthians, that he was not a fickle, unsteady man, that says or unsays, as may suit his humour or interest, being a little obscure, by reason of the shortness of his style here, which has left many things to be supplied by the reader, to connect the parts of the argumentation, and make the deduction clear; I hope I shall be pardoned, if I endeavour to set it in its clear light, for the sake of ordinary readers.

“God hath set me apart, to the ministry of the gospel, by an extraordinary call; has attested my mission, by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, and given me the earnest of eternal life, in my heart, by his Spirit; and hath confirmed me, amongst you, in preaching the gospel, which is all uniform, and of a piece, as I have preached it to you, without tripping in the least: and there, to the glory of God, have shown that all the promises concur, and are unalterably certain in Christ. I, therefore, having never faultered in any thing I have said to you, and having all these attestations, of being under the special direction and guidance of God himself, who is unalterably true, cannot be suspected of dealing doubly with you, in any thing, relating to my ministry.”

*

24 It is plain, St. Paul’s doctrine had been opposed by some of them at Corinth, vid. 1 Cor. xv. 12. His apostleship questioned, 1 Cor. ix. 1, 2, 2 Cor. xiii. 3. He himself triumphed over, as if he durst not come, 1 Cor. iv. 18, they saying “his letters were weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence weak, and his speech contemptible;” 2 Cor. x. 10. This being the state his reputation was then in, at Corinth, and he having promised to come to them, 1 Cor. xvi. 5, he could not but think it necessary to excuse his failing them, by reasons, that should be both convincing and kind; such as are contained in this verse, in the sense given of it.

*

1 That this is the meaning of this verse, and not that he would not come to them, in sorrow, a second time, is past doubt, since he had never been with them in sorrow a first time. Vid. 2 Cor. i. 15.

†

3 Καὶ έγραψα ὑμῖν τῦτο αὐτὸ, “and I writ to you this very thing.” That έγραψα, “I writ,” relates, here, to the first epistle to the corinthians, is evident, because it is so used, in the very next verse, and again a little lower, ver. 9. What, therefore, is it in his first epistle, which he here calls τȣ͂το αὐτὸ, “this very thing,” which he had writ to them? I answer, The punishment of the fornicator. This is plain by what follows here, to ver. 11, especially, if it be compared with 1 Cor. iv. 21, and v. 8. For there he writes to them, to punish that person; whom, if he, St. Paul, had come himself, before it was done, he must have come, as he callsit, with a rod, and have himself chastised: but now, that he knows that the corinthians had punished him, in compliance to his letter; and he had had this trial of their obedience; he is so far from continuing the severity, that he writes to them to forgive him, and take him again into their affection.

*

5 St. Paul being satisfied with the corinthians, for their ready compliance with his orders, in his former letter, to punish the fornicator, intercedes to have him restored; and, to that end, lessens his fault, and declares, however he might have caused grief to the corinthians, yet he had caused none to him.

†

7 Τȣ̓ναντίον, “on the contrary,” here, has nothing to refer to, but ἐπιϐαρῶ, “overcharge,” in the 5th verse, which makes that belong to the fornicator, as I have explained it.

‡

Ὁ τοιȣ͂τος, “such an one,” meaning the fornicator. It is observable, how tenderly St. Paul deals with the corinthians, in this epistle; for though he treats of the fornicator, from the 5th to the 10th verse inclusively; yet he never mentions him under that, or any other disobliging title, but in the soft and inoffensive terms, “of any one,” or “such an one.” And that, possibly, may be the reason, why he says, μὴ έπιϐαρῶ, indefinitely, without naming the person it relates to.

*

12 How uneasy he was, and upon what account, see ch. vii. 5—16. It was not barely for Titus’s absence, but for want of the news he brought with him; ch. vii. 7.

†

14 “Who makes me triumph every-where,” i. e. in the success of my preaching, in my journey to Macedonia; and also, in my victory, at the same time, at Corinth, over the false apostles, my opposers, that had raised a faction against me, amongst you. This, I think, is St. Paul’s meaning, and the reason of his using the word, triumph, which implies contest and victory, though he places that word so, as modestly to cover it.

‡

16 Vid. ch. iii. 5, 6.

*

17 This I think, may be understood of the false apostle.

*

1 This is a plain indication, that he had been blamed, amongst them, for commending himself.

†

Seems to intimate, that their false apostle had got himself recommended to them, by letters, and so had introduced himself into that church.

‡

3 The sense of St. Paul, in this third verse, is plainly this: that he needed no letters of commendation to them; but that their conversion, and the gospel, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of God, in the tables of their hearts, and not in tables of stone, by his ministry, was as clear an evidence and testimony to them, of his mission from Christ, as the law, writ in tables of stone, was an evidence of Moses’s mission; so that he, St. Paul, needed no other recommendation: this is what is to be understood by this verse, unless we will make “the tables of stone,” to have no signification here. But to say, as he does, that the corinthians, being writ upon, in their hearts, not with ink, but with the Spirit of God, by the hand of St. Paul, was Christ’s commendatory letter of him, being a pretty bold expression, liable to the exception of the captious part of the corinthians; he, to obviate all imputation of vanity, or vain glory, herein immediately subjoins what follows in the next verse.

§

4 As if he had said, “But mistake me not as if I boasted of myself: this so great boasting, that I use, is only my confidence in God, through Christ: for it was God, that made me a minister of the gospel, that bestowed on me the ability for it; and whatever I perform in it is wholly from him.”

*

5 Πεποίθησις, “trust,” ver. 4, a milder term for “boasting,” for so St. Paul uses it, chap. x. 7, compared with ver. 8, where also λογιζέσθω, ver. 7, is used, as here, for counting upon one’s self; St. Paul also uses ϖέποιθας, for “thou boastest,” Rom. ii. 19, which will appear, if compared with ver. 17; or if λογίσασθαι shall rather be thought to signify here to discover by reasoning, then the apostle’s sense will run thus: “Not as if I were sufficient of myself, by the strength of my own natural parts to attain the knowledge of the gospel truths, that I preach; but my ability herein is all from God.” But, in whatever sense λογίσασθαι is here taken, it is certain τὶ, which is translated “any thing,” must be limited to the subject in hand, viz. the gospel, that he preached to them.

†

6 Οὐ γράμματος, ἀλλὰ ϖνεύματος, “not of the letter, but of the spirit.” By expressing himself, as he does here, St. Paul may be understood to intimate, that “the New Testament, or covenant,” was also, though obscurely, held forth in the law: For he says, he was constituted a minister, πνεύματος, “of the spirit,” or spiritual meaning of the law, which was Christ, (as he tells us himself, ver. 17.) and giveth life, whilst the letter killeth. But both letter and spirit must be understood of the same thing, viz. “the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law.” And in fact, we find St. Paul truly a minister of the spirit of the law; especially in his epistle to the Hebrews, where he shows, what a spiritual sense ran through the mosaical institution and writings.

‡

“The letter kills,” i. e. pronouncing death, without any way of remission, on all transgressors, leaves them under an irrevocable sentence of death. But the Spirit, i. e. Christ, ver. 17, who is a quickening Spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 45, giveth life.

*

7 Καgreektαργȣμένην, “done away,” is applied here to the shining of Moses’s face, and to the law, ver. 11 and 13. In all which places it is used in the present tense, and has the signification of an adjective, standing for temporary, or of a duration, whose end was determined; and is opposed to τῷ μένονgreektι, “that which remaineth,” i. e. that which is lasting, and hath no predeterminded end set to it, as ver. 11, where the gospel dispensation is called τὸ μένον, “that which remaineth.” This may help us to understand ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν, ver. 18, “from glory to glory,” which is manifestly opposed to δόξη ϰαταργȣμένη, “the glory done away,” of this verse; and so plainly signifies a continued, lasting glory of the ministers of the gospel; which, as he tells us there, consisted in their being changed into the image and clear representation of the Lord himself; as the glory of Moses consisted in the transitory brightness of his face, which was a faint reflection of the glory of God, appearing to him in the mount.

†

9 Διαϰονία τῆς διϰαιοσύνης, “the ministration of righteousness;” so the ministry of the gospel is called, because, by the gospel, a way is provided for the justification of those, who have trangressed; but the law has nothing but rigid condemnation for all transgressors; and, therefore, is called here, “the ministration of condemnation.”

‡

19 Though the showing, that the ministry of the gospel is more glorious, thau that of the law, but what St. Paul is here upon, thereby to justify himself, if he has assumed some authority and commendation to himself, in his ministry, and apostleship; yet in his thus industriously placing the ministry of the gospel, in honour, above that of Moses, may he not possibly have an eye to the judaizing, false apostle of the corinthians, to let them see, what little regard was to he had to that ministration, in comparison of the ministry of the gospel?

*

11 Here St. Paul mentions another pre-eminency and superiority of glory, in the gospel, over the law; viz. that the law was to cease, and to be abolished: but the gospel to remain, and never be abolished.

†

12 “Such hope:” that St. Paul, by these words, means the so honourable employment of an apostle and minister of the gospel, or the glory, belonging to his ministry, in the gospel, is evident, by the whole foregoing comparison, which he has made, which is all along between διαϰονία, “the ministry” of the law and of the gospel, and not between the law and the gospel themselves. The calling of it “hope,” instead of glory, here, where he speaks of his having of it, is the language of modesty, which more particularly suited his present purpose. For the conclusion, which, in this verse, he draws from what went before, plainly shows the apostle’s design, in this discourse, to be the justifying his speaking freely of himself and others; his argument amounting to thus much:

“Having, therefore, so honourable an employment, as is the ministry of the gospel, which far exceeds the ministry of the law in glory; though even that gave so great a lustre to Moses’s face, that the children of Israel could not with fixed eyes look upon him: I, as becomes one of such hopes, in such a post as sets me above all mean considerations and compliances, use great freedom and plainness of speech, in all things that concern my ministry.”

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13 Πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀτενίσαι, &c. “That the children of Israel could not stedfastly look,” &c. St. Paul is here justifying in himself, and other ministers of the gospel, the plainness and openness of their preaching, which he had asserted, in the immediately preceding verse. These words, therefore, here, must of necessity be understood, not of Moses, but of the ministers of the gospel: viz. that it was not the obscurity of their preaching, not any thing veiled, in their way of proposing the gospel, which was the cause, why the children of Israel did not understand the law to the bottom, and see Christ, the end of it, in the writings of Moses. What St. Paul says, in the next verse, “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away,” plainly determines the words, we are upon, to the sense I have taken them in: for what sense is this? “Moses put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not see the end of the law; but their minds were blinded; for the veil remains upon them, until this day.” But this is very good sense, and to St. Paul’s purpose, viz. “We, the ministers of the gospel, speak plainly and openly, and put no veil upon ourselves, as Moses did, whereby to hinder the jews from seeing Christ, in the law: but that, which hinders them, is a blindness on their minds, which has been always on them, and remains to this day.” This seems to be an obviating an objection, which some among the corinthians might make to his boasting of so much plainness and clearness in his preaching, viz. If you preach the gospel, and Christ, contained in the law, with such a shining clearness and evidence, how comes it that the jews are not converted to it? His reply is, “Their unbelief comes not from any obscurity in our preaching, but from a blindness, which rests upon their minds to this day; which shall be taken away, when they turn to the Lord.”

*

Vid. Rom. x. 2—4.

†

15 St. Paul, possibly, alludes here to the custom of the jews, which continues still in the synagogue, that, when the law is read, they put a veil over their faces.

‡

16 When this shall be, see Rom. xi. 25—27.

*

17 Ὁ δὲ Κύριος τὸ ϖνεῦμά ἐϛιν, “but the Lord is that Spirit.” These words relate to ver. 6, where he says, that he is a minister, not of the letter of the law, not of the outside and literal sense, but of the mystical and spiritual meaning of it; which he here tells us, is Christ.

†

“There is liberty;” because the Spirit is given only to sons, or those that are free. See Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6, 7.

‡

18 St. Paul justifies his freedom and plainness of speech, by his being made, by God himself, a minister of the gospel, which is a more glorious ministry, than that of Moses, in promulgating the law. This he does from ver. 6, to ver. 12, inclusively. From thence, to the end of the chapter, he justifies his liberty of speaking; in that he, as a minister of the gospel, being illuminated with greater and brighter rays of light, than Moses, was to speak (as he did) with more freedom and clearness, than Moses had done. This being the scope of St. Paul, in this place, it is visible, that all from these words, “who put a veil upon his face,” ver. 13, to the beginning of ver. 18, is a parenthesis; which being laid aside, the comparison between the ministers of the gospel and Moses stands clear: “Moses, with a veil, covered the brightness and glory of God, which shone in his countenance;” but we, the ministers of the gospel, with open countenances, ϰαgreektοπτριζόμενοι, reflecting as mirrours the glory of the Lord. So the word ϰαgreektοπτριζόμενοι, must signify here, and not “beholding as in a mirrour:” because the comparison is between the ministers of the gospel and Moses, and not between the ministers of the gospel and the children of Israel: now the action, of “beholding,” was the action of the children of Israel; but of “shining, or reflecting the glory, received in the mount,” was the action of Moses; and, therefore, it must be something answering that, in the ministers of the gospel, wherein the comparison is made; as is farther manifest, in another express part of the comparison between the veiled face of Moses, ver. 13, and the open face of the ministers of the gospel, in this verse. The face of Moses was veiled, that the bright shining, or glory of God, remaining on it, or reflected from it, might not be seen; and the faces of the ministers of the gospel are open, that the bright shining of the gospel, or the glory of Christ, may be seen. Thus the justness of the comparison stands fair, and has an easy sense, which is hard to be made out, if ϰατοπgreektριζόμενοι be translated, “beholding as in a glass.”

Τὴν αὐτὴν εἰϰόνα μεταμορϕȣ́μεθα, “we are changed into that very image,” i. e. the reflection of the glory of Christ, from us, is so very bright and clear, that we are changed into his very image; whereas the light that shone in Moses’s countenance, was but a faint reflection of the glory, which he saw, when God showed him his back parts, Exod. xxxiii. 23.

Ἀπο δόξης εἰς δόξαν, “from glory to glory,” i. e. with a continued influx and renewing of glory, in opposition to the shining of Moses’s face, which decayed and disappeared in a little while, ver. 7.

Καθάπερ, ἀπὸ Πυρίȣ, ϖνεύματος, “as from the Lord, the Spirit,” i. e. as if this irradiation of light and glory came immediately from the source of it, the Lord himself, who is that Spirit, whereof we are the ministers, ver. 6, which giveth life and liberty, ver. 17.

This liberty he here speaks of ver. 17, is ϖαῤῥησία, “liberty of speech,” mentioned ver. 12, the subject of St. Paul’s discourse here; as is farther manifest, from what immediately follows, in the six first verses of the next chapter, wherein an attentive reader may find a very clear comment on this 18th verse we are upon, which is there explained, in the sense we have given of it.

*

1 Οὐϰ ἐϰϰαϰȣ͂μεν, “we faint not,” is the same with πολλη ϖαῤῥησία χρώμεθα, “we use great plainness of speech,” ver. 12, of the foregoing chapter; and signifies, in both places, the clear, plain, direct, disinterested preaching of the gospel; which is what he means, in that figurative way of speaking, in the former chapter, especially the last verse of it, and which he more plainly expresses, in the five or six verses of this: the whole business of the first part of this epistle being, as we have already observed, to justify to the corinthians his behaviour in his ministry, and to convince them, that, in his preaching the gospel, he hath been plain, clear, open, and candid, without any hidden design, or the least mixture of any concealed, secular interest.

*

2 Ἀπειπάμεθα τὰ ϰρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης, “have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,” and τῆ φανερώσει τῆς ἀληθείας, “by manifestation of the truth.” These expressions explain ἀναϰεϰαλυμμένῳ ϖροσώπῳ, “with open face,” chap. iii. 18.

†

4 “The god of this world,” i. e. the devil, so called because the men of the world worshipped and obeyed him as their God.

‡

Ἐτύφλωσε τὰ νοήματα, “blinded their minds,” answers ἐπωρώθη τὰ νοήματα, “their minds were blinded,” chap. iii. 14. And the second and third verse of this explain the 13th and 14th verses of the preceding chapter.

§

Δόξα, “glory,” here, as in the former chapter, is put for shining and brightness; so that εὐαγγέλιον τῆς δόξης τȣ͂ Χριϛȣ͂, is the brightness, or clearness, of the doctrine, wherein Christ is manifested in the gospel.

∥

This is a continuation still of the allegory of Moses, and the shining of his face, &c. so much insisted on, in the forgoing chapter.

For the explication whereof, give me leave to add here one word more to what I have said upon it already; Moses, by approaching to God, in the mount, had a communication of “glory,” or “light,” from him, which irradiated from his face, when he descended from the mount. Moses put a veil over his face, to hide this “light,” or “glory;” for both these names St. Paul uses, in this and the foregoing chapter, for the same thing. But the “glory,” or “light,” of the knowledge of God, more fully and clearly communicated by Jesus Christ, is said here “to shine in his face;” and in that respect it is, that Christ, in the foregoing verse, is called by St. Paul, “the image of God;” and the apostles are said, in the last verse of the preceding chapter, to be “transformed into the same image, from glory to glory;” i. e. by their large and clear communications of the knowledge of God, in the gospel, they are said to be transformed into the same image, and to represent, as mirrours, the glory of the Lord, and to be, as it were, the images of Christ, as Christ is (as we are told here, ver. 4,) “the image of God.”

*

16 “I faint not.” What this signifies, we have seen, ver. 1. Here St. Paul gives another proof of his sincerity in his ministry; and that is, the sufferings and danger of death, which he daily incurs, by his preaching the gospel. And the reason, why those sufferings and dangers deter him not, nor make him at all flag, he tells them, is, the assurance he has, that God, through Christ, will raise him again, and reward him with immortality in glory. This argument he pursues, chap. iv. 17, and v. 9.

*

17 “Weight of glory.” What an influence St. Paul’s Hebrew had, upon his Greek, is every where visible: רבכ, in Hebrew, signifies “to be heavy,” and “to be glorious;” St Paul, in the Greek, joins them, and says, “the weight of glory.”

†

2 Vid. ver. 4.

‡

3 That the apostle looked on the coming of Christ, as not far off, appears, by what he says, 1 Thess. iv. 13, and v. 6, which epistle was written some years before this. See also to the same purpose, 1 Cor. i. 7, and vii. 29, 31, and x. 11, Rom. xiii. 11, 12. Heb. x. 37.

*

4 The same, that he had told them, in the first epistle, ch. xv. 51, should happen to those who should be alive at Christ’s coming. This, I must own, is no very easy passage, whether we understand by γυμνοὶ, “naked,” as I do here, the state of the dead, unclothed with immortal bodies, until the resurrection: which sense is favoured by the same word, 1 Cor. xv. 37, or whether we understand “the clothing upon,” which the apostle desires,to be those immortal bodies, which souls shall be clothed with, at the resurrection; which sense “of clothing upon,” seems to be favoured by 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54, and is that, which one should be inclined to, were it not accompanied with this difficulty; viz. that, then, it would follow that the wicked should not have immortal bodies, at the resurrection. For whatever it be, that St. Paul here means, by “being clothed upon,” it is something, that is peculiar to the saints, who have the Spirit of God, and shall be with the Lord, in contradistinction to others, as appears from the following verses, and the whole tenour of this place.

†

5 The Spirit is mentioned in more places than one, as the pledge and earnest of immortality: more particularly, Eph. i. 13, 14, which, compared with Rom. viii. 23, shows that the inheritance, whereof the Spirit is the earnest, is the same, which the apostle speaks of here, viz. the possession of immortal bodies.

‡

6, 8 Θαῤῥȣ͂ντες and ϑαῤῥȣ͂μεν, “we are confident,” signifies in these two verses the same that ȣ̓;ϰ ἐϰϰαϰȣ͂μεν, “we faint not,” does, chap. iv. 1 and 16; i. e. “I go undauntedly, without flagging, preaching the gospel with sincerity, and direct plainness of speech.” This conclusion, which he draws here, from the consideration of the resurrection and immortality, is the same, that he makes, upon the same ground, ch. iv. 14, 16.

*

9 Εἴτε ἐνδημȣ͂ντες ἔιτε ἐϰδημȣ͂ντες, “whether staying in the body, or going out of it,” i. e. whether I am to stay longer here, or suddenly to depart. This sense the foregoing verse leads us to; and what he says in this verse, that he endeavours (whether ἐνδημȣ͂ν, or ἐϰδημȣ͂ν) “to be well pleasing to the Lord,” i. e. do what is well-pleasing to him, shows, that neither of these words can signify, here, his being with Christ in heaven. For, when he is there, the time of endeavouring to approve himself is over.

†

St. Paul, from chap. iv. 12, to this place, has, to convince them of his uprightness in his ministry, been showing, that the hopes, and sure expectation he had, of eternal life, kept him steady and resolute, in an open, sincere preaching of the gospel, without any tricks or deceitful artifice. In which his argument stands thus: “Knowing that God, who raised up Christ, will raise me up again, I without any fear, or consideration of what it may draw upon me, preach the gospel faithfully, making this account, that the momentaneous afflictions, which, for it, I may suffer here, which are but slight in comparison of the eternal things of another life, will exceedingly increase my happiness in the other world, where I long to be; and therefore death, which brings me home to Christ, is no terror to me; all my care is, that whether I am to stay longer in this body, or quickly to leave it, living or dying, I may approve myself to Christ, in my ministry.” In the next two verses, he has another argument, to fix in the corinthians the same thoughts of him; and that is, the punishment he shall receive at the day of judgment, if he should neglect to preach the gospel faithfully, and not endeavour sincerely and earnestly to make converts to Christ.

*

12 From this place, and several others in this epistle, it cannot be doubted, but that his speaking well of himself, had been objected to him as a fault. And in this lay his great difficulty, how to deal with his people. If he answered nothing to what was talked of him, his silence might be interpreted guilt and confusion: if he defended himself, he was accused of vanity, self commendation and folly. Hence it is, that he uses so many reasons to show, that his whole carriage was upon principles far above all worldly considerations: and tells them here, once for all, that the account he gives of himself, is only to furnish them, who are his friends, and stuck to him, with matter to justify themselves, in their esteem of him, and to reply to the contrary faction.

†

This may be understood of the leaders of the opposite faction, who, as it is manifest from ch. x. 7, 15, and xi. 12, 22, 23, pretended to something that they gloried in, though St. Paul assures us, they were satisfied, in conscience, that they had no solid ground of glorying.

‡

13 St. Paul, from the 13th verse of this chapter, to chap. vi. 12, gives another reason for his disinterested carriage, in preaching the gospel; and that is his love to Christ, who, by his death, having given him life, who was dead, he concludes, that in gratitude he ought not to live to himself any more. He therefore, being as in a new creation, had now no longer any regard to the things, or persons, of this world; but being made, by God, a minister of the gospel, he minded only the faithful discharge of his duty in that embassy; and, pursuant thereunto, took care that his behaviour should be such as he describes, ch. vi. 6—10.

§

“Besides myself,” i. e. in speaking well of myself, in my own justification. He that observes what St. Paul says, chap. xi. 1, and 16—21, chap. xii. 6 and 11, will scarce doubt, but that the speaking of himself, as he did, was, by his enemies, called glorying, and imputed to him as folly and madness.

*

16 This may be supposed to be said with reflection on their jewish, false apostle, who gloried in his circumcision; and, perhaps, that he had seen Christ in the flesh, or was some way related to him.

†

17 Gal. vi. 14, may give some light to this place. To make these 16th and 17th verses coherent to the rest of St. Paul’s discourse here, they must be understood, in reference to the false apostle, against whom St. Paul is here justifying himself; and makes it his main business, in this, as well as in his former epistle, to show, what that false apostle gloried in, was no just cause of boasting. Pursuant to this design, of sinking the authority and credit of that false apostle, St. Paul, in these and the following verses, dexterously insinuates these two things: 1st, That the ministry of reconciliation being committed to him, they should not forsake him, to hearken to, and follow, that pretender. 2dly, That they, being in Christ, and the new creation, should, as he does, not know any man in the flesh, not esteem, or glory in, that false apostle, because he might, perhaps, pretend to have seen our Saviour in the flesh, or have heard him, or the like. Κτίσις signifies “creation,” and is so translated, Rom. viii. 22.

*

Τὰ ἀρχαῖα, “old things,” perhaps, may here mean the jewish œconomy; for the false apostle was a jew, and, as such, assumed to himself some authority, probably by right of blood, and privilege of his nation: vid. 2 Cor. xi. 21, 22. But that, St. Paul here tells them, now, under the gospel, is all antiquated, and quite out of doors.

*

1 “Receive the grace of God in vain,” the same with “believing in vain,” 1 Cor. xv. 2, i. e. receiving the doctrine of the gospel for true, and professing christianity, without persisting in it, or performing what the gospel requires.

†

8 “Deceiver,” a title (it is like) he had received from some of the opposite faction at Corinth: vid. chap. xii. 16.

*

11 Another argument, St. Paul makes use of, to justify and excuse his plainness of speech to the corinthians, is the great affection he has for them, which he here breaks out into an expression of, in a very pathetical manner. This, with an exhortation to separate from idolaters and unbelievers, is what he insists on, from this place to chap. vii. 16.

†

14 Vid. chap. vii. 1.

‡

15 Belial is a general name for all the false gods, worshipped by the idolatrous gentiles.

†

3 Vid. 1 Cor. iv. 3, 2 Cor. x. 2, and xi. 20, 21, and xiii. 3.

*

2 This seems to insinuate the contrary behaviour of their false apostle.

*

5 Vid. chap. xi. 3.

*

11 St. Paul writing to those, who knew the temper they were in, and what were the objects of the several passions, which were raised in them, doth both here, and in the seventh verse, forbear to mention, by, and to, what they were moved, out of modesty, and respect to them. This is necessary, for the information of ordinary readers, to be supplied, as can be best collected from the main design of the apostle, in these two epistles, and from several passages, giving us light in it.

†

Vid. ver. 15.

‡

“Clear.” This word answers very well ἁγνὸς, in the Greek: but then, to be clear, in English, is generally understood to signify, not to have been guilty; which could not be the sense of the apostle, he having charged the corinthians so warmly, in his first epistle. His meaning must therefore be, “that they had now resolved on a contrary course, and were so far clear,” i. e. were set right, and in good disposition again, as he describes it, in the former part of this verse.

§

And therefore I think ἐν τῶ ϖράγματι may be best rendered “in fact,” i. e. by your sorrow, your fear, your indignation, your zeal, &c. I think it cannot well be translated, “in this matter,” understanding thereby the punishment of the fornicator. For that was not the matter St. Paul had been speaking of; but the corinthians siding with the false apostle against him, was the subject of the preceding part of this, and of the three or four foregoing chapters; wherein he justifies himself against their slanders, and invalidates the pretences of the adverse party. This is that, which lay chiefly upon his heart, and which he labours, might and main, both in this and the former epistle, to rectify, as the foundation of all the disorders amongst them; and, consequently, is the matter, wherein he rejoices to find them all set right. Indeed, in the immediately following verse, he mentions his having writ to them, concerning the fornicator; but it is only as an argument of his kindness and concern for them: but that, which was the great cause of his rejoicing, what it was that gave him the great satisfaction, was the breaking of the faction, and the re-uniting them “all” to himself, which he expresses in the word “all,” emphatically used, ver. 13, 15; and, from thence, he concludes thus, ver. 16, “I rejoice, therefore, that I have confidence in you in all things.” His mind was now at rest, the partisans of his opposer, the false apostle, having forsaken that leader, whom they had so much gloried in, and being all now come over to St. Paul, he doubted not, but all would go well; and so leaves off the subject he had been upon, in the seven foregoing chapters, viz. the justification of himself, with here and there reflections on that false apostle.

*

13 Vid. ver. 15.

*

1 Χάρις, which is translated, “grace,” is here used, by St. Paul, for “gift,” or “liberality,” and is so used, ver. 4, 6, 7, 9, 19, and 1 Cor. xvi. 3. It is called also χὰρις Θεȣ͂, the “gift of God,” because God is the author and procurer of it, moving their hearts to it. Besides δεδομένην ἐν cannot signify “bestowed on,” but “given in,” or “by.”

*

2 How ill-disposed and rough to the christians the macedonians were, may be seen, Acts xvi. and xvii.

*

8 Τὸ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης γνήσιον δοϰιμάζων, “showing the world a proof of the genuine temper of your love.” Thus, I think, it should be rendered. St. Paul, who is so careful all along in this epistle, to show his esteem and good opinion of the corinthians, taking all occasions to speak and presume well of them, whereof we have an eminent example in these words, “ye abound in your love to us,” in the immediately preceding verse; he could not, in this place, so far forget his design, of treating them very tenderly, now they were newly returned to him, as to tell them, that he sent Titus, for the promoting their contribution to make a trial of “the sincerity of their love:” this had been but an ill expression of that confidence, which, chap. vii. 16, he tells them, “he has in them in all things.” Taking, therefore, as without violence to the words one may, δοϰιμάζων for “drawing out a proof,” and γνήσιον for “genuine,” the words very well express St. Paul’s obliging way of stirring up the corinthians to a liberal contribution, as I have understood them. For St. Paul’s discourse to them briefly stands thus: “The great liberality of the poor macedonians, made me send Titus to you, to carry on the collection of your charity, which he had begun, that you, who excel in all other virtues, might be eminent also in this. But this I urge, not as a command from God; but, upon occasion of others liberality, lay before you an opportunity of giving the world a proof of the genuine temper of your charity, which, like that of your other virtues, loves not to come behind that of others.”

†

9 Τὴν χάριν, “the grace,” rather “the munificence,” the signification wherein St. Paul uses χάρις over and over again in this chapter, and is translated “gift,” ver. 4.

*

17 Vid. ver. 6.

†

18 This brother most take to be St. Luke, who now was, and had been a long while, St. Paul’s companion in his travels.

*

2 Achaia, i. e. the church of Corinth, which was made up of the inhabitants of that town, and of the circumjaceut parts of Achaia. Vid. ch. i. 1.

*

8 Χάρις, “grace,” rather “charitable gift,” or “liberality,” as it signifies in the former chapter, and as the context determines the sense here.

†

9 Διϰαιοσύνη, “righteousness,” rather “liberality;” for so διϰαιοσύνη, in scripture language, often signifies. And so, Matt. vi. 1, for ἐλεημοσύνην, “alms,” some copies have διϰαιοσύνην, “liberality.” And so Joseph, Matt. i. 19, is called διϰαιος, “just, benign.”

‡

10 Σπόρον, “seed sown,” rather “your seed, and seed-plot,” i. e. increase your plenty, to be laid out in charitable uses.

*

1 Vid. ver. 10.

†

St. Paul, thinking it fit to appear all severity, till he had by fair means reduced as many of the contrary party, as he could, to a full submission to his authority, (vid. ver. 6,) begins, here, his discourse, by conjuring them, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, as an example, that might excuse his delay of exemplary punishment on the ringleaders and chief offenders, without giving them reason to think it was for want of power.

‡

4 What the ὅπλα σαρϰιϰὰ, “the carnal weapons,” and those other, opposed to them, which he calls δυνατἀ τῷ Θεῷ, “mighty through God,” are, may be seen, if we read and compare 1 Cor. i. 23, 24, and ii. 1, 2, 4, 5, 12, 13, 2 Cor. iv. 2, 6.

*

6 Those, whom he speaks to, here, are the corinthian converts, to whom this epistle is written. Some of these had been drawn into a faction, against St. Paul: these he had been, and was endeavouring to bring back, to that obedience and submission, which the rest had continued in, to him, as an apostle of Jesus Christ. The corinthians of these two sorts are those he means, when he says to them, chap. ii. 3, and chap. vii. 13, 15, “You all,” i. e. all ye christians of Corinth and Achaia. For he, that had raised the faction amongst them, and given so much trouble to St. Paul, was a stranger, and a jew, vid. chap. xi. 22, crept in amongst them, after St. Paul gathered and established that church, 1 Cor. iii. 6, 10, 2 Cor. x. 15, 16. Of whom St. Paul seems to have no hopes, chap. xi. 13—15. And, therefore, he every-where threatens, 2 Cor. iv. 19, and here particularly, ver. 6 and 11, to make an example of him and his adherents (if any were so obstinate to stick to him), when he had brought back again all the corinthians, that he could hope to prevail on.

*

7 Vid. chap. xi. 23.

†

8 “More,” vid. chap. xi. 23.

‡

Another reason insinuated by the apostle for his forbearing severity to them.

§

“I should not be put to shame,” i. e. the truth would justify me in it.

*

12 This is spoken ironically: ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, “amongst themselves,” rather “within themselves.” For, in all likelihood, the faction and opposition against St. Paul was made by one person, as we before observed. For though he speaks here in the plural number, which is the softer and decenter way in such cases; yet we see, in the foregoing verse, he speaks directly and expressly, as of one person; and therefore ἐν ἑαυτοῖς may, most consonantly to the apostle’s meaning here, be understood to signify, “within themselves,” i. e. with what they find in themselves. The whole place showing, that this person made an estimate of himself, only by what he found in himself; and thereupon preferred himself to St. Paul, without considering what St. Paul was, or had done.

†

“Do not understand,” that they ought not to intrude themselves into a church, planted by another man, and there vaunt themselves, and set themselves above him that planted it; which is the meaning of the four next verses.

‡

13 ᾥμετρα, here, and in ver. 15, doth not signify immense or immoderate, but something that hath not been measured out, and allotted to him, something that is not committed to him, nor within his province.

§

14 This seems to charge the false, pretended apostle, who had caused all this disturbance in the church of Corinth, that, without being appointed to it, without preaching the gospel, in his way thither, as became an apostle, he had crept into the church at Corinth.

∥

15 “Boasting,” i. e. intermeddling, or assuming to myself authority to meddle, or honour for meddling.

*

15, 16 Here St. Paul visibly taxes the false apostle, for coming into a church, converted and gathered by another, and there pretending to be some body, and to rule all. This is another thing, that makes it probable, that the opposition made to St. Paul, was but by one man, that had made himself the head of an opposite faction. For it is plain, it was a stranger, who came thither, after St. Paul had planted this church, who pretending to be more an apostle than St. Paul, with greater illumination, and more power, set up against him, to govern that church, and withdraw the corinthians from following St. Paul’s rules and doctrine. Now this can never be supposed to be a combination of men, who came to Corinth with that design, nor that they were different men, that came thither separately, each setting up for himself; for then they would have fallen out, one with another, as well as with St. Paul. And, in both cases, St. Paul must have spoken of them, in a different way from what he does now. The same character and carriage is given to them all throughout both these epistles; and 1 Cor. iii. 10, he plainly speaks of one man; and that setting up thus to be a preacher of the gospel, amongst those, that were already christians, was looked upon, by St. Paul, to be a fault, we may see, Rom. xv. 20.

*

15, 16 Here St. Paul visibly taxes the false apostle, for coming into a church, converted and gathered by another, and there pretending to be some body, and to rule all. This is another thing, that makes it probable, that the opposition made to St. Paul, was but by one man, that had made himself the head of an opposite faction. For it is plain, it was a stranger, who came thither, after St. Paul had planted this church, who pretending to be more an apostle than St. Paul, with greater illumination, and more power, set up against him, to govern that church, and withdraw the corinthians from following St. Paul’s rules and doctrine. Now this can never be supposed to be a combination of men, who came to Corinth with that design, nor that they were different men, that came thither separately, each setting up for himself; for then they would have fallen out, one with another, as well as with St. Paul. And, in both cases, St. Paul must have spoken of them, in a different way from what he does now. The same character and carriage is given to them all throughout both these epistles; and 1 Cor. iii. 10, he plainly speaks of one man; and that setting up thus to be a preacher of the gospel, amongst those, that were already christians, was looked upon, by St. Paul, to be a fault, we may see, Rom. xv. 20.

†

18 It is of these weapons of his warfare, that St. Paul speaks, in this chapter: and it is by them, that he intends to try, which is the true apostle, when he comes to them.

*

1 “Folly;” so he modestly calls his speaking in his own defence.

†

3 Ἀπλότηgreektος τῆς εἰς τὸν Χριϛὸν, “The simplicity that is in,” rather “towards, Christ,” answers to ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ Χριϛῷ, “to one husband, Christ,” in the immediately foregoing verse. For ἑνὶ, “one,” is not put there for nothing, but makes the meaning plainly this: “I have formed and fitted you for one person alone, one husband, who is Christ: I am concerned, and in care, that you may not be drawn aside from that submission and obedience, that temper of mind, that is due singly to him; for I hope to put you into his hands, possessed with pure virgin thoughts, wholly fixed on him, not divided, nor roving after any other, that he may take you to wife, and marry you to himself for ever.” It is plain, their perverter, who opposed St. Paul, was a jew, as we have seen. It was from the jews, from whom, of all, professing christianity, St. Paul had most trouble and opposition. For they having their hearts set upon their old religion, endeavoured to mix judaism and christianity together. We may suppose the case here to be much the same with that, which he more fully expresses, in the epistle to the galatians, particularly Gal. i. 6—12, and chap. iv. 9—11, and 16—21, and chap. v. 1—13. The meaning of this place here seems to be this: “I have taught you the gospel alone, in its pure and unmixed simplicity, by which only you can be united to Christ: but I fear, lest this, your new apostle, should draw you from it; and that your minds should not stick to that singly, but should be corrupted by a mixture of judaism.” After the like manner, St. Paul expresses christians being delivered from the law, and their freedom from the ritual observances of the jews, by being married to Christ, Rom. vii. 4, which place may give some light to this.

*

7 The adverse party made it an argument against St. Paul, as an evidence that he was no apostle, since he took not from the corinthians maintenance, 1 Cor. ix. 1—3. Another objection raised against him from hence, was, that he would receive nothing from them, because he loved them not, 2 Cor. xi. 11, This he answers here, by giving another reason for his so doing. A third allegation was, That it was only a crafty trick in him to catch them, 2 Cor. xii. 16, which he answers there.

*

12 Καὶ ϖοιήσω, “that I will do,” rather, “and will do;” so the words stand in the Greek, and do not refer to ver. 10, as a profession of his resolution to take nothing of them; but to verse 11, to which it is joined; showing that his refusing any reward from them, was not out of unkindness, but for another reason.

†

13 They had questioned St. Paul’s apostleship, 1 Cor. ix. because of his not taking maintenance of the corinthians. He here directly declares them to be no true apostles.

*

16 Vid. ver. 18.

†

18 Vid. chap. xii. 11.

‡

“After the flesh.” What this glorying “after the flesh” was, in particular here, vid. ver. 22, viz. being a jew by descent.

§

19 Spoken ironically, for their bearing with the insolence and covetousness of their false apostle.

∥

29 The “bondage” here meant, was, subjection to the will of their false apostle, as appears by the following particulars of this verse, and not subjection to the jewish rites. For if that had been, St. Paul was so zealous against it, that he would have spoken more plainly and warmly, as we see in his epistle to the galatians; and not have touched it thus, only by the bye, slightly, in a doubtful expression. Besides, it is plain, no such thing was yet attempted openly; only St. Paul was afraid of it; vid. ver. 3.

*

22 “Is he an hebrew?” Having, in the foregoing verse, spoken in the singular number, I have been fain to continue the same number here, though different from that in the text, to avoid an inconsistency in the paraphrase, which could not but shock the reader. But this I would be understood to do, without imposing my opinion on any body, or pretending to change the text: but, as an expositor, to tell my reader that I think, though St. Paul says, “they,” he means but one; as often, when he says, “we,” he means only himself, the reason whereof I have given elsewhere.

†

23 Ἐν ϖληγαῖς ὑπερϐαλλόνgreektως, “in stripes above measure,” rather “in stripes exceeding.” For these words, as the other particulars of this verse, ought to be taken comparatively, with reference to the false apostle, with whom St. Paul is comparing himself, in the ministry of the gospel. Unless this he understood so, there will seem to be a disagreeable tautology in the following verses; which, taking these words in a comparative sense, are proofs of his saying, “In stripes I am exceedingly beyond him; for of the jews five times,” &c.

*

30 “Compelled.” Vid. chap. xii. 11.

†

By ϰαυχᾶσθαι which is translated sometimes “to glory,” and sometimes “to boast;” the apostle, all along, where he applies it to himself means nothing, but the mentioning some commendable action of his, without vanity or ostentation, but barely upon necessity, on the present occasion.

*

1 Εἰ ϰαυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, “If I must glory,” is the reading of some copies, and is justified by ver. 30, of the foregoing chapter, by the vulgar translation, and by the Syriac, much to the same purpose; and suiting better with the context, renders the sense clearer.

*

2, 3 Modestly speaking of himself in the third person.

*

2, 3 Modestly speaking of himself in the third person.

†

6 Vid. ver. 7.

‡

7 “Thorn in the flesh,” what this was in particular, St. Paul having thought fit to conceal it, is not easy for those, who come after, to discover, nor is it very material.

*

12 This may well be understood to reflect on the haughtiness and plenty, wherein the false apostle lived amongst them.

†

13 Vid. 1 Cor. i. 4—7.

*

14 Vid. 1 Cor. iv. 14, 15.

†

15 Vid. 2 Tim. ii. 10.

‡

Vid. chap. vi. 12, 13.

§

19 He had before given the reason, chap. i. 23, of his not coming to them, with the like asseveration that he uses here. If we trace the thread of St. Paul’s discourse here, we may observe, that having concluded the justification of himself and his apostleship by his past actions, ver. 13, he had it in his thoughts to tell them, how he would deal with the false apostle, and his adherents, when he came, as hewas ready now to do. And, therefore, solemnly begins, ver. 14, with “behold;” and tells them now, “the third time,” he was ready to come to them, to which joining, (what was much upon his mind,) that he would not be burdensome to them, when he came, this suggested to his thoughts an objection, viz. that this personal shyness in him was but cunning; for that he designed to draw gain from them, by other hands. From which he clears himself, by the instance of Titus, and the brother, whom he had sent together to them, who were as far from receiving any thing from them, as he himself. Titus and his other messenger being thus mentioned, he thought it necessary to obviate another suspicion, that might be raised in the minds of some of them, as if he mentioned the sending of those two, as an apology for his not coming himself. This he disclaims utterly; and to prevent any thoughts of that kind, solemnly protests to them, that, in all his carriage to them, he had done nothing but for their edification; nor had any other aim, in any of his actions, but purely that; and that he forebore coming merely out of respect and good-will to them. So that all, from “Behold, this third time, I am ready to come to you,” ver. 14, to “this third time I am coming to you,” chap. xiii. 1, must be looked on, as an incident discourse, that fell in occasionally, though tending to the same purpose with the rest; a way of writing very usual with our apostle, and with other writers, who abound in quickness and variety of thoughts, as he did. Such men are often, by new matter rising in their way, put by from what they were going, and had begun to say; which, therefore, they are fain to take up again, and continue at a distance: which St. Paul does here, after the interposition of eight verses. Other instances of the like kind may be found in other places of St. Paul’s writings.

*

2 “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” These words seem to be quoted from the law of our Saviour, Matt. xviii. 16, and not from the law of Moses in Deuteronomy; not only because the words are the same with those in St. Matthew, but from the likeness of the case. In Deuteronomy, the rule given concerns only judaical trials: in St. Matthew, it is a rule given for the management of persuasion, used for the reclaiming an offender, by fair means before coming to the utmost extremity, which is the case of St. Paul here: in Deuteronomy the judge was to hear the witnesses, Deut. xvii. 6, and xix. 15. In St. Matthew, the party was to hear the witnesses, Matt. xviii. 17, which was also the case of St. Paul here; the witnesses, which he means, that he made use of to persuade them, being his two epistles. That, by witnesses, he means his two epistles, is plain from his way of expressing himself here, where he carefully sets down his telling them twice, viz. “before,” in his former epistle, chap. iv. 19, and now a “second time,” in his second epistle; and also, by these words, ὠς ϖαρὼν τὸ δεύτερον, “as if I were present with you a second time.” By our Saviour’s rule, the offended person was to go twice to the offender; and therefore St. Paul says, “as if I were with you a second time,” counting his letters, as two personal applications to them, as our Saviour directed should be done, before coming to rougher means. Some take the witnesses to be the three messengers, by whom his first epistle is supposed to be sent. But this would not be, according to the method prescribed by our Saviour, in the place from which St. Paul takes the words he uses: for there were no witnesses to be made use of, in the first application: neither, if those had been the witnesses meant, would there have been any need for St. Paul, so carefully and expressly, to have set down ὠς ϖαϱὼν τὸ δεύτερον, “as if present a second time,” words which, in that case, would be superfluous. Besides, those three men are no where mentioned to have been sent by him, to persuade them, nor the corinthians required to hear them, or reproved for not having done it: and lastly, they could not be better witnesses of St. Paul’s endeavours twice to gain the corinthians, by fair means, before he proceeded to severity, than the epistles themselves.

*

4 Ἐξ ἀσθενείας, “through weakness,” ἐϰ δυνάμεως Θεȣ͂, “by the power of God,” I have rendered “with the appearance of weakness, and with the manifestation of the power of God;” which I think, the sense of the place, and the style of the apostle, will justify. St. Paul, sometimes, uses the Greek prepositions, in a larger sense than that tongue ordinarily allows. Farther, it is evident, that ἐξ, joined to ἀσθενείας, has not a casual signification; and therefore, in the antithesis, ἐϰ δυνάμεως Θεȣ͂, it cannot be taken casually. And it is usual for St. Paul, in such cases, to continue the same word, though it happens, sometimes, seemingly to carry the sense another way. In short, the meaning of the place is this: Though Christ, in his crucifixion, appeared weak and despicable; yet he “now lives, to show the power of God, in the miracles, and mighty works, which he does: so I, though I, by my sufferings and infirmities, appear weak and contemptible; yet shall I live to show the power of God, in punishing you miraculously.”

†

5, 6, 7 Ἀδόϰιμοι, translated here “reprobates,” ’tis plain in these three verses has no such signification, reprobation being very remote from the argument the apostle is here upon; but the word ἀδόϰιμος is here used for one that cannot give proof of Christ being in him; one that is destitute of a supernatural power: for thus stands St. Paul’s discourse, ver. 3, ἐπεὶ δοϰιμὴν ζηȣ͂εῖτε, ver. 6, γνώσεσθε ὅτι ȣ̓ϰ ἀδοϰιμοι ἐσμὲν, “Since you seek a proof, you shall know, that I am not destitute of a proof.”

*

11 The same, that he exhorts them to, in the beginning of the first epistle, ch. i. ver. 10.

*

1 “Called.” The manner of his being called, see Acts ix. 1—22.

†

Separated, vid. Acts xiii. 2.

‡

3 “Of David,” and so would have been registered of the house and lineage of David, as both his mother and reputed father were, if there had been another tax in his days. Vid. Luke ii. 4, Matt. xiii. 55.

*

4 “According to the spirit of holiness,” is here manifestly opposed to, “according to the flesh,” in the foregoing verse, and so must mean that more pure and spiritual part in him, which, by divine extraction, he had immediately from God: unless this be so understood, the antithesis is lost.

†

See paraphrase, chap. viii. 3.

‡

Ἐν δυνάμει, with power: he that will read in the original what St. Paul says, Eph. i. 19, 20, of the power, which God exerted, in raising Christ from the dead, will hardly avoid thinking that he there sees St. Paul labouring for words to express the greatness of it.

§

“Declared” does not exactly answer the word in the original, nor is it, perhaps, easy to find a word in English, that perfectly answers ὁρισθέντος, in the sense the apostle uses it here; ὁρgreekgζειν signifies properly to bound, terminate, or circumscribe; by which termination the figure of things sensible is made, and they are known to be of this, or that race, and are distinguished from others. Thus St. Paul takes Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and his entering into immortality, to be the most eminent and characteristical mark, whereby Christ is certainly known, and as it were determined to be the Son of God.

∥

6 To take the thread of St. Paul’s words here right, all from the word Lord, in the middle of ver, 3, to the beginning of this 7th, must be read as a parenthesis.

¶

6 and 7 “Called of Jesus Christ; called to be saints; beloved of God;” are but different expressions for professors of christianity.

*

11 “Spiritual gift.” If any one desire to know more particularly the spiitual gifts, he may read 1 Cor. xii.

†

“Establishment.” The jews were the worshippers of the true God, and had been, for many ages, his people; this could not be denied by the christians. Whereupon they were very apt to persuade the convert gentiles, that the Messias was promised, and sent, to the jewish nation alone, and that the gentiles could claim, or have no benefit by him; or, if they were to receive any benefit by the Messias, they were yet bound to observe the law of Moses, which was the way of worship, which God had prescribed to his people. This, in several places, very much shook the gentile converts, St. Paul makes it (as we have already observed,) his business, in this epistle, to prove, that the Messias was intended for the gentiles, as much as for the jews; and that to make any one partaker of the benefits and privileges of the gospel, there was nothing more required, but to believe and obey it: and accordingly, here in the entrance of the epistle, he wishes to come to Rome, that, by imparting some miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost to them, they might be established in the true notion of christianity, against all attempts of the jews, who would either exclude them from the privileges of it, or bring them under the law of Moses. So, where St. Paul expresses his care, that the colossians should be established in the faith, Col. ii. 7, it is visible, by the context, that what he opposed was judaism.

‡

12 “That is.” St. Paul, in the former verse, had said that he desired to come amongst them, to establish them; in these words, “that is,” he explains, or, as it were, recals what he had said, that he might not seem to think them not sufficiently instructed, or established in the faith, and therefore turns the end of his coming to them, to their mutual rejoicing in one another’s faith, when he and they came to see and know one another.

*

16 Vid. ver. 22, and 1 Cor. i. 21.

†

Vid. Eph. i. 19.

‡

“First.” The jews had the first offers of the gospel, and were always considered as those, who were first regarded in it. Vid. Luke xxiv. 47, Matt. x. 6, and xv. 24, Acts xiii. 46, and xviii. 2.

§

17 Διϰαιοσύνη Θεȣ͂, “the righteousness of God,” called so, because it is a righteousness of his contrivance and his bestowing. It is God that justifieth, chap. iii. 21—24, 26, 30, and viii. 33. Of which St. Paul speaks thus, Phil. iii. 9, “Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

∥

“From faith to faith.” The design of St. Paul here, being to show, that neither jews nor gentiles could, by works, attain to righteousness, i. e. such a perfect and complete obedience, whereby they could be justified, which he calls, “their own righteousness,” ch. x. 3. He here tells them, that in the gospel the righteousness of God, i. e. the righteousness, of which he is the author, and which he accepts, in the way of his own appointment, is revealed from faith to faith, i. e. to be all through, from one end to the other, founded in faith. If this be not the sense of this phrase here, it will be hard to make the following words, as it is written, The just shall live by faith, cohere: but thus they have an easy and natural connexiou, viz. whoever are justified either before, without, or under the law of Moses, or under the gospel, are justified, not by works, but by faith alone. Vid. Gal. iii. 11, which clears this interpretation. The same figure of speaking St. Paul uses, in other places, to the same purpose; ch. vi. 19, “Servants to iniquity unto iniquity;” i. e. wholly to iniquity; 2 Cor. iii. 18, “From glory to glory,” i. e. wholly glorious.

*

18 “Now revealed.” Vid. Acts xvii. 30, 31, “God now commandeth all men, every where, to repent, because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by the man whom he hath ordained.” These words of St. Paul to the athenians, give light to these here to the romans. A life again after death, and a day of judgment, wherein men should be all brought to receive sentence, according to what they had done, and be punished for their misdeeds, was what was before unknown, and was brought to light, by the revelation of the gospel from heaven, 2 Tim. i. 10, Matt. xiii. 40, &c. Luke xiii. 27, and, Rom. ii. 5, he calls the day of judgment the day of wrath, consonant to his saying here, the wrath of God is revealed.

†

Ἀσέϐειαν, “ungodliness,” seems to comprehend the atheism, polytheism, and idolatry of the heathen world, as ἀδιϰίαν, “unrighteousness,” their other miscarriages and vicious lives, according to which, they are distinctly threatened by St. Paul, in the following verses. The same appropriation of these words, I think, may be observed in other parts of this epistle.

‡

“Of men,” i. e. of all men, or as in the xviith of Acts, before cited, “all men, every where,” i. e. all men of all nations: before it was only to the children of Israel, that obedience and transgression were declared and proposed, as terms of life and death.

§

“Who hold the truth in unrighteousness, i. e. who are not wholly without the truth, but yet do not follow what they have of it, but live contrary to that truth they do know, or neglect to know what they might. This is evident from the next words, and for the same reason of God’s wrath, given, chap. ii. 8, in these words, “who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness.”

*

20 St. Paul says, νοȣ́μενα ϰαθορᾶται, if they are minded they are seen: the invisible things of God lie within the reach and discovery of men’s reason and understandings, but yet they must exercise their faculties and employ their minds about them.

†

21 Ἐμαgreektαιώθησαν εν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, “became vain in their imaginations,” or reasonings. What it is to become vain in the scripture language, one may see in these words, “and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen, and made to themselves molten images, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal,” 2 Kings xvii. 15, 16. And accordingly the forsaking of idolatry, and the worship of false gods, is called by St. Paul, “turning from vanity to the living God,” Acts xiv. 15.

‡

22 Φάσϰοντες εἷναι σοφοὶ, “professing themselves to be wise;” though the nations of the heathen generally thought themselves wise, in the religion they embraced; yet the apostle here, having all along in this and the following chapters used greeks for gentiles, he may be thought to have an eye to the greeks, among whom the men of study and enquiry had assumed to themselves the name of σοφοὶ, wise.

*

25 The false and fictitious gods of the heathen are very fitly called, in the scripture, “lyes,” Amos ii. 4, Jer. xvi. 19, 20.

†

27 “Errour,” so idolatry is called, 2 Pet. ii. 18. As they, against the light of nature, debased and dishonoured God, by their idolatry, it was a just and fit recompence they received, in being left to debase and dishonour themselves by unnatural lusts.

*

28 “And.” This copulative joins this verse to the 25th, so that the apostle will be better understood, if all between be looked on as a parenthesis, this being a continuation of what he was there saying, or rather a repetition of it in short, which led him into the thread of his discourse.

†

Ὀυϰ ἐδοϰίμασαν, “did not like,” rather did not try, or search; for the Greek word signifies to search, and find out by searching; so St. Paul often uses it, chap. ii. 18, and xii. 2, compared, and xiv. 22, Eph. v. 10.

‡

Ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, with acknowledgment. That the gentiles were not wholly without the knowledge of God in the world, St. Paul tells us, in this very chapter, but they did not acknowledge him, as they ought, ver. 21. They had God εἶχον Θεὸν, but ȣ̓ϰ ἐδοϰίμασαν ἔχειν ἀυτὸν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, did not so improve that knowledge, as to acknowledge, or honour him as they ought. This verse seems, in other words, to express the same that is said, ver. 21.

§

Εἰς ἀδόϰιμον νȣ͂ν, “to a reprobate mind,” rather to an unsearching mind, in the sense of St. Paul, who often uses compounds and derivatives in the sense, wherein, a little before, he used the primitive words, though a little varying from the precise Greek idiom: an example whereof we have, in this very word ἀδόϰιμος, 2 Cor. xiii. where having, ver. 3, used δοϰιμὴ for a proof of his mission by supernatural gifts, he uses ἀδόϰιμος for one that was destitute of such proofs. So here he tells the romans, that, the gentiles not exercising their minds to search out the truth, and form their judgments right, God left them to an unsearching, unjudicious mind.

Non explorantibus permisit mentem non exploratricem.

∥

A discourse like this of St. Paul here, wherein idolatry is made the cause of the enormous crimes and profligate lives, men run into, may be read, Wisdom, xiv. 11, &c.

*

32 Τὸ διϰαίωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, “the judgment of God;” might it not be translated, the rectitude of God, i. e. that rule of rectitude which God had given to mankind, in giving them reason? as that righteousness, which God requires, for salvation, in the gospel, is called “the righteousness of God,” ver. 17. Rectitude, in the translation, being used in this appropriated sense, as διϰαίωμα is in the original. Vid. note, chap. ii. 26.

†

Οὐϰ ἐνόησαν ὄτι did not understand that they who commit, &c. This reading is justified by the Clermont, and another ancient ms, as well as by that, which the old Latin version followed, as well as Clement, Isidore, and Occumenius? and will, probably, be thought the more genuine by those who can hardly suppose that St. Paul should affirm, that the gentile world did know, that he, who offended against any of the directions of this natural rule of rectitude, taught, or discoverable by the light of reason, was worthy of death, especially if we remember what he says, chap. v. 13, “That sin is not imputed when there is no positive law,” and chap. vii. 9, “I was alive without the law, once:” both which places signifying, that men did not know death to be the wages of sin, in general, but by the declaration of a positive law.

‡

Συνευδοϰοῦσι τοῖς ϖράσσȣσι, “have pleasure in those that do them.” He that considers, that the design of the apostle here, manifest in the immediately following words, is to combat the animosity of the jews against the gentiles; and that there could not be a more effectual way to shame them into a more modest and mild temper, than by showing them that the gentiles, in all the darkness that blinded them, and the extravagancies they ran into, were never guilty of such an absurdity as this, to censure and separate from others, and show an implacable aversion to them, for what they themselves were equally guilty of. He, I say, that considers this, will be easily persuaded to understand συνευδοϰȣ͂σι here as I do, for a complacency, that avoided censuring or breaking with them, who were in the same state and course of life with themselves, that did nothing amiss, but what they themselves were equally guilty of. There can be nothing clearer than that συνευδοϰȣ͂σι, have pleasure, in this verse, is opposed to ϰρίνεις, judgest, in the next verse, without which I do not see how it is possible to make out the inference, which the apostle draws here.

*

1 “Therefore.” This is a term of illation, and shows the consequence here, drawn from the foregoing words. Therefore the jew is inexcusable in judging, because the gentiles, with all the darkness that was on their minds, was never guilty of such a folly, as to judge those, who were no more faulty than themselves. For the better understanding of this place, it may not, perhaps, be amiss to set the whole argumentation of the apostle here in its due light: it stands thus: “the gentiles acknowledged the rectitude of the law of nature, but know not that those, who break any of its rules, incurred death, by their transgression: but, as much in the dark as they were, they are not guilty of any such absurdity, as to condemn others, or refuse communication with them, as unworthy of their society, who are no worse than themselves, nor do any thing, but what they themselves do equally with them, but live in complacency, on fair terms, with them, without censure or separation, thinking as well of their condition as of their own: therefore, if the blinded heathen do so, thou, O jew, art inexcusable, who having the light of the revealed law of God, and knowing by it, that the breaches of the law merit death, dost judge others to perdition, and shut them out from salvation, for that, which thou thyself art equally guilty of, viz. disobedience to the law. Thou, a poor, ignorant, conceited, fallible man, sittest in judgment upon others, and commit test the same things thou condemnest them for: but this thou mayst be sure, that the judgment and condemnation of God is right and firm, and will certainly be executed upon those who do such things. For thou, who adjudgest the heathen to condemnation, for the same things which thou dost thyself, canst thou imagine that thou thyself shalt escape the same judgment of God? God, whatever thou mayst think, is no respecter of persons: both jews as well as gentiles, that are perversely contentious against others, and do not themselves obey the gospel, shall meet with wrath and indignation from God: and gentiles, as well as jews, whom the goodness and forbearance of God bringeth to repentance, and an humble, submissive acceptance of the gospel, shall find acceptance with God, and eternal life, in the kingdom of the Messias; from which, if thou art contentious to shut out the gentiles, thou manifestly shuttest out thyself.”

†

“O man, whosoever thou art.” It is plain from ver. 17, and 27, and the whole tenour of this chapter, that St. Paul, by these words, means the jews; but there are two visible reasons, why he speaks in these terms: 1st, he makes his conclusion general, as having the more force, but less offence, than if he had bluntly named the jews, whom he is very careful, in all this epistle, to treat in the softest manner imaginable. 2dly, He uses the term, man, emphatically, in opposition to God, in the next verse.

‡

“Judgest.” There will need nothing to be said to those, who read this epistle with the least attention, to prove, that the judging, which St. Paul here speaks of, was, that aversion, which the jews generally had to the gentiles; so that the unconverted jews could not bear with the thoughts of a Messias, that admitted the heathen, equally with them, into his kingdom; nor could the converted jews be brought to admit them into their communion, as the people of God, now equally with themselves: so that they generally, both one and the other, judged them unworthy the favour of God, and out of a capacity to become his people, any other way, but by circumcision and an observance of the ritual parts of the law, the inexcusableness and absurdity whereof St. Paul shows in this chapter.

*

2 “According to truth,” doth, I suppose, signify not barely a true judgment, which will stand in opposition to an erroneous, and that will not take effect, but something more, i. e. according to the truth of his predictions and threats. As if he had said, “But if God in judgment cast off the jews, from being any longer his people, we know this to be according to his truth, who hath forewarned them of it. Ye jews judge the gentiles not to be received into the people of God, and refuse them admittance into the kingdom of the Messias, though you break the law, as well as they; you judge as prejudiced, passionate men. But the judgment of God against you will stand firm.” The reason why he does it so covertly, may be that, which I have before mentioned, his great care not to shock the jews, especially here in the beginning, till he had got fast hold upon them. And hence possibly it is, that he calls obeying the gospel, obeying the truth, ver. 8, and uses other the like soft expressions in this chapter.

*

7 Patience, in this verse, is opposed to contentiousa in the next, and seems principally to regard the jews, who had no patience for any consideration of the gentiles, but with a strange peevishness and contention, opposed the freedom of the gospel, in admitting the believing gentiles to the franchises of the kingdom of the Messias, upon equal terms with themselves.

†

8 Though by “truth,” the gospel be here meant, yet I doubt not but St. Paul used the term, truth, with an eye to the jews, who though some few of them received the gospel, yet even a great part of those few joined with the rest of their nation, in opposing this great truth of the gospel, that under the Messias, the gentiles, who believed, were the people of God, as well as the jews, and as such were to be received by them.

‡

9, 10 “The jew first, and also the gentile.” We see, by these two verses, and chap. i. 16, that St. Paul carefully lays it down, that there was now, under the gospel, no other national distinction between the jews and the gentiles, but only a priority in the offer of the gospel, and in the design of rewards and punishments, according as the jews obeyed, or not. Which may farther satisfy us, that the distinction, which St. Paul insists on so much here, and all through the first part of this epistle, is national; the comparison being between the jews, as nationally the people of God; and the gentiles, as not the people of God, before the Messias: and that, under the Messias, the professors of christianity, consisting most of converted gentiles, were the people of God, owned and acknowledged as such by him, the unbelieving jews being rejected, and the unbelieving gentiles never received; but that yet personally both jews and gentiles, every single person, shall be punished for his own particular sin, as appears by the two next verses.

*

12 Ἀπολȣ͂νται, “shall perish;” ϰριθήσονται, “shall be judged.” Those under the law, St. Paul says, “shall be judged by the law:” and this is easy to conceive, because they were under a positive law, wherein life and death were annexed, as the reward and punishment of obedience and disobedience; but of the gentiles, who were not under the positive law, he says barely, that “they shall perish.” St. Paul does not use these so eminently differing expressions for nothing; they will, I think, give some light to chap. v. 13, and my interpretation of it, if they lead us no farther.

†

14 Μὴ νόμον ἕϰονgreekgες, “having not the law,” or not having a law. The apostle by the word law, generally, in this epistle, signifying a positive law, given by God, and promulgated by a revelation from heaven, with the sanction of declared rewards and punishments annexed to it, it is not improbable, that in this verse, (where, by the Greek particle, he so plainly points out the law of Moses,) by νόμος, without the article, may intend law, in general, in his sense of a law, and so this verse may be translated thus: “for when the gentiles, who have not a law, do by nature the things contained in the law: these, not having a law, are a law to themselves.” And so, ver. 12, “As many as have sinned, being under a law, shall be judged by a law.” For though, from Adam to Christ, there was no revealed, positive law, but that given to the israelites; yet it is certain that, by Jesus Christ, a positive law from heaven is given to all mankind, and that those, to whom this has been promulgated, by the preaching of the gospel, are all under it, and shall be judged by it.

*

16 “According to my gospel,” i. e. as I make known in my preaching the gospel. That this is the meaning of this phrase, may be seen, 2 Tim. ii. 8. And of St. Paul’s declaring of it, in his preaching, we have an instance left upon record, Acts xvii. 31.

†

17 Ἐπονομάζη, thou art named, emphatically said by St. Paul; for he, that was such a jew, as he describes in the following verses, he insists on it, was a jew only by name, not in reality, for so he concludes, ver. 28 and 29, he is not, in the esteem of God, a jew, who is so outwardly only.

‡

17—20 In these four verses St. Paul makes use of the titles the jews assumed to themselves, from the advantages they had, of light and knowledge, above the gentiles, to show them how inexcusable they were, in judging the gentiles, who were even in their own account so much beneath them in knowledge, for doing those things, which they themselves were also guilty of.

*

18 Τὰ διαϕέρονgreektα, signifies things excellent, convenient, controverted, or differing. In either of these senses it may be understood here, though the last, viz. their difference in respect of lawful and unlawful, I think may be pitched on, as most suited to the apostle’s design here, and that which the jews much stood upon, as giving them one great pre-eminence above the defiled gentiles.

†

19, 20 “Blind, in darkness, foolish babes,” were appellations which the jews gave to the gentiles, signifying how much inferior to themselves they thought them in knowledge.

‡

20 Μόρϕωσις, “form,” seems here to be the same with τύπος, “form,” chap. vi. 17, i. e. “such a draught, as contained and represented the parts and lineaments of the whole.” For it is to be remembered, that the apostle uses these expressions and terms here, in the same sense the jews spoke of themselves, vauntingly, over the gentiles, he thereby aggravating their fault, in judging the gentiles as they did.

*

24 See 2 Sam. xii. 14, Ezek. xxxvi. 23.

†

25 Circumcision is here put for “being a jew,” as being one of the chief and most discriminating rites of that people.

‡

“Profiteth, if thou keep the law;” because a jew, that kept the law, was to have life therein, Lev. xviii. 5.

§

26 Τὰ διϰαιώμαgreektα τȣ͂ νόμȣ, the righteousness of the law.” I have taken the liberty to render it, the rectitude of the law, in an appropriated sense of the word, rectitude, in imitation of St. Paul, who uses διϰαιώμαgreektα here for all those precepts of the law, which contain in them any part of the natural and eternal rule of rectitude, which is made known to men, by the light of reason. This rule of their actions all mankind, uncircumcised as well as circumcised, had, and is that which St. Paul calls διϰαίωμα τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, ch. i. 32. Because it came from God, and was made by him; the moral rule to all mankind being laid within the discovery of their reason, which if they kept to, it was διϰαίωμα, righteousness to them, or they were justified. And this rule of morality, St. Paul says, the gentile world did acknowledge. So that διϰαίωμα τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, ch. i. 32, signifies that rule of right, taken in general; and διϰαιώμαgreektα τȣ͂ νόμȣ here signifies the particular branches of it contained in the law of Moses. For no other part of the law of Moses could an heathen be supposed to observe, or be concerned in: and, therefore, those only can be the διϰαιώμαgreektα τȣ́ νόμȣ here meant. If we consider the various senses, that translators and expositors have given to this term διϰαίωμα, in the several places of St. Paul’s epistles, where it occurs, we shall have occasion to think that the apostle used this word with great latitude and variety of significations; whereas I imagine, that, if we carefully read those passages, we shall find, that he used it every where in the same sense, i. e. for that rule, which, if complied with, justified, or rendered perfect, the person, or thing, it referred to. For Example:

Rom. i. 32. Διϰαίωμα Θεȣ͂, translated, “the judgment of God,” is that rule of right, which, if the heathen world had kept and perfectly obeyed, they had been righteous before God.

Rom. ii. 26. Διϰαίωματα τȣ͂ νόμȣ, “the righteousness of the law,” are those precepts of the law of Moses, which, if the uncircumcised, whom he there speaks of, had kept, they had been righteous before God.

Rom. v. 16. Εἰς διϰαιώμα, “to justification,” is to the obtaining of righteousness.

Rom. v. 18. Δἰ ἑνὸς διϰαιώμαgreektος, “by one righteousness,” is by one act, whereby he was justified or completely perfected, to be what he had undertaken to be, viz. the redeemer and saviour of the world. For it was διὰ ϖαθήματων, or, as some copies read it, διὰ παθήματος, by his suffering, viz. death on the cross, that he was perfected, Heb. ii. 9, 10, and 14, 15, and v. 7—9, Rom. v. 10, Phil. ii. 8, Col. i. 21, 22.

Rom. viii. 4. Τὸ διϰαίωμα τȣ͂ νόμȣ, “the righteousness of the law.” Here, as Rom. ii. 26, it is that rule of right, contained in the law, which, if a man exactly performed, he was righteous and perfect before God.

Heb. ix. 1. Διϰαιώματα λαgreektρείας, “ordinances of divine service,” are those rules, or precepts, concerning the outward worship of God, which, when conformed to, render it perfect, and such as was right and unblameable before God.

Heb. ix. 10. Διϰαιώματα σαρϰὸς, “carnal ordinances,” are such rules concerning ritual performances, as, when observed, justified the flesh. By these observances, according as they were prescribed, the flesh, or natural outward man, obtained a legal outward holiness, or righteousness; there was no exception against him, but he was freely admitted into the congregation, and into the sanctuary.

In the same sense διϰαιώματά is also used in the Apocalypse.

Rev. xv. 4. Τὰ δίϰαιώματα σȣ ἐφανερώθησαν, “thy judgments are made manifest,” i. e. those terms whereupon men are to be justified before God, were clearly and fully made known, under the gospel. Here, as Rom. i. they are called διϰαιώματα Θεȣ͂, the terms which God had prescribed to men, for their justification. And

Rev. xix. 8. Τὰ διϰαιώματα τῶν ἁγίων, “the righteousness of the saints,” i. e. the performances, whereby the saints stand justified before God.

So that, if we will observe it, διϰαίωμα is the rule of right; as having God for its author, it is διϰαίωμα Θεȣ͂; as contained in the precepts of the law, it is διϰαιώματα τȣ͂ νόμȣ; as it concerns the external, instituted rites of the levitical worship of God, it is διϰαιώματα λατρείας; as it contains the outward, legal, or ritual holiness of the jews, it is διϰαιώματα σαρϰὸς; as it is in holy men made perfect, it is διϰαιώματα ἁγίων.

It may not be amiss to take a little notice also of St. Paul’s use of the other term here, νόμος, “law,” which he commonly puts for a positive rule given to men, with the sanction of a penalty annexed; and in particular, frequently (sometimes with, sometimes without, the particle) for the law of Moses, without naming what law he means, as if there had been no other law in the world, as indeed there was not any other in St. Paul’s notion of the law, from the fall to our Saviour’s time, but only the law, given by God to the israelites, by the hand of Moses. Under the gospel the law of Moses was abrogated: but yet the διϰαιώματα τȣ͂ νόμȣ were not abrogated. The διϰαιώμα τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂ not only stood firm, but was, by the divine authority, promulgated anew, by Jesus Christ, the King and Saviour of the world. For it is of this that he says, “that he is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it,” i. e. to give it positively and plainly, in its full latitude and extent, and set these διϰαιώματα τȣ͂ νόμȣ͂ in their due light and full force; and accordingly, we see all the branches of it more expressly commanded, and with penalties more vigorously inforced, on all his subjects, by our Saviour and his apostles, than they were in the law of Moses.

Thus we see that, by the doctrine of St. Paul and the New Testament, there is one and the same rule of rectitude set to the actions of all mankind, jews, gentiles, and christians; and that failing of a complete obedience to it in every tittle, makes a man unrighteous, the consequence whereof is death. For the gentiles, that have sinned without a law, shall perish without a law; the jews, that have sinned, having a law, shall be judged by that law; but that both jews and gentiles shall be saved from death, if they believe in Jesus Christ, and sincerely endeavour after righteousness, though they do not attain unto it; their faith being accounted to them for righteousness, Rom. iii. 19—24.

*

27 “Judge thee.” This he saith, prosecuting the design he began with, ver. 1, of showing the folly and unreasonableness of the jews, in judging the gentiles, and denying them admittance and fellowship with themselves, in the kingdom of the Messias.

†

It is plain that “by nature,” and “by the letter and circumcision,” are there opposed to one another, and mean the one, a man, in his natural state, wholly a stranger to the law of God revealed by Moses; and the other, a jew, observing the external rites contained in the letter of the law.

‡

21 Vid. chap. ix. 6, 7, Gal. vi. 15, 16.

§

29 St. Paul’s exposition of this, see Phil. iii. 3, Col. ii. 11.

*

“Letter,” vid. ch. vii. 6, 2 Cor. iii. 6, 7, compared with 17.

*

2 A list of the advantages, the jews had over the gentiles, he gives, chap. ix. 4, 5; but here mentions only one of them, that was the most proper to his present purpose.

†

3 How this was made good, St. Paul explains more at large in the following chapter, and chap. ix. 6—13.

*

5 That, by “the righteousness of God,” St. Paul here intends God’s faithfulness, in keeping his promise of saving believers, gentiles as well as jews, by righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, is plain, ver. 4, 7, 26. St. Paul’s great design here, and all through the eleven first chapters of this epistle, being to convince the Romans, that God purposed, and in the Old Testament declared, that he would receive and save the gentiles, by faith in the Messias, which was the only way, whereby jews, or gentiles (they being all sinners, and equally destitute of righteousness by works) were to be saved.

This was a doctrine which the jews could not bear, and therefore the apostle here, in the person of a jew, urges, and, in his own person, answers their objections against it, confirming to the Romans the veracity and faithfulness of God, on whom they might, with all assurance, depend, for the performance of whatever he said.

†

6 This, which is an argument in the mouth of Abraham, Gen. xviii. 25, St. Paul very appositely makes use of, to stop the mouths of the blasphemous jews.

‡

7 “For.” This particle plainly joins what follows, in this and the next verse, to “vengeance,” in the fifth verse, and shows it to be, as it is, a continuation of the objection begun in that verse; why St. Paul broke it into pieces, by intruding the 6th verse into the middle of it, there is a very plain reason. In the objection there were two things to be corrected; first, the charging God with unrighteousness, which as soon as mentioned, it was a becoming interruption of St. Paul, to quash immediately, and to stop the jews mouths, with the words of Abraham. 2dly, The other thing, in the objection, was a false calumny upon the christians, as if they, preaching justification by free grace, said, “Let us do evil that good may come of it” To which the apostle’s answer was the more distinct, being subjoined to that branch, separated from the other.

*

“Lye.” The sense of the place makes it plain, that St. Paul, by lye, here means sin in general, but seems to have used the word lye, as having a more forcible and graceful antithesis to the truth of God, which the objection pretends to be thereby illustrated.

†

8 “Some.” It is past doubt that these were the jews. But St. Paul, always tender towards his own nation, forbears to name them, when he pronounces this sentence, that their casting-off and destruction now at hand, for this scandal and other opposition to the christian religion, was just.

‡

9 Having, in the six foregoing verses, justified the truth of God, notwithstanding his casting off the jews, and vindicated the doctrine of grace, against the cavils of the jews, which two objections of theirs came naturally in his way, the apostle takes up here again, the jews question proposed, ver. 1, and argues it home to the case in hand. Τί ȣ̓ν ϖροεχόμεθα; being but the same with Τί ȣ̓ν τὸ ϖερισσὸν τȣ͂ Ἰȣδαίȣ; ver. 1. “Have jews, then, any preference in the kingdom of the Messias?” To which he answers, “No, not at all.” That this is the meaning, is visible from the whole chapter, where he lays both jews and gentiles in an equal state, in reference to justification.

§

“Already,” viz. chap. ii. 3, where St. Paul, under the gentler compellation of, “O man,” charges the jews to be sinners, as well as the gentiles: and ver. 17—24, shows, that, by having the law, they were no more kept from being sinners, than the gentiles were, without the law. And this charge against them, that they were sinners, he here proves against them, from the testimony of their own sacred books, contained in the Old Testament.

*

19 The law here signifies the whole Old Testament, which containing revelations from God, in the time of the law, and being, to those under the law, of divine authority, and a rule, as well as the law itself, it is sometimes in the New Testament called the law: and so our Saviour himself uses the term law, John x. 34. The meaning of St. Paul here is, that the declarations of God, which he had cited out of the Old Testament, were spoken of the jews, who were under the dispensation of the Old Testament, and were, by the word of God to them, all of them pronounced sinners.

*

20 Ἐξ ἔργων νόμȣ, I should render, “by deeds of law,” i. e. by actions of conformity to a law requiring the performance of the διϰαίωμα Θεȣ͂, the right rule of God (mentioned, chap. i. 32) with a penalty annexed, “no flesh can be justified:” but every one, failing of an exact conformity of his actions to the immutable rectitude of that eternal rule of right, will be found unrighteous, and so incur the penalty of the law. That this is the meaning of ἴργα νόμȣ, is evident, because the apostle’s declaration here is concerning all men, ϖᾶσα σάρξ. But we know the heathen world were not under the law of Moses: and accordingly St. Paul does not say, ἐξ ἔργων τȣ͂ νόμȣ, “by the deeds of the law,” but ἐξ ἔργων νόμȣ, “by deeds of law.” Though in the foregoing and following verse, where he would specify the law of Moses, he uses the article with νόμος three times.

†

“No man.” St. Paul uses here the word flesh, for man, emphatically, as that wherein the force of sin is seated. Vid. chap. vii. 14, 18, and viii. 13.

‡

The law cannot help men to righteousness. This, which is but implied here, he is large and express in, chap. vii. and is said expressly, chap. viii. 3, Gal. iii. 21.

§

Chap. vii. 13.

*

22 Vid. chap. x. 12, Gal. iii. 22—28.

†

23 Here the glory, that comes from God, or by his appointment, is called, “the glory of God,” as the righteousness, which comes from him, or by his appointment, is called, “the righteousness of God,” chap. i. 17, and the rule of moral rectitude, which has God for its author, or is appointed by him, is called διϰοίωμα Θεȣ͂, chap. i. 32. That this is the glory here meant, vid. chap. ii. 7, 10. In the same sense the glory of God is used, chap. v. 2.

‡

24 Redemption signifies deliverance, but not deliverance from every thing, but deliverance from that, to which a man is in subjection, or bondage. Nor does redemption by Jesus Christ import, there was any compensation made to God, by paying what was of equal value, in consideration whereof they were delivered: for that is inconsistent with what St. Paul expressly says here, viz. that sinners are justified by God gratis, and of his free bounty. What this redemption is, St. Paul tells us, Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14, even the forgiveness of sins. But if St. Paul had not been so express in defining what he means by redemption, they yet would be thought to lay too much stress upon the criticism of a word, in the translation, who would thereby force from the word, in the original, a necessary sense, which it is plain it hath not. That redeeming, in the sacred scripture language, signifies not precisly paying an equivalent, is so clear, that nothing can be more. I shall refer my reader to three or four places amongst a great number, Exod. vi. 6, Deut. vii. 8, and xv. 12, and xxiv. 18. But if any one will, from the literal signification of the word in English, persist in it, against St. Paul’s declarations, that it necessarily implies an equivalent price paid, I desire him to consider to whom: and that, if we will strictly adhere to the metaphor, it must be to those, whom the redeemed are in bondage to, andfrom whom we are redeemed, viz. sin and Satan. If he will not believe his own system for this, let him believe St. Paul’s words, Tit. ii. 14, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity.” Nor could the price be paid to God, in strictness of justice (for that is made the argument here;) unless the same person ought, by that strict justice, to have both the thing redeemed, and the price paid for its redemption. For it is to God we are redeemed, by the death of Christ, Rev. v. 9, “Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.”

*

25 Ἱλαϛήριον, signifies propitiatory, or mercy-seat, and not propitiation, as Mr. Mede has rightly observed upon this place, in his discourse on God’s house, § 1.

†

The Alexandrine copy omits the words διὰ ϖίϛεως, “by faith:” which seems conformable to the sense of the aposle here: he says, that God hath set forth Christ to be the propitiatory in his blood. The atonement, under the law, was made by blood, sprinkled on the propitiatory or mercy-seat, Lev. xvi. 14. Christ, says St. Paul here, is now set out, and shown by God, to be the real propitiatory, or mercy-seat, in his own blood; see Heb. ix. 25, 26, where the sacrifice of himself is opposed to the blood of others. God hath set him out to be so, to declare his righteousness; the mercy-seat being the place, wherein God spake and declared his pleasure, Exod. xxv. 22, Numb. xxvii. 8, 9. And it was there, where God always appeared, Lev. xvi. 2. It was the place of his presence, and therefore he is said to dwell between the cherubims, Psal. lxxx. 1, 2 Kings xix. 15. For between the cherubims was the mercy-seat. In all which respects our Saviour, who was the antitype, is properly called the propitiatory.

‡

Διϰαιοσύνη, “righteousness,” seems to be used here, in the same sense it is ver. 5, for “the righteousness of God,” in keeping his word with the nation of the jews, notwithstanding their provocations. And indeed, with the following words of this verse, contains in it a farther answer to the jews insinuation of God’s being hard to their nation, by showing that God had been very favourable to them, in not casting them off, as they had deserved, till, according to his promise, he had sent them the Messias, and they had rejected him.

§

Διὰ τὴν ϖάρεσιν, “by passing over.” I do not remember any place where ϖάρεσις signifies remission or forgiveness, but passing by, or passing over, as our translation has it in the margin, i. e. over-looking, or as it were, not minding; in which sense, it cannot be applied to the past sins of private persons, for God neither remits, nor passes them by, so as not to take notice of them. But this ϖάρεσις τῶν ϖρογεγονότων ἁμαρgreektημάτων, passing over past sins, is spoken nationally, in respect of the people of the jews; who, though they were a very sinful nation, as appears by the places here brought against them by St. Paul, yet God passed by all that, and would not be hindered by their past sinfulness from being just, in keeping his promise, in exhibiting to them Christ, the propitiatory. But, though he would not be provoked by their past sins, so as to cast them off from being his people, before he had sent them the promised Messias, to be their Saviour; yet after that, when, at the due time, he had manifested his righteousness to them, “that he might be just, and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus,” he no longer bore with their sinful obstinacy; but, when they rejected the Saviour (whom he had sent, according to his promise) from being their King, God rejected them from being his people, and took the gentiles into his church, and made them his people, jointly and equally with the few believing jews. This is plainly the sense of the apostle here, where he is discoursing of the nation of the jews, and their state, in comparison with the gentiles; not of the state of private persons. Let any one without prepossession attentively read the context, and he will find it to be so.

*

26 Διϰαιοσύνης αὐτȣ͂, “his righteousness,” is here to be understood in both senses, in which St. Paul had used it before, in this chapter, viz. ver. 5 and 22, as it is manifested by St. Paul’s explaining of it himself, in these words immediately following: “that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus,” which are the two senses, wherein the righteousness of God is used.

†

“At this time,” viz. The fulness of time, according to his promise.

‡

Τὸν ἐϰ ϖίϛεως Ἰησȣ͂, if this phrase had been translated, him that is of the faith of Jesus, as it is chap. iv. 16, and Gal. iii. 7, rather than him which believeth in Jesus, it would better have expressed the apostle’s meaning here, which was to distinguish οἱ ἐϰ ϖίϛεως, those who are of faith, from οἱ ἐϰ ϖεριgreektομῆς, or οἱ ἐϰ νόμȣ, those who are of the circumcision, or those who are of the law, speaking of them, as of two sorts, or races of men, of two different extractions. To understand this place fully, let any one read chap. iv. 12—16, Gal. iii. 7—10, where he will find the apostle’s sense more at large.

§

27 The glorying here spoken of, is that of the jews, i. e. their judging of the gentiles, and their contempt of them, which St. Paul had before in several places taken notice of. And here, to take down their pride and vanity, he tells them, it is wholly excluded by the gospel, wherein God, who is the God of the gentiles, as well as of the jews, justifieth by faith alone the jews as well as the gentiles, since no man could be justified by the deeds of the law. This seems to be said to the converted jews, to stop their thinking that they had any advantage over the gentiles under the gospel. No, says he, the gospel, which is the law of faith, lays you equal with the gentiles, and you have no ground to assume any thing to yourselves, or set yourselves above them, now under the Messias. This, and all the rest, to this purpose in this epistle, is said to establish the converted Romans in their title to the favour of God, equally with the jews, in the gospel, and to fortify them against any disturbance that might be given them by the pretending jews, which is the principal design of this epistle, as we have already observed.

*

28 “Therefore.” This inference is drawn from what he had taught, ver. 23.

†

Vid. Acts xiii. 39, chap. viii. 3, Gal. ii. 16.

‡

30 Ἐπείπεϱ εἷς ὁ Θεὸς, “since God is one.” He that will see the force of St. Paul’s reasoning here, must look to Zachary xiv. 9, from whence these words are taken, where the prophet speaking of the time, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth, and not barely over the little people, shut up in the land of Canaan, he says, “in that day there shall be one Lord,” i. e. God shall not be, as he is now, the God of the jews alone, whom only he hath known, of all the people of the earth: but he shall be the God of the gentiles also, the same merciful, reconciled God to the people of all nations. This prophecy the jews understood of the times of the Messias, and St. Paul here presses them with it.

§

It was impossible for remote nations to keep the law of Moses, a great part of the worship, required by it, being local, and confined to the temple at Jerusalem.

∥

31 Νόμον, “law,” is here repeated twice, without the article, and it is plain that by it St. Paul does not mean precisely the Mosaical law, but so much of it as is contained in the natural and eternal rule of right, mentioned ch. i. 33, and xi. 26, and is again by a positive command re-enacted and continued as a law under the Messias, vid. Mat. xxviii. 20.

*

“Establish.” The doctrine of justification by faith necessarily supposeth a rule of righteousness, which those, who are justified by faith, come short of; and also a punishment incurred, from which they are set free, by being justified: and so this doctrine establishes a law; and accordingly the moral part of the law of Moses, that διϰαίωμα τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, as the apostle calls it in the place above quoted, chap. i. 32, is enforced again, by our Saviour and the apostles, in the gospel, with penalties annexed to the breach of it.

*

1 “Our father, according to the flesh.” St. Paul speaks here, as lineally descended from Abraham, and joins himself therein, with the rest of his nation; of whom he calls Abraham the father, according to the flesh, to distinguish the jews by birth, from those, who were Abraham’s seed according to the promise, viz. those who were of the faith of Abraham, whether jews or gentiles, a distinction, which he insists on, all through this chapter.

†

2 Κάυχημα, translated here, “glorying,” I take to signify the same with ϰαυχᾶσαι, translated “boasting,” chap. ii. 17, 23, in which places it is used to signify the jews valuing themselves, upon some national privileges, above the rest of the world, as if they had thereby some peculiar right to the favour of God, above other men. This the jewish nation, thinking themselves, alone, to have a title to be the people of God, expressed, in their judging the gentiles, whom they despised, and looked on as unworthy and uncapable to be received into the kingdom of the Messias, and admitted into fellowship with their nation, under the gospel. This conceit of theirs St. Paul opposes here, and makes it his business to show the falsehood and groundlessness of it, all through the eleven first chapters of this epistle. I ask, whether it would not help the English reader the better to find and pursue the sense of St. Paul, if the Greek term were every-where rendered by the same English word? whether “boasting,” or “glorying,” I think of no great consequence, so one of them be kept to.

*

5 Τὸν ἀσεϐῆ, “him being ungodly.” By these words St. Paul plainly points out Abraham, who was ἀσεϐὴς, “ungodly,” i. e. a gentile, not a worshipper of the true God, when God called him. Vid. note, ch. i. 18.

†

6 Λογίσεται, “reckoneth.” What this imputing or reckoning of righteousness is, may be seen in ver. 8, viz. the not reckoning of sin to any one, the not putting sin to his account: the apostle, in these two verses, using these two expressions, as equivalent. From hence the expression, of blotting out of iniquity, so frequently used in sacred scripture, may be understood, i. e. striking it out of the account. Λογίσεσθαι signifies to reckon, or account, and, with a dative case, to put to any one’s account; and accordingly, ver. 3, 4, 5, it is translated, counted, or reckoned; which word, for the sake of English readers, I have kept to in this, and ver. 9, 10, and 11.

*

11 See Gen. xvii. 11.

†

11, 12 What righteousness reckoned to any one, or as it is usually called, imputed righteousness, is, St. Paul explains, ver. 6—9. Whom this blessing belongs to, he inquires, ver. 9, and here, ver. 11, and 12, he declares, who are the children of Abraham, that from him inherit this blessing; ver. 11, he speaks of the gentiles, and there shows that Abraham, who was justified by faith, before he was circumcised, (the want whereof, the jews looked on as a distinguishing mark of a gentile) was the father of all those, among the gentiles, who should believe, without being circumcised. And here, ver. 12, he speaksof the jews, and says, that Abraham was their father; but not that all should be justified, who were only circumcised: but those, who, to their circumcision, added the faith of Abraham, which he had, before he was circumcised. That which misled those who mistook the sense of St. Paul here, seems to be, their not observing that τοῖς ȣ̓ϰ ἐϰ ϖεριτομῆς, is referred to, and governed by εἰς τὸ λογισθῆναι, which must be supposed repeated here, after ϖατέρα ϖερτομῦς. Or else the apostle’s sense and argument will not stand in its full force, but the antithesis will be lost, by preserving of which the sense runs thus: and the father of the circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to those who, &c. Another thing, very apt to mislead them, was the joining of μόνον only, to ȣϰ not, as if it were ȣ̓ μόνον τοῖς, not only those who are of the circumcision; whereas it should be understood, as it stands joined to ϖεριτομῆς, and so ϖεριτομῆς μόνον are best translated barely circumcision, and the apostle’s sense runs thus: “that he might be the father of the gentiles that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also: and the father of the jews, that righteousness might be imputed, not to them who have circumcision only, but to them who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had being uncircumcised.” In which way of understanding this passage, not only the apostle’s meaning is very plain, easy, and coherent; but the construction of the Greek exactly corresponds to that of ver. 11, and is genuine, easy, and natural, which any other way will be very perplexed.

*

13 The promise, here meant, is that which he speaks of, ver. 11, whereby Abraham was made the father of all that should believe, all the world over; and for that reason he is called ϰληρόνομος ϰόσμȣ, “heir, or lord of the world.” For the believers, of all nations of the world, being given to him for a posterity, he becomes, thereby, lord and possessor (for so heir amongst the Hebrews signified) of the world. For it is plain the apostle, in this verse, pursues the argument he was upon, in the two former. And it is also plain, that St. Paul makes circumcision to be the seal of the promise made to Abraham, Gen. xii. as well as of that made to him, Gen. xvii. and so both these to be but one covenant, and that of ch. xvii. to be but a repetition and farther explication of the former, as is evident from this chapter, compared with Gal. iii. In both which the apostle argues, that the gentiles were intended to be justified, as well as the jews: and that both jews and gentiles, who are justified, are justified by faith, and not by the works of the law.

†

Gal. iii. 7.

‡

14 See Gal. iii. 18.

§

15 Ch. viii. 3, Gal. iii. 21.

∥

See ch. iii. 19, 20, and v. 10, 13, 20, and vii. 7, 8, 10, 1 Cor. xv. 56, Gal. iii. 19, John ix. 41, and xv. 22.

*

Οδ οὐϰ ἔϛιν νόμος, ȣ̓δὲ ϖαράϐασις, of that, concerning which there is no law, with the sanction of a punishment annexed, there can be no transgression, incurring wrath or punishment. Thus it may be rendered, if we read ου with an aspiration, as some do. But whether it be taken to signify where, or whereof, the sense will be the same. Παράϐασις here, to make St. Paul’s argument of punishment, by the force and sanction of a law. And so the apostle’s proposition is made good, that it is the law alone, that exposes us to wrath, and that is all the law can do, for it gives us no power to perform.

†

16 The grammatical construction does not seem much to favour “inheritance,” as the word to be supplied here, because it does not occur in the preceding verses. But he, that observes St. Paul’s way of writing, who more regards things, than forms of speaking, will be satisfied, that it is enough that he mentioned “heirs,” ver. 13 and 14, and that he does mean inheritance here, Gal. iii. 13, puts it past doubt.

‡

17 See Gen. xvii. 16.

§

Gen. xvi. 5.

*

24 St. Paul seems to mention this here, in particular, to show the analogy between Abraham’s faith, and that of believers, under the gospel: see ver. 17.

†

25 See Rom. iii. 25, and v. 6, 10, Eph. i. 7, 11, 14, and v. 2, Col. i. 14, 20—22, 1 Tim. ii. 6, Tit. ii. 14.

‡

1 Cor. xv. 17. I have set down all these texts out of St. Paul, that in them might be seen his own explication of what he says here, viz. that our Saviour, by his death, atoned for our sins, and so we were innocent, and thereby freed from the punishment due to sin. But he rose again, to ascertain to us eternal life, the consequence of justification; for the reward of righteousness is eternal life, which inheritance we have a title to, by adoption in Jesus Christ. But, if he himself had not that inheritance, if he had not rose into the possession of eternal life, we who hold by and under him, could not have risen from the dead, and so could never have come to be pronounced righteous, and to have received the reward of it, everlasting life. Hence St. Paul tells us, 1 Cor. xv. 17, that “if Christ be not raised, our faith is vain, we are yet in our sins,” i. e. as to the attainment of eternal life, it is all one as if our sins were not forgiven. And thus he rose for our justification, i. e. to assure to us eternal life, the consequence of justification. And this I think is confirmed by our Saviour in these words, “because I live, ye shall live also,” John xiv. 19.

*

1 “We,” i. e. we gentiles that are not under the law. It is in their names, that St. Paul speaks, in the three last verses of the foregoing chapter, and all through this section, as is evident from the illation here, “therefore being justified by faith, we.” It being an inference, drawn from his having proved, in the former chapter, that the promise was not to the jews alone, but to the gentiles also: and that justification was, not by the law, but by faith, and consequently designed for the gentiles, as well as the jews.

†

2 Καυχώμεθα, “we glory.” The same word here for the convert gentiles, that he had used before, for the boasting of the jews, and the same word he used, where he examined what Abraham had found. The taking notice whereof, as we have already observed, may help to lead us into the apostle’s sense: and plainly shows us here, that St. Paul, in this section, opposes the advantages the gentile converts to christianity have, by faith, to those the jews gloried in, with so much haughtiness and contempt of the gentiles,

‡

5 “Because.” (a) The force of this inference seems to stand thus: the hope of eternal happiness, which we glory in, cannot deceive us, because the gifts of the Holy Ghost, bestowed upon us, assure us of the love of God towards us, the jews themselves acknowledging that the Holy Ghost is given to none, but those who are God’s own people.

*

8 Another evidence St. Paul gives them here, of the love of God towards them, and the ground they had to glory in the hopes of eternal salvation, is the death of Christ for them, whilst they were yet in their gentile state, which he describes by calling them,

†

6, 8 (b) Ἀσθενεῖς, “without strength;” Ἀσεϐεῖς, “ungodly;” Ἁμαρgreektωλοὶ, “sinners;” Ἐχθροὶ, “enemies:” these four epithets are given to them as gentiles, they being used by St. Paul, as the proper attributes of the heathen world, as considered in contra-distinction to the jewish nation. What St. Paul says of the gentiles, in other places, will clear this. The helpless condition of the gentile world in the state of gentilism, signified by ἀσθενεῖς, without strength, he terms, Col. ii. 13, dead in sin, a state, if any, of weakness. And hence he says to the Romans, converted to Jesus Christ, “yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and yourselves as instruments of righteousness unto God,” chap. vi. 13. How he describes ἀσέϐειαν, ungodliness, mentioned chap. i. 18, as the proper state of the gentiles, we may see, ver. 21, 23. That he thought the title ἁμαρτωλοὶ, “sinners,” belonged peculiarly to the gentiles, in contra-distinction to the jews, he puts it past doubt, in these words: “we who are jews by nature, and not sinners of the gentiles,” Gal. ii. 15. See also chap. vi. 17—22. And as for ἐχθροὶ, “enemies,” you have the gentiles before their conversion to christianity so called, Col. i. 21. St. Paul, Eph. ii. 1—13, describes the heathen a little more at large, but yet the parts of the character he there gives them we may find comprized in these four epithets: the ἀσθενεῖς, “weak,” ver. 1, 5, the ἀσεϐεῖς, “ungodly,” and ἁμαρgreektωλοὶ, “sinners,” ver. 2, 3, and the ἐχθροὶ, “enemies,” ver. 11, 12.

If it were remembered that St. Paul all along, through the eleven first chapters of this epistle, speaks nationally of the jews and gentiles, as it is visible he does, and not personally of single men, there would be less difficulty, and fewer mistakes, in understanding this epistle. This one place, we are upon, is a sufficient instance of it. For if, by these terms here, we shall understand him to denote all men personally, jews as well as gentiles, before they are savingly ingrafted into Jesus Christ, we shall make his discourse here disjointed, and his sense mightily perplexed, if at all consistent.

That there were some among the heathen as innocent in their lives, and as far from enmity to God, as some among the jews, cannot be questioned. Nay, that many of them were not ἀσεϐεῖς, but σεϐόμενοι, worshippers of the true God, if we could doubt of it, is manifest out of the Acts of the Apostles; but yet St. Paul, in the places above quoted, pronounces them altogether ἀσεϐεῖς, or ἀθεοὶ, (for that, by these two terms, applied to the same persons, he means the same, i. e. such as did not acknowledge and worship the true God, seems plain) ungodly, and sinners of the gentiles, as nationally belonging to them, in contradistinction to the people of the jews, who were the people of God, whilst the other were the provinces of the kingdom of Satan: not but that there were sinners, heinous sinners among the jews: but the nation, considered as one body and society of men, disowned and declared against, and opposed itself to, those crimes and impurities, which are mentioned by St. Paul, chap. i. 24, &c. as woven into the religious and politic constitutions of the gentiles. There they had their full scope and swing, had allowance, countenance, and protection. The idolatrous nations had, by their religion, laws, and forms of government, made themselves the open votaries, and were the professed subjects of devils. So St. Paul, 1 Cor. x. 20, 21, truly calls the gods they worshipped and paid their homage to. And suitably hereunto, their religious observances, it is well known, were not without great impurities, which were of right charged upon them, when they had a place in their sacred offices, and had the recommendation of religion, to give them credit. The rest of the vices, in St. Paul’s black list, which were not warmed at their altars, and fostered in their temples, were yet, by the connivance of the law, cherished in their private houses, and made a part of the uncondemned actions of common life, and had the countenance of custom to authorize them, even in the best regulated and most civilized governments of the heathen. On the contrary, the frame of the jewish commonwealth was founded on the acknowledgment and worship of the one only, true, and invisible God, and their laws required an extraordinary purity of life, and strictness of manners.

That the gentiles were styled ἐχθροὶ, “enemies,” in a political or national sense, is plain from Eph. ii. where they were called, “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant.” Abraham, on the other side, was called, the friend of God, i. e. one in covenant with him, and his professed subject, that owned God to the world: and so were his posterity, the people of the jews, whilst the rest of the world were under revolt, and lived in open rebellion against him, vid. Isa. xli. 8. And here in this epistle St. Paul expressly teaches, that when the nation of the jews by rejecting of the Messias put themselves out of the kingdom of God, and were cast off, from being any longer the people of God, they became enemies, and the gentile world were reconciled. See chap. xi. 15, 28. Hence St. Paul, who was the apostle of the gentiles, calls his performing that office, the ministry of reconciliation, 2 Cor. v. 18. And here in this chapter, ver. 1, the privilege, which they receive, by the accepting of the covenant of grace in Jesus Christ, he tells them is this, that they have peace with God, i. e. are no longer incorporated with his enemies, and of the party of the open rebels against him, in the kingdom of Satan, being returned to their natural allegiance, in their owning the one, true, supreme God, in submitting to the kingdom he had set up in his son, and being received by him as his subjects. Suitably hereunto St. James, speaking of the conversion of the gentiles to the profession of the gospel, says of it, that “God did visit the gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” Acts xv. 14, and ver. 19, he calls the converts, those who, “from among the gentiles, are turned to God.”

Besides what is to be found, in other parts of St. Paul’s epistles, to justify the taking of these words here, as applied nationally to the gentiles, in contradistinction to the children of Israel, that which St. Paul says, ver. 10, 11, makes it necessary to understand them so. “We,” says he, “when we were enemies, were reconciled to God, and so we now glory in him, as our God.” “We,” here, must unavoidably be spoken in the name of the gentiles, as is plain, not only by the whole tenour of this action, but from this passage, “of glorying in God,” which he mentions as a privilege now of the believing gentiles, surpassing that of the jews, whom he had taken notice of before, chap. ii. 17, as being forward to glory in God, as their peculiar right, though with no great advantage to themselves. But the gentiles, who were reconciled now to God, by Christ’s death, and taken into covenant with God, as many as received the gospel, had a new and better title to this glorying, than the jews. Those, that now are reconciled, and glory in God as their God, he says were enemies. The jews, who had the same corrupt nature, common to them with the rest of mankind, are no-where, that I know, called ἐχθροὶ, enemies, or, ἀσεϐεῖς, ungodly, whilst they publickly owned him for their God, and professed to be his people. But the heathen were deemed enemies for being “aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise.” There were never but two kingdoms in the world, that of God, and that of the devil; these were opposite, and, therefore, the subjects of the latter could not but be in the state of enemies, and fall under that denomination. The revolt from God was universal, and the nations of the earth had given themselves up to idolatry, when God called Abraham, and took him into covenant with himself, as he did afterwards the whole nation of the israelites, whereby they were re-admitted into his kingdom, came under his protection, and were his people and subjects, and no longer enemies, whilst all the rest of the nations remained in the state of rebellion, the professed subjects of other gods, who were usurpers upon God’s right, and enemies of his kingdom. And, indeed, if the four epithets be not taken to be spoken here of the gentile world, in this political and truly evangelical sense, but in the ordinary, systematical notion, applied to all mankind, as belonging universally to every man personally, whether by profession gentile, jew, or christian, before he be actually regenerated by a saving faith, and an effectual thorough conversion; the illative particle, “wherefore,” in the beginning of ver. 12, will hardly connect it, and what follows, to the foregoing part of this chapter. But the eleven first verses must be taken for a parenthesis, and then the “therefore,” in the beginning of this fifth chapter, which joins it to the fourth, with a very clear connection, will be wholly insignificant; and, after all, the sense of the 12th verse will but ill solder with the end of the fourth chapter, notwithstanding the “wherefore,” which is taken to bring them in, as an inference. Whereas these eleven first verses, being supposed to be spoken of the gentiles, make them not only of a piece with St. Paul’s design, in the foregoing and the following chapters, but the thread of the whole discourse goes very smooth, and the inferences (ushered in with “therefore,” in the first verse, and with “wherefore,” in the 12th verse) are very easy, clear, and natural, from the immediately preceding verses. That of the first verse may be seen in what we have already said; and that of the 12th verse in short stands thus: “We gentiles have, by Christ, received the reconciliation, which we cannot doubt to be intended for us, as well as for the jews, since sin and death entered into the world by Adam, the common father of us all. And as, by the disobedience of the one, condemnation of death came on all; so, by the obedience of one, justification to life came upon all.”

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9 What St. Paul here calls “wrath,” he calls “the wrath to come,” 1 Thess. i. 10, and generally, in the New Testament, “wrath,” is put for the punishment of the wicked at the last day.

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See note (b) page 317.

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11 Οό μόνον δὲ, “and not only so.” I think nobody can with the least attention read this section, without perceiving that these words joins this verse to the 3d. The apostle in the 2d verse says, “we the gentiles, who believe, glory in the hopes of an eternal, splendid state of bliss.” In the third verse he adds ȣ̓ μόνον δὲ, “and not only so, but our afflictions are to us matter of glorying,” which he proves in the seven following verses, and then, ver. 11, adds ȣ̓ μόνον δὲ, “and not only so; but we glory in God also, as our God, being reconciled to him in Jesus Christ.” And thus he shows, that the convert gentiles had whereof to glory, as well as the jews, and were not inferiour to them, though they had not circumcision and the law, wherein the jews gloried so much, but with no ground, in comparison of what the gentiles had to glory in, by faith in Jesus Christ, now under the gospel.

§

It is true, we gentiles could not formerly glory in God, as our God; that was the privilege of the jews, who alone of all the nations owned him for their King and God; and were his people, in covenant with him. All the rest of the kingdoms of the earth had taken other lords, and given themselves up to false gods, to serve and worship them, and so were in a state of war with the true God, the God of Israel. But now we being reconciled by Jesus Christ, whom we have received, and own for our Lord, and thereby being returned into his kingdom, and to our ancient allegiance, we can truly glory in God, as our God, which the jews cannot do, who have refused to receive Jesus for their Lord, whom God hath appointed Lord over all things.

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12 “Having sinned,” I have rendered became mortal, following the rule I think very necessary for the understanding St. Paul’s epistles, viz. the making him, as much as is possible, his own interpreter, 1 Cor. xv. 22, cannot be denied to be parallel to this place. This and the following verses here being, as one may say, a comment on that verse in the Corinthians, St. Paul treating here of the same matter, but more at large. There he says, “as in Adam all die,” which words cannot be taken literally, but thus, that in Adam all became mortal. The same he says here, but in other words, putting, by a no very unusual metonymy, the cause for the effect, viz. the sin of eating the forbidden fruit, for the effect of it on Adam, viz. mortality, and, in him, on all his posterity: a mortal father, infected now with death, being able to produce no better than a mortal race. Why St. Paul differs in his phrase, here, from that which we find he used to the corinthians, and prefers here, that which is harder and more figurative, may perhaps be easily accounted for, if we consider his style and usual way of writing, wherein is shown a great liking of the beauty and force of antithesis, as serving much to illustration and impression. In the xvth chapter of 1 Cor. he is speaking of life restored by Jesus Christ, and, to illustrate and fix that in their minds, the death of mankind best served: here, to the romans, he is discoursing of righteousness restored to men by Christ, and therefore, here, the term sin is the most natural and properest to set that off. But that neither actual or imputed sin is meant here, or ver. 19, where the same way of expression is used, he, that has need of it, may see proved in Dr. Whithy upon the place. If there can be any need of any other proof, when it is evidently contrary to St. Paul’s design here, which is to show, that all men, from Adam to Moses, died solely, in consequence of Adam’s transgressions, see ver. 17.

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3 Οὐϰ ἐλλογεῖται, “is not imputed,” so our translation, but possibly not exactly to the sense of the apostle; Ἐλλογεῖν signifies to reckon, but cannot be interpreted reckon to, which is the meaning of impute, without a person assigned, to whom it is imputed. And so we see, when the word is used in that sense, the dative case of the person is subjoined. And therefore it is well translated, Philem. 18. If he owes thee any thing, ἐμοὶ ἐλλόγει, put it to my account, reckon, or impute it to me. Besides St. Paul here tells us, the sin, here spoken of, as not reckoned, was in the world, and had actually existence, during the time between Adam and Moses; but the sin, which is supposed to be imputed, is Adam’s sin, which he committed in paradise, and was not in the world, during the time from Adam till Moses, and therefore ἐλλογεῖται cannot here signify imputed. Sins in sacred scripture are called debts, but nothing can be brought to account, as a debt, till a value be set upon it. Now sins can no way be taxed, or a rate set upon them, but by the positive declaration and sanction of the law-maker. Mankind, without the positive law of God, knew, by the light of nature, that they transgressed the rule of their nature, reason, which dictated to them what they ought to do. But, without a positive declaration of God, their sovereign, they could not tell at what rate God taxed their trespasses against this rule; till he pronounced that life should be the price of sin, that could not be ascertained, and consequently sin could not be brought to account: and, therefore, we see that where there was no positive law, affixing death to sin, men did not look on death as the wages, or retribution for their sin; they did not account, that they paid their lives as a debt and forfeit for their transgression. This is the more to be considered, because St. Paul, in this epistle, treats of sin, punishment, and forgiveness, by way of an account, as it were, of debtor and creditor.

He will be farther confirmed in this sense of these words, who will be at the pains to compare chap. iv. 15, and v. 13, 20, and vii. 8, 9, together. St. Paul, chap. iv. 15, says, the law worketh wrath, i. e. carrieth punishment with it. For where there is no law there is no transgression. Whereby is not meant, that there is no sin, where there is no positive law, (the contrary whereof he says in this verse, viz. that sin was in the world all the time, before the law) but that there is no transgression, with a penalty annexed to it, without a positive law. And hence he tells the romans, chap. i. 32, that they knew not that those things deserved death, [vid. note, chap. i. 32] but it was by the positive law of God only, that men knew that death was certainly annexed to sin, as its certain and unavoidable punishment; and so St. Paul argues, chap. vii. 8, 9.

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Νόμȣ, “law.” Whether St. Paul by νόμος here means law in general, as for the most part he does, where he omits the article; or whether he means the law of Moses in particular, in which sense he commonly joins the article to νόμος; this is plain, that St. Paul’s notion of a law was conformable to that given by Moses, and so he uses the word νόμος, in English, law, for the positive command of God, with a sanction of a penalty annexed to it; of which kind there never having been any one given to any people, but that by Moses to the children of Israel, till the revelation of the will of God by Jesus Christ to all mankind, which, for several reasons, is always called the gospel, in contradistinction to the law of Moses; when St. Paul speaks of law, in general, it reduces itself, in matter of fact, to the law of Moses.

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14 In this verse St. Paul proves, that all men became mortal, by Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit, and by that alone, because no man can incur a penalty, without the sanction of a positive law, declaring and establishing that penalty; but death was annexed, by no positive law, to any sin, but the eating the forbidden fruit: and therefore men’s dying, before the law of Moses, was purely in consequence of Adam’s sin, in eating the forbidden fruit; and the positive sanction of death annexed to it, an evident proof of man’s mortality coming from thence.

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15 Οἱ ϖολλοὶ, and τȣ̀;ς ϖολλȣ̀;ς, I suppose may be understood to stand here for the multitude, or collective body of mankind. For the apostle, in express words, assures us, 1 Cor. xv. 22, “That in Adam all died, and in Christ all are made alive:” and so here, ver. 18, All men fell under the condemnation of death, and all men were restored unto justification of life, which all men, in the very next words, ver. 19, are called οἱ ϖολλοὶ, the many. So that the many in the former part of this verse, and the many at the end of it, comprehending all mankind, must be equal. The comparison, therefore, and the inequality of the things compared, lies not, here, between the numbers of those that died, and the numbers of those that shall be restored to life; but the comparison lies between the persons by whom this general death, and this general restoration to life came, Adam the type, and Jesus Christ the antitype; and it seems to lie in this, that Adam’s lapse came barely for the satisfaction of his own appetite, and desire of good to himself; but the restoration was from the exuberant bounty and good-will of Christ towards men, who at the cost of his own painful death, purchased life for them. The want of taking the comparison here right, and the placing it amiss, in a greater number restored to life by Jesus Christ, than those brought into death by Adam’s sin, hath led some men so far out of the way, as to allege, that men, in the deluge, died for their own sins. It is true they did so, and so did the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the philistines cut off by the israelites, and multitudes of others: but it is as true, that, by their own sins, they were not made mortal: they were so before, by their father Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit; so that, what they paid for their own sins, was not immortality, which they had not, but a few years of their own finite lives, which having been let alone, would every one of them in a short time have come to an end. It cannot be denied, therefore, but that it is as true of these as any of the rest of mankind, before Moses, that they died solely in Adam, as St. Paul has proved in the three preceding verses. And it is as true of them, as if any of the rest of mankind in general, that they died in Adam. For this St. Paul expressly asserts of all, “that in Adam all died,” 1 Cor. xv. 22, and in this very chapter, ver. 18, in other words. It is then a flat contradiction to St. Paul to say, that those, whom the flood swept away, did not die in Adam.

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16 Δἰ ἑνὸς ἁμαρτήματος, “by one sin,” so the Alexandrine copy reads it, more conformable to the apostle’s sense. For if ἑνὸς, “one,” in this verse, be to he taken for the person of Adam, and not for his own sin, of eating the forbidden fruit, there will be nothing to answer ϖολλῶν παραπτωμάτων, “many offences” here, and so the comparison, St. Paul is upon, will be lost; whereas, it is plain, that in this verse he shows another disproportion in the case, wherein Adam, the type, comes short of Christ, the antitype; and that is, that it was but for one only transgression, that death came upon all men: but Christ restores life unto all, notwithstanding multitudes of sins. These two excesses both of the good-will of the donor, and the greatness of the gift, are both reckoned up together, in the following verse, and are there plainly expressed in περισσείαν τῆς χάριτος ϰαὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς; the excess of the favour, in the greater good-will and cost of the donor; and the inequality of the gift itself, which exceeds, as many exceeds one; or the deliverance from the guilt of many sins, does exceed the deliverance from the guilt of one.

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Ζωῆς, “of life,” is found in the Alexandrine copy. And he that read ver. 18, will scarce incline to the leaving of it out here.

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17 “Surplusage,” so ϖερισσεία signifies. The surplusage of χάριτος, favour, was the painful death of Christ, whereas the fall cost Adam no more pains, but eating the fruit. The surplusage of δωρεᾶς, the gift, or benefit received, was a justification to life from a multitude of sins, whereas the loss of life came upon all men, only for one sin; but all men, how guilty soever of many sins, are restored to life.

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18 “Therefore,” here, is not used as an illative, introducing an inference from the immediately preceding verses, but is the same “therefore,” which began, ver. 12, repeated here again, with part of the inference, that was there begun and left incomplete, the continuation of it being interrupted, by the intervention of the proofs of the first part of it. The particle, “as,” immediately following “therefore,” ver. 12, is a convincing proof of this having there, or in the following verses, nothing to answer it, and so leaves the sense imperfect and suspended, till you come to this verse, where the same reasoning is taken up again, and the same protasis, or the first part of the comparison repeated: and then the apodosis, or latter part, is added to it; and the whole sentence made complete: which, to take right, one must read thus, ver. 12, “Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, &c.” ver. 18, I say, therefore, “as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men, to justification of life.” A like interruption of what he began to say, may be seen, 2 Cor. xii. 14, and the same discourse, after the interposition of eight verses, began again chap. xiii. 1, not to mention others, that I think may be found in St. Paul’s epistles.

§

That ἑνὸς ϖαραπτώματος ought to be rendered “one offence;” and not the “offence of one man:” and so ἑνὸς διϰαιώματος, “one act of righteousness,” and not the “righteousness of one;” is reasonable to think: because, in the next verse, St. Paul compares one man to one man, and therefore it is fit to understand him here (the construction also favouring it) of one fact, compared with one fact, unless we will make him here (where he seems to study conciseness) guilty of a tautology. But taken as I think they should be understood, one may see a harmony, beauty, and fullness in this discourse, which at first sight seems somewhat obscure and perplexed. For thus, in these two verses, 18, 19, he shows the correspondence of Adam the type, with Christ the antitype, as we may see, ver. 14, he designed, as he had shown the disparity between them, ver. 15, 16, 17.

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That this is the meaning of δἰ ἑνὸς διϰαιώματος, is plain by the following verse. St. Paul every one may observe to be a lover of antithesis. In this verse it is ἑνὸς ϖαραπτώματος, “one perverse act of transgression,” and ἐνὸς διϰαιώματος, “one right act of submission:” in the next verse, it is παραϰοὴ, “disobedience,” and ὑπαϰοὴ, “obedience,” the same thing being meant in both verses. And that this διϰαίωμα, this act of obedience, whereby he procured life to all mankind, was his death upon the cross, I think no-body questions, see ver. 7—9, Heb. ii. 10, 14, Phil. ii. 8, and that διϰαιώματα, when applied to men, signifies actions conformable to the will of God, see Rev. xix. 8.

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By διϰαίωσις ζωῆς, “justification of life,” which are the words of the text, is not meant that righteousness by faith, which is to eternal life. For eternal life is no-where, in sacred scripture, mentioned, as the portion of all men, but only of the saints. But the “justification of life,” here spoken of, is what all men partake in, by the benefit of Christ’s death, by which they are justified from all that was brought upon them by Adam’s sin, i. e. they are discharged from death, the consequence of Adam’s transgression; and restored to life to stand, or fall by that plea of righteousness, which they can make, either of their own by works, or of the righteousness of God by faith.

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19 “Sinners.” Here St. Paul uses the same metonymy as above, ver. 12, putting sinners for mortal, whereby the antithesis to righteous is the more lively.

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20 There can be nothing plainer, than that St. Paul here, in these two verses, makes a comparison between the state of the jews, and the state of the gentiles, as it stands described in the eight preceding verses, to show wherein they differed, or agreed, so far as was necessary to his present purpose, of satisfying the convert romans, that, in reference to their interest in the gospel, the jews had no advantage over them, by the law. With what reference to those eight verses, St. Paul writ these two, appears by the very choice of his words. He tells them, ver. 12, “that death by sin εἰσῆλθε entered into the “world,” and here he tells them that the law (for sin and death were entered already) ϖαρεισῆλθεν, entered a little, a word that set, in opposition to εἰσῆλθε, gives a distinguishing idea of the extent of the law, such as it really was, little and narrow, as was the people of Israel (whom alone it reached) in respect of all the other nations of the earth, with whom it had nothing to do. For the law of Moses was given to Israel alone, and not to all mankind. The vulgate, therefore, translates this word right, subintravit, it entered, but not far, i. e. the death which followed, upon the account of the mosaical law, reigned over but a small part of mankind, viz. the children of Israel, who alone were under that law: whereas, by Adam’s transgression of the positive law given him in paradise, death passed upon all men.

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Ἵνα, “that.” Some would have this signify barely the event, and not the intention of the law-giver, and so understand by these words, “that the offence might abound,” the increase of sin, or the aggravations of it, as a consequence of the law. But it is to be remembered, that St. Paul here sets forth the difference, which God intended to put, by the law which he gave them, between the children of Israel and the gentile world, in respect of life and death; life and death being the subject St. Paul was upon. And, therefore, to mention barely accidental consequences of the law, that made the difference, had come short of St. Paul’s purpose.

All mankind was in an irrecoverable state of death, by Adam’s lapse. It was plainly the intention of God to remove the israelites out of this state, by the law: and so he says himself, that he gave “them statutes and judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them,” Lev. xviii. 5. And so St. Paul tells us here, chap. vii. 10, that the law was ordained for life. Whence it necessarily follows, that if life were intended them for their obedience, death was intended them for their disobedience; and accordingly Moses tells them, Deut. xxx. 19, “that he had set before them life and death.” Thus, by the law, the children of Israel were put into a new state: and by the covenant God made with them, their remaining under death, or their recovery of life, was to be the consequence, not of what another had done, but of what they themselves did. They were thenceforth put to stand or fall, by their own actions, and the death they suffered was for their transgressions. Every offence, they committed against the law, did, by this covenant, bind death upon them. It is not easy to conceive, that God should give them a law, to the end sin and guilt should abound amongst them, but yet he might, and did give them a law, that the offence, which had death annexed, should abound, i. e. that death, which before was the declared penalty of but one offence, should to the jews be made the penalty of every breach by the sanction of this new law, which was not a hardship, but a privilege to them. For in their former state, common to them, with the rest of mankind, death, was unavoidable to them. But, by the law, they had a trial for life: accordingly our Saviour to the young man, who asked “what he should do to obtain eternal life,” answers, “keep the commandments.” The law, increasing the offence in this sense, had also another benefit, viz. that the jews, perceiving they incurred death by the law, which was ordained for life, might thereby, as by a schoolmaster, be led to Christ, to seek life by him. This St. Paul takes notice of, Gal. iii. 24.

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Παράπτωμα is another word, showing St. Paul’s having an eye, in what he says here, to what he said in the foregoing verses. Our bibles translate it “offence:” it properly signifies “fall,” and is used in the foregoing verses, for that transgression, which, by the positive law of God, had death annexed to it, and in that sense the apostle continues to use it here also. There was but one such sin, before the law, given by Moses, viz. Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit. But the positive law of God, given to the israelites, made all their sins such, by annexing the penalty of death to each transgression, and thus the offence abounded, or was increased by the law.

†

“Sin.” That by “sin,” St. Paul here means such failure, as, by the sanction of a positive law, had death annexed to it, the beginning of the next verse shows, where it is declared to be such sin, as reigned in, or by death, which all sin doth not, all sin is not taxed at that rate, as appears by ver. 13, see the note. The article joined here both to ϖαράπτωμα and ἁμαρτία, for it is τὸ παράπτωμα, and ἡ ἁμαϱτία, the offence and the sin, limiting the general signification of those words to some particular sort, seems to point out this sense. And that this is not a mere groundless criticism, may appear from ver. 12 and 13, where St. Paul uses ἁμαϱτία, in these two different verses, with the distinction of the article and no article.

‡

“Grace might much more abound.” The rest of mankind were in a state of death, only for one sin of one man. This the apostle is express in, not only in the foregoing verses, but elsewhere. But those who were under the law (which made each transgression they were guilty of mortal) were under the condemnation of death, not only for that one sin of another, but also for every one of their own sins. Now to make any one righteous to life, from many, and those his own sins, besides that one, that lay on him before, is greater grace, than to bestow on him justification to life, only from one sin, and that of another man. To forgive the penalty of many sins, is a greater grace, than to remit the penalty of one.

*

2 “We,” i. e. I and all converts to christianity. St. Paul, in this chapter, shows it to he the profession and obligation of all christians, even by their baptism, and the typical signification of it, to be “dead to sin, and alive to God,” i. e. as he explains it, not to be any longer vassals to sin, in obeying our lusts, but to be servants to God, in a sincere purpose and endeavour of obeying him. For, whether under the law, or under grace, whoever is a vassal to sin, i. e. indulges himself in a compliance with his sinful lusts, will receive the wages which sin pays, i. e. death. This he strongly represents here, to the gentile converts of Rome (for it is to them he speaks in this chapter) that they might not mistake the state they were in, by being, not under the law, but under grace, of which, and the freedom and largeness of it, he had spoken so much, and so highly in the foregoing chapter, to let them see, that to be under grace, was not a state of licence, but of exact obedience, in the intention and endeavour of every one under grace, though in the performance they came short of it. This strict obedience, to the utmost reach of every one’s aim and endeavours, he urges as necessary, because obedience to sin unavoidably produces death, and he urges as reasonable, for this very reason, that they were not under the law, but under grace. For as much as all the endeavours after righteousness, of those who were under the law, were lost labour, since any one slip forfeited life: but the sincere endeavours after righteousness of those, who were under grace, were sure to succeed, to the attaining the gift of eternal life.

*

4 Διὰ, in the hellenistic Greek, sometimes signifies into, and so our translation renders it, 2 Pet. i. 3. And, if it be not so taken here, the force of St. Paul’s argument is lost, which is to show into what state of life we ought to be raised out of baptism, in similitude and conformity to that state of life Christ was raised into, from the grave.

†

6 See Gal. v. 24, Eph. iv. 22, Col. ii. 11, 1 Pet. iv. 1.

‡

It will conduce much to the understanding of St. Paul, in this and the two following chapters, if it be minded that these phrases, “to serve sin, to be servants of sin, sin to reign in our mortal bodies, to obey sin in the lusts of our bodies, to yield our members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, or servants of uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, to be freed from righteousness, to walk, live, or be after the flesh, to be carnally minded,” all signify one and the same thing, viz. the giving ourselves up to the conduct of our sinful, carnal appetites, to allow any of them the command over us, and the conduct and prevalency in determining us. On the contrary, “that walking after the spirit, or in newness of life, the crucifixion of the old man, the destruction of the body of sin, the deliverance from the body of death, to be freed from sin, to be dead to sin, alive unto God, to yield yourselves unto God, as those who are alive from the dead, yield your members servants of righteousness unto holiness, or instruments of righteousness unto God, to be servants of obedience unto righteousness, made free from sin, servants of righteousness, to be after the spirit, to be spiritually minded, to mortify the deeds of the body,” do all signify a constant and steady purpose, and sincere endeavour to obey the law and will of God, in every thing, these several expressions being used in several places, as best serves the occasion, and illustrates the sense.

*

7 The tenour of St. Paul’s discourse here, shows this to be the sense of this verse; and to be assured that it is so, we need go no farther than ver. 11, 12, 13. He makes it his business in this chapter, not to tell them what they certainly and unchangeably are, but to exhort them to be what they ought and are engaged to be, by becoming christians, viz. that they ought to emancipate themselves from the vassalage of sin; not that they were so emancipated, without any danger of return, for then he could not have said what he does, ver. 11, 12, 13, which supposes it in their power to continue in their obedience to sin, or return to that vassalage, if they would.

†

10 See Heb. ix. 26—28, 1 Pet. iv. 1, 2.

*

11 “Sin” is here spoken of as a person, a prosopœia made use of, all through this and the following chapter, which must be minded, if we will understand them right. The like exhortation upon the same ground, see 1 Pet. iv. 1—3.

†

See Gal. ii. 19, 2 Cor. v. 15, Rom. v. 4. The force of St. Paul’s argument here seems to be this: in your baptism you are engaged into a likeness of Christ’s death and resurrection. He once died to sin, so do you count yourselves dead to sin. He rose to life, wherein he lives wholly to God: so must your new life, after your resurrection from your typical burial in the water, be under the vassalage of sin no more, but you must live intirely to the service of God, to whom you are devoted, in obedience to his will in all things.

‡

12 “In your mortal bodies;” ἐν, in the apostle’s writings, often signifies, by. And he here, as also in the following chapters, ver. 18 and 24, and elsewhere, placing the root of sin in the body, his sense seems to be, let not sin reign over you, by the lusts of your mortal bodies.

§

13 “Sinful lusts,” at least those, to which the gentiles were most eminently enslaved, seem so much placed in the body and the members, that they are called, “the members,” Col. iii. 5.

∥

Ἐϰ νεϰρῶν, “from among the dead.” The gentile world were dead in sins, Eph. ii. 1, 5, Col. ii. 13, those, who were converted to the gospel, were raised to life, from among those dead.

*

14 “Sin shall not have dominion over you,” i. e. sin shall not be your absolute master, to dispose of your members and faculties, in its drudgery and service, as it pleases; you shall not be under its control, in absolute subjection to it, but your own men, that are alive, and at your own disposal, unless, by your own free choice, you inthral yourselves to it, and by a voluntary obedience, give it the command over you, and are willing to have it your master. It must be remembered, that St. Paul here, and in the following chapter, personates sin, as striving with men for mastery, to destroy them.

†

“For.” The force of St. Paul’s reasoning here stands thus: you are obliged, by your taking on you the profession of the gospel, not to be any longer slaves and vassals to sin, nor to be under the sway of your carnal lusts, but to yield yourselves up to God, to be his servants, in a constant and sincere purpose and endeavour of obeying him in all things: this if you do, sin shall not be able to procure you death, for you gentiles are not under the law, which condemns to death for every the least transgression, though it be but a slip of infirmity; but, by your baptism, are entered into the covenant of grace, and, being under grace, God will accept of your sincere endeavours in the place of exact obedience; and give you eternal life, through Jesus Christ; but if you, by a willing obedience to your lusts, make yourselves vassals to sin, sin, as the lord and master to whom you belong, will pay you with death, the only wages that sin pays.

‡

15 What is meant by being “under grace,” is easily understood, by the undoubted and obvious meaning of the parallel phrase, “under the law.” They, it is unquestioned, were under the law, who having by circumcision, the ceremony of admittance, been received into the commonwealth of the jews, owned the God of the jews for their God and King, professing subjection to the law he gave by Moses. And so, in like manner, he is under grace, who, having by baptism, the ceremony of admittance, been received into the kingdom of Christ, or the society of christians, called by a peculiar name, the christian church, owns Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messias, his King, professing subjection to his law, delivered in the gospel. By which it is plain, that being under grace, is spoken here, as being under the law is, in a political and national sense. For whoever was circumcised, and owned God for his king, and the authority of his law, ceased not to be a jew or member of that society, by every or any transgression of the precepts of that law, so long as he owned God for his Lord, and his subjection to that law; so likewise, he who, by baptism, is incorporated into the kingdom of Christ, and owns him for his sovereign, and himself under the law and rule of the gospel, ceases not to be a christian, though he offend against the precepts of the gospel, till he denies Christ to be his king and lord, and renounces his subjection to his law in the gospel. But God, in taking a people to himself to be his, not doing it barely as a temporal prince, or head of a politic society in this world, but in order to his having as many, as in obeying him perform the conditions necessary, his subjects for ever, in the state of immortality restored to him in another world; has, since the fall, erected two kingdoms in this world, the one of the jews, immediately under himself; another of christians under his son Jesus Christ, for that farther and more glorious end, of attaining eternal life, which prerogative and privilege, of eternal life, does not belong to the society in general, nor is the benefit granted nationally, to the whole body of the people of either of these kingdoms of God; but personally, to such of them, who perform the conditions required in the terms of each covenant. To those who are jews, or under the law, the terms are perfect and complete obedience to every tittle of the law, “do this and live:” to those who are christians, or under grace, the terms are sincere endeavours after perfect obedience, though not attaining it, as is manifest, in the remaining part of this chapter, where St. Paul acquaints those, who ask whether they shall sin, because they are not under the law, but under grace? that, though they are under grace, yet they, who obey sin, are the vassals of sin; and those, who are the vassals of sin, shall receive death, the wages of sin.

*

16 Ὑπαϰοὴν, “obedience.” That which he calls here simply ὑπαϰοὴ, “obedience,” he in other places calls ὑπαϰοὴ ϖὶϛεως, “obedience of faith,” and ὑπαϰοὴ τȣ͂ Χριϛȣ͂, “obedience of Christ,” meaning a reception of the gospel of Christ.

*

17 Εἰς ὄν ϖαρεδόθητε, “unto which you were delivered;” no harsh, but an elegant expression, if we observe that St. Paul here speaks of sin and the gospel, as of two masters, and that those, he writes to, were taken out of the hands of the one, and delivered over to the other, which they having from their hearts obeyed, were no longer the slaves of sin, he whom they obeyed being, by the rule of the foregoing verse, truly their master.

†

18 Ἐδȣλώθητε τῆ διϰαιοσύνη, “ye became the slaves of righteousness.” This will seem an harsh expression, unless we remember that St. Paul, going on still with the metaphor of master and servant, makes sin and righteousness here two persons, two distinct masters, and men passing from the dominion of the one into the dominion of the other.

‡

19 Ἀνθρώπινον λέγω, “I speak after the manner of men.” He had some reason to make some little kind of an apology, for a figure of speech, which he dwells upon, quite down to the end of this chapter.

§

“Members,” see chap. vii. 5. Note.

∥

“To iniquity unto iniquity,” see Note, chap. i. 17.

*

23 The wages of sin,” does not signify here the wages, that are paid for sinning, but the wages, that sin pays. This is evident, not only by the opposition that is put, here in this verse, between “the wages of sin, and the gift of God,” viz. that sin rewards men with death for their obedience; but that which God gives to those, who, believing in Jesus Christ, labour sincerely after righteousness, is life eternal. But it farther appears, by the whole tenour of St. Paul’s discourse, wherein he speaks of sin, as a person and a master, who hath servants, and is served and obeyed, and so the wages of sin, being the wages of a person here, must be what it pays.

†

“The gift of God.” Sin pays death to those, who are its obedient vassals: but God rewards the obedience of those, to whom he is lord and master, by the gift of eternal life. Their utmost endeavours and highest performances can never entitle them to it of right; and so it is to them not wages, but a free gift. See ch. iv. 4.

*

1 See chap. vi. 14.

†

That his discourse here, is addressed to those converts of this church, who were of the jewish nation, is so evident, from the whole tenour of this chapter, that there needs no more, but to read it with a little attention, to be convinced of it, especially ver. 1, 4, 6.

‡

Κυριεύει τȣ͂ ἀνθρώπȣ, “hath dominion over a man.” So we render it rightly: but I imagine we understand it in too narrow a sense, taking it to mean only that dominion, or force, which the law has to compel, or restrain us in things, which we have otherwise no mind to; whereas it seems to me to be used in the conjugation hiphil, and to comprehend, here, that right and privilege also of doing, or enjoying, which a man has, by virtue and authority of the law, which all ceases, as soon as he is dead. To this large sense of these words St. Paul’s expressions, in the two next verses, seem suited; and so understood, have a clear and easy meaning, as may be seen in the paraphrase.

§

2 “For.” That which follows in the 2d verse, is no proof of what is said in the 1st verse, either as a reason, or an instance of it, unless ϰυριεύει be taken in the sense I propose, and then the whole discourse is easy and uniform.

*

Ἀπὸ τȣ͂ νόμȣ τȣ͂ ἀνδρός, “From the law of her husband.” This expression confirms the sense above-mentioned. For it can in no sense be termed, “the law of her husband,” but as it is the law, whereby he has the right to his wife. But this law, as far as it is her husband’s law, as far as he has any concern in it, or privilege by it, dies with him, and so she is loosed from it.

†

4 Καὶ ὑμεῖς, “ye also;” ϰαὶ “also,” is not added here by chance, and without any meaning, but shows plainly that the apostle had in his mind some person, or persons before-mentioned, who were free from the law, and that must be either the woman, mentioned in the two foregoing verses, as free from the law of her husband, because he was dead; or else the gentile converts mentioned chap. vi. 14, as free from the law, because they were never under it. If we think ϰαὶ refers to the woman, then St. Paul’s sense is this, “ye also are free from the law, as well as such a woman, and may without any imputation subject yourselves to the gospel. If we take ϰαὶ to refer to the gentile converts, then his sense is this: “even ye also, my brethren, are free from the law, as well as the jewish converts, and as much at liberty to subject yourselves to the gospel, as they.” I confess myself most inclined to this latter, both because St. Paul’s main drift is to show, that both jews and gentiles are wholly free from the law: and because ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ, “ye have been made dead to the law,” the phrase here used to express that freedom, seems to refer rather to the 1st verse, where he says, “the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth,” implying, and no longer, rather than to the two intervening verses, where he says, “not the death of the woman, but the death of the husband sets the woman free,” of which more by and by.

*

“By the body of Christ, in which you, as his members, died with him;” see Col. ii. 20, and so, by a like figure, believers are said to be circumcised with him, Col. ii. 11.

†

“Are become dead to the law.” There is a great deal of needless pains taken by some, to reconcile this saying of St. Paul to the two immediately preceding verses, which they suppose do require he should have said here what he does ver. 6, viz. that the law was dead, that so the persons, here spoken of, might rightly answer to the wife, who there represents them. But he, that will take this passage together, will find that the first part of this 4th verse refers to ver. 1, and the latter part of it to ver. 2 and 3, and consequently that St. Paul had spoken improperly, if he had said, what they would make him say here. To clear this, let us look into St. Paul’s reasoning, which plainly stands thus: “the dominion of the law over a man ceases, when he is dead, ver. 1, you are become dead to the law, by the body of Christ, ver. 4, and so the dominion of the law over you is ceased, then you are free to put yourselves under the dominion of another, which can bring on you no charge of disloyalty to him, who had before the dominion over you, any more than a woman can be charged with adultery, when, the dominion of her former husband being ceased by his death, she marrieth herself to another man.” For the use of what he says, ver. 2 and 3, is to satisfy the jews, that the dominion of the law over them being ceased, by their death to the law, in Christ, they were no more guilty of disloyalty, by putting themselves wholly under the law of Christ, in the gospel, than a woman was guilty of adultery, when, the dominion of her husband ceasing, she gave herself up wholly to another man in marriage.

‡

“Disloyalty.” One thing that made the jews so tenacious of the law, was, that they looked upon it as a revolt from God, and a disloyalty to him, their king, if they retained not the law that he had given them. So that even those of them, who embraced the gospel, thought it necessary to observe those parts of the law, which were not continued, and as it were re-enacted by Christ, in the gospel. Their mistake herein is what St. Paul, by the instance of a woman marrying a second husband, the former being dead, endeavours to convince them of.

§

“We.” It may be worth our taking notice of, that St. Paul, having all along from the beginning of the chapter, and even in this very sentence, said “ye,” here, with neglect of grammar, on a sudden changes it into “we,” and says, “that we should, &c.” I suppose to press the argument the stronger, by showing himself to be in the same circumstances and concern with them, he being a jew, as well as those he spoke to.

*

“Fruit unto God.” In these words St. Paul visibly refers to chap. vi. 10, where he saith, that “Christ, in that he liveth, he liveth unto God,” and therefore he mentions here, his being raised from the dead, as a reason, for their bringing forth fruit unto God, i. e. living to the service of God, obeying his will, to the utmost of their power, which is the same that he says, chap. viii. 11.

†

5 “When we were in the flesh.” The understanding and observance of the law, in a bare, literal sense, without looking any farther, for a more spiritual intention in it, St. Paul calls “being in the flesh.” That the law had, besides a literal and carnal sense, a spiritual and evangelical meaning, see 2 Cor. iii. 6 and 17, compared. Read also ver. 14, 15, 16, where the jews in the flesh are described; and what he says of the ritual part of the law, see Heb. ix. 9, 11, which whilst they lived in the observance of, they were in the flesh. That part of the mosaical law was wholly about fleshly things, Col. ii. 14—23, was sealed in the flesh, and proposed no other, but temporal, fleshly rewards.

‡

Παθήματα τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, literally “passions of sin,” in the scripture Greek (wherein the genitive case of the substantive is often put for the adjective) “sinful passions, or lusts.”

§

Τὰ διὰ τȣ͂ νόμȣ, “which were by the law,” is a very true literal translation of the words, but leads the reader quite away from the apostle’s sense, and is fain to be supported (by interpreters, that so understand it) by saying, that the law excited men to sin, by forbidding it. A strange imputation on the law of God, such as, if it be true, must make the jews more defiled, with the pollutions set down in St. Paul’s black list, ch. i. than the heathen themselves. But herein they will not find St. Paul of their mind, who, besides the visible distinction wherewith he speaks of the gentiles all through his epistles, in this respect doth, here, ver. 7, declare quite the contrary; see also 1 Peter iv. 3, 4. If St. Paul’s use of the preposition, διὰ, a little backwards in this very epistle, were remembered, this and a like passage or two more, in this chapter, would not have so harsh and hard a sense put on them as they have. Τῶν ϖιϛεύοντων δἰ ἀϰροϐυϛίας, our translation renders, ch. iv. 11, “that believe, though they be not circumcised,” where they make δἰ ἀϰροϐυϛίας, to signify, “during the state, or during their being under uncircumcision.” If they had given the same sense to διὰ νόμȣ here, which plainly signifies their being in a contrary state, i. e. under the law, and rendered it, “sinful affections,” which they had, though they were under the law, the apostle’s sense here would have been easy, clear, and conformable to the design he was upon. This use of the word διὰ, I think we may find in other epistles of St. Paul; τὰ διὰ τȣ͂ σώματος, 2 Cor. v. 10, may possibly, with better sense, be understood of things done during the body, or during the bodily state, than by the body; and so 1 Tim. ii. 15, διὰ τεϰνογονίας, “during the state of child-bearing.” Nor is this barely an hellenistical use of διὰ, for the greeks themselves say, δἰ ἡμέρὰς, “during the day;” and διὰ, νυϰτὸς, “during the night.” And so I think διὰ τȣ͂ εὐαγgreekgελίȣ, Eph. iii. 6, should be understood to signify, “in the time of the gospel, under the gospel dispensation.”

*

“Members,” here, doth not signify barely the fleshy parts of the body, in a restrained sense, but the animal faculties and powers, all in us that is employed as an instrument in the works of the flesh, which are reckoned up, Gal. v. 19—21, some of which do not require the members of our body, taken in a strict sense for the outward gross parts, but only the faculties of our minds, for their performance.

†

Καρποϕορῆσαι τῷ ϑανάτῳ, “Bringing forth fruit unto death,” here, is opposed to “bringing forth fruit unto God,” in the end of the foregoing verse. Death here being considered as a master, whom men serve by sin, as God in the other place is considered as a master, who gives life to them, who serve him, in performing obedience to his law.

‡

6 “In newness of spirit,” i. e. spirit of the law, as appears by the antithesis, oldness of the letter, i. e. letter of the law. He speaks in the former part of the verse of the law, as being dead; here he speaks of its being revived again, with a new spirit. Christ, by his death, abolished the mosaical law, but revived as much of it again, as was serviceable to the use of his spiritual kingdom, under the gospel, but left all the ceremonial and purely typical part dead, Col. ii. 14—18, the jews were held, before Christ, in an obedience to the whole letter of the law, without minding the spiritual meaning, which pointed at Christ. This the apostle calls here serving in the oldness of the letter, and this he tells them they should now leave, as being freed from it, by the death of Christ, who was the end of the law for the attaining of righteousness, chap. x. 4, i. e. in the spiritual sense of it, which 2 Cor. iii. 6, he calls spirit, which spirit, ver. 17, he explains to be Christ. That chapter and this verse here give light to one another. Serving in the spirit, then, is obeying the law, as far as it is revived, and as it is explained by our Saviour, in the gospel, for the attaining of evangelical righteousness.

*

That this sense is also comprehended, in not serving in “the oldness of the letter,” is plain from what St. Paul says, 2 Cor. iii. 6. “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” From this killing letter of the law, whereby it pronounced death, for every the least transgression, they were also delivered, and therefore St. Paul tells them here, chap. viii. 15, that they “have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,” i. e. to live in perpetual bondage and dread under the inflexible rigour of the law, under which it was impossible for them to expect aught but death.

†

7 “Sin.” That sin here comprehends both these meanings expressed in the paraphrase, appears from this verse, where the strictness of the law against sin, is asserted, in its prohibiting of desires, and from ver. 12, where its rectitude is asserted.

‡

“I.” The skill St. Paul uses, in dexterously avoiding, as much as possible, the giving offence to the jews, is very visible in the word I, in this place. In the beginning of this chapter, where he mentions their knowledge in the law, he says, “ye.” In the 4th verse he joins himself with them and says, “we.” But here, and so to the end of this chapter, where he represents the power of sin, and the inability of the law to subdue it wholly, he leaves them out, and speaks altogether in the first person, he means all those, who were under the law.

§

8 St. Paul here, and all along this chapter, speaks of sin as a person, endeavouring to compass his death; and the sense of this verse amounts to no more but this, that, in matter of fact, that concupiscence, which the law declared to be sin, remained and exerted itself in him, notwithstanding the law. For if sin, from St. Paul’s prosopopœia, or making it a person, shall be taken to be a real agent, the carrying this figure too far will give a very odd sense to St. Paul’s words, and, contrary to his meaning, make sin to be the cause of itself, and of concupiscence, from which it has its rise.

∥

See note †, ver. 5, p. 345.

*

“Dead.” It is to be remembered not only that St. Paul, all along this chapter, makes sin a person, but speaks of that person and himself, as two incompatible enemies, the being and safety of the one consisting in the death, or inability of the other to hurt. Without carrying this in mind, it will be very hard to understand this chapter. For instance, in this place St. Paul has declared, ver. 7, that the law was not abolished, because it at all favoured, or promoted sin, for it lays restraints upon our very desires, which men, without the law, did not take notice to be sinful; nevertheless sin, persisting in its design, to destroy me, took the opportunity of my being under the law, to stir up concupiscence in me; for without the law, which annexes death to transgression, sin is as good as dead, is not able to have its will on me, and bring death upon me. Conformable hereunto, St. Paul says, 1 Cor. xv. 56, “the strength of sin is the law;” i. e. it is the law, that gives sin the strength and power to kill men. Laying aside the figure, which gives a lively representation of the hard state of a well-minded jew, under the law, the plain meaning of St. Paul here is this: “Though the law lays a stricter restraint upon sin, than men have without it: yet it betters not my condition thereby, because it enables me not wholly to extirpate sin, and subdue concupiscence, though it hath made every transgression a mortal crime. So that being no more totally secured from offending, under the law, than I was before, I am, under the law, exposed to certain death.” This deplorable state could not be more feelingly expressed than it is here, by making sin (which still remained in man, under the law) a person who implacably aiming at his ruin, cunningly took the opportunity of exciting concupiscence, in those, to whom the law had made it mortal.

†

9 Ποτὲ, “once.” St. Paul declares there was a time once, when he was in a state of life. When this was, he himself tells us, viz. when he was without the law, which could only be, before the law was given. For he speaks here, in the person of one of the children of Israel, who never ceased to be under the law, since it was given. This ϖοτὲ therefore must design the time between the covenant made with Abraham, and the law. By that covenant, Abraham was made blessed, i. e. delivered from death. That this is so, see Gal. iii. 9, &c. And, under him, the israelites claimed the blessing, as his posterity, comprehended in that covenant, and as many of them, as were of the faith of their father, faithful Abraham, were blessed with him. But when the law came, and they put themselves wholly into the covenant of works, wherein each transgression of the law became mortal, then sin recovered life again, and a power to kill; and an israelite, now under the law, found himself in a state of death, a dead man. Thus we see it corresponds with the design of the apostle’s discourse here. In the six first verses of this chapter, he shows the jews that they were at liberty from the law, and might put themselves solely under the terms of the gospel. In the following part of this chapter, he shows them, that it is necessary for them so to do; since the law was not able to deliver them from the power, sin had to destroy them, but subjected them to it. This part of the chapter showing at large what he says, ch. viii. 3, and so may be looked on as an explication and proof of it.

*

10 That the commandments of the law were given to the israelites, that they might have life by them; see Lev. xviii. 5, Matt. xix. 17.

†

The law, which was just, and such as it ought to be, in having the penalty of death annexed to every transgression of it, Gal. iii. 10, came to produce death, by not being able so to remove the frailty of human nature, and subdue carnal appetites, as to keep men entirely free from all trespasses against it, the least whereof, by the law, brought death. See chap. viii. 3, Gal. iii. 21.

‡

11 The sense wherein I understand διὰ τȣ͂ νόμȣ, “by the law,” ver. 5, is very much confirmed by διὰ τῆς ἐνgreektολῆς, in this and ver. 8, by which interpretation the whole discourse is made plain, easy, and consonant to the apostle’s purpose.

§

“Inveigled.” St. Paul seems here to allude to what Eve said in a like case, Gen. iii. 13, and uses the word “deceived,” in the same sense she did, i. e. drew me in.

∥

12 Ὥϛε, “so that.” Ver. 7, he laid down this position, that the law was not sin; ver. 8, 9, 10, 11, he proves it, by showing, that the law was very strict in forbidding of sin, so far as to reach the very mind and the internal acts of concupiscence, and that it was sin, that remaining under the law (which annexed death to every transgression) brought death on the israelites; he here infers, that the law was not sinful, but righteous, just, and good, just such as by the eternal rule of right it ought to be.

*

13 “No.” In the five foregoing verses the apostle had proved, that the law was not sin. In this, and the ten following verses, he proves the law not to be made death; but that it was given to show the power of sin, which remained in those, under the law, so strong, notwithstanding the law, that it could prevail on them to trangress the law, notwithstanding all its prohibitions, with the penalty of death annexed to every transgression. Of what use, this showing the power of sin, by the law, was, we may see, Gal. iii. 24.

†

That ἁμαρτία ϰαθ’ ὑπερϐολὴν ἁμαρgreektωλὸς, “sin exceeding sinful,” is put here to signify; the great power of sin, or lust, is evident from the following discourse, which only tends to show, that let a man under the law he right in his mind and purpose; yet the law in his members, i. e. his carnal appetites, would carry him to the committing of sin, though his judgment and endeavours were averse to it. He that remembers that sin, in this chapter, is all along represented as a person, whose very nature it was to seek and endeavour his ruin, will not find it hard to understand, that the apostle here, by “sin exceeding sinful,”means sin strenuously exerting its sinful, i. e. destructive nature, with mighty force.

‡

Ἵνα γενήται, “that sin might become,” i. e. might appear to be. It is of appearance he speaks in the former part of this verse, and so it must be understood here, to conform to the sense of the words, not only to what immediately precedes in this verse, but to the apostle’s design in this chapter, where he takes pains to prove, that the law was not intended any way to promote sin; and to understand, by these words, that it was, is an interpretation that neither holy scripture nor good sense will allow: though the sacred scripture should not, as it does, give many instances of putting “being,” for “appearing.” Vid. ch. iii. 19.

§

14 Πνευμαgreektιϰὸς, “spiritual,” is used here to signify the opposition of the law to our carnal appetites. The antithesis in the following words makes it clear.

*

15 Οὐ γινώσϰω, “I do not know,” i. e. it is not from my own understanding, or forecast of mind; the following words, which are a reason brought to prove this saying, give it this sense. But if ȣ̓ γινώσϰω, be interpreted, “I do not approve,” what in the next words is brought for a reason, will be but tautology.

†

18 St. Paul considers himself, and in himself other men, as consisting of two parts, which he calls flesh and mind, see ver. 25, meaning, by the one, the judgment and purpose of his mind, guided by the law, or right reason; by the other, his natural inclination, pushing him to the satisfaction of his irregular sinful desires. These he also calls, the one the law of his members, and the other the law of his mind, ver. 23, and Gal. v. 16, 17, a place parallel to the ten last verses of this chapter, he calls the one flesh, and the other spirit. These two are the subject of his discourse, in all this part of the chapter, explaining particularly how, by the power and prevalency of the fleshly inclinations, not abated by the law, it comes to pass, which he says, chap. viii. 2, 3, that the law being weak, by reason of the flesh, could not set a man free from the power and dominion of sin and death.

*

20 Οὐ ϑέλω ἐγὼ, “I would not.” I, in the Greek, is very emphatical, as is obvious, and denotes the man, in that part which is chiefly to be counted himself, and therefore with the like emphasis, ver. 25, is called αὐτὸς ἑγὼ, “I my own self.”

†

23 St. Paul, here and in the former chapter, uses the word members, for the lower faculties and affections of the animal man, which are as it were the instruments of actions.

‡

He having, in the foregoing verse, spoken of the law of God, as a principle of action, but yet such as had not a power to rule and influence the whole man, so as to keep him quite clear from sin, he here speaks of natural inclinations, as of a law also, a law in the members, and a law of sin in the members, to show that it is a principle of operation in men, even under the law, as steady and constant in its direction and impulse to sin, as the law is to obedience, and failed not, through the frailty of the flesh, often to prevail.

*

24 What is it, that St. Paul so pathetically desires to be delivered from? The state, he had been describing, was that of human weakness, wherein, notwithstanding the law, even those, who were under it, and sincerely endeavoured to obey it, were frequently carried, by their carnal appetites, into the breach of it. The state of frailty, he knew men, in this world, could not be delivered from. And therefore, if we mind him, it is not that, but the consequence of it, death, or so much of it that brings death, that he inquires after a deliverer from. “Who shall deliver me,” says he, “from this body?” He does not say of frailty, but of death: what shall hinder that my carnal appetites, that so often make me fall into sin, shall not bring death upon me, which is awarded me by the law? And to this he answers, “the grace of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is the favour of God alone, through Jesus Christ, that delivers frail men from death. Those under grace obtain life, upon sincere intentions and endeavours after obedience, and those endeavours a man may attain to, in this state of frailty. But good intentions and sincere endeavours are of no behoof against death, to those under the law, which requires complete and punctual obedience, but gives no ability to attain it. And so it is grace alone, through Jesus Christ, that, accepting of what a frail man can do, delivers from the body of death. And thereupon, he concludes with joy, “so then I, being now a christian, not any longer under the law, but under grace, this is the state I am in, whereby I shall be delivered from death; I, with my whole bent and intention, devote myself to the law of God, in sincere endeavours after obedience, though my carnal appetites are enslaved to, and have their natural propensity towards sin.”

†

25 Our translators read ἐυχαριϛῶ τῷ Θεῷ, “I thank God:” the author of the vulgate, χάρις τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, “the grace or favour of God,” which is the reading of the Clermont, and other Greek manuscripts. Nor can it be doubted, which of these two readings should be followed, by one who considers, not only that the apostle makes it his business to show, that the jews stood in need of grace, for salvation, as much as the gentiles: but also, that the grace of God is a direct and apposite answer to, “who shall deliver me?” which, if we read it, I thank God, has no answer at all; an omission, the like whereof, I do not remember any where in St. Paul’s way of writing. This I am sure, it renders the passage obscure and imperfect in itself. But much more disturbs the sense, if we observe the illative, therefore, which begins the next verse, and introduces a conclusion easy and natural, if the question, “who shall deliver me?” has for answer, “the grace of God.” Otherwise it will be heard to find premises, from whence it can be drawn. For thus stands the argument plain and easy. The law cannot deliver from the body of death, i. e. from those carnal appetites, which produce sin, and so bring death; but the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, which pardons lapses, where there is sincere endeavour after righteousness, delivers us from this body, that it doth not destroy us. From whence naturally results this conclusion, “there is, therefore now, no condemnation, &c.” But where it is grounded on, in the other reading, I confess I do not see.

*

Αὐτὸς ἐγὼ, “I myself,” i. e. I the man, with all my full resolution of mind. Αὐτὸς ἐγὼ might have both of them been spared, if nothing more had been meant here, than the nominative case to δȣλεύω. See note, ver. 20.

†

Δȣλεύω, “I serve,” or I make myself a vassal, i. e. I intend and devote my whole obedience. The terms of life, to those under grace, St. Paul tells us at large, chap. vi. are δȣλωθῆναι τῇ διϰαιοσύνῃ, and τῷ Θεῷ, to become vassals to righteousness, and to God; consonantly he says here αὐτὸς ἐγὼ, “I myself,” I the man, being now a christian, and so no longer under the law, but under grace, do what is required of me in that state; δȣλεύω, “I become a vassal to the law of God,” i. e. dedicate myself to the service of it, in sincere endeavours of obedience: and so αὐτὸς ἐγὼ, “I the man, shall be delivered from death;” for he that, being under grace, makes himself a vassal to God, in a steady purpose of sincere obedience, shall from him receive the gift of eternal life, though his carnal appetite, which he cannot get rid of, having its bent towards sin, makes him sometimes transgress, which would be certain death to him, if we were still under the law.

See chap. vi. 18 and 22.

And thus St. Paul having shown here in this chapter that the being under grace alone, without being under the law, is necessary even to the jews, as in the foregoing chapter he had shown it to be to the gentiles, he here hereby demonstratively confirms the gentile converts in their freedom from the law, which is the scope of this epistle thus far.

*

1 “Therefore.” This is an inference, drawn from the last verse of the foregoing chapter, where he saith, that it is grace that delivers from death, as we have already observed.

†

“Now.” Now that, under the gospel, the law is abolished to those, who entertain the gospel.

‡

The “condemnation” here spoken of, refers to the penalty of death annexed to every transgression, by the law, whereof he had discoursed in the foregoing chapter.

*

“In Christ Jesus,” expressed chap. vi. 14, by “under grace,” and Gal. iii. 27, by “having put on Christ;” all which expressions plainly signify, to any one that reads and considers the places, the professing the religion, and owning a subjection to the law of Christ, contained in the gospel, which is, in short, the profession of christianity.

†

Περιπαgreektȣ͂σι, “walking,” or “who walk,” does not mean, that all, who are in Christ Jesus, do walk, not after the flesh, but after the spirit; but all who, being in Christ Jesus, omit not to walk so. This, if the tenour of St. Paul’s discourse, here, can suffer any one to doubt of, he may be satisfied is so, from ver. 13, “If ye live after the flesh.” The “ye,” he there speaks to, are no less than those that, chap. i. 6, 7, he calls, “the called of Jesus Christ, and the beloved of God,” terms equivalent to, “being in Jesus Christ,” see chap. vi. 12—14, Gal. v. 16—18, which places compared together, show that, by Christ we are delivered from the dominion of sin and lust; so that it shall not reign over us, unto death, if we will set ourselves against it, and sincerely endeavour to be free; a voluntary slave, who inthrals himself by a willing obedience, who can set free?

‡

“Flesh and spirit,” seem here plainly to refer to flesh, wherewith he says he serves sin; and “mind,” wherewith he serves the law of God, in the immediately preceding words.

§

“Walking after the spirit,” is, ver. 13, explained by “mortifying the deeds of the body, through the spirit.”

∥

2 That it is grace, that delivers from the law in the members, which is the law of death, is evident from chap. vii. 23—25; why it is called a law, may be found in the antithesis to the law of sin and death, grace being as certain a law, to give life to christians, that live not after the flesh, as the influence of sinful appetites is, to bring death on those, who are not under grace. In the next place, why it is called the law of the spirit of life, has a reason, in that the gospel, which contains this doctrine of grace, is dictated by the same spirit, that raised Christ from the dead, and that quickens us to newness of life, and has, for its end, the conferring of eternal life.

¶

“The law of sin and death.” Hereby is meant that, which he calls “the law in his members,” ch. vii. 23, where it is called, “the law of sin;” and ver. 24, it is called, “the body of death,” from which grace delivers. This is certain, that no-body, who considers what St. Paul has said, ver. 7 and 13, of the foregoing chapter, can think, that he can call the law of Moses, “the law of sin, or the law of death.” And that the law of Moses is not meant, is plain from his reasoning in the very next words. For the law of Moses could not be complained of, as being weak, for not delivering those under it from itself; yet its weakness might, and is all along, chap. vii. as well as ver. 3, complained of, as not being able to deliver those under it, from their carnal, sinful appetites, and the prevalence of them.

*

3 “Weak;” the weakness, and as he there also calls it, “the unprofitableness of the law,” is again taken notice of by the apostle, Heb. vii. 18, 19. There were two defects in the law, whereby it became unprofitable, as the author to the hebrews says, so as to make nothing perfect. The one was its inflexible rigour, against which it provided no allay, or mitigation; it left no place for atonement: the least slip was mortal: death was the inevitable punishment of transgression, by the sentence of the law, which had no temperament: death the offender must suffer, there was no remedy. This St. Paul’s epistles are full of, and how we are delivered from it, by the body of Christ, he shows, Heb. x. 5—10. The other weakness, or defect, of the law was, that it could not enable those who were under it, to get a mastery over the flesh, or fleshly propensities, so as to perform the obedience required. The law exacted complete obedience, but afforded men no help against their frailty, or vicious inclinations. And this reigning of sin in their mortal bodies, St. Paul shows here, how they are delivered from, by the spirit of Christ enabling them, upon their sincere endeavours after righteousness, to keep sin under, in their mortal bodies, in conformity to Christ, in whose flesh it was condemned, executed, and perfectly extinet, having never had there any life or heing, as we shall see, in the following note. The provision, that is made in the new covenant, against both these defects of the law, is in the epistle to the Hebrews expressed thus: “God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, wherein he will do these two things; he will write his law in their hearts, and he will be merciful to their iniquities.” See Heb. viii. 7—12.

†

See Heb. iv. 15.

‡

Καὶ, “and,” joins here, “in the likeness,” &c. with “to be an offering;” whereas, if “and” be made to copulate, “sending” and “condemned,” neither grammar, nor sense, would permit it. Nor can it be imagined the apostle should speak thus: God sending his son, and condemned sin: but “God sending his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and sending him to be an offering for sin, with very good sense, joins the manner and end of his sending.

§

Περὶ ἁμαρgreektίας, which in the text is translated, “for sin,” signifies an offering for sin, as the margin of our bibles takes notice: see 2 Cor. v. 21, Heb. x. 5—10. So that the plain sense is, God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and sent him an offering for sin.

*

Καgreektέϰρινε, “condemned.” The prosopopœia, whereby sin was considered as a person, all the foregoing chapter, being continued here, the condemning of sin here, cannot mean, as some would have it, that Christ was condemned for sin, or in the place of sin, for that would be to save sin, and leave that person alive, which Christ came to destroy. But the plain meaning is, that sin itself was condemned, or put to death, in his flesh, i. e. was suffered to have no life, nor being, in the flesh of our Saviour; he was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin, Heb. iv. 15. By the spirit of God, the motions of the flesh were suppressed in him, sin was crushed in the egg, and could never fasten, in the least, upon him. This farther appears to be the sense, by the following words. This antithesis between ϰαgreektάϰριμα, ver. 1, and ϰαgreektέϰρινε, here, will also show, why that word is used, here, to express the death, or no being, of sin in our Saviour, 2 Cor. v. 2, 1 Peter ii. 22. That St. Paul sometimes uses condemnation, for putting to death, see chap. v. 16 and 18.

†

4 Τὸ διϰαίωμα τȣ͂ νόμȣ, “the righteousness of the law.” See note, chap. ii. 26.

‡

“Fulfilled,” does not here signify a complete, exact obedience, but such an unblameable life, by sincere endeavours after righteousness, as shows us to be the faithful subjects of Christ, exempt from the dominion of sin, see chap. xiii. 8, Gal. vi. 2. A description of such, who thus fulfilled “the righteousness of the law,” we have Luke i. 6. As Christ in the flesh was wholly exempt from all taint of sin; so we, by that spirit which was in him, shall be exempt from the dominion of our carnal lusts, if we make it our choice and endeavour to live after the spirit, ver. 9, 10, 11. For that, which we are to perform by that spirit, is the mortification of the deeds of the body, ver. 13.

§

5 Οἱ ϰαgreektὰ σάρϰα ὄνgreektες, “those that are after the flesh,” and “those that are after the spirit,” are the same with those that walk after the flesh, and after the spirit. A description of these two different sorts of christians, see Gal. v. 16—26.

*

6 “For” joins what follows here to ver. 1, as the reason of what is here laid down, viz. deliverance from condemnation is to such christian converts only, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For,” &c.

†

See Gal. vi. 8.

‡

7 Φρόνημα τῆς σαρϰὸς should have been translated here, “to be carnally minded,” as it is in the foregoing verse, which is justified by φρονȣ͂σι τὰ τῆς σαρϰὸς, “do mind the things of the flesh,” ver. 5, which signifies the employing the bent of their minds, or subjecting the mind intirely, to the fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.

§

Here the apostle gives the reason, why even those, that are in Christ Jesus, have received the gospel, and are christians (for to such he is here speaking), are not saved, unless they cease to walk after the flesh, because that runs directly counter to the law of God, and can never be brought into conformity and subjection to his commands. Such a settled contravention to his precepts cannot be suffered, by the supreme Lord and Governor of the world, in any of his creatures, without foregoing his sovereignty, and giving up the eternal, immutable rule of right, to the overturning the very foundations of all order and moral rectitude, in the intellectual world. This, even in the judgment of men themselves, will be always thought a necessary piece of justice, for the keeping out of anarchy, disorder and confusion, that those refractory subjects, who set up their own inclinations for their rule, against the law, which was made to restrain those very inclinations, should feel the severity of the law, without which the authority of the law, and law-maker, cannot be preserved.

*

8 This is a conclusion drawn from what went before. The whole argumentation stands thus: “They that are under the dominion of their carnal lusts, cannot please God; therefore they who are under the carnal, or literal dispensation of the law, cannot please God; because they have not the spirit of God: now it is the spirit of God alone, that enlivens men so, as to enable them to cast off the dominion of their lusts.” See Gal. iv. 3—6.

†

Οἱ ἐν σαρϰὶ ὄνgreektες, “They that are in the flesh.” He that shall consider, that this phrase is applied, chap. vii. 5, to the jews, as resting in the bare, literal, or carnal sense and observance of the law, will not be averse to the understanding the same phrase, in the same sense, here; which I think is the only place besides in the New Testament, where ἐν σαρϰι εἶναι is used in a moral sense. This I dare say, it is hard to produce any one text, wherein εἶναι ἐν σαρϰὶ is used to signify a man’s being under the power of his losts, which is the sense wherein it is, and must be taken here, if what I propose be rejected. Let it he also remembered, that St. Paul makes it the chief business of this epistle (and he seldom forgets the design he is upon) to persuade both jew and gentile from a subjection to the law, and that the argument, he is upon here, is the weakness and insufficiency of the law to deliver men from the power of sin, and then, perhaps, it will not be judged that the interpretation I have given of these words, is altogether remote from the apostle’s sense.

‡

9 See 2 Cor. iii. 6—18, particularly ver. 6, 13, 16.

§

See John i. 12.

∥

See Gal. iv. 6.

*

10 See chap. vi. 1—14, which explains this place, particularly ver. 2, 6, 11, 12, Gal. ii. 20, Eph. iv. 22, 23, Col. ii. 11, and iii. 8—10.

†

See Eph. iv. 23.

‡

11 To lead us into the true sense of this verse, we need only observe, that St. Paul, having in the four first chapters of this epistle, shown that neither jew nor gentile could be justified by the law, and in the 5th chapter how sin entered into the world by Adam, and reigned by death, from which it was grace and not the law that delivered men: in the 6th chapter, he showeth the convert gentiles, that though they were not under the law, but under grace; yet they could not be saved, unless they cast off the dominion of sin, and became the devoted servants of righteousness, which was what their very baptism taught and required of them: and in chap. vii. he declares to the jews the weakness of the law, which they so much stood upon; and shows that the law could not deliver them from the dominion of sin; that deliverance was only by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ; from whence he draws the consequence, which begins this 8th chapter, and so goes on with it, here, in two branches relating to his discourse in the foregoing chapter, that complete it in this. The one is to show, “that the law of the spirit of life,” i. e. the new covenant in the gospel, required that those, that are in Christ Jesus, “should not live after the flesh, but after the spirit.” The other is to show how, and by whom, since the law was weak, and could not enable those, under the law, to do it, they are enabled to keep sin from reigning in their “mortal bodies,” which is the sanctification required. And here he shows, that christians are delivered from the dominion of their carnal, sinful lusts, by the spirit of God, that is given to them, and dwells in them, as a new quickening principle and power, by which they are put into the state of a spiritual life, wherein their members are made capable of being made the instruments of righteousness, if they please, as living men, alive now to righteousness, so to employ them. If this be not the sense of this chapter to ver. 14, I desire to know how ἄρα νῦν in the 1st verse comes in, and what coherence there is in what is here said? Besides the connexion of this to the former chapter, contained in the illative, “therefore,” the very antithesis of the expressions, in one and the other, shows that St. Paul, in writing this very verse, had an eye to the foregoing chapter. There it was, “sin that dwelleth in me,” that was the acting and over-ruling principle: here it is, “the spirit of God that dwelleth in you,” that is the principle of your spiritual life. There it was, “who shall deliver me from this body of death?” here it is, “God, by his spirit, shall quicken your mortal bodies,” i. e. bodies which, as the seat and harbour of sinful lusts, that possess it, are indisposed and dead to the actions of a spiritual life, and have a natural tendency to death. In the same sense, and upon the same account, he calls the bodies of the gentiles, “their mortal bodies,” chap. vi. 12, where his subject is, as here, “freedom from the reign of sin,” upon which account they are styled, ver. 13, “alive from the dead.” To make it yet clearer, that it is deliverance from the reign of sin, in our bodies, that St. Paul speaks of here, I desire any one to read what he says, chap. vi. 1—14, to the gentiles on the same subject, and compare it with the thirteen first verses of this chapter; and then tell me, whether they have not a mutual correspondence, and do not give a great light one to another? If this be too much pains, let him at least read the two next verses, and see how they could possibly be, as they are, an inference from this 11th verse, if the “quickening of your moral bodies,” in it, mean any thing, hut a “quickening to a newness of life, or to a spiritual “life of righteousness.” This being so, I cannot but wonder to see a late learned commentator and paraphrast positive, that ζωοποιήσει τὰ ϑνητὰ σώμαgreektα ύμῶν, “shall quicken your mortal bodies,” does here signify, “shall raise your dead bodies out of the grave,” as he contends in his preface to his paraphrase on the epistles to the corinthians, ζωοποιεῖν, “quicken,” he says imports the same with ἐγείρειν, “raise.” His way of proving it is very remarkable; his words are “ζωοποιεῖν and ἐγείρειν are as to this matter [viz. the resurrection] words of the same import, i. e. where in discoursing of the resurrection, ζωοποιεῖν, quicken,” is used, it is of the same import with ἐγείρειν, “raise.” But what if St. Paul, which is the question, be not here speaking of the resurrection? why then, according to our author’s own confession, ζωοποιεῖν, “quicken,” does not necessarily import the same with ἐγείρειν “raise.” So that this argument, to prove that St. Paul here, by the words in question, means the raising of their dead bodies out of the grave, is but a fair begging of the question, which is enough I think, for a commentator, that hunts out of his way for controversy. He might, therefore, have spared the ζωοποιεῖν, “quicken,” which he produces out of St. John v. 21, as of no force to his purpose, till he had proved that St. Paul here in Romans viii. 11, was speaking of the resurrection of men’s bodies out of the grave, which he will never do, till he can prove that ϑνηgreektὰ, “mortal,” here signifies the same with νεϰρὰ, “dead.” And I demand of him to show ϑνηgreektὸν, “mortal,” any where in the New Testament, attributed to any thing void of life; ϑνηgreektὸν, “mortal,” always signifies the thing it is joined to,to be living; so that ζωοποιήσει ϰαὶ τὰ ϑνηgreektὰ σώμαgreektα ὑμῶν, “shall quicken even your mortal bodies,” in that learned author’s interpretation of these words of St. Paul, here signify, “God shall raise to life your living, dead bodies,” which no one can think, in the softest terms can be given to it, a very proper way of speaking; though it be very good sense and very emphatical to say, God shall by his spirit, put into even your mortal bodies, a principle of immortality, or spiritual life, which is the sense of the apostle here; see Gal. vi. 8. And so he may find ζωοποιῆσαι used, Gal. iii. 21, to the same purpose it is here. I next desire to know, of this learned writer, how he will bring in the resurrection of the dend into this place, and to show what coherence it has with St. Paul’s discourse here, and how he can join this verse with the immediately preceding and following, when the words under consideration are rendered, “shall raise your dead bodies out of their graves, at the last day?” It seems as if he himself found this would make but an aukward sense, standing in this place, with the rest of St. Paul’s words here, and so never attempted it by any sort of paraphrase, but has barely given us the english translation to help us, as it can, to so uncouth a meaning, as he would put upon this passage, which must make St. Paul, in the midst of a very serious, strong, and coherent discourse, concerning “walking not after the flesh, but after the spirit,” skip on a sudden into the mention of “the resurrection of the dead;” and having just mentioned it, skip back again into his former argument. But I take the liberty to assure him, that St. Paul has no such starts, from the matter he has in hand, to what gives no light or strength to his present argument. I think there is not any where to be found a more pertinent, close arguer, who has his eye always on the mark he drives at. This men would find, if they would study him, as they ought, with more regard to the divine authority, than to hypotheses of their own, or to opinions of the season. I do not say that he is every-where clear in his expressions, to us now; but I do say he is every-where a coherent, pertinent writer; and wherever, in his commentators and interpreters, any sense is given to his words, that disjoints his discourse, or deviates from his argument, and looks like a wandering thought, it is easy to know whose it is, and whose the impertinence is, his, or theirs that father it on him. One thing more the text suggests, concerning this matter; and that is, if by “quickening your mortal bodies, &c.” be meant, here, the raising them into life after death, how can this be mentioned as a peculiar favour to those, who have the spirit of God? for God will also raise the bodies of the wicked, and as certainly as those of believers. But that, which is promised here, is promised to those only who have the spirit of God: and therefore it must be something peculiar to them, viz. that “God shall so enliven their mortal bodies, by his spirit, which is the principle and pledge of immortal life, that they may be able to yield up themselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and their members servants to righteousness unto holiness,” as he expresses himself, chap. vi. 13 and 19. If any one can yet doubt, whether this be the meaning of St. Paul here, I refer him for farther satisfaction to St. Paul himself in Eph. ii. 4—6, where, he will find the same notion of St. Paul, expressed in the same terms, but so that it is impossible to understand by ζωοποιεῖν, or ἐγείρειν (which are both used there, as well as here) “the resurrection of the dead, out of their graves.” The full explication of this verse may be seen Eph. i. 19, and ii. 10. See also Col. ii. 12, 13, to the same purpose; and Rom. vii. 4.

*

Ζωοποιήσει ϰαὶ, “shall quicken even your mortal bodies,” seems more agreeable to the original than “shall also quicken your mortal bodies;” for the ϰαὶ doth not copulate ζωοποιήσει with ὁ ἔγειρας, for then it must have been ϰαὶ ζωοποιήσει; for the place of the copulative is between the two words that it joins, and so must necessarily go before thelatter of them.

*

13 “Deeds of the body:” what they are may be seen, Gal. v. 19, &c. as we have already remarked.

†

14 In that lies the force of his proof, that they shall live. The sons of mortal men are mortal, the sons of God are like their Father, partakers of the divine nature, and are immortal. See 2 Pet. i. 4, Heb. ii. 13—15.

‡

15 What “the spirit of bondage” is, the apostle hath plainly declared, Heb. ii. 15. See note, ver. 21.

§

“Again,” i. e. now again under Christ, as the jews did from Moses, under the law.

∥

See Gal. iv. 5, 6.

¶

“Abba, Father.” The apostle here expresses this filial assurance, in the same words, that our Saviour applies himself to God, Mark xiv. 36.

**

16 See the same thing taught, 2 Cor. i. 21, 22, and v. 5, Eph. i. 11—14, and Gal. iv. 6.

††

17 The full sense of this you may take, in St. Paul’s own words, 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.

*

18 “Revealed.” St. Paul speaks of this glory here, as what needs to be revealed, to give us a right conception of it. It is impossible to have a clear and full comprehension of it till we taste it. See how he labours for words to express it, 2 Cor. iv. 17, &c. a place to the same purpose with this here.

†

19 Κτίσις, “creature,” in the language of St. Paul and of the New Testament, signifies “mankind;” especially the gentile world, as the far greater part of the creation. See Col. i. 23, Mark xvi. 15, compared with Matt. xxviii. 19.

‡

“Immortality.” That the thing here expected was immortal life, is plain from the context, and from that parallel place, 2 Cor. iv. 17, and v. 5, the glory whereof was so great, that it could not be comprehended, till it was by an actual exhibiting of it revealed. When this revelation is to be, St. Peter tells us, 1 Pet. i. 4—7.

§

ἈποϰάλυΨιν τῶν υίῶν, “Revelation of the sons,” i. e. revelation to the sons. The genitive case often, in the New Testament, denotes the object. So Rom. i. 5, ὑπαϰοὴ ϖίϛεως signifies obedience to faith, chap. iii. 22, διϰαιοσύνη Θεȣ͂ διὰ ϖίϛεως Χριϛȣ͂, “the righteousness that God accepts, by faith in Christ:” chap. iv. 11, διϰαιοσύνη ϖίϛεως, “righteousness by faith.” If ἀποϰαλύψις here be rendered “revelation,” as ἀποϰαλυφθῆναι in the foregoing verse is rendered “revealed,” (and it will be hard to find a reason why it should not) the sense in the paraphrase will be very natural and easy. For the revelation in the foregoing verse is not “of,” but “to,” the sons of God. The words are ἀποϰαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς.

∥

20 The state of man, in this frail, short life, subject to inconveniencies, sufferings, and death, may very well be called “vanity,” compared to the impassible estate of eternal life, the inheritance of the sons of God.

¶

“Devil.” That, by he that subjected it, is meant the Devil, is probably from the history, Gen. iii. and from Heb. ii. 14, 15, Col. ii. 15.

*

Ἀπεϰδέχεgreektαι ἐπ’ ἐλπίδι ὅτι, “Waiteth in hope;” that the not joining, “in hope,” to “waiteth,” by placing it in the beginning of the 21st verse, as it stands in the greek, but joining it to “subjected the same,” by placing it at the end of the 20th verse, has mightily obscured the meaning of this passage, which, taking all the words between, “of God and in hope,” for a parenthesis, is as easy and clear as any thing can be, and then the next word ὅτι will have its proper signification, “that,” and not “because.”

†

21 Δȣλεία τῆς φθορᾶς, “Bondage of corruption,” i. e. the fear of death, see yer. 15, and Heb. ii. 15. Corruption signifies “death,” or “destruction,” in opposition to “life everlasting.” See Gal. vi. 8.

‡

22 How David “groaned” under the vanity and shortness of this life, may be seen, Psal. lxxxix. 47, 48, which complaint may be met with, in every man’s mouth; so that even those, who have not the first fruits of the spirit, whereby they are assured of a future happy life in glory, do also desire to be freed from a subjection to corruption, and have uneasy longings after immortality.

§

23 See 2 Cor. v. 2, 5, Eph. i. 13, 14.

∥

Read the parallel place, 2 Cor. iv. 17, and v. 5.

*

25 What he says here of hope, is to show them, that the groaning, in the children of God, before spoken of, was not the groaning of impatience, but such, wherewith the Spirit of God makes intercession for us, better than if we expressed ourselves in words, ver. 19—23.

†

27 “The spirit,” promised in the time of the gospel, is called the “spirit of supplications.” Zech. xii. 10.

‡

28 Which “purpose” was declared to Abraham, Gen. xviii. 18, and is largely insisted on by St Paul, Eph. iii. 1—11. This, and the remainder of this chapter, seem said to confirm the gentile converts, in the assurance of the favour and love of God to them, through Christ, though they were not under the law.

*

29 See chap. xi. 2, Amos iii. 2.

†

See Eph. i. 3—7.

‡

30 “Many are called, and few are chosen,” says our Saviour, Matt. xx. 16. Many, both jews and gentiles, were called, that did not obey the call. And therefore, ver. 32, it is those, who are chosen who (he saith) are “justified,” i. e. such as were called, and obeyed, and consequently were chosen.

§

33 Reading this with an interrogation, makes it needless to add any words to the text, to make out the sense, and is more conformable to the scheme of his argumentation here, as appears by ver. 35, where the interrogation cannot be avoided; and is, as it were, an appeal to them themselves to be judges, whether any of those things he mentions to them (reckoning up these, which had most power to hurt them) could give them just cause of apprehension: “Who shall accuse you? Shall God who justifies you? Who shall condemn you? Christ that died for you?” What can be more absurd, than such an imagination?

*

3 Ἀνάθεμα, “accursed;” םרח, which the septuagint render anathema, signifies persons, or things, devoted to destruction and extermination. The jewish nation were an anathema, destined to destruction. St. Paul, to express his affection to them, says, he could wish, to save them from it, to become an anathema, and be destroyed himself.

*

4 “Adoption,” Exod. iv. 22, Jer. xxi. 9.

†

“Glory,” which was present with the israelites, and appeared to them, in a great shining brightness, out of a cloud. Some of the places, which mention it, are the following; Exod. xiii. 21, Lev. ix. 6, and 23, 24, Numb. xvi. 42. 2 Chron. vii. 1—3, Ezek. x. 4, and xliii. 2, 3, compared with chap. i. 4, 28.

‡

“Covenants.” See Gen. xvii. 4, Exod. xxxiv. 27.

§

Νομοθεσία, “the giving of the law,” whether it signifies the extraordinary giving of the law, by God himself, or the exact constitution of their government, in the moral and judicial part of it (for the next word λαgreektρεία, “service of God,” seems to comprehend the religious worship) this is certain that, in either of these senses, it was the peculiar privilege of the jews, and what no other nation could pretend to.

∥

5 “Fathers,” who they were, see Exod. iii. 6, 16, Acts vii. 32.

¶

6 See chap. iii. 3, “Word of God,” i. e. promise, see ver. 9.

**

See chap. iv. 16. St. Paul uses this as a reason, to prove that the promise of God failed not to have its effect, though the body of the jewish nation rejected Jesus Christ, and were, therefore, nationally rejected by God, from being any longer his people. The reason, he gives for it, is this, that the posterity of Jacob, or Israel, were not those alone, who were to make that Israel, or that chosen people of God, which were intended, in the promise made to Abraham; others, besides the descendants of Jacob, were to be taken into this Israel, to constitute the people of God, under the gospel: and, therefore, the calling, and coming in, of the gentiles was a fulfilling of that promise. And then he adds, in the next verse, that neither were all the posterity of Abraham comprehended in that promise, so that those, who were taken in, in the time of the Messiah, to make the Israel of God, were not taken in, because they were the natural descendants from Abraham, nor did the jews claim it for all his race. And this he proves, by the limitation of the promise to Abraham’s seed, by Isaac only. All this he does, to show the right of the gentiles to that promise, if they believed: since that promise concerned not only the natural descendants, either of Abraham, or Jacob, but also those, who were of the faith of their father Abraham, of whomsoever descended, see chap. iv. 11—17.

*

8 “Children of God,” i. e. people of God, see ver. 26.

*

11 “Neither having done good, nor evil.” These words may, possibly, have been added, by St. Paul, to the foregoing (which may, perhaps, seem full enough of themselves) 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 bondwoman.

†

12 “See Gen. xxv. 23. And it was only, in a national sense, that it is there said, “the elder shall serve the younger;” and not personally, for in that sense it is not true, which makes it plain that these words of verse.

‡

13 “Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated,” are to be taken in a national sense, for the preference God gave to the posterity of one of them to be his people, and possess the promised land, before the other. What this love of God was, see Deut. vii. 6—8.

§

“Hated.” When it is used in sacred scripture, as it is often comparatively, it signifies only to postpone in our esteem or kindness; for this I need only give that one example, Luke xiv. 26. See Mal. i. 2, 3.

∥

From the 7th to this 13th verse proves to the jews, that, though the promise was made to Abraham and his seed, yet it was not to all Abraham’s posterity, but God first chose Isaac and his issue: and then again, of Isaac (who was but one of the sons of Abraham) when Rebecca had conceived twins by him, God, of his sole good pleasure, chose Jacob the younger, and his posterity, to be his peculiar people, and to enjoy the land of promise.

*

15 See Exod. xxxiii. 19. It is observable that the apostle, arguing here with the jews, to vindicate the justice of God, in casting them off from being his people, uses three sorts of arguments; the first is the testimony of Moses, of God’s asserting this to himself, by the right of his sovereignty: and this was enough to stop the mouths of the jews. The second, from reason, ver. 19—24, and the third, from his predictions of it to the jews, and the warning he gave them of it beforehand, ver. 25—29, which we shall consider in their places.

†

16 “Willeth and runneth,” considered with the context, plainly direct us to the story, Gen. xxvii. where, ver. 3—5, we read Isaac’s purpose, and Esau’s going a hunting, and ver. 28, 29, we find what the blessing was.

‡

17 Exod. ix. 16.

*

18 “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 lets another go on, in their opposition and obstinacy against him, till their taking off, by some signal calamity and ruin brought on them, may be seen and acknowledged to be the effect of their standing out against God, as in the case of Pharaoh.

†

Ἐλεεῖ, “hath mercy.” That by this word is meant being bountiful, in his outward dispensations of power, greatness, and protection, to one people above another, is plain from the three preceding verses.

‡

“Hardeneth.” That God’s hardening, spoken of here, is what we have explained it, in the paraphrase, is plain, in the instance of Pharaoh, given ver. 17, as may be seen in that story: Exod. vii.—xiv. which is worth the reading, for the understanding of this place: see also ver. 22.

§

20 Here St. Paul shows, 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 any question of his justice, be made great and glorious, or be pulled down, and brought into contempt, as he pleases. That he here speaks of men, nationally, and not personally, in reference to their eternal state, is evident not only from the beginning of this chapter, where he shows his concern for the nation of the jews being cast off from being God’s people, and the instances he brings of Isaac, of Jacob, and Esau, and of Pharaoh; but it appears also very clearly, in the verses immediately following, where, “by the vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction,” he manifestly means, the nation of the jews, who were now grown ripe, and fit for the destruction he was bringing upon them. And, by “vessels of mercy,” the christian church gathered out of a small collection of convert-jews, and the rest made up of the gentiles, who, together, were from thenceforwards to be the people of God, in the room of the jewish nation, now cast off, as appears by ver. 24. The sense of which verse is this: “How darest thou, O man, to call God to account, and question his justice, in casting off his ancient people the jews? What, if God willing to punish that sinful people, and to do it so, as to have his power known, and taken notice of, in the doing of it: (for why might he not raise them, to that purpose, as well as he did Pharaoh and his egyptians?) What, I say, if God bore with them, a long time, even after they had deserved his wrath, as he did with Pharaoh, that his hand might be the more eminently visible in their destruction: and that also, at the same time, he might, with the more glory, make known his goodness and mercy to the gentiles, whom, according to his purpose, he was in a readiness to receive, into the glorious state of being his people, under the gospel?”

*

21 “Vessel unto honour, and vessel unto dishonour,” signifies a thing designed, by the maker, to an honourable, or dishonourable use: now why it may not design nations, as well as persons, and honour and prosperity, in this world, as well as eternal happiness and glory, or misery and punishment, in the world to come, I do not see. In common reason, this figurative expression ought to follow the sense of the context: and I see no peculiar privilege it hath, to wrest and turn the visible meaning of the place, to something remote from the subject in hand. I am sure, no such authority it has from such an appropriated sense, settled in sacred scripture. This were enough to clear the apostle’s sense in these words, were there nothing else; but Jer. xviii. 6, 7, from whence this instance of a potter is taken, shows them to have a temporal sense, and to relate to the nation of the jews.

*

22 “Endured with much long-suffering.” Immediately after the instance of Pharaoh, whom God said, “he raised up to show his power in him,” ver. 17, it is subjoined, ver. 18, “and whom he will he hardeneth,” plainly with reference to the story of Pharoah, who is said to harden himself, and whom God is said to harden, as may be seen Exod. vii. 3, 22, 23, and viii. 15, 32, and ix. 7, 12, 34, and x. 1, 20, 27, and xi. 9, 10, and xiv. 5. What God’s part in hardening is, is contained in these words, “endured with much long-suffering.” God sends Moses to Pharaoh with signs, Pharaoh’s magicians do the like, and so he is not prevailed with. God sends plagues; whilst the plague is upon him, he is mollified, and promises to let the people go: but, as soon as God takes off the plague, he returns to his obstinacy, and refuses, and thus over and over again; God’s being intreated by him to withdraw the severity of his hand, his gracious compliance with Pharaoh’s desire to have the punishment removed, was what God did in the case, and this was all goodness and bounty: but Pharaoh and his people made that ill use of his forbearance and long-suffering, as still to harden themselves the more, for God’s mercy and gentleness to them, till they bring on themselves exemplary destruction, from the visible power and hand of God, employed in it. This carriage of their’s God foresaw, and so made use of their obstinate, perverse temper, for his own glory, as he himself declares, Exod. vii. 3—5, and viii. 1—8, and ix. 14, 16. The apostle, by the instance of a potter’s power over his clay, having demonstrated, that God, by his dominion and sovereignty, had a right to set up, or pull down, what nation he pleased; and might, without any injustice, take one race into his particular favour, to be his peculiar people, or reject them, as he thought fit; does, in this verse, apply it to the subject in hand, viz. the casting off the jewish nation, whereof he speaks here, in terms that plainly make a parallel between this and his dealing with the egyptians, mentioned ver. 17, and, therefore, that story will best explain this verse, that thence will receive its full light. For it seems a somewhat strange sort of reasoning, to say, God, to show his wrath, endured with much long-suffering, those, who deserved his wrath, and were fit for destruction. But he that will read in Exodus, God’s dealing with Pharaoh and the egyptians, and how God passed over provocation upon provocation, and patiently endured those who, by their first refusal, nay by their former cruelty and oppression of the israelies, deserved his wrath, and were fitted for destruction, that, in a more signal vengeance on the egyptians, and glorious deliverance of the israelites, he might show his power, and make himself be taken notice of, will easily see the strong and easy sense of this and the following verse.

†

23 Καὶ ἵνα, “And that;” the vulgate has net “and;” there are greek mss. that justify that omission, as well as the sense of the place, which is disturbed by the conjunction “and.” For with that reading it runs thus: “and God, that he might make known the riches of his glory, &c.” A learned paraphrast, both against the grammar and sense of the place, by his own authority adds, “showed mercy,” where the sacred scripture is silent, and says no such thing, by which we may make it say any thing. If a verb were to be inserted here, it is evident, it must, some way or other, answer to “endured,” in the foregoing verse: but such an one will not be easy to be found, that will suit here. And, indeed, there is no need of it, for, “and” being left out, the sense, suitably to St. Paul’s argument here, runs plainly and smoothly thus: “What have you jews, to complain of, for God’s rejecting you, from being any longer his people? and giving you up, to be over-run and subjected by the gentiles? and his taking them in, to be his people in your room? he has as much power over the nations of the earth, to make some of them mighty and flourishing, and others mean and weak, as a potter has over his clay, to make what sort of vessels he pleases, of any part of it. This you cannot deny. God might, from the beginning, have made you a small, neglected people: but he did not. He made you, the posterity of Jacob, a greater and mightier people, than the posterity of his elder brother Esau, and made you also his own people, plentifully provided for, in the land of promise. Nay, when your frequent revolts and repeated provocations had made you fit for destruction, he with long-suffering forbore you, that now, under the gospel, executing his wrath on you, he might manifest his glory, on us, whom he hath called to be his people, consisting of a small remnant of jews, and of converts out of the gentiles, whom he had prepared for this glory, as he had foretold by the prophets Hosea and Isaiah.” This is plainly St. Paul’s meaning, that God dealt, as is described, ver. 22, with the jews, that he might manifest his glory on the gentiles; for so he declares over and over again, chap. xi. ver. 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, 28, 30.

*

“Make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy.” St. Paul in a parallel place, Col. i. has so fully explained these words, that he that will read ver. 27, of that chapter, with the context there, can be in no manner of doubt what St. Paul means here.

*

27 “But a remnant.” There needs no more but to read the text, to see this to be the meaning.

†

28 Λόγον συνgreektείμημένον ϖοιήσει; “Shall make a contracted, or little account, or overplus,” a metaphor, taken from an account, wherein the matter is so ordered, that the overplus, or remainder, standing still upon the account, is very little.

‡

29 “A seed,” Isaiah i. 9. The words are, “a very small remnant.”

§

31 See chap. x. 3, and xi. 6, 7. The apostle’s design in this and the following chapter, is to show the reason, why the jews were cast off from being the people of God, and the gentiles admitted. From whence it follows, that by “attaining to righteousness, and to the law of righteousness,” here, is meant not attaining to the righteousness, which puts particular persons into the state of justification and salvation; but the acceptance of that law, the profession of that religion, wherein that righteousness is exhibited; which profession of that, which is now the only true religion, and owning ourselves under that law, which is now solely the law of God, puts any collective body of men into the state of being the people of God. For every one of the jews and gentiles, that “attained to the law of righteousness, or to righteousness,” in the sense St. Paul speaks here, i. e. became a professor of the christian religion, did not attain to eternal salvation. In the same sense must chap. x. 3, and xi. 7, 8, be understood.

*

32 See 1 Cor. i. 23.

†

2 This their zeal for God, see described, Acts xxi. 27—31, and xxii. 3.

*

4 See Gal. iii. 24.

†

8 St. Paul had told them, ver. 4, that the end of the law was to bring them to life, by faith in Christ, that they might be justified, and so be saved. To convince them of this, he brings three verses out of the book of the law itself, declaring that the way to life was by hearkening to that word, which was ready, in the mouth and in their heart, and that, therefore, they had no reason to reject Jesus the Christ, because he died and was now removed into heaven, and was remote from them; their very law proposed life to them, by something nigh them, that might lead them to their deliverer: by words and doctrines, that might be always at hand, in their mouths and in their hearts, and so lead them to Christ, i. e. to that faith in him, which the apostle preached to them: I submit to the attentive reader, whether this be not the meaning of this place.

*

9 The expectation of the jews was, that the Messiah, who was promised them, was to be their deliverer, and so far were they in the right. But that, which they expected to be delivered from, at his appearing, was the power and dominion of strangers. When our Saviour came, their reckoning was up; and the miracles, which Jesus did, concurred to persunde them, that it was he: but his obscure birth, and mean appearance, suited not with that power and splendour, they had fancied to themselves he should come in. This, with his denouncing to them the ruin of their temple and state at hand, set the rulers against him, and held the body of the jews in suspense till his crucifixion, and that gave a full turn of their minds from him. They had figured him a mighty prince, at the head of their nation, setting them free from all foreign power, and themselves at ease, and happy under his glorious reign. But when at the passover the whole people were witnesses of his death, they gave up all thought of deliverance by him. He was gone, they saw him no more, and it was past doubt, a dead man could not be the Messiah, or deliverer, even of those who believed him. It is against these prejudices, that what St. Paul says, in this and the three preceding verses, seems directed, wherein he teaches them, that there was no need to fetch the Messiah out of heaven, or out of the grave, and bring him personally among them. For the deliverance he was to work for them, the salvation by him, was salvation from sin, and condemnation for that: and that was to be had, by barely believing and owning him to be the Messiah, their King, and that he was raised from the dead; by this they would be saved, without his personal presence amongst them.

†

“Raised him from the dead.” The doctrine of the Lord Jesus being raised from the dead, is certainly one of the most fundamental articles of the christian religion; but yet there seems another reason why St. Paul here annexes salvation to the belief of it, which may be found ver. 7, where he teaches, that it was not necessary for their salvation, that they should have Christ out of his grave, personally present amongst them; and here he gives them the reason, because, if they did but own him for their Lord, and believe that he was raised, that sufficed, they should be saved.

*

10 Believing, and an open avowed profession of the gospel, are required by our Saviour, Mark xvi. 16.

†

13 Whosoever hath, with care, looked into St. Paul’s writings, must own him to be a close reasoner, that argues to the point; and therefore, if, in the three preceding verses, he requires an open profession of the gospel, I cannot but think that “all that call upon him,” ver. 12, signifies all that are open, professed christians; and if this be the meaning “of calling upon him,” ver. 12, it is plain it must be the meaning “of calling upon his name,” ver. 13, a phrase not very remote from “naming his name,” which is used by St. Paul for professing christianity, 2 Tim. ii. 19. If the meaning of the prophet Joel, from whom these words are taken, be urged, I shall only say, that it will be an ill rule for interpreting St. Paul, to tie up his use of any text, he brings out of the Old Testament, to that, which is taken to be the meaning of it there. We need go no farther for an example than the 6, 7, and 8th verses of this chapter, which I desire any one to read as they stand, Deut. xxx. 11—14, and see whether St. Paul uses them here, in the same sense.

*

15 St. Paul is careful, every-where, to keep himself, as well as possibly he can, in the minds and fair esteem of his brethren, the jews; may not therefore this, with the two foregoing verses, be understood as an apology to them, for professing himself an apostle of the gentiles, as he does, by the tenour of this epistle, and in the next chapter, in words at length, ver. 13? In this chapter, ver. 12, he had showed that both jews and greeks, or gentiles, were to be saved, only by receiving the gospel of Christ; and if so, it was necessary that somebody should be sent to teach it them, and therefore the jews had no reason to be angry with any that was sent on that employment.

†

16 “But they have not all obeyed.” This seems an objection of the jews, to what St. Paul had said, which he answers, in this and the following verse. The objection and answer seem to stand thus: You tell us, that you are sent from God to preach the gospel; if it be so, how comes it that all that have heard, have not received and obeyed; and since, according to what you would insinuate, the messengers of good tidings (which is the import of evangelion, in greek, and gospel, in English) were so welcome to them? To this he answers out of Isaiah, that the messengers, sent from God, were not believed by all. But from those words of Isaiah he draws an inference, to confirm the argument he was upon, viz. that salvation cometh by hearing and believing the word of God. He had laid it down, ver. 8, that it was by their having ῥήμα ϖίϛεως, “the word of faith,” nigh them, or present with them, and not by the bodily presence of their deliverer amongst them, that they were to be saved. This ῥήμα, “word, he tells them, ver. 17, is, by preaching, brought to be actually present with them and the gentiles; so that it was their own fault if they believed it not to salvation.

*

10 “Did not Israel know?” In this, and the next verses, St. Paul seems to suppose a reasoning of the jews, to this purpose, viz. that they did not deserve to be cast off, because they did not know, that the gentiles were to be admitted, and so might be excused, if they did not embrace a religion, wherein they were to mix with the gentiles; and to this he answers, in the following verses.

*

1 This is a question in the person of a jew, who made the objections in the foregoing chapter, and continues on to object here.

†

2 See chap. viii. 29.

*

4 “Baal,” and Baalim, were the names, whereby the false gods and idols, which the heathens worshipped, weresignified in sacred scripture; see Judges ii. 11—13, Hos. xi. 2.

†

6 “It is not of works.” This exclusion of works, seems to be mistaken by those, who extend it to all manner of difference in the person chosen, from those that were rejected; for such a choice as that excludes not grace in the chooser, but merit in the chosen. For it is plain, that by works here, St. Paul means merit, as is evident also from ch. iv. 2—4. The law required complete, perfect obedience: he, that performed that, had a right to the reward; but he, that failed and came short of that, had by the law no right to any thing but death. And so the jews, being all sinners, God might, without injustice, have cast them all off; none of them could plead a right to his favour. If, therefore, he chose out and reserved any, it was of mere grace, though in his choice he preferred those who were the best disposed and most inclined to his service. A whole province revolts from their prince, and takes arms against him; he resolvesto pardon some of them. This is a purpose of grace. He reduces them under his power, and then chooses out of them, as vessels of mercy, those that he finds least infected with malice, obstinacy, and rebellion. This choice neither voids, nor abates his purpose of grace; that stands firm; but only executes it so, as may best comport with his wisdom and goodness. And, indeed, without some regard to a difference, in the things taken, from those that are left, I do not see how it can be called choice. A handful of pebbles, for example, may be taken out of a heap; they are taken and separated, indeed, from the rest, but if it be without any regard to any difference in them, from others rejected, I doubt whether any body can call them chosen.

*

7 “What it seeks,” i. e. that righteousness, whereby it was to continue the people of God; see chap. ix. 31. It may be observed, that St. Paul’sdiscourse being of the national privilege, of continuing the people of God, he speaks here, and all along of the jews, in the collective term Israel. And so likewise the remnant, which were to remain his people, and incorporate with the convert gentiles, into one body of christians owning the dominion of the one true God, in the kingdom he had set up under his son, and owned by God for his people, he calls the election.

†

“Election,” a collective appellation of the part elected, which in other places he calls remnant. This remnant, or election, call it by which name you please, were those who sought righteousness by faith in Christ, and not by the deeds of the law, and so became the people of God,that people which he had chosen to be his.

‡

“Blinded,” see 2 Cor. iii. 13—16.

§

8 “Written,” Isai. xxix. 10, and vi. 9, 10.

∥

9 “Saith,” Psal. lxix. 22, 23.

*

11 That this is the meaning of “fall” here, see Acts xiii. 46.

†

13 St. Paul magnified his office, of apostle of the gentiles, not only by preaching the gospel to the gentiles; but in assuring them farther, as he does, ver. 12, that, when the nation of the jews shall be restored, the fulness of the gentiles shall also come in.

*

16 These allusions, the apostle makes use of here, to show that the patriarchs, the root of the jewish nation, being accepted by God; and the few jewish converts, which at first entered into the christian church, being also accepted by God; are, as it were, first fruits, or pledges, that God will, in due time, admit the whole nation of the jews into his visible church, to be his peculiar people again.

†

“Holy:” by holy is here meant that relative holiness, whereby any thing hath an appropriation to God.

‡

18 “Boast not against the branches.” Thoughthe great fault that most disordered the church, and principally exercised the apostle’s care, in this epistle, was from the jews pressing the necessity of legal observances, and not brooking that the gentiles, though converts to christianity, should be admitted into their communion, without being circumcised; yet it is plain from this verse, as also chap. xiv. 3, 10, that the convert gentiles were not wholly without fault, on their side, in treating the jews with disesteem and contempt. To this also, as it comes in his way, he applies fit remedies, particularly in this chapter, and chap. xiv.

*

23 This grafting in again, seems to import, that the jews shall be a flourishing nation again, professing christianity, in the land of promise, for that is to be re-instated again, in the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This St. Paulmight, for good reasons, be withheld from speaking out here: but, in the prophets, there are very plain intimations of it.

*

25 Πλȣ́;ρωμα, “the fulness of the jews,” ver. 12, is the whole body of the jewish nation professing christianity, and therefore here ϖλήρωμα τῶν [Editor: illegible character]θνῶν, “the fulness of the gentiles,” must be the whole body of the gentiles professing christianity. And this ver. 15, seems to teach. For the resurrection is of all.

†

26 Σωθήσεgreektαι, “shall be saved.” It is plain that the salvation, that St. Paul, in this discourse concerning the nation of the jews, and the gentile world, in gross, speaks of, is not eternal happiness in heaven, but he means by it the profession of the true religion, here on earth. Whether it he, that that is as far as corporations, or bodies politic can go, towards the attainment of eternal salvation, I will not enquire. But this is evident, that being saved, is used by the apostle here, in this sense. That all the jewish nation may become the people of God again, by taking up the christian profession, may be easily conceived. But that every person of such a christian nation, shall attain eternal salvation in heaven, I think no body can imagine to be here intended.

*

27 “Take away,” i. e. forgive their sins, and take away the punishment they lie under for them.

†

28 Ἐχθροὶ, “enemies,” signifies strangers, or aliens, i. e. such as are no longer the people of God. For they are called “enemies,” in opposition to “beloved,” in this very verse. And the reason given, why they are enemies, makes it plain, that this is the sense, viz. for the gentiles sake, i. e. they are rejected from being the people of God, that you gentiles may be taken in, to be the people of God in their room, ver. 30. The same signification has εχθροι, “enemies,” chap. v. 10, ϰατ’ εὐαgreekgγέλιον ἐχθροὶ, “as concerning the gospel enemies,” i. e. all those, who not embracing the gospel, not receiving Christ for their king and lord, are aliens from the kingdom of God, and all such aliens are called ἐχθροὶ, “enemies.” And so indeed were the jews now: but yet they were ϰατ’ ἐϰλογὴν ἀγαπηgreektοὶ, “as touching the election beloved,” i. e. were not actually within the kingdom of God, his people, but were within the election, which God had made of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their posterity to be his people, and so God had still intentions of kindness to them, for their fathers sake, to make them again his people.

‡

29 So God’s not repenting is explained, Numb. xxiii. 19—24.

*

30 See Acts xiii. 46.

†

32 Εἰς ἀπείθειαν, “in unbelief.” The unbelief here charged nationally, on jews and gentiles, in their turns, in this and the two preceding verses whereby they ceased to be the people of God, was evidently the disowning of his dominion, whereby they put themselves out of the kingdom, which he had, and ought to have in the world, and so were no longer in the state of subjects, but aliens and rehels. A general view of mankind will lead us into an easier conception of St. Paul’s doctrine, who, all through this epistle, considers the gentiles, jews, and christians, as three distinct bodies of men.

God, by creation, had no doubt an unquestionable sovereignty over mankind, and this was at first acknowledged, in their sacrifices and worship of him. Afterwards they withdrew themselves from their submission to him, and found out other gods, whom they worshipped and served. This revolt from God, and the consequence of it, God’s abandoning them, St. Paul describes, chap. i. 18—32.

In this state of revolt from God were the nations of the earth, in the times of Abraham; and then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their posterity, the israelites, upon God’s gracious call, returned to their allegiance to their ancient and rightful King and Sovereign, to own the one invisible God, Creator of heaven and earth, for their God, and so become his people again, to whom he, as to his peculiar people, gave a law. And thus remained the distinction between jews and gentiles, i. e. the nations, as the word signifies, till the time of the Messiah, and then the jews ceased to be the people of God, not by a direct renouncing the God of Israel, and taking to themselves other false gods, whom they worshipped: but by opposing and rejecting the kingdom of God, which he purposed at that time to set up, with new laws and institutions, and to a more glorious and spiritual purpose, under his son Jesus Christ: him God sent to them, and him the nation of the jews refused to receive as their lord and ruler, though he was their promised king and deliverer, answering all the prophecies and types of him, and evidencing his mission by his miracles. By this rebellion against him, into whose hand God had committed the rule of his kingdom, and appointed lord over all things, the jews turned themselves out of the kingdom of God, and ceased to be his people, who had now no other people but those, who received and obeyed his son, as their lord and ruler. This was the ἀπείθεια, “unbelief,” here spoken of. And I would be glad to know any other sense of believing, or unbelief, wherein it can be nationally attributed to a people (as visible here it is) whereby they shall cease, or come to be the people of God, or visible subjects of his kingdom, here on earth. Indeed, to enjoy life and estate in this, as well as other kingdoms, not only the owning of the Prince, and the authority of his laws, but also obedience to them is required. For a jew might own the authority of God, and his law given by Moses, and so be a true subject, and as much a member of the commonwealth of Israel, as any one in it, and yet forfeit his life, by disobedience to the law. And a christian may own the authority of Jesus Christ, and of the gospel, and yet forfeit eternal life, by his disobedience of the precepts of it, as may be seen chap. vii. viii. and ix.

*

33 This emphatical conclusion seems, in a special manner, to regard the jews, whom the apostle would hereby teach modesty and submission to the overruling hand of the all-wise God, whom they are very unfit to call to account, for his dealing so favourably with the gentiles. His wisdom and ways are infinitely above their comprehension, and will they take upon them to advise him what to do? Or is God in their debt? Let them say for what, and he shall repay it to them. This is a very strong rebuke to the jews, but delivered, as we see, in a way very gentle and inoffensive. A method, which the apostle endeavours every where to observe, towards his nation.

†

35 This has a manifest respect to the jews, who claimed a right to be the people of God so far, that St. Paul, chap. ix. 14, finds it necessary to vindicate the justice of God in the case, and does here, in this question, expose and silence the folly of any such pretence.

*

1 “Your bodies.” There seem to be two reasons, why St. Paul’s exhortations to them is, to present their bodies undefiled to God: 1. Because he had before, especially chap. vii. so much insisted on this, that the body was the great source from whence sin arose. 2. Because the heathen world, and particularly the Romans, were guilty of those vile affections, which he mentions, chap. i. 24—27.

*

2 “To the fashion of this world;” or, as St. Peter expresses it, “not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the times of ignorance,” 1 Peter i. 14.

†

“Transformed in the renewing of your minds.” The state of the gentiles is thus described, Eph. iv. 17—19. As walking in the vanity of their minds, having the understanding darkened, “being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, and of the mind.” And Col. i. 21, “Alienated and enemies in their minds by wicked works.” “The renewing,” therefore, “of their minds,” or, as he speaks, Eph. iv. “in the spirit of their minds,” was the getting into an estate, contrary to what they were in before, viz. to take it in the apostle’s own words, “that the eyes of their understandings might be enlightened;” and that they “might put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him; that ye walk as children of the light, proving what is acceptable to the Lord, having no fellowship with the works of darkness:” that they “be not unwise, but understanding what is the will of the Lord: for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. That you should abstain from fornication. That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the gentiles that know not God.”

*

In these two first verses of this chapter, is shown the preference of the gospel to the gentile state and the jewish institution.

†

3 Μέτρον ϖίϛεως, “Measure of faith;” some copies read χάριgreektος, “of favour,” either of them expresses the same thing, i. e. gifts of the spirit.

‡

5 The same simile to the same purpose; see 1 Cor. xii.

§

6 “Prophecy,” is enumerated in the New Testament, among the gifts of the spirit, and means either the interpretation of sacred scripture, and explaining of prophecies already delivered, or foretelling things to come.

∥

“According to the proportion of faith.” The context in this and the preceding verses, leads us, without any difficulty, into the meaning of the apostle, in this expression: 1 Cor. xii. and xiv. show us how apt the new converts were to be puft up with the several gifts that were bestowed on them; and every one, as in like cases is usual, forward to magnify his own, and to carry it farther, than in reality it extended. That it is St. Paul’s design here, to prevent, or regulate such disorder, and to keep every one, in the exercising of his particular gift, within its due bounds, is evident, in that exhorting them, ver. 3, to a sober use of their gifts (for it is in reference to their spiritual gifts, he speaks in that verse) he makes the measure of that sobriety, to be that measure of faith, or spiritual gift which every one in particular enjoyed by the favour of God, i. e. that no one should go beyond that which was given him, and he really had. But besides this, which is very obvious, there is another passage in that verse, which, rightly considered, strongly inclines this way: “I say through the grace that is given unto me,” says St. Paul. He was going to restrain them, in the exercise of their distinct spiritual gifts, and he could not introduce what he was going to say in the case with a more persuasive argument than his own example: “I exhort,” says he, “that every one of you, in the exercise and use of his spiritual gift, keep within the bounds and measure of that gift which is given him. I myself, in giving you this exhortation, do it by the grace given unto me; I do it by the commission and power given me by God, and beyond that I do not go.” In one, that had before declared himself an apostle, such an expression as this here (if there were not some particular reason for it) might seem superfluous, and to some idle; but, in this view, it has a great grace and energy in it. There wants nothing but the study of St. Paul’s writings to give us a just admiration of his great address, and the skill wherewith all that he says is adapted to the argument he has in hand: “I,” says he, “according to the grace given me, direct you every one, in the use of your gifts, which, according to the grace given you, are different, whether it be the gift of prophecy, to prophesy according to the proportion, or measure of that gift, or revelation that he hath. And let him not think that, because some things are, therefore every thing is revealed to him.” The same rule, concerning the same matter, St. Paul gives, Eph. iv. 16, that every member should act according to the measure of its own strength, power, and energy; 1 Cor. xiv. 29—32, may also give light to this place. This, therefore, is far from signifying that a man, in interpreting sacred scripture, should explain the sense, according to the system of his particular sect, which each party is pleased to call the analogy of faith. For this would be to make the apostle to set that, for a rule of interpretation, which had not its being till long after, and is the product of fallible men.

The “measure of faith,” ver. 3, and “proportion of faith,” in this verse, signify the same thing, viz. so much of that particular gift, which God was pleased to bestow on any one.

*

8 Ὁ ϖροϊϛάμενος. “He that ruleth,” says our translation; the context inclines to the sense I have taken it in; see Vitringa de Synagog. l. ii. c. 3.

*

1 “Every one,” however endowed with miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, or advanced to any dignity in the church of Christ. For that these things were apt to make men overvalue themselves, is obvious, from what St. Paul says to the corinthians, 1 Cor. xii. and here to the romans, chap. xii. 3—5. But, above all others, the jews were apt to have an inward reluctancy and indignation, against the power of any heathen over them, taking it to be an unjust and tyrannical usurpation upon them, who were the people of God, and their betters. These the apostle thought it necessary to restrain, and, therefore, says, in the language of the jews, “every soul,” i. e. every person among you, whether jew or gentile, must live in subjection to the civil magistrate. We see, by what St. Peter says on the like occasion, that there was a great need that christians should have this duty inculcated to them, “lest any among them should use their liberty, for a cloak of maliciousness or misbehaviour,” 1 Pet. ii. 13—16. The doctrine of christianity was a doctrine of liberty. And St. Paul in this epistle, had taught them, that all christians were free from the mosaical law. Hence corrupt and mistaken men, especially jewish converts, impatient, as we have observed, of any heathen dominion, might be ready to infer, that christians were exempt from subjection to the laws of heathen governments. This he obviates, by telling them, that all other governments derived the power they had from God, as well as that of the jews, though they had not the whole frame of their government immediately from him, as the jews had.

†

Whether we take “powers,” here, in the abstract, for political authority, or in the concrete, for the persons de facto exercising political power and jurisdiction, the sense will be the same, viz, that christians, by virtue of being christians, are not any way exempt from obedience to the civil magistrates, nor ought, by any means, to resist them, though by what is said ver. 3, it seems that St. Paul meant here magistrates having and exercising a lawful power. But, whether the magistrates in being were, or were not, such, and consequently were, or were not, to be obeyed, that christianity gave them no peculiar power to examine. They had the common right of others, their fellow-citizens, but had no distinct privilege, as christians. And, therefore, we see, ver. 7, where he enjoins the paying of tribute and custom, &c. it is in these words: “Render to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, honour to whom honour, &c.” But who it was, to whom any of these, or any other dues of right belonged, he decides not, for that he leaves them to be determined by the laws and constitutions of their country.

*

11, 12 It seems, by these two verses, as if St. Paul looked upon Christ’s coming as not far off, to which there are several other concurrent passages in his epistles: see 1 Cor. i. 7.

†

12 Ὅπλα, “armour.” The word in the Greek is often used for the apparel, cloathing, and accoutrements of the body.

‡

13 These he seems to name, with reference to the night, which he had mentioned, these being the disorders, to which the night is usually set apart.

§

These, probably, were set down, with regard to universal love and good-will, which he was principally here pressing them to.

*

1 That the reception, here spoken of, is the receiving into familiar and ordinary conversation, is evident from chap. xv. 7, where he, directing them to receive one another mutually, uses the same word ϖροσλαμϐάνεσθε, i. e. live together in a free and friendly manner, the weak with the strong, and the strong with the weak, without any regard to the differences among you, about the lawfulness of any indifferent things. Let those, that agree, or differ, concerning the use of any indifferent thing, live together all alike.

*

3, 4 “By him that eateth,” ver. 3, St. Paul seems to mean the gentiles, who were less scrupulous, in the use of indifferent things; and, by “him that eateth not,” the jews, who made a great distinction of meats and drinks and days, and placed in them a great, and, as they thought, necessary part of the worship of the true God. To the gentiles the apostle gives this caution, that they should not contemn the jews as weak narrow minded men, that laid so much stress on matters of so small moment, and thought religion so much concerned in those indifferent things. On the other side, he exhorts the jews, not to judge that those, who neglected the jewish observances of meats and days, were still heathens, or would soon apostatize to heathenism again: no, says he; God has received them, and they are of his family: and thou hast nothing to do to judge, whether they are, or will continue, of his family, or no; that belongs only to him, the master of the family, to judge, whether they shall stay, or leave his family, or no. But, notwithstanding thy censure, or hard thoughts, of them, they shall not fall off, or apostatize; for God is able to continue them in his family, in his church, notwithstanding thou suspectest, from their free use of things indifferent, they incline too much, or approach too near to gentilism.

†

5 The apostle having, in the foregoing verse used ϰρίνειν αλλότριον οἰϰέτην for judging any one, to be, or not to be, another man’s servant, or domestic, he seems here to continue the use of the word ϰρίνειν, in the same signification, i. e. for judging a day to be more peculiarly God’s.

*

This may be concluded to be the apostle’s sense, because the thing, he is upon here, is to keep them from censuring one another, in the use of things indifferent; particularly the jews, from judging the gentiles, in their neglect of the observance of days, or meats. This judging being what St. Paul principally endeavoured here to restrain, as being opposite to the liberty of the gospel, which favoured a neglect of these rituals of the law, which were now antiquated. See Gal. iv. 9—11, and v. 1, 2.

†

7 Οὐδεὶς should, I suppose, be taken here with the same limitation it hath in the former part of the verse, with the pronoun ἡμῶν: and so should here, as there, be rendered in english, “no one of us,” and not, “no man,” St. Paul speaking here only of christians: this sense of ȣ̓δεὶς the next verse seems to confirm.

‡

8 These words, “we are the Lord’s,” give an easy interpretation to these phrases of “eating and living, &c. to the Lord;” for they make them plainly refer to what he had said at the letter end of ver. 3, “For God hath received him;” signifying, that God had received all those, who profess the gospel, and had given their names up to Jesus Christ, into his family, and had made them his domestics. And therefore, we should not judge, or censure, one another, for that every christian was the Lord’s domestic, appropriated to him, as his menial servant: and therefore, all that he did, in that state, was to be looked on, as done to the Lord, and not to be accounted for to any body else.

*

9 Κυριεύση, “might be Lord;” must be taken so, here, as to make this agree with the foregoing verse. There it was “we,” i. e. we christians, whether we live or die, are the Lord’s property: for the Lord died and rose again, that we, whether living or dying, should be his.

†

13 He had, before, reproved the weak, that censured the strong, in the use of their liberty. He comes, now, to restrain the strong, from offending their weak brethren, by a too free use of their liberty, in not forbearing the use of it, where it might give offence to the weak.

*

15 “Grieved” does not here signify simply made sorrowful for what thou doest; but brought into trouble and discomposure, or receives an hurt, or wound, as every one does, who, by another’s example, does what he supposes to be unlawful. This sense is confirmed in the words, “destroy not him with thy meat;” and also by what he says, 1 Cor. viii. 9—13, in the like case.

†

16 See 1 Cor. x. 30.

*

20 The force of this argument, see Matt. vi. 25, “The life is more than meat.”

†

21 “Offended and made weak;” i. e. drawn to the doing of any thing, of whose lawfulness not being fully persuaded, it becomes a sin to him.

‡

22 These two, viz. not disputing about it, which he forbad, v. 1, and not using his liberty, before any one whom possibly it may offend, may be supposed to be contained in these words, “have it to thyself.”

§

23 Διαϰρινόμενος, translated here “doubteth,” is, Rom. iv. 20, translated “staggered;” and is there opposed to ἐνεδυναμώθη τῇ ϖιϛει, “strong in the faith;” or to ϖληροφορηθεὶς, “fully persuaded,” as it follows in the next verse.

*

7 Προσλαμϐάνεσθε, “receive one another,” cannot mean receive one another into church communion: for there is no appearance, that the convert jews and gentiles separated communion in Rome, upon account of differences about meats and drinks, and days. We should have heard of more of it, from St. Paul, if there had been two separate congregations, i. e. two churches of christians in Rome, divided about these indifferent things. Besides, directions cannot be given to private christians to receive one another, in that sense. The receiving, therefore, here, must be understood of receiving, as a man doth another, into his company, converse, and familiarity, i. e. he would have them, jews and gentiles, lay by all distinction, coldness, and reservedness, in their conversation, one with another; and, as domestics of the same family, live friendly and familiar, notwithstanding their different judgments, about those ritual observances. Hence, v. 5, he exhorts them to be united in friendship one to another, that with one heart and one voice they might conjointly glorify God, and receive one another with the same good-will that Christ hath received us the jews, εἰς δόξαν τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, to the glorifying of God for his truth, in fulfilling the promises he made to the patriarchs, and received the gentiles, to glorify God for his mercy to them. So that we have reason, both jews and gentiles, laying aside these little differences about things indifferent, to join together heartily, in glorifying God.

*

Εἰς δόξαν τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, “to the glory of God;” i. e. to glorify God, by the same figure of speech that he uses ϖίϛις Ἰησȣ͂, “the faith of Jesus,” for “believing in Jesus,” Rom. iii. 22 and 26. The thing, that St. Paul is exhorting them to here, is, to the glorifying God with one accord; as is evident, from the immediately preceding words, ver. 6, and that which follows, ver. 9, 10, 11, is to the same purpose: so that there is no room to doubt that his meaning, in these words is this, viz. Christ received, or took us, believing jews, to himself, that they might magnify the truth of God; and took the gentiles that believed to himself, that they might magnify God’s mercy. This stands easy in the construction of his words, and sense of his mind.

†

8 “Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision.” These words are plainly a parenthesis, and spoken with some emphasis, to restrain the gentile converts of Rome; who, as it is plain from chap. xiv. 3, were apt ἐξȣθενεῖσθαι, to set at nought, and despise the converted jews, for sticking to their ritual observances of meats and drinks, &c.

‡

Διάϰονον ϖεοιgreektομῆς, “a minister of, or to the circumcision.” What it was, that Christ ministered to the jews, we may see, by the like expression of St. Paul, applied to himself, ver. 16, where he calls himself, “a minister of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, ministering the gospel of God.”

*

12 Ἐπ’ αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιȣ͂σι, “in him shall the gentiles trust,” rather hope; not that there is nay material difference in the signification of trust and hope, but the better to express and answer St. Paul’s way of writing, with whom it is familiar, when he hath been speaking of any virtue or grace, whereof God is the author, to call God, thereupon, the God of that virtue, or favour. An eminent example whereof we have a few verses backwards, ver. 4; greekgνα διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς ϰαὶ τῆς ϖαραϰλήσεως τῶν γραϕῶν τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχωμεν, “that we through patience and comfort,” rather consolation, “of the scriptures, might have hope;” and then subjoins, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς τῆς ὑπομονῆς ϰαὶ τῆς ϖαραϰλήσȣως, “now the God of patience and consolation.” And so here ἔθνη ἐλπιȣ͂σι, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἐλπίδος, “the gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope.”

†

13 The gifts of the Holy Ghost, bestowed upon the gentiles, were a foundation of hope to them, that they were, by believing, the children, or people of God, as well as the jews.

*

16 “Offering.” See Isai. lxvi. 29.

*

17 Τὰ ϖρὸς Θεὸν, “Things that pertain to God.” The same phrase we have, Heb. v. 1, where it signifies the things, that were offered to God, in the temple-ministration. St. Paul, by way of allusion, speaks of the gentiles in the foregoing verse, as an offering to be made to God, and of himself, as the priest, by whom the sacrifice, or offering, was to be prepared and offered; and then here he tells them, that he had matter of glorying, in this offering, i. e. that he had had success, in converting the gentiles, and bringing them to be a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice to God; an account whereof he gives them, in the four following verses.

†

20 See 1 Cor. iii. 10, 2 Cor. x. 16.

‡

21 Isaiah lii. 15.

*

29 He may be understood to mean here, that he should be able to satisfy them, that, by the gospel, the forgiveness of sins was to be obtained. For that he shows, chap. iv. 6—9. And they had as much title to it, by the gospel, as the jews themselves; which was the thing he had been making out to them in this epistle.

*

Kenchrea was the port to Corinth.

†

2 Προϛάτις, “succourer,” seems here to signify hostess, not in a common inn, for there was no such thing as our inns, in that country; but one, whose house was the place of lodging and entertainment of those, who were received by the church, as their guests, and these she took care of. And to that ϖροϛάτις may be very well applied. But, whether St. Paulwas induced to make use of it here, as somewhat corresponding to ϖαραϛῆτȣ;, which he used in her behalf just before, in this verse, I leave to those, who nicely observe St. Paul’s style.

*

18 Such as these we have a description of, Tit. i. 10. 11.

†

19 See chap. i. 8.

‡

A direction much like this you have, 1 Cor. xiv. 20, and Eph. iv. 13—15.

§

20 So those who made divisions in the church of Corinth are called, 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15.

*

“Shall bruise Satan,” i. e. shall break the force and attempts of Satan, upon your peace, by these his instruments, who would engage you in quarrels and discords.

†

25 “My gospel.” St. Paul cannot be supposed to have used such an expression as this, unless he knew that what he preached had something in it, that distinguished it from what was preached by others; which was plainly the mystery, as he every-where calls it, of God’s purpose, of taking in the gentiles to be his people, under the Messiah, and that without subjecting them to circumcision, or the law of Moses. This is that which he here calls τὸ ϰήρυgreekgμα Ἰησȣ͂ Χριϛȣ͂, “the preaching of Jesus Christ;” for, without this, he did not think that Christ was preached to the gentiles; as he ought to be: and, therefore, in several places of his epistle to the galatians he call it “the truth,” and “the truth of the gospel;” and uses the like expressions to the ephesians and colossians. This is that mystery, which he is so much concerned, that the ephesians should understand and stick firm to, which was revealed to him, according to that gospel, whereof he was made the minister; as may be seen at large, in that epistle, particularly chap. iii. 6. 7. The same thing he declares to the colossians, in his epistle to them, particularly chap. i. 22—27, and ii. 6—8. For that he in a peculiar manner, preached this doctrine, so as none of the other apostles did, may be seen Acts xxi, 18—25, Acts xv. 6, 7. For though the other apostles and elders of the church of Jerusalem had determined, that the gentiles should only keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; yet it is plain enough from what they say, Acts xxi. 20—24, that they taught not, nay, probably did not think, what St. Paul openly declares to the ephesians, that the law of Moses was abolished by the death of Christ, Eph. ii. 15. Which, if St. Peter and St. James had been as clear in as was St. Paul, St. Peter would not have incurred his reproof, as he did by his carriage, mentioned Gal. ii. 12, &c. But in all this may be seen the wisdom and goodness of God, to both jews and gentiles. See note, Eph. ii. 15.

*

That the mystery, he here speaks of, is the calling of the gentiles, may be seen in the following words; which is that which, in many of his epistles, he calls mystery. See Eph. i. 9, and iii. 3—9, Col. i. 25—27.

†

Χρόνοις αἰωνίοις “in the secular times,” or in the times under the law. Why the times, under the law, were called χρόνοι αἰώνιοι, we may find reason in their jubilees, which were αἰῶνες, “secula,” or “ages,” by which all the time, under the law, was measured; and so χρόνοι αἰώνιοι is used 2 Tim. i. 9, Tit. i. 2. And so αἰῶνες are put for the times of the law, or the jubilees. Luke i. 70, Acts iii. 21, 1 Cor. ii. 7, and x. 11, Eph. iii. 9, Col. i. 26, Heb. ix. 26. And so God is called the rock, םימלוע, αἰώνων, of ages, Isa. xxvi. 4, in the same sense that he is called the rock of Israel, Isa. xxx. 29, i. e. the strength and support of the jewish state: for it is of the jews the prophet here speaks. So Exod. xxi. 6, םללוע, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, signifies not, as we translate it, “for ever,” but “to the jubilee;” which will appear, if we compare Lev. xxv. 39—41, and Exod. xxi. 2, see “Burthogg’s christianity, a revealed mystery,” p. 17, 18. Now, that the times of the law, were the times spoken of here, by St. Paul, seems plain, from that which he declares to have continued a mystery, during all those times; to wit, God’s purpose of taking in the gentiles to be his people, under the Messiah: for this could not be said to be a mystery, at any other time, but during the time that the jews were the peculiar people of God, separated to him, from among the nations of the earth. Before that time, there was no such name, or notion of distinction, as gentiles. Before the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the calling of the israelites to be God’s peculiar people, was as much a mystery, as the calling of others, out of other nations, was a mystery afterwards. All, that St. Paul insists on here, and in all the places where he mentions this mystery, is to show, that though God has declared this his purpose to the jews, by the predictions of his prophets amongst them; yet it lay concealed from their knowledge, it was a mystery to them; they understood no such thing: there was not any where the least suspicion, or thought of it, till the Messiah being come, it was openly declared, by St. Paul, to the jews and gentiles, and made out by the writings of the prophets, which were now understood.

*

1 Τοῖς ἁγίοις, though rightly translated “saints,” yet it does not mean any other than a national sanctification, such as the jews had, by being separated from the gentiles, and appropriated to God, as his peculiar people; not that every one, that was of the holy nation of the jews heretofore, or of the holy church of Christ, under the gospel, were saints, in that sense that the word is usually taken now among christians, viz. such persons as were every one of them actually in a state of salvation.

†

Πιϛοῖς, “faithful.” We have observed above, that this epistle, and that to the colossians, have all through a very great resemblance; their lineaments do so correspond, that I think they may be twin-epistles, conceived and brought forth together, so that the very expressions of the one occurred fresh in St. Paul’s memory, and were made use of in the other. Their being sent by the same messenger, Tychicus, is a farther probability, that they were writ as the same time. Πιϛοῖς therefore being found in the introduction of both epistles, and no one other of St. Paul’s, there is just reason to think, that it was a term suited to the present notion he had of those he was writing to, with reference to the business he was writing about. I take it, therefore, that, by “faithful in Christ Jesus,” he means here such as stood firm to Jesus Christ, which he did not count them to do, who made circumcision necessary to salvation, and an observance of jewish rites a requisite part of the christian religion. This is plain from his express words, Gal. v. 1, 2, “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not intangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold I Paul say unto you, that, if ye are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing, &c.” And those, that contended for submission to the law, he calls “perverters of the gospel of Christ,” Gal. i. 7, and more to the same purpose may be seen in that epistle. We shall have an occasion to confirm this interpretation of the word πιϛὸς, “faithful,” here, when we come to consider the import of the word ϖίϛις, “faith,” ver. 15. They that would have ϰαὶ, “and,” not exegetical here, but used only to join, under the title of “faithful in Christ Jesus,” the converts in Asia, I shall desire, besides Col. i. 2, to read also 1 Cor. i. 2, and thereby judge in what sense they are to understand “and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” here.

*

3 Ἐν Χριϛῶ, “in Christ,” I take to be put here emphatically, and to signify the same with, “filleth all in all,” v. 23, which is more fully explained, Col. iii. 11, “where there is neither greek, nor jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, scythian, bond, nor free, but Christ is all, and in all.”

†

“Us” The right understanding of this section, and indeed of this whole epistle, depends very much on understanding aright, who are more especially comprehended under the terms, “us” and “we,” from ver. 3 to 12. For “us,” must signify either, 1. St. Paul himself personally; but that the visible tenour of the discourse at first sight plainly destroys: besides, it suits not St. Paul’s modesty to attribute so much in particular to himself, as is spoke of “us” and “we,” in this section; or if we could think he would give himself that liberty; yet ver. 12, overturns it all; for ἡμᾶς τοῦς ϖροηλπιϰότας, “we who first trusted in Christ,” can by no means be admitted to be spoken by St. Paul personally of himself. Add to this, that in this very chapter, no farther off than ver. 15, St. Paul, speaking of himself, says, “I,” in the singular number; and so he does, chap. iii. ver. 7, 8. Or,

2. It must signify believers in general; but that ϖροηλπιϰότας, joined to it, will not admit, for we, the first believers, cannot signify we all that are believers, but restrains the persons to some sort of men, that then began to believe, i. e. the gentiles: and then the next words, ver. 13, have an easy and natural connexion; we other gentiles, who first believed in Christ, in whom also ye, the gentiles also of Ephesus, after ye heard, believed. Or,

3. It must signify the convert jews. But would it not be somewhat preposterous for St. Paul so much to magnify God’s goodness and bounty to the jews in particular, in an epistle writ to a church of converted gentiles: wherein he addresses himself to the gentiles, in contra-distinction to the jews, and tells them they were to be made co-partners with them in the kingdom of the Messiah, which was opened to them by abolishing of the law of Moses, intimated plainly in this very section, ver. 7—10. Wherein he magnifies the riches of the favour of God, to the persons he is speaking of, under the denomination “us,” in gathering again all things, i. e. men of all sorts, under Christ the head, which could not mean the jews alone: but of this he speaks more openly afterwards. Farther, “we,” here, and “we,” chap. ii. 3, must be the same, and denote the same persons; but the “we,” chap. ii. 3, can neither be St. Paul alone, nor believers in general, nor jewish converts in particular, as the obvious sense of the place demonstrates: for neither St. Paul can be called, “we all;” nor is it true that all the convert jews had their conversation among the gentiles, as our bible renders the greek; which, if otherwise to be understood, is more directly against signifying the jews. These, therefore, being excluded from being meant by “we” and “us,” here, who can remain to be signified thereby, but the convert gentiles in general? That St. Paul, who was the apostle of the gentiles, did often, in an obliging manner, join himself with the gentile converts under the terms us and we, as if he had been one of them, there are so many instances, that it cannot seem strange that he should do so in this section; as Rom. v. 1—11, where it is plain all along, under the term “us,” he speaks of the gentile converts. And many other passages might be brought out of this epistle to evince it; chap. i. 11, he saith, “we have obtained an inheritance.” Those we, it is plain, chap. iii. 6, were gentiles. So chap. ii. 5, “when we,” i. e. converts of the gentiles, “were dead in sins:” for I do not remember that the jews are any where said, by St. Paul, to be dead in sins: that is one of the distinguishing characters of the gentiles: and there we see, in the same verse, “we” is changed into “ye:” and so ver. 6 and 7, having spoke of the gentiles in the first person, “us,” in the beginning of the next verse it is changed into “ye,” i. e. “ye ephesians,” a part of those gentiles. To this I shall add one place more, out of the parallel epistle to the colossians, chap. i. 12, 13, where he uses ἡμᾶς, “us,” for the convert gentiles, changing the “ye,” in the 10th verse, to “us,” in the 12th: the matter of giving thanks being the same, all along from ver. 3, where it begins, and is repeated here again, ver. 12, i. e. the removing of the gentiles, out of the kingdom of the devil and darkness, into the kingdom of his beloved son: or, as he expresses it, Eph. i. 6, “Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” And in the same sense he uses ἡμῶν, “us,” Col. ii. 14. For those, that the hand-writing of ordinances was against, and contrary to, were the gentiles, as he declares, Eph. ii. 14, 15, who were kept off from coming to be the people of God, by those ordinances, which were that, wherein the enmity between the jews and gentiles consisted, and was kept up; which, therefore, Christ abolished, to make way for their union into one body, under Christ their head. Other passages, tending to the clearing of this, we shall have occasion to take notice of, as they occur in the sequel of this epistle.

*

4 Ἐν αὐτῷ, “in him,” i. e. Christ: in the former verse it is εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν ϖάση εὐλογείᾳ ἐν Χριϛῶ, Καθῶς ἰξελέξαgreektο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ. All which together make up this sense: “as it was in consideration of Christ alone, that God heretofore, before the foundation of the world, designed us gentiles to be his people; so now the Messiah is come, all the blessings and benefits, we are to receive in his heavenly kingdom, are laid up in him, and to be had only by our faith and dependence on him, without any respect to the law, or any other consideration.”

†

Ἁγιοὶ, “saints,” in St. Paul’s epistles is known to signify christians, i. e. such as made profession of the gospel, for those were now the people of God.

‡

See in Col. i. 22, this verse explained, where comparing it with the immediately preceding words, ver. 21, one may find a farther reason to take “us,” here, to signify the gentile converts, the same thing being applied there solely to the gentile converts of Colosse.

§

“Affection to all the saints.” That this is the meaning, may be seen, ver. 15, where to their true faith in Christ, which he was rejoiced with, he joined τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν εἰς ϖἀνgreektας τȣ̀;ς ἁγίȣς, “love unto all the saints.” The very same thing, which he takes notice of in the colossians, in the very same words, Col. i. 4. Why love is so often mentioned in this epistle, as chap. iii. 18, and iv. 2, 15, 16, and v. 2, and vi. 23, we may find a reason, chap. ii. 11—22, wherein there is an account given of the enmity between the jews and gentiles, which Christ had taken away the cause of; and therefore, the ceasing of it was one great mark of men’s being right in the faith, and of their having true and worthy notions of Christ, who had broke down the wall of partition, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all equally, who believed in him, without any the least distinction of nation, blood, profession, or religion, that they were of before, all that being now done away, and superseded by the prince of peace, Jesus Christ the righteous, to make way for a more enlarged and glorious kingdom, solely by faith in him, which now made the only distinction among men: so that all, who agreed in that, were thereby brought to the same level, to be all brethren and fellow-members in Christ, and the people, or sons of God, as he says in the next verse.

*

5 It was not by the observances of the law, but by faith alone in Jesus Christ, that God pre-determined to take the gentiles into the state of sonship, or adoption. This was another particular for which St. Paul blesses God, in the name of the gentiles: the consideration whereof was fit to raise the ephesiaus thoughts above the law, and keep them firm in adherence to the liberty of the gospel.

†

Ὑιοθεσία, “adoption,” or “sonship,” belonged only to the jews, before the coming of the Messiah, Rom. ix. 4. For after the nations of the earth had revolted from God, their Lord and Maker, and become servants and worshippers of the devil, God abandoned them to the vassalage they had chosen, and owned none of them for his, but the israelites, whom he had adopted to be his children and people. See Exod. iv. 22, Jer. xxxi. 9, Luke i. 54. Which adoption is expressed to Abraham in these words, Gen. xvii. 7, “I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee;” and to the israelites, Exod. vi. 7, “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be your God;” and so Lev. xxvi. 12, “I will walk amongst you, and be your God, and ye shall be my people:” and so we see that those whom, Exod. iv. he calls his sons, he calls, in several other places, his people, as standing both, when spoken nationally, for one and the same thing.

‡

“According to the good pleasure of his will:” spoken here in the same sense with what is said Rom. ix. 18, 23, 24. God, under the law, took the nation of Israel to be his people, without any merit in them; and so it is of his mere good pleasure, that he even then purposed to enlarge his kingdom, under the gospel, by admitting all, that of all the nations whatsoever would come in and submit themselves, not to the law of Moses, but to the rule and dominion of his son Jesus Christ; and this, as he says in the next words, “for the praise of the glory of his grace.”

§

6 See chap. ii. 12—14, Acts xv. 14, &c.

∥

I do not think, that any thing of greater force can be imagined, to raise the minds of the ephesians, above the jewish rituals, and keep them steady in the freedom of the gospel, than what St. Paul says here, viz. that God, before the foundation of the world, freely determined within himself to admit the gentiles into his kingdom, to be his people, for the manifestation of his free grace, all the world over, that all nations might glorify him: and this for the sake of his son Jesus Christ, who was his beloved, and was so chiefly regarded in all this; and therefore it was to mistake, or pervert, the end of the gospel, and debase this glorious dispensation, to make it subservient to the jewish ritual, or to suppose that the law of Moses was to support, or to be supported, by the kingdom of the Messiah, which was to be of a larger extent, and settled upon another foundation, whereof the mosaical institution was but a narrow, faint, and typical representation.

*

7 “We” does as plainly here stand for the gentile converts, as it is manifest it does in the parallel place, Col. i. 13, 14.

†

8 That by ϖάση σοϕίᾳ St. Paul means a comprehension of the revealed will of God in the gospel, more particularly the mystery of God’s purpose of calling the gentiles, and taking out of them a people and inheritance to himself in his kingdom, under the Messiah, may be perceived by reading and comparing chap. i. 8, Col. i. 9, 10, 28, and ii. 2, 3, which verses, read with attention to the context, plainly show what St. Paul means here.

‡

That this is the meaning of this verse, I refer my reader to Col. i. 9, 10.

§

9 I cannot think that God’s purpose of calling the gentiles, so often termed a mystery, and so emphatically declared to be concealed from ages, and particularly revealed to himself; and as we find, in this epistle, where it is so called by St. Paul five times, and four times in that to the colossians; is by chance, or without some particular reason. The question was “whether the converted gentiles should hearken to the jews, who would persuade them it was necessary for them to submit to circumcision and the law, or to St. Paul, who had taught them otherwise.” Now there could be nothing of more force to destroy the authority of the jews, in the case, than the showing them, that the jews knew nothing of the matter, that it was a perfect mystery to them, concealed from their knowledge, and made manifest in God’s good time, at the coming of the Messiah, and most particularly discovered to St. Paul, by immediate revelation, to be communicated by him to the gentiles; who, therefore, had reason to stick firm to this great truth, and not to be led away from the gospel, which he had taught them.

*

See chap. iii. 9.

†

10 Ἁναϰεϕαλαιώσασθαι, properly signifies to recapitulate, or recollect, and put together the heads of a discourse. But, since this cannot possibly be the meaning of this word here, we must search for the meaning, which St. Paul gives it here, in the doctrine of the gospel, and not in the propriety of the greek.

1. It is plain in sacred scripture, that Christ had first the rule and supremacy over all, and was head over all. See Col. i. 15—17, Heb. i. 8.

2. There are also manifest indications in scripture, that a principal angel, with great numbers of angels, his followers, joining with him, revolted from this kingdom to God, and, standing out in rebellion, erected to themselves a kingdom of their own in opposition to the kingdom of God, Luke x. 17—20, and had all the heathen world vassals and subjects of that their kingdom, Luke iv. 5—8, Matt. xii. 26—30, John xii. 31, and xiv. 30, and xvi. 11, Eph. vi. 12, Col. i. 13, Rom. i. 18, &c. Acts xxvi. 18, &c.

3. That Christ recovered this kingdom, and was re-instated in the supremacy and headship, in the fulness of time (when he came to destroy the kingdom of darkness, as St. Paul calls it here) at his death and resurrection. Hence, just before his suffering, he says, John xii. 31, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” From whence may be seen the force of Christ’s argument, Matt. xii. 28, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you:” for the jews acknowledge that the Spirit of God, which had been withdrawn from them, was not to be given out again, until the coming of the Messiah, under whom the kingdom of God was to be erected. See also Luke x. 18, 19.

4. What was the state of his power and dominion, from the defection of the angels, and setting up the kingdom of darkness, until his being re-instated in the fulness of time, there is little revealed in sacred scripture, as not so much pertaining to the recovery of men from their apostacy, and re-instating them in the kingdom of God. It is true, God gathered to himself a people, and set up a kingdom here on earth, which he maintained in the little nation of the jews till the setting up the kingdom of his Son, Acts i. 3, and ii. 36, which was to take place, as God’s only kingdom here on earth, for the future. At the head of this, which is called the church, he sets Jesus Christ his Son: but that is not all, for he, having by his death and resurrection conquered Satan, John xii. 31, and xvi. 11, Col. ii. 15, Heb. ii. 14, Eph. iv. 8, has all power given him in heaven and earth, and is made the head ever all things for the church, [Matt. xxviii. 18, and xi. 27, John iii. 35, and xiii. 3, Eph. i. 20—22, Heb. i. 2—4, and ii. 9, 1 Cor. xv. 25, 27, Phil. ii. 8—11, Col. ii. 10, Heb. x. 12, 13, Acts ii. 33, and v. 31. In both which places it should be translated “to the right hand of God.”] Which re-instating him again, in the supreme power, and restoring him after the conquest of the devil, to that complete headship, which he had over all things, being now revealed under the gospel, as may be seen, in the text here quoted, and in other places; I leave to the reader to judge, whether St. Paul might not, probably, have an eye to that, in this verse, and in his use of the word ἀναϰεφαλαιώσασθαι. But to search thoroughly into this matter (which I have not in my small reading, found any where sufficiently taken notice of) would require a treatise.

It may suffice at present to take notice that this exaltation of his is expressed, Phil. ii. 9, 10, by all things in heaven and earth bowing the knee, at his name; which we may see farther explained, Rev. v. 13. Which acknowledgment of his honour and power was that, perhaps, which the proud angel that fell, refusing, thereupon rebelled.

If our translators have rendered the sense of ἀναϰεϕαλαιώσασθαι, right, by “gather together into one,” it will givecountenance to those, who are inclined to understand, by “things in heaven and things on earth,” the jewish and gentile world: for of them St. John plainly says, John xi. 52, “That Jesus should die, not for the nation of the jews only, but that also συναγάγη εἰς [Editor: illegible character]ν, he should gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad,” i. e. the gentiles, that were to believe, and were, by faith, to become the children of God; whereof Christ himself speaks thus, John x. 16, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” This is the gathering together into one that our Saviour speaks of, and is that which very well suits with the apostle’s design here, where he says in express words, that Christ makes τὰ ἀμφότερα ἕν, makes both jews and gentiles one, Eph. ii. 14. Now, that St. Paul should use heaven and earth, for jews and gentiles, will not be thought so very strange, if we consider that Daniel himself expresses the nation of the jews by the name of heaven, Dan. viii. 10. Nor does he want an example of it, in our Saviour himself, who, Luke xxi. 26, by “powers of heaven,” plainly signifies the great men of the Jewish nation; nor is this the only place, in this epistle of St. Paul to the ephesians, which will bear this interpretation of heaven and earth: he who shall read the fifteen first verses of chap. iii. and carefully weigh the expressions, and observe the drift of the apostle in them, will not find that he does manifest violence to St. Paul’s sense, if he understands by “the family in heaven and earth,” ver. 15, the united body of christians, made up of jews and gentiles, living still promiscuously among those two sorts of people, who continued in their unbelief. However, this interpretation I am not positive in; but offer it as a matter of inquiry, to such who think an impartial search into the true meaning of the sacred scripture the best employment of all the time they have.

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11 So the greek word ἐϰληρώθημεν will signify, if taken, as I think it may, in the passive voice, i. e. we gentiles, who were formerly in the possession of the devil, are now, by Christ, brought into the kingdom, dominion, and possession of God again. This sense seems very well to agree with the design of the place, viz. that the gentile world had now, in Christ, a way opened for their returning into the possession of God, under their proper head, Jesus Christ. To which suit the words that follow, “that we, who first among the gentiles,” entertained terms of reconciliation by Christ, “might be to the praise of his glory,” i. e. so that we of the gentiles who first believed, did, as it were, open a new scene of praise and glory to God, by being restored to be his people, and become again a part of his possession; a thing not before understood, nor looked for. See Acts xi. 18, and xv. 3, 14—19. The apostle’s design here being to satisfy the ephesians, that the gentiles were, by faith in Christ, restored to all the privileges of the people of God, as far forth as the jews themselves. See chap. ii. 11—22, particularly ver. 19, as to ἐϰληρώθημεν, it may, I humbly conceive, do no violence to the place to suggest this sense, “we became the inheritance,” instead of “we have obtained an inheritance;” that being the way, wherein God speaks of his people, the israelites, of whom he says, Deut. xxxii. 9, “The Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” See also Deut. iv. 20, 1 Kings viii. 51, and other places. And the inheritance, which the gentiles were to obtain, was to be obtained, we see Col. i. 12, 13, by their being translated out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Christ. So that take it either way, that “we have obtained an inheritance,” or “we are become his people and inheritance;” it in effect amounts to the same thing, and so I leave it to the reader.

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i. e. God had proposed, even before the taking of the israelites to be his people, to take in the gentiles, by faith in Christ, to be his people again: and what he purposes he will do, without asking the counsel, or consent of any one; and therefore you may be sure of this your inheritance, whether the jews consent to it or no.

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12 It was a part of the character of the gentiles to be without hope; see chap. ii. 12. But, when they received the gospel of Jesus Christ, they then ceased to be aliens from the common-wealth of Israel, and became the people of God, and had hope, as well as the jews; or as St. Paul expresses it, in the name of the converted romans, Rom. v. 2, “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” This is another evidence that ἡμᾶς, “we,” here, stands for the gentile converts. That the jews were not without hope, or without God in the world, appears from that very text, Eph. ii. 12, where the gentiles are set apart under a discriminating description properly belonging to them: the sacred scripture no where speaks of the hebrew nation, that people of God, as without God, or without hope; the contrary appears every-where. See Rom. ii. 17, and xi. 1, 2, Acts xxiv. 15, and xxvi. 6, 7, and xxviii. 20. And therefore the apostle might well say, that those of the gentiles, who first entertained hopes in Christ, were “to the praise of the glory of God.” All mankind having thereby, now, a new and greater subject of praising and glorifying God, for this great and unspeakable grace and goodness to them, of which before they had no knowledge, no thought, no expectation.

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13 Ἐν ᾡ̂ ϰαὶ ὑμεῖς seems, in the tenour and scheme of the words, to refer to εν ᾡ̂ ϰαὶ ἐϰληρώθημεν, ver. 11. St. Paul making a parallel here, between those of the gentiles that first believed, and the ephesians, tells them, that as those, who heard and received the gospel before them, became the people of God, &c. to the praise and glory of his name; so they, the ephesians, by believing, became the people of God, &c. to the praise and glory of his name, only in this verse there is an ellipsis of ἐϰληρώθηgreektε.

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14 The Holy Ghost was neither promised, nor given to the heathen, who were apostates from God, and enemies; but only to the people of God; and therefore the convert ephesians, having received it, might be assured thereby, that they were now the people of God, and rest satisfied in this pledge of it.

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The giving out of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of miracles, was the great means, whereby the gentiles were brought to receive the gospel, and become the people of God.

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“Redemption,” in sacred scripture, signifies not always strictly paying a ransom for a slave delivered from bondage, but deliverance from a slavish estate into liberty: so God declares to the children of Israel in Egypt, Exod. vi. 6, “I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm.” What is meant by it, is clear from the former part of the verse, in these words, “I will bring you out, from under the burthen of the egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage.” And, in the next verse, he adds, “and I will take you to me for my people, and I will be to you a God:” the very case here. As God, in the place cited, promised to deliver his people out of bondage, under the word “redeem;” so Deut. vii. 8, he telleth them, that he “had brought them out with a mighty hand, and redeemed them out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt:” which redemption was performed by God, who is called the Lord of hosts their Redeemer, without the payment of any ransom. But here there was ϖεριποίησις, a purchase, and what the thing purchased was we may see, Acts xx. 28, viz. “the church of God,” ἢν ϖεριεποιήσαgreektο, which “he purchased with his own blood,” to be a people, that should be the Lord’s portion, and the lot of his inheritance, as Moses speaks of the children of Israel, Deut. xxxii. 9. And hence St. Peter calls the christians, 1 Pet. ii. 9, λαος εἰς περιποίησιν, which in the margin of our bible, is rightly translated “a purchased people:” but if any one takes ἐϰληρώθημεν, ver. 11, to signify “we have obtained an inheritance,” then ϰληρονομία, in this verse, will signify “that inheritance,” and εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν τῆς ϖεριποιήσεως, “until the redemption of that purchased inheritance,” i. e. until the redemption of our bodies, viz. resurrection unto eternal life. But, besides that this seems to have a more harsh and forced sense, the other interpretation is more consonant to the style and current of the sacred scripture, and (which weighs more with me) answers St. Paul’s design here, which is to establish the ephesians, in a settled persuasion, that they, and all the other gentiles that believed in Christ, were as much the people of God, his lot, and his inheritance, as the jews themselves, and equally partakers with them of all the privileges and advantages belonging thereunto, as is visible by the tenour of the second chapter. And this is the use St. Paul mentions of God’s setting his seal, 2 Tim. ii. 19, that it might mark who are his: and accordingly we find it applied, Rev. vii. 3, to the foreheads of his servants, that they might be known to be his, chap. iv. 1. For so did those who purchased servants, as it were, take possession of them, by setting their marks on their foreheads.

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As he had declared, ver. 6 and 12, that the other gentiles, by believing and becoming the people of God, enhanced thereby the praise and glory of his grace and goodness; so here, ver. 14, he pronounces the same thing of the ephesians, in particular, to whom he is writing, to possess their minds with the sense of the happy estate they were now in, by being christians; for which he thanks God, ver. 3, and here again in the next words.

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15 Ἀϰȣ́σας τὴν ϰαθ’ ὑμᾶς ϖίϛιν ἐν τῷ Κυρίω Ιησȣ͂, “Wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus.” St. Paul’s hearing of their faith, here mentioned, cannot signify his being informed, that they had received the gospel, and believed in Christ; this would have looked impertinent for him to have told them, since he himself had converted them, and had lived a long time amongst them, as has been already observed. We must, therefore, seek another reason of his mentioning his hearing of their faith, which must signify something else, than his being barely acquainted that they were christians; and this we may find in these words, chap. iii. 13, “Wherefore I desire that ye faint not, at my tribulations for you.” He, as apostle of the gentiles, had alone preached up freedom from the law, which the other apostles, who had not that province (see Gal. ii. 9) in their converting the jews, seem to have said nothing of, as is plain from Acts xxi. 20, 21. It was upon account of his preaching, that the christian converts were not under any subjection to the observances of the law, and that the law was abolished, by the death of Christ, that he was seized at Jerusalem, and sent as a criminal to Rome to be tried for his life; where he was now a prisoner. He being, therefore, afraid that the ephesians, and other convert gentiles, seeing him thus under persecution, in hold, and in danger of death, upon the score of his being the preacher, and zealous propagator and minister of this great article of the christian faith, which seemed to have its rise and defence, wholly from him, might give it up, and not stand firm in the faith which he had taught them, was rejoiced, when in his confinement he heard, that they persisted stedfast in that faith, and in their love to all the saints, i. e. as well the convert gentiles, that did not, as those jews, that did, conform to the jewish rites. This I take to be the meaning of his hearing of their faith, here mentioned; and conformably hereunto, ch. vi. 19, 20, he desires their prayers, “that he may with boldness preach the mystery of the gospel, of which he is the ambassador in bonds.” This mystery of the gospel, it is plain from ch. i. 9, &c. and ch. iii. 3—7, and other places, was God’s gracious purpose of taking the gentiles, as gentiles, to be his people, under the gospel. St. Paul, whilst he was a prisoner at Rome, writ to two other churches, that at Philippi, and that at Colosse: to the Colossians, chap. i. 4, he uses, almost verbatim, the same expression that he does here, “having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of your love, which ye have to all the saints;” he gives thanks to God, for their knowing and sticking to the grace of God in truth, which had been taught them by Epaphras, who had informed St. Paul of this, and their affection to him, whereupon he expresses his great concern, that they should continue in that faith, and not be drawn away to judaizing, which may be seen from ver. 14 of this chapter, to the end of the second. So that “the hearing of their faith,” which he says, both to the ephesians and colossians, is not his being told, that they were christians; but their continuing in the faith they were converted to and instructed in, viz. that they became the people of God, and were admitted into his kingdom, only by faith in Christ, without submitting to the mosaical institution, and legal observances, which was the thing he was afraid they should be drawn to, either through any despondency in themselves, or importunity of others, now that he was removed from them, and in bonds, and thereby give up that truth and freedom of the gospel, which he had preached to them.

To the same purpose he writes to the philippians, chap. i. 3—5, telling them that he gave “thanks to God,” ἐπὶ ϖάσῃ τῇ μνεία αὐτῶν, upon every mention was made of them, upon every account he received of their continuing in the fellowship and profession of the gospel, as it had been taught them by him, without changing, or wavering at all, which is the same with “hearing of their faith,” and that thereupon he prays, amongst other things, chiefly that they might be kept from judaizing, as appears ver. 27, 28, where the thing, he desired to hear of them, was “that they stood firm in one spirit, and one mind, jointly contending for the faith of the gospel; in nothing startled by those who are opposers;” so the words are, and not “their adversaries.” Now there was no party, at that time, who were in opposition to the gospel, which St. Paul preached, and with whom the convert gentiles had any dispute, but those who were for keeping up circumcision and the jewish rites, under the gospel. These were they, whom St. Paul apprehended, alone, as likely to affright the convert gentiles and make them start out of the way from the gospel, which is the proper import of ϖgreektυρόμενοι. Though this passage clearly enough indicates what it was, that he was, and should always be, glad to hear of them; yet he more plainly shows his apprehension of danger to them to be from the contenders for judaism, in the express warning he gives them, against that sort of men, chap. iii. 2, 3. So that this hearing, which he mentions, is the hearing of these three churches persisting firmly in the faith of the gospel, which he had taught them, without being drawn at all towards judaizing. It was that, for which St. Paul gave thanks, and it may reasonably be presumed, that, if he had writ to any other churches of converted gentiles, whilst he was a prisoner at Rome, upon the like carriage of theirs, something of the same kind would have been said to them. So that the great business of these three epistles, written during his being a prisoner at Rome, was to explain the nature of the kingdom of God under the Messiah, from which the gentiles were now no longer shut out, by the ordinances of the law; and confirm the churches, in the belief of it. St. Paul, being chosen and sent by God, to preach the gospel of the gentiles, had, in all his preaching, set forth the largeness and freedom of the kingdom of God, now laid open to the gentiles, by taking away the wall of partition, that kept them out. This made the jews his enemies; and, upon this account, they had seized him, and he was now a prisoner at Rome. Fearing that the gentiles might be wrought upon to submit to the law, now that he was thus removed, or suffering for the gospel, he tells these three churches, that he rejoices at their standing firm in the faith, and thereupon writes to them to explain and confirm to them the kingdom of God under the Messiah, into which all men now had an entrance, by faith in Christ, without any regard to the terms, whereby the jews were formerly admitted. The setting forth the largeness and free admittance into this kingdom, which was so much for the glory of God, and so much showed his mercy and bounty to mankind, that he makes it, as it were, a new creation, is, I say, plainly the business of the three epistles, which tend all visibly to the same thing, that any one, that reads them, cannot mistake the apostle’s meaning, they giving such a clear light one to another.

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15 “All the saints.” One finds in the very reading of these words, that the word [all] is emphatical here, and put in, for some particular reason. I can, I confess, see no other but this, viz. that they were not, by the judaizers, in the least drawn away from their esteem and love of those who were not circumcised, nor observed the jewish rites; which was a proof to him, that they stood firm in the faith and freedom of the gospel, which he had instructed them in.

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17 “Father of glory:” an Hebrew expression, which cannot well be changed, since it signifies his being glorious himself, being the fountain from whence all glory is derived, and to whom all glory is to be given. In all which senses, it may be taken here, where there is nothing that appropriates it, in peculiar, to any of them.

‡

“Wisdom,” is visibly used here for a right conception and understanding of the gospel. See note, ver. 8.

§

“Revelation,” is used by St. Paul, not always for immediate inspiration, but as it is meant here, and in most other places, for such truths, which could not have been found out by human reason, but had their first discovery from revelation, though men afterwards come to the knowledge of those truths, by reading them in the sacred scripture, where they are set down, for their information.

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19 “Us,” here, and “you,” chap. ii. 1, and “us,” chap. ii. 5, it is plain signify the same, who being dead, partook of the energy of that great power that raised Christ from the dead, i. e. the convert gentiles, and all those glorious things he, in ver. 18—23, intimates to them, by praying they may see them, he here in this 19th verse tells, is bestowed on them, as believers, and not as observers of the mosaical law.

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20 Ἐν τοῖς ἐπȣρανίοις, “in heavenly places,” says our translation, and so ver. 3, but possibly the marginal reading, “things,” will be thought the better, if we compare ver. 22. He set him at his right hand, i. e. transferred on him his power; ἐν ἐπȣρανίοις, in his heavenly kingdom; that is to say, set him at the head of his heavenly kingdom, see ver. 22. This kingdom, in the gospel, is called indifferently, βασιλεία Θεȣ͂, “the kingdom of God;” and βασιλεία τῶν ȣ̓ρανῶν, “the kingdom of heaven.” God had before, a kingdom and people in this world, viz. that kingdom, which he erected to himself, of the jews, selected and brought back to himself, out of the apostatized mass of revolted and rebellious mankind: with this his people he dwelt, among them he had his habitation, and ruled as their king, in a peculiar kingdom; and, therefore, we see that our Saviour calls the jews, Matt. viii. 12, “the children of the kingdom.” But that kingdom, though God’s, was not the βασιλεία τῶν ȣ̓ρανῶν, “the kingdom of heaven,” that came with Christ: see Matt. iii. 2, and x. 7. That was but ἐπίγειος, “of the earth,” compared to this ἐπȣράνιος, “heavenly kingdom,” which was to be erected under Jesus Christ; and, with that sort of distinction, our Saviour seems to speak and use those words ἐπίγεια, “earthly,” and ἐπȣράνια, “heavenly,” John iii. 12. In his discourse there, with Nicodemus, he tells him, “unless a man were born again, he could not see the kingdom of God.” This being born again, stuck with Nicodemus, which Christ reproaches him with, since, being a teacher in Israel, he understood not that which belonged to the jewish constitution, wherein to be baptized, for admittance into that kingdom, was called and counted to be born again; and therefore says, if, having spoken unto you ἐπίγεια, things relating to your own earthly constitution, you comprehend me not, how shall you receive what I say, if I speak to you, τὰ ἐπȣράνια, heavenly things, i. e. of that kingdom, which is purely heavenly? And according to this, St. Paul’s words here, Eph. i. 10, τα τῆς ἐν τοῖς ȣ̓ρανοῖς ϰαὶ τὰ επὶ τῆς γῆς, (which occur again, chap. iii. 15, Col. i. 16, 20) may perhaps not unfitly be interpreted “of the spiritual, heavenly kingdom of God:” and that also of the more earthly one of the jews, whose rites and positive institutions, St. Paul calls “elements of the world,” Gal. iv. 3, Col. ii. 8, which were both, at the coming of the Messiah, consolidated into one, and together re-established under one head, Christ Jesus. The whole drift of this, and the two following chapters, being to declare the union of the jews and gentiles into one body, under Christ, the head of the heavenly kingdom. And he that sedately compares Eph. ii. 16, with Col. i. 20, (in both which places it is evident, the apostle speaks of the same thing, viz. God’s reconciling of both jews and gentiles, by the cross of Christ) will scarce be able to avoid thinking, that “things in heaven, and things on earth,” signify the people of the one and the other of these kingdoms.

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21 These abstract names are frequently used in the New Testament, according to the style of the eastern languages, for those vested with power and dominion, &c. and that, not only here on earth, among men, but in heaven, among superior beings: and so often are taken to express ranks and degrees of angels: and, though they are generally agreed to do so here, yet there is no reason to exclude earthly potentates out of this text, when ϖάσης necessarily includes them; for that men in power are one sort of ἀρχαὶ and ἐξȣσίαι, in a scripture-sense, our Saviour’s own words show, Luke xii. 11, and xx. 2. Besides, the apostle’s chief aim here being to satisfy the ephesians, that they were not to be subjected to the law of Moses, and the government of those who ruled by it, but they were called to be of the kingdom of the Messiah: it is not to be supposed, that here, where he speaks of Christ’s exaltation to a power and dominion paramount to all other, he should not have an eye to that little and low government of the jews, which it was beneath the subjects of so glorious a kingdom, as that of Jesus Christ, to submit themselves to. And this the next words do farther enforce.

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23 Πλήρωμα, “fulness,” here, is taken in a passive sense, for a thing to be filled, or completed, as appears by the following words, “of him that filleth all in all,” i. e. it is Christ the head, who perfected the church, by supplying and furnishing all things to all the members, to make them what they are, and ought to be, in that body. See chap. v. 13, Col. ii. 10, and iii. 10, 11.

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1 Καὶ, “and,” gives us here the thread of St. Paul’s discourse, which is impossible to be understood without seeing the train of it: without that view, it would be like a rope of gold-dust, all the parts would be excellent, and of value, but would seem heaped together, without order, or connexion. This “and,” here, it is true, ties the parts together, and points out the connexion and coherence of St. Paul’s discourse; but yet it stands so far from ἐϰάθισεν, “set,” in ver. 20, of the foregoing chapter; and συνεζωοποίησε, “quickened,” ver. 5, of this chapter, which are the two verbs it copulates together; that by one, not acquainted with St. Paul’s style, it would scarce be observed or admitted, and therefore it may not be amiss, to lay it in its due light, so as to be visible to an ordinary reader. St. Paul, v. 18—20, prays that the ephesians may be so enlightened, as to see the great advantages they received by the gospel: those that he specifies are these: 1. What great hopes he gave them. 2. What an exceeding glory accompanied the inheritance of the saints. 3. The mighty power exerted by God on their behalf, which bore some proportion to that which he employed in the raising Christ from the dead, and placing him at his right hand: upon the mention of which, his mind being full of that glorious image, he lets his pen run into a description of the exaltation of Christ, which lasts to the end of that chapter, and then re-assumes the thread of his discourse: which in short stands thus: “I pray God, that the eyes of your understandings may be enlightened, that you may see the exceeding great power of God, which is employed upon us who believe: [ϰαgreektὰ τὴν] corresponding to that energy, wherewith he raised Christ from the dead, and seated him at his right hand; for so also has he raised you, who were dead in trespasses and sins: us, I say, who were dead in trespasses and sins, has he quickened, and raised together with Christ, and seated together with him in his heavenly kingdom.” This is, in short, the train and connexion of his discourse, from chap. i. 18, to ii. 5, though it be interrupted by many incident thoughts; which, as his manner is, he enlarges upon by the way, and then returns to the thread of his discourse. For here again, in this first verse of the second chapter, we must observe, that, having mentioned their being dead in trespasses and sins, he enlarges upon that forlorn estate of the gentiles before their conversion; and then comes to what he designed, that God out of his great goodness, quickened, raised, and placed them together with Christ, in his heavenly kingdom. In all which it is plain he had more regard to the things he declared to them, than to a nice, grammatical construction of his words: for it is manifest ϰαὶ, “and,” ver. 1, and ϰαὶ, “and, ver. 5, copulate συνεζωοποίησε, “quickened,” with ἐϰάθισεν, “set,” ver. 20, of the foregoing chapter, which the two following words, ver. 6, make evident, ϰαὶ συνήγειρε ϰαὶ συνεϰάθισεν εν ἐπȣρανίοις, “and hath raised up together, and hath made “sit together in heavenly places.” St. Paul, to display the great power and energy of God, showed towards the gentiles, in bringing them into his heavenly kingdom, declares it to be ϰαgreektὰ τῆν ἐνεργείαν, proportionable to that power, wherewith he raised Jesus from the dead, and seated him at his right hand. To express the parallel, he keeps to the parallel terms concerning Christ; he says, chap. i, 20, ἐγείρας ἀυgreektὸν ἐϰ τῷν νεϰρῶν, ϰαὶ ἐϰάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ αὐτȣ͂ ἐν τοῖς ἐπȣρανίοις, “raised him from the dead, and set him at his right hand, in heavenly places.” Concerning the gentile converts his words are, chap. ii. ver. 5, 6, ϰαὶ ὄνgreektας ἡμᾶς νεϰρȣ͂ς τοῖς ϖαραπgreektώμασι, συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Χριϛῷ, ϰαὶ συνήγειρε ϰαὶ συνεϰάθισεν ἐν ἐπȣρανίοις, “and us, being dead in trespasses, he hath quickened together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places.” It is also visible that ὑμᾶς, “you,” v. 1, and ἡμᾶς, “us,” v. 5, “are both governed by the verb συνεζωοποίησε, “quickened together,” ver. 5, though the grammatical construction be somewhat broken, but is repaired in the sense, which lies thus: “God, by his mighty power, raised Christ from the dead; by the like power you, gentiles of Ephesus, being dead in trespasses and sins; what do I say, you of Ephesus; nay, us all, converts of the gentiles, being dead in trespasses, has he quickened and raised from the dead. You ephesians were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that yet worketh in the children of disobedience, and so were we, all the rest of us, who are converted from gentilism; we, all of us, of the same stamp and strain, involved in the same conversation, living, heretofore, according to the lusts of our flesh, to which we were perfectly obedient, doing what our carnal wills and blinded minds directed us, being then no less children of wrath, no less liable to wrath and punishment, than those that remained still children of disobedience, i. e. unconverted; but God, rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, hath quickened us all, being dead in trespasses, (for it is by grace ye are saved) and raised us, &c.” This is St. Paul’s sense, drawn out more at length, which, in his compendious way of writing, wherein he crowds many ideas together, as they abounded in his mind, could not easily be ranged under rules of grammar. The promiscuous use St. Paul here makes of “we” and “you,” and his so easy changing one into the other, plainly shows, as we have already observed, that they both stand for the same sort of persons, i. e. christians, that were formerly pagans, whose state and life, whilst they were such, he here expressly describes.

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2 Αἰών may be observed, in the New Testament, to signify the lasting state and constitution of things, in the great tribes, or collections of men, considered in reference to the kingdom of God; whereof there were two most eminent, and principally intended, if I mistake not, by the word αἰῶνης when that is used alone: and that is ὁ νῦν αἰὼν, “this present world,” which is taken for that state of the world, wherein the children of Israel were his people, and made up his kingdom upon earth, the gentiles, i. e. all the other nations of the world, being in a state of apostacy and revolt from him, the professed vassals and subjects of the devil, to whom they paid homage, obedience, and worship; and αἰὼν μέλλον, “the world to come,” i. e. the time of the gospel, wherein God, by Christ, broke down the partition-wall between jew and gentile, and opened a way for reconciling the rest of mankind, and taking the gentiles again into his kingdom under Jesus Christ, under whose rule he had put it.

*

In these words St. Paul points out the devil, the prince of the revolted part of the creation, and head of that kingdom, which stood in opposition to, and was at war with, the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

†

Ἐνεργȣ͂νgreektος is the proper term, whereby, in the greek, is signified the possession and acting of any person by an evil spirit.

‡

“Children of disobedience,” are those of the gentiles, who continued still in their apostacy, under the dominion of Satan, who ruled and acted them, and returned not from their revolt, described Rom. i. 18, &c. into the kingdom of God, now that Jesus Christ had opened an entrance into it, to all those who disobeyed not his call; and thus they are called, chap. v. 6.

§

3 Ἐν οἷς cannot signify “amongst whom we also all had our conversation:” for if ἡμεῖς, “we,” stands for either the converted jews, or converts in general, it is not true. If “we,” stands (as is evident it doth) for the converted gentiles, of what force or tendency is it for the apostle to say we, the converted gentiles, heretofore lived among the unconverted gentiles? But it is of great force, and to his purpose, in magnifying the free grace of God to them, to say “we of the gentiles, who are now admitted to the kingdom of God, were formerly of that very sort of men, in whom the prince of the power of the air ruled, leading lives in the lusts of the flesh, obeying the will and inclinations thereof, and so as much exposed to the wrath of God as those who still remain in their apostacy under the dominion of the devil.”

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This was the state that the gentile world were given up to. See Rom. i. 21, 24. Parallel to this 3d verse of this 2d chapter, we have a passage in chap. iv. 17—20, of this same epistle, where ϰαθῶς ϰαὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη, “even as the other gentiles” plainly answers ὡς ϰαὶ οἱ λοιποὶ, “even as the others,” here; and ἐν μαgreektαιότηgreektι τοȣ͂ νοὸς ἀυgreektῶν, ἐσϰοgreektισμένοι τῃ̑ διανοία, “in the vanity of their minds, having their understandings darkened,” answers ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρϰὸς ἠμῶν, ϖοιȣ͂ντες τὰ ϑελήματα της σαρϰὸς ϰαὶ τῶν διανοιῶν, “in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” He that compares these places, and considers that, what is said in the fourth chapter, contains the character of the gentile world, of whom it is spoken; I say, he that reads and considers these two places well together, and the correspondency between them, cannot doubt of the sense I understand this verse in; and that St. Paul here, under the terms “we” and “our” speaks of the gentile converts.

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4 Ὁ δὲ, “But,” connects this verse admirably well with the immediately preceding, which makes the parts of that incident discourse cohere, which ending in this verse, St. Paul, in the beginning of ver. 5, takes up the thread of his discourse again, as if nothing had come between, though ὁ δὲ, “but,” in the beginning of this 4th verse, rather breaks, than continues the sense of the whole. See note, ver. 1.

†

“Rich in mercy.” The design of the apostle being, in this epistle, to set forth the exceeding great mercy and bounty of God to the gentiles, under the gospel, as is manifest at large, ch. iii. it is plain that ἡμᾶς, “us,” here in this verse must mean the gentile converts.

‡

5 “Dead in trespasses,” does not mean here, under the condemnation of death, or obnoxious to death for our transgressions; but so under the power and dominion of sin, so helpless in that state into which, for our apostacy, we were delivered up, by the just judgment of God, that we had no more thought, nor hope, nor ability, to get out of it, than men, dead and buried, have to get out of the grave. This state of death he declares to be the state of gentilism, Col. ii. 13, in these words: “and you, being dead in trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath God quickened together with him,” i. e. Christ.

§

“Quickened.” This quickening was by the Spirit of God, given to those who, by faith in Christ, were united to him, became the members of Christ, and sons of God, partaking of the adoption, by which spirit they were put into a state of life; see Rom. viii. 9—15, and made capable, if they would, to live to God, and not to obey sin, in the lusts thereof, nor to yield their members instruments of sin unto iniquity; but to give up themselves to God, as men alive from the dead, and their members to God as instruments of righteousness; as our apostle exhorts the converted Romans to do, Rom. vi. 11—13.

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6 Wherein this raising consists, may be seen, Rom. vi. 1—10.

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7 The great favour and goodness of God manifests itself, in the salvation of sinners, in all ages; but that, which most eminently sets forth the glory of his grace, was those, who were first of all converted from heathenism to christianity, and brought out of the kingdom of darkness, in which they were as dead men, without life, hope, or so much as a thought of salvation, or a better state, into the kingdom of God. Hence it is that he says, chap. i. 12, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first believed.” To which he seems to have an eye in this verse; the first conversion of the gentiles being a surprising and wonderful effect and instance of God’s exceeding goodness to them, which, to the glory of his grace, should be admired and acknowledged by all future ages; and so Paul and Barnabas speak of it, Acts xiv. 27, “They rehearsed all that God had done with him, and how he had opened the door of faith to the gentiles.” And so James and the elders at Jerusalem, when they beard what things God had wrought by St. Paul’s ministry, among the Gentiles, they “glorified the Lord,” Acts xxi. 19, 20.

†

8 “Ye.” The change of “we,” in the foregoing verse, to “ye,” here, and the like change observable ver. 1 and 5, plainly shows, that the persons spoken of, under these two denominations, are of the same kind, i. e. gentile converts; only St. Paul, every now and then, the more effectually to move those he is writing to, changes “we” into “ye,” and vice versâ: and so makes, as it were, a little sort of distinction, that he may the more emphatically apply himself to them.

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“Saved.” He that reads St. Paul with attention, cannot but observe, that speaking of the gentiles, he calls their being brought back again, from their apostacy, into the kingdom of God, their being saved. Before they were thus brought to the people of God again, under the Messiah, they were, as they are here described, aliens, enemies, without hope, without God, dead in trespasses and sins: and therefore when, by faith in Christ, they came to be reconciled, and to be in covenant again with God, as his subjects and liege people, they were in the way of salvation; and if they persevered, could not miss of attaining it, though they were not yet in actual possession. The apostle, whose aim it is, in this epistle, to give them an high sense of God’s extraordinary grace and favour to them, and to raise their thoughts above the mean observances of the law, shows them that there was nothing in them; no deeds, or works of their’s, nothing that they could do, to prepare, or recommend themselves, contributed aught to the bringing them into the kingdom of God, under the gospel: that it was all purely the work of grace, for they were all dead in trespasses and sins, and could do nothing, not make one step, or the least motion towards it. Faith, which alone gained them admittance, and alone opened the kingdom of heaven to believers, was the sole gift of God; men, by their natural faculties, could not attain to it. It is faith, which is the source and beginning of this new life; and the gentile world, who were without sense, without hope of any such thing, could no more help themselves, or do any thing to procure it themselves, than a dead man can do any thing, to procure himself life. It is God here does all; by revelation of what they could never discover by their own natural faculties, he bestows on them the knowledge of the Messiah, and the faith of the gospel; which, as soon as they have received, they are in the kingdom of God, in a new state of life; and being thus quickened by the spirit, may, as men alive, work if they will. Hence St. Paul says, Rom. x. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” having in the foregoing verses declared, there is no believing without hearing, and no hearing without a preacher, and no preacher unless he be sent; i. e. the good tidings of salvation by the Messiah, and the doctrine of faith, was not, nor could be, known to any, but to those, to whom God communicated it, by the preaching of prophets and apostles, to whom he revealed it, and whom he sent on this errand with this discovery. And thus God, now, gave faith to the ephesians, and the other gentiles, to whom he sent St. Paul, and others his fellow-labourers, to bestow on them the knowledge of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration into his kingdom of the Messiah. All which though revealed by the spirit of God, in the writings of the Old Testament, yet the gentile world were kept wholly strangers from the knowledge of by the ceremonial law of Moses, which was the wall of partition, that kept the gentiles at a distance, aliens and enemies; which wall God, according to his gracious purpose before the erecting of it, having now broke down, communicated to them the doctrine of faith, and admitted them, upon their acceptance of it, to all the advantages and privileges of his kingdom; all which was done of his free grace, without any merit, or procurement of their’s: “he was found of them, who sought him not, and was made manifest to them that asked not after him.” I desire him, that would clearly understand this chap. ii. of the ephesians, to read carefully with it Rom. x. and 1 Cor. ii. 9—16, where he will see, that faith is wholly owing to the revelation of the spirit of God, and the communication of that revelation, by men sent by God, who attained this knowledge, not by the assistance of their own natural parts, but from the revelation of the spirit of God. Thus faith, we see, is the gift of God, and with it, when men by baptism are admitted into the kingdom of God, comes the spirit of God, which brings life with it: for the attaining this gift of faith, men do, or can do, nothing; grace hitherto does all, and works are wholly excluded; God himself creates them to do good works, but when, by him, they are made living creatures, in this new creation, it is then expected, that being quickened, they should act; and, from henceforwards, works are required, not as the meritorious cause of salvation; but as a necessary, indispensable qualification of the subjects of God’s kingdom, under his son Jesus Christ; it being impossible, that any one should, at the same time, be a rebel and a subject too: and, though none can be subjects of the kingdom of God, but those who, continuing in the faith, that has been once bestowed on them, sincerely endeavour to conform themselves to the laws of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ; and God gives eternal life to all those, and those only that do so; yet eternal life is the gift of God, the gift of free grace, since their works of sincere obedience afford no manner of title to it: their righteousness is imperfect, i. e. they are all unrighteous, and so deserve doth; but God gives them life, upon the account of his righteousness, vid. Rom. i. 17. The righteousness of faith, which is by Jesus Christ, and so they are still saved by grace.

Now when God hath, by calling them into the kingdom of his son, thus quickened men, and they are, by his free grace, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, that then works are required of them, we see in this, that they are called on, and pressed to, “walk worthy of God, who hath called them to his kingdom and glory,” 1 Thess. ii. 12. And to the same purpose here, ch. iv. 1 Phil. i. 27, Col. i. 10—12. So that of those, who are in the kingdom of God, who are actually under the covenant of Grace, good works are strictly required, under the penalty of the loss of eternal life: “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if through the spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live,” Rom. viii. 13. And so Rom. vi. 11, 13, they are commanded to obey God, as living men. This is the tenour of the whole New Testament: the apostate, heathen world were dead, and were of themselves, in that state, not capable of doing any thing to procure their translation into the kingdom of God; that was purely the work of grace: but, when they received the gospel, they were then made alive by faith, and by the spirit of God: and, then, they were in a state of life, and working and works were expected of them. Thus grace and works consist, without any difficulty; that which has caused the perplexity and seeming contradiction, has been men’s mistake concerning the kingdom of God: God, in the fulness of time, set up his kingdom in this world, under his son; into which he admitted all those, who believed on him, and received Jesus, the Messiah, for their Lord. Thus, by faith in Jesus Christ, men became the people of God, and subjects of his kingdom; and, being by baptism admitted into it, were from henceforth, during their continuing in the faith and profession of the gospel, accounted saints, the beloved of God, the faithful in Christ Jesus, the people of God, saved, &c. for in these terms and the like, the sacred scripture speaks of them. And indeed those, who were thus translated into the kingdom of the Son of God, were no longer in the dead state of the gentiles; but, having passed from death to life, were in the state of the living, in the way to eternal life; which they were sure to attain, if they persevered in that life which the gospel required, viz. faith and sincere obedience. But yet, this was not an actual possession of eternal life, in the kingdom of God in the world to come; for by apostacy or disobedience, this, though sometimes called salvation, might be forfeited and lost; whereas he, that is once possessed of the other, hath actually an eternal inheritance in the heavens, which fadeth not away. These two considerations of the kingdom of heaven, some men have confounded and made one; so that a man being brought into the first of these, wholly by grace, without works, faith being all that was required to instate a man in it; they have concluded that, for the attaining eternal life, or the kingdom of God in the world to come, faith alone, and not good works, are required, contrary to express words of scripture, and the whole tenour of the gospel: but yet, not being admitted into that state of eternal life for our good works, it is by grace, here too, that we are saved, our righteousness, after all, being imperfect, and we, by our sins, liable to condemnation and death: but it is by grace, we are made partakers of both these kingdoms: it is only into the kingdom of God in this world, we are admitted by faith alone, without works; but for our admittance into the other, both faith and obedience, in a sincere endeavour to perform those duties, all those good works, which are incumbent on us, and come in our way, to be performed by us, from the time of our believing, till our death.

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10 “Workmanship of God created.” It is not by virtue of any works of the law, nor in consideration of our submitting to the mosaical institution, or having any alliance with the jewish nation, that we, gentiles, are brought into the kingdom of Christ; we are, in this, entirely the workmanship of God; and are, as it were, created therein, framed and fitted by him, to the performance of those good works, which we were from thence to live in; and so owe nothing of this our new being, in this new state, to any preparation, or fitting, we received from the jewish church, or any relation we stood in thereunto. That this is the meaning of the new creation, under the gospel, is evident from St. Paul’s own explaining of it, himself, 2 Cor. v. 16—18, viz. that being in Christ was all one, as if he were in a new creation; and, therefore, from henceforth, he knew no-body after the flesh, i. e. he pretended to no privilege, for being of a jewish race, or an observer of their rites; all these old things were done away; all things under the gospel are new and of God alone.

†

This is conformable to what he says, ver. 5, 6, that God quickened and raised the gentiles, that were dead in trespasses and sins, with Christ, being by faith united to him, and partaking of the same spirit of life, which raised him from the dead; whereby, as men brought to life, they were enabled (if they would not resist, nor quench that spirit) to live unto God, in righteousness and holiness, as before they were under the absolute dominion of Satan and their own lusts.

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11 This separation was so great, that, to a jew, the uncircumcised gentiles were counted so polluted and unclean, that they were not shut out, barely from their holy places and service; but from their tables and ordinary conversation.

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12 That this is the meaning of being “without Christ,” here, is evident from this, that what St. Paul says here, is to shew the different state of the gentiles, from that of the jews, before the coming of our Saviour.

†

Who were alone, then, the people of God.

‡

“Covenants.” God, more thanonce, renewed his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the children of Israel, that upon the conditions proposed, he would be their God, and they should be his people.

§

It is in this sense, that the gentiles are called ἄθεοι; for there were few of them atheists, in our sense of the word, i. e. denying superiour powers; and many of them acknowledged one supreme, eternal God; but as St. Paul says, Rom. i. 21, “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God;” they owned not him alone, but turned away from him, the invisible God, to the worship of images, and the false gods of their countries.

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13 How this was done, the following words explain, and Col. ii. 14.

¶

14 Ἡμῶν “our,” in this verse, must signify persons in the same condition with those he speaks to, under the pronoun ὐμεῖς, “ye,” in the foregoing verse, or else the apostle’s argument, here, would be wide, and not conclusive; but “ye,” in the foregoing verse, incontestibly signifies the convert gentiles, and so therefore must ἡμῶν in this verse.

**

See Col. i. 20.

††

15 It was the ritual law of the jews, that kept them, and the gentiles, at an irreconcileable distance; so that they could come to no terms of a fair correspondence, the force whereof was so great, that even after Christ was come, and had put an end to the obligation of that law; yet it was almost impossible to bring them together; and this was that which, in the beginning, most obstructed the progress of the gospel and disturbed the gentile converts.

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“By abolishing.” I do not remember that the law of Moses, or any part of it, is, by an actual repeal, any where abrogated; and yet we are told here, and in other places of the New Testament, that it is abolished. The want of a right understanding of what this abolishing was, and how it was brought about, has, I suspect, given occasion to the misunderstanding of several texts of sacred scripture; I beg leave, therefore, to offer what the sacred scripture seems to me to suggest concerning this matter, till a more thorough inquiry, by some abler hand, shall be made into it. After the general revolt and apostacy of mankind, from the acknowledgment and worship of the one, only, true, invisible God, their maker, the children of Israel, by a voluntary submission to him, and acknowledgment of him to be their God and supreme Lord, came to be his people, and he, by a peculiar covenant, to be their King; and thus erected to himself a kingdom in this world, out of that people, to whom he gave a law by Moses, which was to be the law of the israelites, his people, with a purpose at the same time, that he would, in due season, transfer this his kingdom, in this world, into the hands of the Messiah, whom he intended to send into the world, to be the prince and ruler of his people, as he had foretold and promised to the jews. Into which kingdom of his, under his Son, he purposed also, and foretold, that he would admit and incorporate the other nations of the earth, as well as those of the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were to come into this his enlarged kingdom, upon new terms, that he should then propose: and that those, and those only, should from henceforth be his people. And thus it came to pass, that, though the law, which was given by Moses, to the israelites, was never repealed, and so ceased not to be the law of that nation; yet it ceased to be the law of the people and kingdom of God, in this world; because the jews, not receiving him to be their King, whom God had sent, to be the King, and sole ruler of his kingdom for the future, ceased to be the people of God, and the subjects of God’s kingdom. And thus Jesus Christ, by his death, entering into his kingdom, having then fulfilled all, that was required of him, for the obtaining of it, put an end to the law of Moses, opening another way to all people, both jews and gentiles, into the kingdom of God, quite different from the law of ordinances, given by Moses, viz. faith in Jesus Christ, by which, and which alone, every one, that would, had now admittance into the kingdom of God, by the one plain, easy, and simple ceremony of baptism. This was that which, though it was also foretold, the Jews understood not, having a very great opinion of themselves, because they were the chosen people of God; and of their law, because God was the author of it; and so concluded, that both they were to remain the people of God for ever, and also, that they were to remain so, under that same law, which was never to be altered; and so never understood what was foretold them, of the kingdom of the Messiah, in respect of the ceasing of their law of ordinances, and the admittance of the gentiles, upon the same terms with them, into the kingdom of the Messiah; which, therefore, St. Paul calls over and over again, a mystery, and a mystery hidden from ages.

Now he, that will look a little farther into this kingdom of God, under these two different dispensations, of the law and the gospel, will find, that it was erected by God, and men were recalled into it, out of the general apostacy from their Lord and maker, for the unspeakable good and benefit of those who, by entering into it, returned to their allegiance, that thereby they might be brought into a way and capacity of being restored to that happy state of eternal life, which they had all lost in Adam: which it was impossible they could ever recover, whilst they remained worshippers and vassals of the devil and so out-laws and enemies to God, in the kingdom, and under the dominion of Satan; since the most biassed and partial inclination of an intelligent being could never expect that God should reward rebellion and apostacy with eternal happiness, and take men, that were actually vassals and adorers of his arch-enemy the devil, and immediately give them eternal bliss, with the enjoyment of pleasures in his presence, and at his right hand for evermore. The kingdom of God, therefore, in this world, was, as it were, the entrance of the kingdom of God in the other world, and the receptacle and place of preparation of those, who aimed at a share in that eternal inheritance. And hence the people of the jews were called holy, chosen, and sons of God; as were afterwards the christians, called saints, elect, beloved, and children of God, &c. But there is this remarkable difference to be observed, in what is said of the subjects of this kingdom, under the two different dispensations of the law and the gospel, that the converts to christianity, and professors of the gospel, are often termed and spoken of, as saved, which I do not remember that the jews, or proselytes, members of the commonwealth, any where are: the reason whereof is, that the conditions of that covenant, whereby they were made the people of God, under that constitution of God’s kingdom, in this world, was, “do this, and live;” but “he, that continues not in all these things to do them, shall die.” But the condition of the covenant, whereby they became the people of God, in the constitution of his kingdom, under the Messiah, is, “believe, and repent, and thou shalt be saved, i. e. take Christ for thy Lord, and do sincerely but what thou canst to keep his law, and thou shalt be saved;” in the one of which, which is, therefore, called the covenant of works, those, who are actually in that kingdom, could not attain the everlasting inheritance: and in the other, called the covenant of grace, those, who, if they would but continue as they began, i. e. in the state of faith and repentance, i. e. in a submission to, and owning of Christ, and a steady, unrelenting resolution of not offending against his law, would not miss it, and so might truly be said to be saved, they being in an unerring way to salvation. And thus we see, how the law of Moses is, by Christ, abolished, under the gospel, not by any actual repeal of it: but is set aside, by ceasing to be the law of the kingdom of God, translated into the hands of the Messiah, and set up under him; which kingdom so erected contains all that God now does, or will own to be his people, in this world. This way of abolishing of the law, did not make those observances unlawful to those who, before their conversion to the gospel, were circumcised, and under the law; they were indifferent things, which the converted jews might, or might not observe, as they found convenient: that which was unlawful, and contrary to the gospel, was the making those ritual observances necessary to be joined with faith, in believers, for justification, as we see they did, who, Acts xv. taught the brethren that, unless they were circumcised, after the manner of Moses, they could not be saved; so that the nailing of it to Christ’s cross, Col. ii. 14, was the taking away, from thenceforth, all obligation for any one to be circumcised, and to put himself under the observances of the law, to become one of the people of God; but was no prohibition to any one, who was circumcised before conversion, to observe them. And accordingly we see, Gal. ii. 11, that what St. Paul blames in St. Peter, was “compelling the gentiles to live as the jews do:” had not that been the case, he would no more have blamed his carriage at Antioch, than he did his observing the law at Jerusalem.

The apostle here tells us, what part of the mosaical law it was, that Christ put an end to, by his death, viz. τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐνgreektολῶν ἐν δόgreekgμασι, “the law of commandments in ordinances;” i. e. the positive injunctions of the law of Moses, concerning things in their own nature indifferent, which became obligatory, merely by virtue of a direct, positive command, and are called by St. Paul in the parallel place, Col. ii. 14, χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόgreekgμασι “the hand-writing of ordinances.” There was, besides these, contained in the book of the law of Moses, the law of nature, or, as it is commonly called, the moral law; that unmovable rule of right, which is of perpetual obligation: this Jesus Christ is so far from abrogating, that he has promulgated it anew, under the gospel, fuller and clearer, than it was in the mosaical constitution, or any where else: and, by adding to its precepts the sanction of his own divine authority, has made the knowledge of that law more easy and certain, than it was before; so that the subjects of his kingdom, whereof this is now the law, can be at no doubt, or loss, about their duty, if they will but read andconsider the rules of morality, which our Saviour and his apostles have delivered, in very plain words, in the holy scriptures of the New Testament.

*

15 “Make;” the greek word is ϰgreektίση, which does not always signify creation, in a strict sense.

†

This, as I take it, being the meaning, it may not be amiss, perhaps, to look into the reason, why St. Paul expresses it in this more figurative manner, viz. “to make in himself, of twain, one new man,” which, I humbly conceive, was more suitable to the ideas he had, and so were in fewer words, more lively and express to his purpose; he always has Jesus Christ in his mind, as the head of the church, which was his body, from and by whom alone, by being united to him, the whole body, and every member of it, received life, vigour, and strength, and all the benefits of that state; which admirably well shows, that whoever were united to this head, must needs be united to one another; and also, that all the privileges and advantages they enjoyed were wholly owing to their union with, and adhering to, him their head; which were the two things, that he was here inculcating to the convert gentiles of Ephesus, to show them, that now under the gospel men became the people of God, merely by faith in Jesus Christ, and having him for their head, and not at all by keeping the ritual law of Moses, which Christ had abolished, and so had made way for the jews and gentiles to become one in Christ, since now faith in him alone united them into one body, under that head, with the observance of the law; which is the meaning of “so making peace.” I hope this single note, here, may lead ordinary readers into an understanding of St. Paul’s style, and, by making them observe the reason, give them an easier entrance into the meaning of St. Paul’s figurative expression.

If the nation of the jews had owned and received Jesus the Messiah, they had continued on as the people of God; but after that they had nationally rejected him, and refused to have him rule over them, and put him to death, and so had revolted from their allegiance, and withdrawn themselves from the kingdom of God, which he had now put into the hands of his Son, they were no longer the people of God; and, therefore, all those of the jewish nation, who, after that, would return to their allegiance, had need of reconciliation, to be re-admitted into the kingdom of God, as part of his people, who were now received into peace and covenant with him, upon other terms, and under other laws, than being the posterity of Jacob, or observers of the law of Moses.

*

22 The sense of which allegory I take to be this: it is plain, from the attestation of the apostles, and prophets, that the gentiles, who believe in Christ, are thereby made members of his kingdom, united together, under him, their head, into such a well-framed body, wherein each person has his proper place, rank, and function to which he is fitted, that God will accept and delight in them as his people, and live amongst them, as in a well-framed building, dedicated and set apart to him, whereof the gentiles make a part, and without any difference put between you, are framed in equality, and promiscuously with the believing jews, by the Spirit of God, to be one people, amongst whom he will dwell, and be their God, and they shall be his people.

*

1 See Col. iv. 3, 2 Tim. ii. 9, 10.

†

See Phil. i. 7, Col. i. 24.

‡

2 Εἴγε, is sometimes an affirmative particle, and signifies in greek the same that siquidem does in Latin, and so the sense requires it to be understood here; for it could not be supposed but the ephesians, amongst whom St. Paul had lived so long, must have heard, that he was, by express commission from God, made apostle of the gentiles, and, by immediate revelation, instructed in the doctrine he was to teach them; whereof this, of their admittance into the kingdom of God purely by faith in Christ, without circumcision, and other legal observances, was one great and necessary point, whereof St. Paul was so little shy, that we see the world rung of it, Acts xxi. 28. And if his preaching and writing were of a piece, as we need not doubt, this mystery of God’s purpose to the gentiles, which was communicated to him by revelation, and we hear of so often in his epistles, was not concealed from them he preached to.

§

3 Though St. Peter was, by a vision from God, sent to Cornelius, a gentile, Acts x. yet we do not find, that this purpose, of God’s calling the gentiles to be his people, equally with the jews, without any regard to circumcision or the mosaical rites, was revealed to him, or to any other of the apostles, as a doctrine, which they were to preach and publish to the world: neither, indeed, was it needful, that should be any part of their commission, who were apostles only of the circumcision, to mix that, in their message to the jews, which should make them stop their ears and refuse to hearken to the other parts of the gospel, which they were more concerned to know and be instructed in.

∥

See Col. i. 26.

*

4 One may be ready to ask, “to what purpose is this, which this parenthesis contains here, concerning himself?” And, indeed, without having an eye on the design of this epistle, it is pretty hard to give an account of it; but, that being carried in view, there is nothing plainer, nor more pertinent and persuasive than this here; for what can be of more force to make them stand firm to the doctrine which he had taught them, of their being exempt from circumcision, and the observances of the law? “If you have heard, and I assure you in my epistle, that this mystery of the gospel was revealed in a particular manner, to me from heaven: the very reading of this is enough to satisfy you, that I am well instructed in that truth, and that you may safely depend upon what I have taught you, concerning this point, notwithstanding I am in prison for it, which is a thing you ought to glory in, since I suffer for a truth, wherein you are so nearly concerned;” see chap. vi. 19.

†

6 The promise here intended, is the promise of the Spirit; see Gal. iii. 14, which was not given to any, but to the people and children of God; and, therefore the gentiles received not the Spirit, till they became the people of God, by faith in Christ, in the times of the gospel.

‡

Though the jews are not expressly named here; yet it is plain, from the foregoing chapter, ver. 11, &c. that it is of the union of the gentiles with the jews, and making with them one body of God’s people, equally sharing in all the privileges and benefits of the gospel, that he is here speaking, the same which he teaches, Gal. iii. 26—29.

§

Διὰ τȣ͂ εὐαγgreekgελίȣ signifies, here, “in the time of the gospel,” as δἰ ἀϰροϐυϛίας signifies, in the “time of uncircumcision,” Rom. iv. 11, see note on Rom. vii. 5. The same thing being intended here, which, chap. i. 10, is thus expressed: “that in the dispensation of the fulness of time, i. e. in the time of the gospel, all things might be gathered together, or united, in Christ, or by Christ.”

*

7 Though he does not, in express words, deny others to be made ministers of it, for it neither suited his modesty, nor the respect he had for the other apostles, so to do; yet his expression here will be found strongly to imply it, especially if we read and consider well the two following verses; for this was a necessary instruction to one, who was sent to convert the gentiles, though those, who were sent to their brethren the jews, were not appointed to promulgate it. This one apostle of the gentiles, by the success of his preaching to the gentiles, the attestation of miracles, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, joined to what Peter had done, by special direction, in the case of Cornelius, would be enough, in its due season, to convince the other apostles of this truth, as we may see it did, Acts xv. and Gal. ii. 6—9. And of what consequence, and how much St. Paul thought the preaching of this doctrine his peculiar business, we may see, by what he says, chap. vi. 19, 20, where any one may see, by the different treatment he received from the rest of the apostles, being in bonds upon that account, that his preaching herein differed from their’s, and he was thereupon, as he tells us himself, treated “as an evil-doer,” 2 Tim. ii. 9. The history whereof we have, Acts xxi. 17, &c. as we have elsewhere observed. And it is upon the account of his preaching this doctrine, and displaying to the world this concealed truth, which he calls every-where a hidden mystery, that he gives, to what he had preached, the distinguishing title of, “my gospel,” Rom. xvi. 25, which he is concerned, that God should establish them in, that being the chief design of his epistle to the romans, as here to the ephesians. The insisting so much on this, that it was the special favour and commission of God to him, in particular, to preach this doctrine, of God’s purpose of calling the gentiles to the word, was not out of vanity, or boasting, but was here of great use to his present purpose, as carrying a strong reason with it, why the ephesians should rather believe him, to whom, as their apostle, it was made manifest, and committed to be preached, than the jews, from whom it had been concealed, and was kept as a mystery, and was in itself ἀνεξιχνίαϛον, inscrutable by men, though of the best natural parts and endowments.

†

This seems to be the energy of the power of God, which he here speaks of, as appears by what he says of St. Peter, and of himself, Gal. ii. 8, Ὁ ενεργήσας Πέτρῳ εἰς ἀποϛολην τῆς ϖεριgreektομῆς, ἐνήργησε ϰαὶ ἐμοὶ εἰς τἁ ἔθνη, “He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty, or wrought effectually in me,” as ἐνεργεια is here translated, of which his very great modesty could not hinder him from speaking thus, 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10, “I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God: but, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me:” a passage very suitable to what he says, in this and the next verse.

*

8 i. e. That abundant treasure of mercy, grace and favour, laid up in Jesus Christ, not only to the jews, but to the whole heathen world, which was beyond the reach of human sagacity to discover, and could be known, only by revelation.

†

9 “All men,” i. e. men of all sorts and nations, gentiles as well as jews.

‡

Τίς ἡ ϰοινωνία, “what is the communication,” i. e. that they may have a light from me, to see and look into the reason and ground of the discovery, or communication of this mystery to them now by Jesus Christ, who is now exhibited to the world, into whose hands God has put the management of this whole dispensation.

§

To open our way to a right sense of these words, τῶ τὰ ϖάνgreektα ϰgreektίσανgreektι διὰ Ἰησȣ͂, it will be necessary, in the first place, to consider the terms of it, and how they are used by St. Paul.

1. As to ϰgreektίσανgreektι, “created,” it is to be acknowledged, that it is the word used, in sacred scripture, to express creation, in the scriptural sense of creation, i. e. making out of nothing; yet that it is not always used in that sense, by St. Paul, is visible from the 15th verse of the foregoing chapter, where our translators have rightly rendered ϰgreektίση, “make,” and it would contain a manifest absurdity to render it there, create, in the theological sense of the word, create.

2. It is to be observed, that St. Paul often chooses to speak of the work of redemption by Christ as a creation. Whether it were, because this was the chief end of the creation, or whether it were because there was no less seen of the wisdom, power and goodness of God, in this, than in the first creation, and the change of lost and revolted man, from being dead in sins, to newness of life, was as great, and by as great a power as at first making out of nothing; or whether it was because the ἀναϰεφαλαίωσις, under Jesus Christ the head, mentioned chap. i. 10, was a restitution of the creation to its primitive state and order, which, Acts iii. 21, is called ἀποϰαgreektαϛάσεως ϖάνgreektων, “the restitution of all things,” which was begun with the preaching of St. John the baptist, (who was the Elias that restored all things, Matt. xvii. 11, i. e. opened the kingdom of heaven to believers of all nations, Luke xvi. 16) and is completed in Christ’s coming with his saints, in the glory of his father, at the last day. But, whether some, or all, of these conjectures, which I have mentioned, be the reason of it, this is certain, that St. Paul speaks of the work of redemption, under the name of creation. So 2 Cor. v. 17, “If any one be in Christ, (ϰαίνη ϰgreektίσις,) he is a new creature, or it is a new creation.” And Gal. vi. 15, “In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but ϰαίνη ϰgreektίσις, the new creation.”

It is then to be considered, of which creation τὰ ϖάνgreektα ϰgreektίσανgreektι, “who created all things,” is here to be understood. The business St. Paul is upon, in this place, is to show that God’s purpose, of taking in the gentiles to be his people under the gospel, was a mystery, unknown in former ages, and now, under the kingdom of the Messiah, committed to him, to be preached to the world.

This is so manifestly the design of St. Paul here, that no-body can mistake it. Now, if the creation of the material world, of this visible frame, of sun, moon, and stars, and heavenly bodies that are over us, and of the earth we inhabit, hath no immediate relation, as certainly it hath not, to this mystery, this design of God’s, to call the gentiles into the kingdom of his Son, it is to make St. Paul a very loose writer and weaker arguer, in the middle of a discourse, which he seems to lay much stress on, and to press earnestly on the ephesians (for he urges it more than once) to bring in things not at all to his purpose, and of no use to the business in hand. We cannot, therefore, avoid taking the creation, and things created here, to be those of the new creation, viz. those of which the kingdom of Christ, which was this new creation, was to be made up, and in that sense τὰ ϖάνgreektα ϰgreektίσανgreektι διὰ Ιησȣ͂ Χριϛȣ͂, “who created all things by Jesus Christ,” is a reason to show, why God kept his purpose, of making the gentiles meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints, or, as he expresseth it, chap. ii. 10, that they “should be his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” concealed from former ages, viz. because this new creation was in Christ Jesus, and so proper to be preached and published, when he was come, which is strongly confirmed by the words of the following verse, viz. “that now, in its due time, by this new piece of workmanship of his, viz. the church, might be made known the manifold wisdom of God.” This taking in the gentiles, into the kingdom of his Son, and after that, the re-assuming again of the jews, who had been rejected, St. Paul looks on, as so great an instance, and display of the wisdom of God, that it makes him cry out, Rom. xi. 33, “O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

*

10 There be two things, in this verse, that to me make it hard to determine the precise sense of it; the first is, what is meant by ᾀρχαῖς and ἐξȣσίαις, terms, that sometimes, in sacred scripture, signify temporal magistrates, and so our Saviour uses them, Luke xii. 11, and St. Paul, Tit. iii. 1. Sometimes for those, who are vested with any power, whether men or angels, so 1 Cor. xv. 24. Sometimes for evil angels; so they are understood, chap. vi. 12. Sometimes they are understood of good angels, so Col. i. 16. Now, to which of these to determine the sense here, I confess myself not sufficiently enlightened. Indeed ἐν τοῖς ἐπȣρανίοις, in the things of his heavenly kingdom, would do something towards it, were it undoubtedly certain, whether those words were, in construction, to be joined to ἀρχαῖς and ἐξȣσίαις, or to σοφία; i. e. whether we are to understand it of principalities and powers, in the kingdom of heaven, or of the wisdom of God, in the ordering of that kingdom; if the first of these, then it is evident, they would signify the heavenly host, of good angels, employed in the guard and promotion of the kingdom of Christ. But, the knowledge, spoken of here, as communicated to these principalities and powers, being only in consequence of St. Paul’s preaching, it is not easy to conceive, that the revelation and commission given to St. Paul, for the declaring the mystery, of God’s purpose to take the gentiles into the church, was to the intent the angels, either good or bad, should be instructed in this great and important truth, wherein the wisdom of God so much showed itself, and that they should have no knowledge of it, before, nor otherwise. This is so great a difficulty, that it seems strongly to persuade, that the principalities and powers here mentioned, are of this world; but, against this, there lies this obvious objection, that the magistrates of the heathen world did not much concern themselves in what St. Paul preached, nor, upon his declaring that the gentiles, under the Messiah, were to be taken in, to be the people of God, did in effect gather from the church, thus constituted, any arguments of the wisdom of God. If, therefore, I may venture my conjecture, for I dare not be positive, in a place that I confess myself not fully to understand, I should take this to be the meaning of it. The high priests, scribes, and pharisees, who are the rulers of the jewish nation, and alone pretend to any authority in these matters, deny the converted heathens to be the people of God, because they neglect the law and circumcision, and those other rites, whereby God has appointed those, who are his people, to be separated from the rest of the world, and made holy to himself. And so far most of the converted jews agree with them, that they will not allow the converted gentiles to be members and subjects of the kingdom of the Messiah, without being circumcised, and submitting to the laws and ceremonies of the jews, as the only religion and way of worship, wherein they can be allowed to be God’s people, or be accepted by him. Now, says St. Paul, God, of his special grace, has commissioned me to preach to the world, that his hidden purpose, of taking the gentiles into the kingdom of his Son, that so, by the church, consisting of members, who are God’s people, without being circumcised, or observing the other mosaical rites, might, which the jews could by no means conceive, now be made known and declared, to the leaders and chief of that nation, the manifold wisdom of God, which is not, as the jews imagine, tied up to their own way, but can bring about his purposes, by sundry manners, and in ways, that they thought not of. This seems suitable to the apostle’s meaning here; for though the jews were not hereby converted, yet, when urged by the converted gentiles, it served to stop their mouths, and thereby to confirm the gentiles, in the liberty of the gospel. And thus by the church, to whom St. Paul says, Col. i. 24, and ii. 2, God would now have made it manifest, by his preaching, is this mystery made known to principalities and powers, i. e. the rulers and teachers of the jewish nation, the saints, who were apprised of it, by St. Paul’s preaching, urging, and manifesting it to them. And to this sense of this passage, these two words, νῦν, “now,” and ϖολυποίϰιλος, “manifold,” seem wholly accommodated, i. e. now, that the uncircumcised gentiles believe in Christ, and are, by baptism, admitted into the church, the wisdom of God is made known to the jews, not to be tied up to one invariable way and form, as they persuade themselves; but displays itself in sundry manners, as he thinks fit.

*

11 Whether by ἀιῶνες, “ages,” here, the several dispensations, mankind was under, from first to last, or whether the two great dispensations of the law and the gospel (for that ἀιῶνες are used, in the sacred scripture, to denote these, I think an attentive reader cannot doubt) be here meant, this seems visibly the sense of the place, that all these dispensations, in the several ages of the church, were all, by the pre-ordination of God’s purpose, regulated and constituted in Christ Jesus our Lord; that is, with regard to Christ, who was designed and appointed Lord and head over all; which seems to me to answer τὰ ϖάνgreektα ϰgreektίσανgreektι διὰ Ιησȣ͂ Χριϛȣ͂, “who created all things by Jesus Christ,” ver. 9.

†

12 Πίϛις αὐτȣ͂, “Faith of him,” the genitive case of the object, as well as of the agent, is so frequent, in sacred scripture, that there needs nothing to be said of it.

‡

14 “The father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” set down, as it is in the beginning of this verse, joined to the design of the apostle, in this place, makes me think, that the sense of it is, so plainly, that which I have given of it, that I do not see any difficulty can be made about it. In the foregoing chapter, ver. 19, he tells the convert gentiles of Ephesus, that now they believe in Christ, they are “no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;” here he goes on, and tells them, they are of the family and lineage of God, being jointly with Jesus Christ, who is already in heaven, the sons of God: what could be of greater force to continue them stedfast in the doctrine he had preached to them, and which he makes it his whole business, here, to confirm them in, viz. that they need not be circumcised and submit to the law of Moses, they being already, by faith in Christ, the sons of God, and of the same lineage and family with Christ himself, who was already, by that title, possessed of his inheritance and glory?

*

16 See this sense of this passage as given, Col. i. 27, and not much different, chap. i. 17, &c.

†

What “the inward man” signifies, see Rom. vii. 22, 2 Cor. iv. 16.

‡

18 This mystery, being the subject St. Paul is here upon, and which he endeavours to magnify to them, and establish in their minds, the height and breadth, &c. which he mentions in these words, being not applied to any thing else, cannot, in good sense, be understood of any thing else.

§

19 ὑπερϐάλλȣσαν, “exceeding,” seems to be here a comparative term, joined to the love of God, in communicating the knowledge of Christ, and declaring it superior to some other thing; if you desire to know what he himself tells you, on the same occasion, Phil. iii. 8, viz. to circumcision, and the other ritual institutions of the law, which the jews looked on, as the marks of the highest degree of God’s love to them, whereby they were sanctified and separated to him, from the rest of the world, and secured of his favour. To which, if any one will add what St. Paul says, on the same subject, Col. ii. 2, &c. (for his business is the very same in these three epistles) he will not want light to guide him, in the sense of this place here.

*

Εἰς ϖᾶν τὸ ϖλήρωμα τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, “to all the fulness of God;” the fulness of God is such fulness, as God is wont to bestow, i. e. wherein there is nothing wanting to any one, but every one is filled to the utmost of his capacity. This I take to be the meaning of εἰς τὸ ϖλήρωμα τȣ͂ Θεȣ͂, and then ϖᾶν ϖλήρωμα may be understood to show, that it is not a fulness of one thing, and an emptiness of another; but it is a fulness of all those gifts, which any one shall need, and may be useful to him, or the church.

†

20 What power that is, see chap. i. 19, 20.

*

3 Psal. lxviii. 18.

*

9, 10 St. Paul’s argumentation, in these two verses, is skilfully adapted to the main design of his epistle. The convert gentiles were attacked by the unconverted jews, who were declared enemies to the thoughts of a Messiah that died: St. Paul, to enervate that objection of theirs, proves by the passage out of the Psalms, ver. 8, that he must die and be buried. Besides the unbelieving jews, several of them, that were converted to the gospel, or at least professed to be so, attacked the gentile converts, on another side, persuading them, that they could not be admitted to be the people of God into the kingdom of the Messiah, nor receive any advantage by him, unless they were circumcised, and put themselves wholly under the jewish constitution. He had said a great deal, in the three first chapters, to free them from this perplexity, but yet takes occasion here to offer them a new argument, by telling them, that Christ, the same Jesus that died, and was laid in his grave, was exalted to the right hand of God, above all the heavens, in the highest state of dignity and power, that he himself, being filled with the fulness of God, believers, who were all his members, might receive immediately from him, their head, a fulness of gifts and graces, upon no other terms, but barely as they were his members.

*

16 The sum of all that St. Paul says, in this figurative discourse, is, that christians, all as members of one body, whereof Christ is the head, should, each in his proper place, according to the gifts bestowed upon him, labour with concern and good-will, for the good and increase of the whole, till it be grown up to that fulness, which is to complete it, in Christ Jesus. This is, in short, the sense of the exhortation, contained in this section, which carries a strong insinuation with it, especially if we take in the rest of the admonitions, to the end of the epistle, that the mosaical observances, were no part of the business, or character, of a christian; but were wholly to be neglected and declined, by the subjects of Christ’s kingdom.

*

17 This “vanity of mind,” if we look into Rom. i. 21, &c. we shall find to be the apostatising of the gentiles from the true God to idolatry; and, in consequence of that, to all that profligate way of living, which followed thereupon, and is there described by St. Paul.

†

18 This “alienation,” was from owning subjection to the true God, and the observance of those laws, which he had given, to those of mankind, that continued and professed to be his people; see chap. ii. 12.

‡

19 Πλεονεξία, “covetousness,” in the common acceptation of the word, is the letting loose our desires to that which, by the law of justice, we have no right to. But St. Paul, in some of his epistles, uses it for intemperate and exorbitant desires of carnal pleasures, not confined within the bounds of nature. He that will compare with this verse here chap. v. 3, Col. iii. 5; 1 Thess. iv. 6, 1 Cor. v. 10, 11, and will consider the context, will find reason to take it here, in the sense I have given of it, or else it will be very hard to understand these texts of scripture. In the same sense the learned Dr. Hammond understands ϖλεονεξία, Rom. i. 29, which, though perhaps the greek idiom will scarce justify, yet the apostle’s style will, who often uses greek terms in the full latitude of the hebrew words, which they are usually put for in translating, though, in the greek use of them, they have nothing at all of that signification, particularly the hebrew word עצב, which signifies covetousness, the septuagint translate μιασμὸς, Ezek. xxxiii. 31, in which sense the apostle uses ϖλεονεξία here. In these, and the two preceding verses, we have a description of the state of the gentiles without, and their wretched and sinful state, whilst unconverted to the christian faith, and strangers from the kingdom of God; to which may be added, what is said of these sinners of the gentiles, chap. ii. 11—13, Col. i. 21, 1 Thess. iv. 5, Col. iii. 5—7, Rom. i. 30, 31.

*

24 What the ϖαλαίος ἄνθρωπος, “the old man,” that is to be put off, is, and the ϰαινὸς ἄνθρωπος, “the new man,” that is to be put on, is, may be seen, in the opposite characters of good and bad men, in the following part of this, and in several other of St. Paul’s epistles.

*

30 “Sealed,” i. e. have God’s mark set upon you, that you are his servants, a security to you, that you should be admitted into his kingdom, as such at the day of redemption, i. e. at the resurrection, when you shall be put in the actual possession of a place in his kingdom, among those who are his, whereof the Spirit is now an earnest: see note, chap. i. 14.

*

2 “Of a sweet-smelling savour,” was, in scripture phrase, such a sacrifice as God accepted, and was pleased with; see Gen. viii. 21.

*

3 The word in the greek is ϖλεονεξία, which properly signifies covetousness, or an intemperate, ungoverned love of riches; but the chaste style of the scripture makes use of it to express the letting loose of the desires to irregular, venereal pleasures, beyond what was fit and right. This one can hardly avoid being convinced of, if one considers how it stands joined with these sorts of sins, in those many places, which Dr. Hammond mentions, in his note, on Rom. i. 29, and chap. iv. 19, of this epistle, and ver. 5, of this chap. 5, compared with this here, they are enough to satisfy one, what ϖλεονεξία, “covetousness,” means here; but if that should fail, these words, “let it not be once named amongst you, as becometh saints,” which are subjoined to covetousness, put it past doubt; for what indecency, or misbecomingness is it, among christians, to name covetousness? ϖλεονεξία therefore must signify the title of sins, that are not fit to be named amongst christians, so that ϖᾶσα ἀϰαθαρσία [Editor: illegible character] ϖλεονεξία seem not here to be used definitively, for several sorts of sins, but as two names of the same thing, explaining one another; and so this verse will give us a true notion of the word ϖορνεία, in the New Testament, the want whereof, and taking it to mean fornication, in our english acceptation of that word, as standing for one distinct species of uncleanness, in the natural mixture of an unmarried couple, seems to me to have perplexed the meaning of several texts of scripture; whereas, taken in that large sense, in which ἀϰαθαρσία and ϖλεονεξία seem here to expound it, the obscurity, which follows, from the usual notion of fornication applied to it, will be removed. Some men have been forward to conclude from the apostle’s letter to the convert gentiles of Antioch, Acts xv. 28, wherein they find fornication joined with two or three other actions, that simple fornication, as they call it, was not much distant, if at all, from an indifferent action, whereby, I think, they very much confounded the meaning of the text. The jews that were converted to the gospel, could by no means admit, that those of the gentiles, who retained any of their ancient idolatry, though they professed faith in Christ, could by any means be received by them, into the communion of the gospel, as the people of God, under the Messiah; and so far they were in the right, to make sure of it, that they had fully renounced idolatry; the generality insisted on it, that they should be circumcised, and so, by submitting to the observances of the law, give the same proof, that proselytes were wont to do, that they were perfectly clear from all remains of idolatry. This the apostles thought more than was necessary; but eating of things sacrificed to idols, and blood, whether let out of the animal, or contained in it, being strangled; and fornication, in the large sense of the word, as it is put for all sorts of uncleanness; being the presumed marks of idolatry to the jews, they forbid the convert gentiles, thereby to avoid the offence of the jews, and prevent a separation between the professors of the gospel, upon this account. This, therefore, was not given to the convert gentiles, by the apostles of circumcision, as a standing rule of morality, required by the gospel; if that had been the design, it must have contained a great many other particulars; what laws of morality they were under, as subjects of Jesus Christ, they doubted not but St. Paul, their apostle, taught and inculcated to them: all that they instructed them in here, was necessary for them to do, so as to be admitted into one fellowship and communion with the converts of the jewish nation, who would certainly avoid them, if they found that they made no scruple of those things, but practised any of them. That fornication, or all sorts of uncleanness, were the consequence and concomitants of idolatry, we see, Rom. i. 29, and, it is known, were favoured by the heathen worship: and therefore the practice of those sins is every-where set down, as the characteristical, heathen, mark of the idolatrous gentiles, from which abominations the jews, both by their law, profession, and generalpractice, were strangers; and this was one of those things, wherein chiefly God severed his people from the idolatrous nations, as may be seen, Lev. xviii. 20, &c. And hence I think that ϖλεονεξία, used for licentious intemperance in unlawful and unnatural lusts, is in the New Testament called idolatry, and ϖλεονέϰgreektες, an idolater; see 1 Cor. v. 11, Col. iii. 5, Eph. v. 5, as being a sure and undoubted mark of an heathen idolater.

*

6 One would guess by this, that as there were jews who would persuade them, that it was necessary for all christians to be circumcised, and observe the law of Moses; so there were others, who retained so much of their ancient heathenism, as to endeavour to make them believe, that those venereal abominations and uncleannesses, were no other, than what the gentiles esteemed them, barely indifferent actions, not offensive to God, or inconsistent with his worship, but only a part of the peculiar and positive ceremonial law of the jews, whereby they distinguished themselves from other people, and thought themselves holier than the rest of the world, as they did, by their distinction of food, into clean and unclean, these actions being, in themselves, as indifferent as those meats, which the apostle confutes in the following words.

*

“Children of disobedience,” here, and chap. ii. 2, and Col. iii. 6, are plainly the gentiles, who refused to come in, and submit themselves to the gospel, as will appear to any one, who will read these places and the context with attention.

†

8 St. Paul, to express the great darkness the gentiles were in, calls them darkness itself.

‡

Which is thus expressed, Col. i. 12, 13, “Giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” The kingdom of Satan, ever the gentile world, was a kingdom of darkness: see Eph. vi. 12. And so we see Jesus is pronounced by Simeon, “a light to lighten the gentiles,” see Luke ii. 32.

§

9 This parenthesis serves to give us the literal sense of all, that is here required by the apostle, in this allegorical discourse of light.

∥

11 These deeds of the unconverted heathen, who remained in the kingdom of darkness; are thus expressed by St. Paul, Rom. vi. 21, “What fruit had you then, in those things, whereof you are now ashamed, for the end of those things is death?”

¶

12 That by “them,” here, are meant the unconverted gentiles, is so visible, that there needs nothing to be said to justify the interpretation of the word.

*

13 See John iii. 20. The apostle’s argument here, to keep the ephesian converts from being misled by those, that would persuade them, that the gentile impurities were indifferent actions, was to show them, that they were now better enlightened; to which purpose, ver. 5, he tells them that they know, that no such person hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, or of God. This he tells them, ver. 8, &c. was light, which they had received from the gospel, which, before their conversion, they knew nothing of, but were in perfect darkness and ignorance of it, but now they were better instructed, and saw the difference, which was a sign of light; and, therefore, they should follow that light, which they had received from Christ, who had raised them from among the gentiles, (who were so far dead, as to be wholly insensible of the evil course and state they were in) and had given them light, and a prospect into a future state, and the way to attain everlasting happiness.

†

16 St. Paul here intimates, ver. 6, that the unconverted heathens, they lived among, would be forward to tempt them to their former, lewd, dissolute lives; but to keep them from any approaches that way, that they have light now, by the gospel, to know that such actions are provoking to God, and will find the effects of his wrath in the judgments of the world to come. All those pollutions, so familiar among the gentiles, he exhorts them carefully to avoid; but yet to take care, by their prudent carriage to the gentiles they lived amongst, to give them no offence, that so they might escape the danger and trouble, that might otherwise arise to them, from the intemperance and violence of those heathen idolaters, whose shameful lives the christian practice could not but reprove. This seems to be the meaning of “redeeming the time” here, which Col. iv. 5, the other place where it occurs, seems so manifestly to confirm and give light to. If this be not the sense of “redeeming the time” here, I must own myself ignorant of the precise meaning of the phrase, in this place.

*

18 St. Paul dehorts them from wine, in a too free use of it, because therein is excess; the greek word is ἀσωτία, which may signify luxury or dissoluteness: i. e. that drinking is no friend to continency and chastity, but gives up the reins to lust and uncleanness, the vice he had been warning them against: or ἀσωτία, may signify the intemperance and disorder, opposite to time sober and prudent demeanour, advised in redeeming the time.

*

21 This, though in grammatical construction it be joined to the foregoing discourse, yet I think it ought to be looked on as introductory to what follows in this section, and to be a general rule given to the ephesians, to submit to those duties, which the several relations they stood in, to one another, required of them.

†

23 It is from the head that the body receives its healthy and vigorous constitution of health and life; this St. Paul pronounces here of Christ, as head of the church, that by that parallel which he makes use of, to represent the relation between husband and wife, he may both show the wife the reasonableness of her subjection to her husband, and the duty incumbent on the husband to cherish and preserve his wife, as we see he pursues it in the following verses.

*

26 Ἑν ῥήματι, “by the word.” The purifying of men is ascribed so much, throughout the whole New Testament, to the word, i. e. the preaching of the gospel, and baptism, that there needs little to be said to prove it; see John xv. 3, and xviii. 17, 1 Pet. i. 22, Tit. iii. 5, Heb. x. 22, Col. ii. 12, 13, and as it is at large explained in the former part of the sixth chapter to the romans.

†

27 “He himself,” so the alexandrine copy reads it αὐπὸς, and not αὐτὴν, more suitable to the apostle’s meaning here, who, to recommend to husbands love and tenderness to their wives, in imitation of Christ’s affection to the church, shows, that whereas other brides take care to spruce themselves, and set off their persons, with all manner of neatness and cleanness, to recommend themselves to their bridegrooms; Christ himself, at the expence of his own pain and blood, purified and prepared himself his spouse, the church, that he might present it to himself, without spot, or wrinkle.

*

30 and 31 These two verses may seem to stand here disorderly, so as to disturb the connexion, and make the inference disjointed, and very loose, and inconsistent to any one, who more minds the order and grammatical construction of St. Paul’s words, written down, than the thoughts that possessed his mind, when he was writing. It is plain the apostle had here two things in view; the one was, to press men to love their wives, by the example of Christ’s love to his church; and the force of that argument lay in this, that a man and his wife were one flesh, as Christ and his church were one: but this latter, being a truth of the greater consequence of the two, he was as intent on settling that upon their minds, though it were but an incident, as the other, which was the argument he was upon; and therefore, having said, ver. 29, that “every one nourisheth and cherisheth his own flesh, as Christ doth the church,” it was natural to subjoin the reason there, viz. because “we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones:” a proposition he took as much care to have believed, as that it was the duty of husbands to love their wives: which doctrine, of Christ and the church being one, when he had so strongly asserted, in the words of Adam concerning Eve, Gen. ii. 23, which he, in his concise way of expressing himself, understands both of the wife and of the church, he goes on with the words in Gen. ii. 24, which makes their being one flesh the reason why a man was more strictly to be united to his wife, than to his parents, or any other relation.

†

32 It is plain, by ver. 33, here, and the application therein of these words, Gen. ii. 23, to Christ and the church, that the apostles understood several passages in the Old Testament, in reference to Christ and the gospel, which evangelical, or spiritual, sense was not understood, until, by the assistance of the Spirit of God, the apostles so explained and revealed it. This is that, which St. Paul, as we see he does here, calls mystery. He that has a mind to have a true notion of this matter, let him carefully read 1 Cor. ii. where St. Paul very particularly explains this matter.

*

12 “Principalities and powers” are put here, it is visible, for those revolted angels, which stood in opposition to the kingdom of God.

†

17 In this foregoing allegory, St. Paul providing armour for his christian soldier, to arm him at all points, there is no need curiously to explain, wherein the peculiar correspondence between those virtues and those pieces of armour consisted, it being plain enough, what the apostle means, and wherewith he would have believers be armed for their warfare.

*

24 Ἐν ἀϕθαρσία, “in sincerity,” so our translation; the greek word signifies, “in incorruption.” St. Paul closes all his epistles, with this benediction, “grace be with you;” but this here is so peculiar a way of expressing himself, that it may give us some reason to inquire what thoughts suggested it. It has been remarked, more than once, that the main business of this epistle is that, which fills his mind, and guides his pen, in his whole discourse. In this to the ephesians he sets forth the gospel, as a dispensation so much, in every thing, superiour to the law; that it was to debase, corrupt, and destroy the gospel, to join circumcision and the observance of the law, as necessary to it. Having writ this epistle to this end, he here in the close, having the same thought still upon his mind, pronounces favour on all those that love the Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption, i. e. without the mixing, or joining any with him, in the work of our salvation, that may render the gospel useless and ineffectual. For thus he says, Gal. v. 2, “If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.” This I submit to the consideration of the judicious reader.

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