I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit,
KJV
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
Commentary
Commentary
The apostle, having plainly asserted and largely proved that
justification and salvation are to had by faith only, and not by the
works of the law, by Christ and not by Moses, comes in this and the
following chapters to anticipate an objection which might be made
against this. If this be so, then what becomes of the Jews, of them all
as a complex body, especially those of them that do not embrace Christ,
nor believe the gospel? By this rule they must needs come short of
happiness; and then what becomes of the promise made to the fathers,
which entailed salvation upon the Jews? Is not that promise nullified
and made of none effect? Which is not a thing to be imagined concerning
any word of God. That doctrine therefore, might they say, is not to be
embraced, from which flows such a consequence as this. That the
consequence of the rejection of the unbelieving Jews follows from
Paul's doctrine he grants, but endeavours to soften and mollify, ver. 1-5 .
But that from this it follows that the word of God takes no effect he
denies
( ver. 6 ),
and proves the denial in the rest of the chapter, which serves likewise
to illustrate the great doctrine of predestination, which he had spoken
of
( ch. viii. 28 )
as the first wheel which in the business of salvation sets all the
other wheels a-going.
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who 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;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
We have here the apostle's solemn profession of a great concern for the
nation and people of the Jews--that he was heartily troubled that so
many of them were enemies to the gospel, and out of the way of
salvation. For this he had great heaviness and continual sorrow. Such a profession as this was requisite to take off the odium which
otherwise he might have contracted by asserting and proving their
rejection. It is wisdom as much as may be to mollify those truths which
sound harshly and seem unpleasant: dip the nail in oil, it will drive
the better. The Jews had a particular pique at Paul above any of the
apostles, as appears by the history of the Acts, and therefore were the
more apt to take things amiss of him, to prevent which he introduces
his discourse with this tender and affectionate profession, that they
might not think he triumphed or insulted over the rejected Jews or was
pleased with the calamities that were coming upon them. Thus Jeremiah
appeals to God concerning the Jews of his day, whose ruin was hastening
on
( Jer. xvii. 16 ), Neither have I desired the woeful day, thou knowest. Nay, Paul
was so far from desiring it that he most pathetically deprecates it.
And lest this should be thought only a copy of his countenance, to
flatter and please them,
I. He asserts it with a solemn protestation
( v. 1 ): I say the truth in Christ, "I speak it as a Christian, one of
God's people, children that will not lie, as one that knows not how to
give flattering title." Or, "I appeal to Christ, who searches the
heart, concerning it." He appeals likewise to his own conscience, which
was instead of a thousand witnesses. That which he was going to assert
was not only a great and weighty thing (such solemn protestations are
not to be thrown away upon trifles), but it was likewise a secret; it
was concerning a sorrow in his heart to which none was a capable
competent witness but God and his own conscience.-- That I have great
heaviness, v. 2 .
He does not say for what; the very mention of it was unpleasant and
invidious; but it is plain that he means for the rejection of the
Jews.
II. He backs it with a very serious imprecation, which he was ready to
make, out of love to the Jews. I could wish; he does not say, I
do wish, for it was no proper means appointed for such an end; but, if
it were, I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my
brethren --a very high pang of zeal and affection for his countrymen.
He would be willing to undergo the greatest misery to do them good.
Love is apt to be thus bold, and venturous, and self-denying. Because
the glory of God's grace in the salvation of many is to be preferred
before the welfare and happiness of a single person, Paul, if they were
put in competition, would be content to forego all his own happiness to
purchase theirs.
1. He would be content to be cut off from the land of the living, in
the most shameful and ignominious manner, as an anathema, or a devoted
person. They thirsted for his blood, persecuted him as the most
obnoxious person in the world, the curse and plague of his generation, 1 Cor. iv. 13; Acts xxii. 22 .
"Now," says Paul, "I am willing to bear all this, and a great deal
more, for your good. Abuse me as much as you will, count and call me at
your pleasure; your unbelief and rejection create in my heart a
heaviness so much greater than all these troubles can that I could look
upon them not only as tolerable, but as desirable, rather than this
rejection."
2. He would be content to be excommunicated from the society of the
faithful, to be separated from the church, and from the communion of
saints, as a heathen man and a publican, if that would do them any
good. He could wish himself no more remembered among the saints, his
name blotted out of the church-records; though he had been so great a
planter of churches, and the spiritual father of so many thousands, yet
he would be content to be disowned by the church, cut off from all
communion with it, and have his name buried in oblivion or reproach,
for the good of the Jews. It may be, some of the Jews had a prejudice
against Christianity for Paul's sake; such a spleen they had at him
that they hated the religion he was of: "If this stumble you," says
Paul, "I could wish I might be cast out, not embraced as a Christian,
so you might but be taken in." Thus Moses
( Exod. xxxii. 33 ),
in a like holy passion of concern, Blot me, I pray thee, out of the
book which thou hast written. 3. Nay, some think that the expression goes further, and that he could
be content to be cut off from all his share of happiness in Christ, if
that might be a means of their salvation. It is a common charity that
begins at home; this is something higher, and more noble and
generous.
III. He gives us the reason of this affection and concern.
1. Because of their relation to them: My brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. Though they were very bitter against him
upon all occasions, and gave him the most unnatural and barbarous
usage, yet thus respectfully does he speak of them. It shows him to be
a man of a forgiving spirit. Not that I had aught to accuse my
nation of, Acts xxviii. 19 . My kinsmen. Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. We ought to be in
a special manner concerned for the spiritual good of our relations, our
brethren and kinsmen. To them we lie under special engagements, and we
have more opportunity of doing good to them; and concerning them, and
our usefulness to them, we must in a special manner give account.
2. Especially because of their relation to God
( v. 4, 5 ): Who are Israelites, the seed of Abraham, God's friend, and of
Jacob his chosen, taken into the covenant of peculiarity, dignified and
distinguished by visible church-privileges, many of which are here
mentioned:--
(1.) The adoption; not that which is saving, and which entitled
to eternal happiness, but that which was external and typical, and
entitled them to the land of Canaan. Israel is my son, Exod. iv. 22 .
(2.) And the glory; the ark with the mercy-seat, over which God
dwelt between the cherubim--this was the glory of Israel, 1 Sam. iv. 21 .
The many symbols and tokens of the divine presence and guidance, the
cloud, the Shechinah, the distinguishing favours conferred upon
them--these were the glory.
(3.) And the covenants --the covenant made with Abraham, and
often renewed with his seed upon divers occasions. There was a covenant
at Sinai
( Exod. xxiv. ),
in the plains of Moab
( Deut. xxix. ),
at Shechem
( Josh. xxiv. ),
and often afterwards; and still these pertained to Israel. Or, the
covenant of peculiarity, and in that, as in the type, the covenant of
grace.
(4.) And the giving of the law. It was to them that the
ceremonial and judicial law were given, and the moral law in writing
pertained to them. It is a great privilege to have the law of God among
us, and it is to be accounted so, Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20 .
This was the grandeur of Israel, Deut. iv. 7, 8 .
(5.) And the service of God. They had the ordinances of God's
worship among them--the temple, the altars, the priests, the
sacrifices, the feasts, and the institutions relating to them. They
were in this respect greatly honoured, that, while other nations were
worshipping and serving stocks, and stones, and devils, and they knew
not what other idols of their own invention, the Israelites were
serving the true God in the way of his own appointment.
(6.) And the promises --particular promises added to the general
covenant, promises relating to the Messiah and the gospel state.
Observe, The promises accompany the giving of the law, and the service
of God; for the comfort of the promises is to be had in obedience to
that law and attendance upon that service.
(7.) Whose are the fathers ( v. 5 ),
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those men of renown, that stood so high in
the favour of God. The Jews stand in relation to them, are their
children, and proud enough they are of it: We have Abraham to our
father. It was for the father's sake that they were taken into
covenant, ch. xi. 28 .
(8.) But the greatest honour of all was that of them as concerning
the flesh (that is, as to his human nature) Christ came; for
he took on him the seed of Abraham, Heb. ii. 16 .
As to his divine nature, he is the Lord from heaven; but, as to his
human nature, he is of the seed of Abraham. This was the great
privilege of the Jews, that Christ was of kin to them. Mentioning
Christ, he interposes a very great word concerning him, that he is over all, God blessed for ever. Lest the Jews should think
meanly of him, because he was of their alliance, he here speaks thus
honourably concerning him: and it is a very full proof of the Godhead
of Christ; he is not only over all, as Mediator, but he is God blessed
for ever. Therefore, how much sorer punishment were they worthy of that
rejected him! It was likewise the honour of the Jews, and one reason
why Paul had a kindness for them, that, seeing God blessed for ever
would be a man, he would be a Jew; and, considering the posture and
character of that people at that time, it may well be looked upon as a
part of his humiliation.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For
they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That 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.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come,
and Sara shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by
one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
The apostle, having made his way to that which he had to say,
concerning the rejection of the body of his countrymen, with a
protestation of his own affection for them and a concession of their
undoubted privileges, comes in these verses, and the following part of
the chapter, to prove that the rejection of the Jews, by the
establishment of the gospel dispensation, did not at all invalidate the
word of God's promise to the patriarchs: Not as though the word of
God hath taken no effect ( v. 6 ),
which, considering the present state of the Jews, which created to Paul
so much heaviness and continual sorrow ( v. 2 ),
might be suspected. We are not to ascribe inefficacy to any word of
God: nothing that he has spoken does or can fall to the ground; see Isa. lv. 10, 11 .
The promises and threatenings shall have their accomplishment; and, one
way or other, he will magnify the law and make it honourable. This is
to be understood especially of the promise of God, which by subsequent
providences may be to a wavering faith very doubtful; but it is not, it
cannot be, made of no effect; at the end it will speak and not lie.
Now the difficulty is to reconcile the rejection of the unbelieving
Jews with the word of God's promise, and the external tokens of the
divine favour, which had been conferred upon them. This he does in four
ways:--
1. By explaining the true meaning and intention of the promise, v. 6-13 .
2. By asserting and proving the absolute sovereignty of God, in
disposing of the children of men, v. 14-24 .
3. By showing how this rejection of the Jews, and the taking in of the
Gentiles, were foretold in the Old Testament, v. 25-29 .
4. By fixing the true reason of the Jews' rejection, v. 30 ,
to the end.
In this paragraph the apostle explains the true meaning and intention
of the promise. When we mistake the word, and misunderstand the
promise, no marvel if we are ready to quarrel with God about the
accomplishment; and therefore the sense of this must first be duly
stated. Now he here makes it out that, when God said he would be a
God to Abraham, and to his seed (which was the famous promise made
unto the fathers), he did not mean it of all his seed according to the
flesh, as if it were a necessary concomitant of the blood of Abraham;
but that he intended it with a limitation only to such and such. And as
from the beginning it was appropriated to Isaac and not to Ishmael, to
Jacob and not to Esau, and yet for all this the word of God was not
made of no effect; so now the same promise is appropriated to believing
Jews that embrace Christ and Christianity, and, though it throws off
multitudes that refuse Christ, yet the promise is not therefore
defeated and invalidated, any more than it was by the typical rejection
of Ishmael and Esau.
I. He lays down this proposition--that they are not all Israel who
are of Israel ( v. 6 ), neither because they are, &c., v. 7 .
Many that descended from the loins of Abraham and Jacob, and were of
that people who were surnamed by the name of Israel, yet were very far
from being Israelites indeed, interested in the saving benefits of the
new covenant. They are not all really Israel that are so in name and
profession. It does not follow that, because they are the seed of
Abraham, therefore they must needs be the children of God, though they
themselves fancied so, boasted much of, and built much upon, their
relation to Abraham, Matt. iii. 9; John viii. 38, 39 .
But it does not follow. Grace does not run in the blood; nor are
saving benefits inseparably annexed to external church privileges,
though it is common for people thus to stretch the meaning of God's
promise, to bolster themselves up in a vain hope.
II. He proves this by instances; and therein shows not only that some
of Abraham's seed were chosen, and others not, but that God therein
wrought according to the counsel of his own will; and not with regard
to that law of commandments to which the present unbelieving Jews were
so strangely wedded.
1. He specifies the case of Isaac and Ishmael, both of them the seed of
Abraham; and yet Isaac only taken into covenant with God, and Ishmael
rejected and cast out. For this he quotes Gen. xxi. 12 , In Isaac shall thy seed be called, which comes in there as a
reason why Abraham must be willing to cast out the bond-woman and her
son, because the covenant was to be established with Isaac, Gen. xvii. 19 .
And yet the word which God had spoken, that he would be a God to
Abraham and to his seed, did not therefore fall to the ground; for the
blessings wrapt up in that great word, being communicated by God as a
benefactor, he was free to determine on what head they should rest, and
accordingly entailed them upon Isaac, and rejected Ishmael. This he
explains further
( v. 8, 9 ),
and shows what God intended to teach us by this dispensation.
(1.) That the children of the flesh, as such, by virtue of their
relation to Abraham according to the flesh, are not therefore the
children of God, for then Ishmael had put in a good claim. This remark
comes home to the unbelieving Jews, who boasted of their relation to
Abraham according to the flesh, and looked for justification in a
fleshly way, by those carnal ordinances which Christ had abolished.
They had confidence in the flesh, and looked for justification in a
fleshly way, by those carnal ordinances which Christ had abolished.
They had confidence in the flesh, Phil. iii. 3 .
Ishmael was a child of the flesh, conceived by Hagar, who was young and
fresh, and likely enough to have children. There was nothing
extraordinary or supernatural in his conception, as there was in
Isaac's; he was born after the flesh
( Gal. iv. 29 ),
representing those that expect justification and salvation by their own
strength and righteousness.
(2.) That the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Those that have the honour and happiness of being counted for the seed
have it not for the sake of any merit or desert of their own, but
purely by virtue of the promise, in which God hath obliged himself of
his own good pleasure to grant the promised favour. Isaac was a child
of promise; this his proves, v. 9 ,
quoted from Gen. xviii. 10 .
He was a child promised (so were many others), and he was also
conceived and born by force and virtue of the promise, and so a proper
type and figure of those who are now counted for the seed, even true
believers, who are born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God--of the incorruptible seed, even the word of
promise, by virtue of the special promise of a new heart: see Gal. iv. 28 .
It was through faith that Isaac was conceived, Heb. xi. 11 .
Thus were the great mysteries of salvation taught under the Old
Testament, not in express words, but by significant types and
dispensations of providence, which to them then were not so clear as
they are to us now, when the veil is taken away, and the types are
expounded by the antitypes.
2. The case of Jacob and Esau
( v. 10-13 ),
which is much stronger, to show that the carnal seed of Abraham were
not, as such, interested in the promise, but only such of them as God
in sovereignty had appointed. There was a previous difference between
Ishmael and Isaac, before Ishmael was cast out: Ishmael was the son of
the bond-woman, born long before Isaac, was of a fierce and rugged
disposition, and had mocked or persecuted Isaac, to all which it might
be supposed God had regard when he appointed Abraham to cast him out.
But, in the case of Jacob and Esau, it was neither so nor so, they were
both the sons of Isaac by one mother; they were conceived hex
henos -- by one conception; hex henos
koitou, so some copies read it. The difference was made
between them by the divine counsel before they were born, or had done
any good or evil. Both lay struggling alike in their mother's womb,
when it was said, The elder shall serve the younger, without
respect to good or bad works done or foreseen, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand --that this great truth may be
established, that God chooses some and refuses others as a free agent,
by his own absolute and sovereign will, dispensing his favours or
withholding them as he pleases. This difference that was put between
Jacob and Esau he further illustrates by a quotation from Mal. i. 2, 3 ,
where it is said, not of Jacob and Esau the person, but the Edomites
and Israelites their posterity, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I
hated. The people of Israel were taken into the covenant of
peculiarity, had the land of Canaan given them, were blessed with the
more signal appearances of God for them in special protections,
supplies, and deliverances, while the Edomites were rejected, had no
temple, altar, priests, nor prophets--no such particular care taken of
them nor kindness shown to them. Such a difference did God put between
those two nations, that both descended from the loins of Abraham and
Isaac, as at first there was a difference put between Jacob and Esau,
the distinguishing heads of those two nations. So that all this
choosing and refusing was typical, and intended to shadow forth some
other election and rejection.
(1.) Some understand it of the election and rejection of conditions or
qualifications. As God chose Isaac and Jacob, and rejected Ishmael and
Esau, so he might and did choose faith to be the condition of salvation
and reject the works of the law. Thus Arminius understands it, De
rejectis et assumptis talibus, certa qualitate notatis--Concerning such
as are rejected and such as are chosen, being distinguished by
appropriate qualities; so John Goodwin. But this very much strains
the scripture; for the apostle speaks all along of persons, he has
mercy on whom (he does not say on what kind of people) he will have
mercy, besides that against this sense those two objections
( v. 14, 19 )
do not at all arise, and his answer to them concerning God's absolute
sovereignty over the children of men is not at all pertinent if no more
be meant than his appointing the conditions of salvation.
(2.) Others understand it of the election and rejection of particular
person--some loved, and others hated, from eternity. But the apostle
speaks of Jacob and Esau, not in their own persons, but as
ancestors--Jacob the people, and Esau the people; nor does God condemn
any, or decree so to do, merely because he will do it, without any
reason taken from their own deserts.
(3.) Others therefore understand it of the election and rejection of
people considered complexly. His design is to justify God, and his
mercy and truth, in calling the Gentiles, and taking them into the
church, and into covenant with himself, while he suffered the obstinate
part of the Jews to persist in unbelief, and so to un-church
themselves--thus hiding from their eyes the things that belonged to
their peace. The apostle's reasoning for the explication and proof of
this is, however, very applicable to, and, no doubt (as is usual in
scripture) was intended for the clearing of the methods of God's grace
towards particular person, for the communication of saving benefits
bears some analogy to the communication of church-privileges. The
choosing of Jacob the younger, and preferring him before Esau the elder
(so crossing hands), were to intimate that the Jews, though the natural
seed of Abraham, and the first-born of the church, should be laid
aside; and the Gentiles, who were as the younger brother, should be
taken in in their stead, and have the birthright and blessing. The
Jews, considered as a body politic, a nation and people, knit together
by the bond and cement of the ceremonial law, the temple and
priesthood, the centre of their unity, had for many ages been the
darlings and favourites of heaven, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation,
dignified and distinguished by God's miraculous appearances among them
and for them. Now that the gospel was preached, and Christian churches
were planted, this national body was thereby abandoned, their
church-polity dissolved; and Christian churches (and in process of time
Christian nations), embodied in like manner, become their successors in
the divine favour, and those special privileges and protections which
were the products of that favour. To clear up the justice of God in
this great dispensation is the scope of the apostle here.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?
God forbid.
15 For 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.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
17 For 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.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For
who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay 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?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his
power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles?
The apostle, having asserted the true meaning of the promise, comes
here to maintain and prove the absolute sovereignty of God, in
disposing of the children of men, with reference to their eternal
state. And herein God is to be considered, not as a rector and
governor, distributing rewards and punishments according to his
revealed laws and covenants, but as an owner and benefactor, giving to
the children of men such grace and favour as he has determined in and
by his secret and eternal will and counsel: both the favour of visible
church-membership and privileges, which is given to some people and
denied to others, and the favour of effectual grace, which is given to
some particular persons and denied to others.
Now this part of his discourse is in answer to two objections.
I. It might be objected, Is there unrighteousness with God? If
God, in dealing with the children of men, do thus, in an arbitrary
manner, choose some and refuse others, may it not be suspected that
there is unrighteousness with him? This the apostle startles at the
thought of: God forbid! Far be it from us to think such a thing;
shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Gen. xviii. 25; ch. iii. 5, 6 .
He denies the consequences, and proves the denial.
1. In respect of those to whom he shows mercy, v. 15, 16 .
He quotes that scripture to show God's sovereignty in dispensing his
favours
( Exod. xxxiii. 19 ): I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. All God's reasons
of mercy are taken from within himself. All the children of men being
plunged alike into a state of sin and misery, equally under guilt and
wrath, God, in a way of sovereignty, picks out some from this fallen
apostatized race, to be vessels of grace and glory. He dispenses his
gifts to whom he will, without giving us any reason: according to his
own good pleasure he pitches upon some to be monuments of mercy and
grace, preventing grace, effectual grace, while he passes by others.
The expression is very emphatic, and the repetition makes it more so: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. It imports a
perfect absoluteness in God's will; he will do what he will, and giveth
not account of any of his matters, nor is it fit he should. As these
great words, I am that I am ( Exod. iii. 14 )
do abundantly express the absolute independency of his being, so these
words, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, do as fully
express the absolute prerogative and sovereignty of his will. To
vindicate the righteousness of God, in showing mercy to whom he will,
the apostle appeals to that which God himself had spoken, wherein he
claims this sovereign power and liberty. God is a competent judge, even
in his own case. Whatsoever God does, or is resolved to do, is both by
the one and the other proved to be just. Eleeso on han
heleo -- I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. When
I begin, I will make an end. Therefore God's mercy endures for ever,
because the reason of it is fetched from within himself; therefore his
gifts and callings are without repentance. Hence he infers
( v. 16 ), It is not of him that willeth. Whatever good comes from God to
man, the glory of it is not to be ascribed to the most generous desire,
nor to the most industrious endeavour, of man, but only and purely to
the free grace and mercy of God. In Jacob's case it was not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth; it was not the earnest will
and desire of Rebecca that Jacob might have the blessing; it was not
Jacob's haste to get it (for he was compelled to run for it) that
procured him the blessing, but only the mercy and grace of God. Wherein
the holy happy people of God differ from other people, it is God and
his grace that make them differ. Applying this general rule to the
particular case that Paul has before him, the reason why the unworthy,
undeserving, ill-deserving Gentiles are called, and grafted into the
church, while the greatest part of the Jews are left to perish in
unbelief, is not because those Gentiles were better deserving or better
disposed for such a favour, but because of God's free grace that made
that difference. The Gentiles did neither will it, nor run for it, for
they sat in darkness, Matt. iv. 16 .
In darkness, therefore not willing what they knew not; sitting in darkness, a contented posture, therefore not running to meet it, but
anticipated with these invaluable blessings of goodness. Such is the
method of God's grace towards all that partake of it, for he is found
of those that sought him not
( Isa. lxv. 1 );
in this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a
benefactor, whose grace is his own. Our eye therefore must not be evil
because his is good; but, of all the grace that we or others have, he
must have the glory: Not unto us, Ps. cxv. 1 .
2. In respect of those who perish, v. 17 .
God's sovereignty, manifested in the ruin of sinners, is here
discovered in the instance of Pharaoh; it is quoted from Exod. ix. 16 .
Observe,
(1.) What God did with Pharaoh. He raised him up, brought him into the
world, made him famous, gave him the kingdom and power,--set him up as a
beacon upon a hill, as the mark of all his plagues (compare Exod. ix. 14 )--
hardened his heart, as he had said he would
( Exod. iv. 21 ): I will harden his heart, that is, withdraw softening grace,
leave him to himself, let Satan loose against him, and lay hardening
providences before him. Or, by raising him up may be meant the
intermission of the plagues which gave Pharaoh respite, and the
reprieve of Pharaoh in those plagues. In the Hebrew, I have made
thee stand, continued thee yet in the land of the living. Thus doth
God raise up sinners, make them for himself, even for the day of evil
( Prov. xvi. 4 ),
raise them up in outward prosperity, external privileges
( Matt. xi. 23 ),
sparing mercies.
(2.) What he designed in it: That I might show my power in thee. God would, by all this, serve the honour of his name, and manifest his
power in baffling the pride and insolence of that great and daring
tyrant, who bade defiance to Heaven itself, and trampled upon all that
was just and sacred. If Pharaoh had not been so high and might, so bold
and hardy, the power of God had not been so illustrious in the ruining
of him; but the taking off of the spirit of such a prince, who hectored
at that rate, did indeed proclaim God glorious in holiness, fearful in
praises, doing wonders, Exod. xv. 11 .
This is Pharaoh, and all his multitude.
(3.) His conclusion concerning both these we have, v. 18 . He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he
hardeneth. The various dealings of God, by which he makes some to
differ from others, must be resolved into his absolute sovereignty. He
is debtor to no man, his grace is his own, and he may give it or
withhold it as it pleaseth him; we have none of us deserved it, nay, we
have all justly forfeited it a thousand times, so that herein the work
of our salvation is admirably well ordered that those who are saved
must thank God only, and those who perish must thank themselves only, Hos. xiii. 9 .
We are bound, as God hath bound us, to do our utmost for the salvation
of all we have to do with; but God is bound no further than he has been
pleased to bind himself by his own covenant and promise, which is his
revealed will; and that is that he will receive, and not cast out,
those that come to Christ; but the drawing of souls in order to that
coming is a preventing distinguishing favour to whom he will. Had he
mercy on the Gentiles? It was because he would have mercy on them. Were
the Jews hardened? It was because it was his own pleasure to deny them
softening grace, and to give them up to their chosen affected unbelief. Even so, Father, because it seemed good unto thee. That
scripture excellently explains this, Luke x. 21 ,
and, as this, shows the sovereign will of God in giving or withholding
both the means of grace and the effectual blessing upon those
means.
II. It might be objected, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? v. 19 .
Had the apostle been arguing only for God's sovereignty in appointing
and ordering the terms and conditions of acceptance and salvation,
there had not been the least colour for this objection; for he might
well find fault if people refused to come up to the terms on which such
a salvation is offered; the salvation being so great, the terms could
not be hard. But there might be colour for the objection against his
arguing for the sovereignty of God in giving and withholding
differencing and preventing grace; and the objection is commonly and
readily advanced against the doctrine of distinguishing grace. If God,
while he gives effectual grace to some, denies it to others, why doth
he find fault with those to whom he denies it? If he hath rejected the
Jews, and hid from their eyes the things that belong to their peace,
why doth he find fault with them for their blindness? If it be his
pleasure to discard them as not a people, and not obtaining mercy,
their knocking off themselves was no resistance of his will. This
objection he answers at large,
1. By reproving the objector
( v. 20 ): Nay but, O man. This is not an objection fit to be made by the
creature against his Creator, by man against God. The truth, as it is
in Jesus, is that which abases man as nothing, less than nothing, and
advances God as sovereign Lord of all. Observe how contemptibly he
speaks of man, when he comes to argue with God his Maker: " Who art
thou, thou that art so foolish, so feeble, so short-sighted, so
incompetent a judge of the divine counsels? Art thou able to fathom
such a depth, dispute such a case, to trace that way of God which is in
the sea, his path in the great waters?" That repliest against
God. It becomes us to submit to him, not to reply against him; to
lie down under his hand, not to fly in his face, nor to charge him with
folly. Ho antapokrinomenos -- That answerest again. God is our master, and we are his servants; and it does not become
servants to answer again, Tit. ii. 9 .
2. By resolving all into the divine sovereignty. We are the thing
formed, and he is the former; and it does not become us to challenge or
arraign his wisdom in ordering and disposing of us into this or that
shape of figure. The rude and unformed mass of matter hath no right to
this or that form, but is shaped at the pleasure of him that formeth
it. God's sovereignty over us is fitly illustrated by the power that
the potter hath over the clay; compare Jer. xviii. 6 ,
where, by a like comparison, God asserts his dominion over the nation
of the Jews, when he was about to magnify his justice in their
destruction by Nebuchadnezzar.
(1.) He gives us the comparison, v. 21 .
The potter, out of the same lump, may make either a fashionable vessel,
and a vessel fit for creditable and honourable uses, or a contemptible
vessel, and a vessel in which is no pleasure; and herein he acts
arbitrarily, as he might have chosen whether he would make any vessel
of it at all, or whether he would leave it in the hole of the pit, out
of which it was dug.
(2.) The application of the comparison, v. 22-24 .
Two sorts of vessels God forms out of the great lump of fallen
mankind:--
[1.] Vessels of wrath --vessels filled with wrath, as a vessel of
wine is a vessel filled with wine; full of the fury of the Lord, Isa. li. 20 .
In these God is willing to show his wrath, that is, his punishing
justice, and his enmity to sin. This must be shown to all the world,
God will make it appear that he hates sin. He will likewise make his
power known, to dynaton autou. It is a power of strength
and energy, an inflicting power, which works and effects the
destruction of those that perish; it is a destruction that proceeds
from the glory of his power, 2 Thess. i. 9 .
The eternal damnation of sinners will be an abundant demonstration of
the power of God; for he will act in it himself immediately, his wrath
preying as it were upon guilty consciences, and his arm stretched out
totally to destroy their well-being, and yet at the same instant
wonderfully to preserve the being of the creature. In order to this,
God endured them with much long-suffering --exercised a great
deal of patience towards them, let them alone to fill up the measure of
sin, to grow till they were ripe for ruin, and so they became fitted
for destruction, fitted by their own sin and self-hardening. The
reigning corruptions and wickedness of the soul are its preparedness
and disposedness for hell: a soul is hereby made combustible matter,
fit for the flames of hell. When Christ said to the Jews
( Matt. xxiii. 32 ), Fill you up then the measure of your father, that upon you may come
all the righteous blood ( v. 35 ),
he did, as it were, endure them with much long-suffering, that they
might, by their own obstinacy and wilfulness in sin, fit themselves for
destruction.
[2.] Vessels of mercy --filled with mercy. The happiness bestowed
upon the saved remnant is the fruit, not of their merit, but of God's
mercy. The spring of all the joy and glory of heaven is that mercy of
God which endures for ever. Vessels of honour must to eternity own
themselves vessels of mercy. Observe, First, What he designs in
them: To make known the riches of his glory, that is, of his
goodness; for God's goodness is his greatest glory, especially when it
is communicated with the greatest sovereignty. I beseech thee show
me thy glory, says Moses, Exod. xxxiii. 18 . I will make all my goodness to pass before thee, says God
( v. 19 ),
and that given out freely: I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. God makes known his glory, this goodness of his, in the
preservation and supply of all the creatures: the earth is full of his
goodness, and the year crowned with it; but when he would demonstrate
the riches of his goodness, unsearchable riches, he does it in the
salvation of the saints, that will be to eternity glorious monuments of
divine grace. Secondly, What he does for them he does before prepare them to glory. Sanctification is the preparation of the
soul for glory, making it meet to partake of the inheritance of the
saints in light. This is God's work. We can destroy ourselves fast
enough, but we cannot save ourselves. Sinners fit themselves for hell,
but it is God that prepares saints for heaven; and all those that God
designs for heaven hereafter he prepares and fits for heaven now: he
works them to the self-same thing, 2 Cor. v. 5 .
And would you know who these vessels of mercy are? Those whom he
hath called
( v. 24 );
for whom he did predestinate those he also called with an effectual
call: and these not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles; for, the
partition-wall being taken down, the world was laid in common, and not
(as it had been) God's favour appropriated to the Jews, and they put a
degree nearer his acceptance than the rest of the world. They now stood
upon the same level with the Gentiles; and the question is not now
whether of the seed of Abraham or no, that is neither here nor there,
but whether or no called according to his purpose.
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which
were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 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 of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall
be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in
righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the
earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had
left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto
Gomorrha.
Having explained the promise, and proved the divine sovereignty, the
apostle here shows how the rejection of the Jews, and the taking in of
the Gentiles, were foretold in the Old Testament, and therefore must
needs be very well consistent with the promise made to the fathers
under the Old Testament. It tends very much to the clearing of a truth
to observe how the scripture is fulfilled in it. The Jews would, no
doubt, willingly refer it to the Old Testament, the scriptures of which
were committed to them. Now he shows how this, which was so uneasy to
them, was there spoken of.
I. By the prophet Hosea, who speaks of the taking in of a great many of
the Gentiles, Hos. ii. 23 and Hos. i. 10 .
The Gentiles had not been the people of God, not owning him, nor being
owned by him in that relation: "But," says he, " I will call them my
people, make them such and own them as such, notwithstanding all
their unworthiness." A blessed change! Former badness is no bar to
God's present grace and mercy.-- And her beloved which was not
beloved. Those whom God calls his people he calls beloved: he loves
those that are his own. And lest it might be supposed that they should
become God's people only by being proselyted to the Jewish religion,
and made members of that nation, he adds, from Hos. i. 10 , In the place where it was said, &c., there shall they be
called. They need not be embodied with the Jews, nor go up to
Jerusalem to worship; but, wherever they are scattered over the face of
the earth, there will God own them. Observe the great dignity and
honour of the saints, that they are called the children of the living
God; and his calling them so makes them so. Behold, what manner of
love! This honour have all his saints.
II. By the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the casting off of many of the
Jews, in two places.
1. One is Isa. x. 22, 23 ,
which speaks of the saving of a remnant, that is, but a remnant, which,
though in the prophecy it seems to refer to the preservation of a
remnant from the destruction and desolation that were coming upon them
by Sennacherib and his army, yet is to be understood as looking
further, and sufficiently proves that it is no strange thing for God to
abandon to ruin a great many of the seed of Abraham, and yet maintain
his word of promise to Abraham in full force and virtue. This is
intimated in the supposition that the number of children of Israel was
as the sand of the sea, which was part of the promise made to Abraham, Gen. xxii. 17 .
And yet only a remnant shall be saved; for many are called, but few are
chosen. In this salvation of the remnant we are told
( v. 28 )
from the prophet,
(1.) That he will complete the work: He will finish the work. When God begins he will make an end, whether in ways of judgment or of
mercy. The rejection of the unbelieving Jews god would finish in their
utter ruin by the Romans, who soon after this quite took away their
place and nation. The assuming of Christian churches into the divine
favour, and the spreading of the gospel in other nations, was a work
which God would likewise finish, and be known by his name
J EHOVAH . As for God, his work is perfect. Margin, He will finish the account. God, in his eternal counsels, has
taken an account of the children of men, allotted them to such or such
a condition, to such a share of privileges; and, as they come into
being, his dealings with them are pursuant to these counsels: and he
will finish the account, complete the mystical body, call in as many as
belong to the election of grace, and then the account will be finished.
(2.) That he will contract it; not only finish it, but finish it
quickly. Under the Old Testament he seemed to tarry, and to make a
longer and more tedious work of it. The wheels moved but slowly towards
the extent of the church; but now he will cut it short, and make
a short work upon the earth. Gentile converts were now flying as a
cloud. But he will cut it short in righteousness, both in wisdom
and in justice. Men, when they cut short, do amiss; they do indeed
despatch causes; but, when God cuts short, it is always in
righteousness. So the fathers generally apply it. Some understand it of
the evangelical law and covenant, which Christ has introduced and
established in the world: he has in that finished the work, put an end
to the types and ceremonies of the Old Testament. Christ said, It is
finished, and then the veil was rent, echoing as it were to the
word that Christ said upon the cross. And he will cut it short. The
work (it is logos -- the word, the law) was
under the Old Testament very long; a long train of institutions,
ceremonies, conditions: but now it is cut short. Our duty is now, under
the gospel, summed up in much less room than it was under the law; the
covenant was abridged and contracted; religion is brought into a less
compass. And it is in righteousness, in favour to us, in justice to his
own design and counsel. With us contractions are apt to darken
things:--
but it is not so in this case. Though it be cut short, it is clear and
plain; and, because short, the more easy.
2. Another is quoted from Isa. i. 9 ,
where the prophet is showing how in a time of general calamity and
destruction God would preserve a seed. This is to the same purport
with the former; and the scope of it is to show that it was no strange
thing for God to leave the greatest part of the people of the Jews to
ruin, and to reserve to himself only a small remnant: so he had done
formerly, as appears by their own prophets; and they must not wonder if
he did so now. Observe,
(1.) What God is. He is the Lord of sabaoth, that is, the Lord
of hosts--a Hebrew word retained in the Greek, as James v. 4 .
All the host of heaven and earth are at his beck and disposal. When God
secures a seed to himself out of a degenerate apostate world, he acts
as Lord of sabaoth. It is an act of almighty power and infinite
sovereignty.
(2.) What his people are; they are a seed, a small number. The
corn reserved for next year's seedings is but little, compared with
that which is spent and eaten. But they are a useful number--the seed,
the substance, of the next generation, Isa. vi. 13 .
It is so far from being an impeachment of the justice and righteousness
of God that so many perish and are destroyed, that it is a wonder of
divine power and mercy that all are not destroyed, that there are any
saved; for even those that are left to be a seed, if God had dealt with
them according to their sins, had perished with the rest. This is the
great truth which this scripture teacheth us.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the
righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it
were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that
stumblingstone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and
rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.
The apostle comes here at last to fix the true reason of the reception
of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews. There was a difference
in the way of their seeking, and therefore there was that different
success, though still it was the free grace of God that made them
differ. He concludes like an orator, What shall we say then? What is the conclusion of the whole dispute?
I. Concerning the Gentiles observe,
1. How they had been alienated from righteousness: the followed not
after it; they knew not their guilt and misery, and therefore were not
at all solicitous to procure a remedy. In their conversion preventing
grace was greatly magnified: God was found of those that sought him
not, Isa. lxv. 1 .
There was nothing in them to dispose them for such a favour more than
what free grace wrought in them. Thus doth God delight to dispense
grace in a way of sovereignty and absolute dominion.
2. How they attained to righteousness, notwithstanding: By
faith; not by being proselyted to the Jewish religion, and
submitting to the ceremonial law, but by embracing Christ, and
believing in Christ, and submitting to the gospel. They attained to
that by the short cut of believing sincerely in Christ for which the
Jews had been long in vain beating about the bush.
II. Concerning the Jews observe,
1. How they missed their end: they followed after the law of
righteousness ( v. 31 )--
they talked much of justification and holiness, seemed very ambitious
of being the people of God and the favourites of heaven, but they did
not attain to it, that is, the greatest part of them did not; as many
as stuck to their old Jewish principles and ceremonies, and pursued a
happiness in those observances, embracing the shadows now that the
substance was come, these fell short of acceptance with God, were not
owned as his people, nor went to their house justified.
2. How they mistook their way, which was the cause of their missing the
end, v. 32, 33 .
They sought, but not in the right way, not in the humbling way, not in
the instituted appointed way. Not by faith, not by embracing the
Christian religion, and depending upon the merit of Christ, and
submitting to the terms of the gospel, which were the very life and end
of the law. But they sought by the works of the law; as if they
were to expect justification by their observance of the precepts and
ceremonies of the law of Moses. This was the stumbling-stone at
which they stumbled. They could not get over this corrupt principle
which they had espoused, That the law was given them for no end but
that merely by their observance of it, and obedience to it, they might
be justified before God: and so they could by no means be reconciled to
the doctrine of Christ, which brought them off from that to expect
justification through the merit and satisfaction of another. Christ
himself is to some a stone of stumbling, for which he quotes Isa. viii. 14; xxviii. 16 .
It is sad that Christ should be set for the fall of any, and yet it is
so
( Luke ii. 34 ),
that ever poison should be sucked out of the balm of Gilead, that the
foundation-stone should be to any a stone of stumbling, and the rock of
salvation a rock of offence; so he is to multitudes; so he was to the
unbelieving Jews, who rejected him, because he put an end to the
ceremonial law. But still there is a remnant that do believe on him;
and they shall not be ashamed, that is, their hopes and
expectations of justification by him shall not be disappointed, as
theirs are who expect it by the law. So that, upon the whole, the
unbelieving Jews have no reason to quarrel with God for rejecting them;
they had a fair offer of righteousness, and life, and salvation, made
to them upon gospel terms, which they did not like, and would not come
up to; and therefore, if they perish, they may thank themselves--their
blood is upon their own heads.
INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS 9
The apostle having discoursed of justification and sanctification, and of the privileges of justified and sanctified ones, proceeds to treat of predestination, the source and spring of all the blessings of grace; and to observe how this distinguishing act of God's sovereign will has taken place, both among Jews and Gentiles; in treating of which, he knew he should go contrary to the sense of his countrymen the Jews, who have a notion that all Israel shall have a part in, or inherit the world to come {q}: and that the Gentiles will be for ever miserable; and nothing was more disagreeable to them, than to talk of their rejection of God, and the calling of the Gentiles; wherefore that it might be manifest, that it was not out of pique and ill will to them, that the apostle said the things hereafter related; he expresses the most cordial affection to them imaginable, and which he introduces in Ro 9:1, by way of appeal to Christ, who knew the truth of what he was about to say, and who could, together with the Spirit of God and his own conscience, testify for him that it was no lie: the thing he appeals for the truth of, is in Ro 9:2, that the salvation of the Jews lay near his heart; that it was no pleasure to him to think or speak of their rejection, but was what gave him continual pain and uneasiness: and his great desire for their good is expressed in a very strong and uncommon manner, Ro 9:3, the reasons of it are partly the relation they stood in to him, being his brethren and kinsmen; and partly the many privileges they had been favoured with of God; an enumeration of which is given, Ro 9:4, and foreseeing an objection, he prevents it, which might be made, that if the Jews were cast off, the promise of God to that people that he would be their God, would become void, and the preaching the Gospel of Christ to them of no effect; to which he answers by distinguishing between Israel and Israel, or the elect of God among them, and those that were not; wherefore though the latter were rejected according to the purpose of God, the promise and preaching of the word had their effect in the former, Ro 9:6, and that there was such a distinction, he proves from the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, who were both Abraham's seed; yet one was a child of promise, and the other a child of the flesh, and were emblematical of the children of the promise, and the children of the flesh among that people; Ro 9:7, and further confirms this by the instance of Jacob and Esau, who were born of the same parents, and were twins; and yet one was in the favour of God, and the other not; and that this was owing not to works, but to the sovereign will of God in election, he proves by observing that this was before good or evil were done by either of them, Ro 9:11, and that this was notified to Rebekah before, Ro 9:12, as appears from a passage in Ge 25:23, and by another passage in Mal 1:2, which is cited, Ro 9:13, then an objection is started, Ro 9:14, that if God loves one, and hates another, both being in equal circumstances, as Jacob and Esau were, he must be guilty of unrighteousness; which he answers and removes, first by a detestation of such a charge against God, and then by producing testimonies out of the books of Moses, proving both election and reprobation, as being not of the works of men, but of the will of God; the former of these he proves, Ro 9:15, from Ex 33:19, by which it appears, that the choice of men to salvation is not according to the will of man, but according to the grace and love of God, Ro 9:16, the latter he proves by the case of Pharaoh, Ro 9:17, and the Scripture relating to that, Ex 9:16, and from both testimonies concludes, Ro 9:18, that God's having mercy on one, and hardening another, are according to his sovereign will and pleasure; then another objection rises, up, if so, God has no reason to find fault with men that are hardened in sin, since they are according to his will, and in sinning do but fulfil it, and which no man resists; and this objection is formed in a very pert and sneering manner, and insinuates that God is cruel and acts unreasonably, Ro 9:19, to which he answers, by putting the objector in mind that he was a man, a mere creature that started it, and that it was God against whom it was made; and by observing the folly and madness of replying against God, and the absurdity of such a procedure, taken from the consideration of the one being a creature, and the other the Creator, Ro 9:20, and by instancing in the case of the potter, who has power over his clay, to form it in what shape, and for what use he pleases, Ro 9:21, and accommodates this, both to the affair of election and reprobation, and to the business of the latter first, Ro 9:22, where he observes the end of God in it to show forth his power and wrath, and describes the subjects of it, which clears him from injustice, and points at the patience of God towards them, which frees him from the charge of cruelty, Ro 9:22, and then proceeds to apply the metaphor before used, to the objects of election styled vessels of mercy, and the end of the Lord to manifest the riches of his glory in them, and the method he takes to bring them to eternal happiness, by preparing them for it by grace, Ro 9:23, which is done in the effectual calling, the objects of which are both Jews and Gentiles, Ro 9:24, That it is the will of God that the Gentiles should be called, he proves, Ro 9:25, from some passages in Hosea, Ho 2:23, and that God had chosen, and so would call some among the Jews, he clearly makes appear, Ro 9:27, from some prophecies of Isaiah, Isa 10:22, and then he concludes the chapter by observing the free and distinguishing grace of God, in the calling of the Gentiles, and the justification of them by the righteousness of Christ; that such who were far off from it, and sought not after it, should enjoy it, Ro 9:30, when the Israelites, who were diligent and zealous in seeking after a righteousness to justify them before God, yet did not arrive to one, Ro 9:31, the reasons of which are given, Ro 9:32, because it was not the righteousness of faith, or the righteousness of Christ received by faith they sought; but a legal one, and by works which can never be attained by sinful men: they sought after a wrong righteousness, and in a wrong way, because they stumbled at Christ, and rejected him and his righteousness; and this removes an objection which is suggested in the two preceding verses, that God is unrighteous in calling the Gentiles, who never sought after righteousness, and in rejecting the Jews that followed after one: and that they did stumble at Christ and his righteousness, is no other than what was foretold in Isa 8:14, and that whoever believes in Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, shall be saved, he suggests is a doctrine agreeably to Isa 28:16, which passages are referred to, Ro 9:33.
{q} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 11. sect. 1.
Ver. 1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not,.... The apostle being about to discourse concerning predestination, which he had mentioned in the preceding chapter, and to open the springs and causes of it, and also concerning the induration and rejection of the Jewish nation; he thought it necessary to preface his account of these things with some strong assurances of his great attachment to that people, and his affection for them, lest it should be thought he spoke out of prejudice to them; and well knowing in what situation he stood in with them, on account of his preaching up the abrogation of the ceremonial law, and how difficult it might be for him to obtain their belief in what he should say, he introduces it with a solemn oath, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not": which refers not to what he had said in the foregoing chapter, but to what he was going to say; and is all one as if he had said, as I am in Christ, a converted person, one born again, and renewed in the spirit of my mind, what I am about to speak is truth, and no lie; or I swear by Christ the God of truth, who is truth itself, and I appeal to him as the true God, the searcher of hearts, that what I now deliver is truth, and nothing but truth, and has no falsehood in it. This both shows that the taking of an oath is lawful, and that Christ is truly God, by whom only persons ought to swear:
my conscience bearing me witness. The apostle, besides his appeal to Christ, calls his conscience to witness to the truth of his words; and this is as a thousand witnesses; there is in every man a conscience, which unless seared as with a red hot iron, will accuse or excuse, and bear a faithful testimony to words and actions; and especially a conscience enlightened, cleansed, and sanctified by the Spirit of God, as was the apostle's: hence he adds,
in the Holy Ghost; meaning either that his conscience was influenced and directed by the Holy Ghost in what he was about to say; or it bore witness in and with the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost with that; so that here are three witnesses called in, Christ, conscience, and the Holy Ghost; and by three such witnesses, his words must be thought to be well established.
Romans 9:2
Ver. 2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. This is the thing he appeals to Christ for the truth of, and calls in his conscience and the Holy Ghost to bear witness to. These two words, "heaviness" and "sorrow", the one signifies grief, which had brought on heaviness on his spirits; and the other such pain as a woman in travail feels: and the trouble of his mind expressed by both, is described by its quantity, "great", it was not a little, but much; by its quality it was internal, it was in his "heart", it did not lie merely in outward show, in a few words or tears, but was in his heart, it was a heart sorrow; and by its duration, "continual", it was not a sudden emotion or passion, but what had been long in him, and had deeply affected and greatly depressed him: and what was the reason of all this? it is not expressed, but may pretty easily be understood; it was because of the obstinacy of his countrymen the Jews, the hardness of their hearts, and their wilful rejection of the Messiah; their trusting to their own righteousness, to the neglect and contempt of the righteousness of Christ, which he knew must unavoidably issue in their eternal destruction; also what greatly affected his mind was the utter rejection of them, as the people of God, and the judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, he full well knew was coming upon them, and which he was about to break unto them.
Romans 9:3
Ver. 3. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ,.... Some consider this as the reason of the apostle's great heaviness, and continual sorrow of heart, because he had made such a wish as this, and read the words, "for I have wished", or "did wish"; that is, in my unregenerate state, whilst I was a persecutor of Christ, and a blasphemer of his name, I wished to be for ever separated from him, and to have nothing to do with him; for then I thought I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, and this I did out of respect to the Jewish nation, and because I would not relinquish the Jewish religion; but oh! what a trouble of mind is it to me? what uneasiness does it give me when I think of it, and reflect upon it? But this can never be the apostle's meaning, for he would never have appealed to Christ in so solemn a manner, and took an oath upon it, for the truth of his enmity to Christ, and alienation from him before conversion, which everybody knew; nor was it anything strange, that whilst he was an unbelieving Jew, he should wish himself separated from Jesus of Nazareth, and always to remain so; and his having done this before his embracing of Christianity could be no evidence of his present affection for the Jewish nation, especially since he repented of it, and was sorry for it. But this wish, whatever is meant by it, is mentioned as an instance of his great love to his countrymen the Jews. Many have thought that his meaning is, that he had so great a value for them, that he could even wish himself, and be content to be eternally separated from Christ, everlastingly banished from his presence, never to enjoy communion more with him, or in other words, to be eternally damned, that they might be saved. But this is what could never be, and which he knew, was impossible to be done, and was contrary to that strong persuasion he had just expressed in the close of the foregoing chapter. Nor is it consistent with his love to Christ, to wish any thing of this kind; it would make him to love the Jews much better than Christ; since, according to this sense, he must wish to be parted from him, that they might be saved, and consequently must love them more than Christ: nor is it consistent with, but even contrary both to the principles of nature and grace; it is contrary to the principles of nature, for a man to desire his own damnation upon any consideration whatever; and it is contrary to the principle of grace, which always strongly inclines to be with Christ, and not separated from him; in a word, to be accursed from Christ in this sense, could be no proper means of the salvation of the Jews, and therefore it cannot be thought to be desirable, or wished for. Some things are said indeed for the qualifying of this sense of the words, as that the apostle said this inconsiderately, when he was scarcely himself, through an ecstasy of mind, and intemperate zeal, and an overflow of affection for his nation; but this is highly to reflect upon the apostle, and to represent him in a very unworthy manner, when it is certain he said this with the greatest deliberation and seriousness; he introduces it in the most solemn manner, with an appeal to Christ, the Holy Spirit, and his own conscience, and therefore it could never drop from him through incogitancy, and an overheated affection. Again, it is said, that this wish was made with a condition, if it was the will of God, but that he knew was not; or if it could be for the good of these people, this also he knew it could never be: the best qualification Of it is to say it is an hyperbolical expression; and so if it is, it must be with a witness, being such an hyperbole, as is not to be matched in sacred or profane writings. The words of Moses are thought to be a parallel one, "blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written", Ex 32:32; but that is not to be understood of the book of eternal life; but either of the book of the law, as R. Sol. Jarchi expounds it, which God had ordered him to write, and his desire is, that his name might not stand there; or rather of the book of this temporal life, that he might die and not live. It remains then that these words must have another meaning. Now let it be observed, that the word anayema, here translated "accursed", answers to the Hebrew word Mrx, which, with the Jewish writers, is one sort of excommunication in use among them, and the greater sort; the forth of it, as given by them, is very horrible, and shocking {r}; See Gill on "Joh 9:22"; and so we may observe the word "anathema" here used is mentioned as a form of excommunication in 1Co 16:22; of all such as love not Christ and his Gospel, and make it appear by their principles or practices, or both, that they do not, and so ought to be removed from the communion of churches. Now, taking the word in this sense, the apostle's meaning is, that he could wish to be excommunicated from Christ; that is, from the body of Christ, from the church of Christ, Christ mystical, as the word "Christ" is used, 1Co 12:12; to be deprived of the ordinance of Christ's house, to be degraded from his office in it, and not to be so much as a member in it. He saw that these branches, the people of the Jews, were going to be cut off, and no longer to be of the church of God; and such was his affection to them, that he could have wished rather to be cut off himself, that they might be spared; and this was an instance of great love to them, since, next to Christ, the church and the ordinances of it were exceeding dear unto, and highly valued by the apostle. Again, it is worthy of observation, that the Hebrew word Mrx, which the Septuagint render by anayema, the word in the text, is used for any thing devoted to God, and which could not be alienated to any other use or service; and if it was a man, or any among men that was devoted, it was not to be redeemed, but was "surely to be put to death", Le 27:29. Some have thought that Jephthah's daughter was put to death upon this law; but be that as it will, the apostle here may reasonably be thought to allude unto it, and his sense be this, that he could wish himself anayema einai apo tou cristou, "to be devoted unto death", not from Christ, but "by" Christ; and some copies read upo, "by": I could wish that my dear Lord and Master, as if he should say, would appoint and order me to die, might this nation of mine but escape that ruin and destruction I see is coming upon them, as a nation and a church; I could be content to die the most accursed death, and be treated in the most ignominious manner, might they but be saved; a like expression is that of R. Ishmael {s}, Ntrpk yna larvy ynb "may I be an expiatory sacrifice for the children of Israel";
"which (says one commentator {t}) he said, Ntbx Kwtm, "because of his love to them"; and it is as if he should say, all the punishment which is right to come upon them, I will take it on myself, in order to atone for them;''
and says another {u},
"the sense is, he took upon him their redemption, and this he said, wtbha bwrl, "because of the greatness of his love":''
now for a man to die for his country, that a whole nation perish not, was agreeably to the sentiments both of Jews and Gentiles, and was the highest instance of love among men; "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends", Joh 15:13; and this is carrying the sense of the apostle's wish high enough, and not too far. The persons on whose account he could have expressed this wish, are described by their natural relation to him,
my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh: he calls them his brethren, not in a spiritual sense, nor in a strict natural sense, but in a general way, as being of the same nation: it is a saying with the Jews {w}, Myxa larvy lk, "all the Israelites are brethren"; for the same reason he calls them kinsmen; and these appellations he uses to remove that ill will and prejudice they had conceived in their minds against him, and to signify the ground of his affection for them: and he adds, "according to the flesh", to distinguish them from his spiritual brethren and relations; for though they were brethren in a national sense, they were not all so in a spiritual relation.
{r} Vid. Buxtorf. Lexic. Rabbinic. p. 827, 828. {s} Misn. Negaim, c. 2. sect. 1. {t} Bartenora in ib. {u} Maimon. in Misn. Negaim, c. 2. sect. 1. {w} Caphtor, fol. 38. 1.
Romans 9:4
Ver. 4. Who are Israelites,.... Which were their national name, as descended from Jacob, whose name was Israel; and it was accounted a very honourable one; see Php 3:5; and the very name they bore gave the apostle some concern that they should be cut off; and then he proceeds to enumerate the several distinguishing favours and privileges they had been partakers of:
to whom pertaineth the adoption; not that special adoption, which springs from eternal predestination, is a blessing of the covenant of grace, comes through the redemption of Christ, and is received and enjoyed only by believers in him; for all that were Israelites, were not in this sense the children of God; but national adoption is here meant, by which the whole body of the people, as nation, were the sons of God, his firstborn:
and the glory; either the ark of the covenant, which is so called in
Ps 63:2, according to Kimchi; or the clouds in the tabernacle and temple, which were called the glory of the Lord, and were symbols of his presence, the same with the Shekinah; and so Aben Ezra interprets power, the ark, and glory, the Shekinah, Ps 63:2,
and the covenants; not the two Testaments, Old and New, but the covenant of circumcision, made with Abraham their father, and the covenant at Sinai they entered into with the Lord; some copies, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read, "the covenant":
and the giving, of the law: hrwt Ntm, a way of speaking the {x} Jews make use of when they take notice of this privilege; for it was peculiarly given to them with great solemnity by God himself, through the disposition of angels into the hands of Moses the mediator, and by him to them; and on account of this, they reckoned themselves more beloved of God than the rest of mankind {y}
and the service of God; or "the service", as in the Greek text. So the Jews {z} are used to call it hdwbe, "the service"; and false worship is called by them hrz hdwbe, "strange service", which is the title of one of their Misnic tracts; and here it signifies the whole worship of God, in the whole compass of it, sacrifices, prayer, praise, &c. daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly:
and the promises; both temporal and spiritual, especially such as related to the Messiah, and which now had their accomplishment.
{x} T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 116. 1. Zohar in Lev. fol. 5. 2, 3. {y} Tzeror Hammor, fol. 103. 2. {z} Vid. Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 2.
Romans 9:5
Ver. 5. Whose are the fathers,.... Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for, according to the {a} Jewish writers,
"they call none in Israel twba, "fathers", but three, and they are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and they call none "mothers" but four, and they are, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah:''
their descent from these fathers was a privilege, though they valued themselves too highly upon it; but what was the crown and glory of all, and which they took the least, though the apostle took the most notice of, is,
and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came; that is, either of the fathers, or of the Israelites, from whom Christ, according to his human nature, sprung; being a son of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of David, and the son of Mary; hence the Messiah is called larvyd ahyvm, "the Messiah or Christ of Israel" {b}:
who is described as
over all, angels and men, being the creator, upholder, and governor of them; and as having another nature, a divine one, being
God, truly and properly God,
blessed for evermore; in himself, and to be blessed and praised by all creatures. The apostle alludes to that well known periphrastic name of God so much used by the Jews, awh Kwrb vwdqh, "the holy, blessed God"; to which, by way of assent and confirmation, the apostle puts his
Amen. Now all these particular privileges are mentioned by him, as what heightened his concern for these people; it filled him with heaviness and sorrow of heart, when he considered, that persons who had been partakers of such favours, and especially the last, that the Messiah should spring from them, be born of them, and among them, and yet that they should be given up to ruin and destruction.
{a} T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 16. 2. & Gloss. in ib. {b} Targum in Isa. xvi. 1, 5. Mic. iv. 8.
Romans 9:6
Ver. 6. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect,.... Or "it is not possible indeed that the word of God should fall"; see 1Sa 3:10; This the apostle says, partly to relieve his own mind pressed with sorrow, and partly to obviate an objection some might make, or prevent any mistake any might be ready to go into; as though from what he suggested that what God had said concerning the people of the Jews, was made void and without effect: for whether by the "word of God" are meant, the Scriptures in general, the prophecies of the Old Testament, these were now about to have their accomplishment, in the rejection of the Jews, and in the conversion of the Gentiles; or whether by it is designed the Gospel, this, as preached both by Christ and his apostles, had had its effect upon God's chosen ones among that people; it was become the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first: or rather by it may be intended, God's word of promise to Abraham, that he would be a God to him, and to his seed after him; and that he and they should be heir of the world, of this and of that which is to come; particularly the heavenly inheritance, which he gave to him by promise; this was not made void, or had taken none effect: for this was made only to Abraham and his spiritual seed; and therefore though his carnal seed believed not, and for their unbelief should be cut off, this did not make the faith, or faithfulness of God of none effect:
for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; that is, they which are the descendants of the patriarch Jacob, whose name was Israel; or who are of the Israelitish nation, of the stock of Israel, belonging to that people; they are not all larvy ta, "the Israel", by way of emphasis, as in Ps 25:22, or the "Israel of God", Ga 6:16, the Israel whom Jehovah the Father has chosen for a peculiar people; which Christ has redeemed from all their iniquities; which the Spirit of God calls with an holy calling, by special grace, to special privileges; the seed of Israel who are justified in Christ, whose iniquities are so pardoned and done away, that when they are sought for they shall not be found, and who are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: or in other words, though they are "Israel after the flesh", 1Co 10:18, yet not after the Spirit; though they are by nation Israelites, they are not Israelites "indeed", as Nathanael was, Joh 1:47; they are Jews outwardly, not inwardly; they have not all principles of grace, uprightness, and sincerity in them: now to these spiritual Israelites, or seed of Abraham, were the word of God, the promises of God concerning spiritual and eternal things made, and upon these they had their effect; and therefore it could not be said that the word of God had taken none effect; though the whole body of Israel after the flesh were cut off and rejected. Some copies, and the Vulgate Latin version, read, "who are Israelites"; and the Ethiopic version, "they are not all Israel who came out of Egypt".
Romans 9:7
Ver. 7. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham,.... The Jews highly valued themselves, upon being the natural seed of Abraham; and fancied, upon this account, that they were children, which the apostle here denies: neither
are they all children; as in the former verse, he explains in what sense they were Israelites, which he had mentioned among their high characters and privileges, as descending from Jacob, and in what sense they were not; so in this he shows in what manner the "adoption", Ro 9:4, belonged to them, and it did not; being Abraham's seed, they were his natural children, and the children of God by national adoption; but, they were not all the spiritual children of Abraham, nor the children of God by the special grace of adoption; these characters only belonged to some of them, and which are equally true of Gentile believers; who being of the same faith with Abraham, are his children, his seed, and also the children of God: natural descent from Abraham avails nothing in this case, as is clear from the instance of Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was the natural seed of Abraham, as well as Isaac; but he was not a son of Abraham in a spiritual sense, nor a child of God; he was not a child of promise, this was peculiar to Isaac:
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called; see Ge 21:12. The meaning of which is, either that the progeny of Abraham in the line of Isaac should only be called, accounted, and esteemed, in an eminent sense, the seed of Abraham, and not his posterity in the line of Ishmael: agreeably to which the Jews say {c}, that
"Ishmael is not Mhrba lv werz llkb, "in the general account of the seed of Abraham"; for it is said, "in Isaac shall thy seed be called", Ge 21:12; nor is Esau in the general account of the seed of Isaac; hence, says R. Joden bar Shalom, in Isaac, that is, in part of Isaac.''
So another {d} of their writers, on mentioning this passage, observes,
"that it is said in Isaac, qxuy lk alw, but "not all Isaac";''
or all that sprung from him. Or this has respect to the most eminent and famous seed of Abraham, the Messiah, in whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed; who was to spring from him by Isaac, in the line of Jacob; and may likewise have a personal respect to Isaac himself, the son of the promise, a child of Abraham in a spiritual sense, when Ishmael was not; and to whom belonged the spiritual promises and blessings, and who was to be, and was effectually called by the grace of God; and may include also his whole seed and posterity, who, both natural and spiritual, were children of the typical promise, the land of Canaan, and the enjoyment of temporal good things; and the matter also children of the antitypical promise, or of those spiritual and eternal things, which God has promised to Abraham's spiritual seed, whether among Jews or Gentiles; and which always have their effect, and had, even when, and though Abraham's natural seed had a "lo ammi", Ho 1:9, written upon them.
{c} T. Hieros. Nedarim, fol. 38. 1. {d} Yom Tob in Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 7. sect. 1.
Romans 9:8
Ver. 8. That is, they which are the children of the flesh,.... This is an explanation of the foregoing verse, and shows, that by "the seed of" Abraham are meant, the natural seed of Abraham, who are born after the flesh, or descend from him by carnal generation:
these are not the children of God; that is, not all of them, nor any of them, on account of their being children of the flesh, or Abraham's natural seed; for adoption does not come this way; men do not commence children of God by their fleshly descent; they are not "born of blood", but of God, who are the sons of God:
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed; tyrb ynb "children of the covenant", is a common phrase with the Jews; who reckoned themselves as such, because they were the seed of Abraham: thus in their prayers they say {e} to God,
"we are thy people, Ktyrb ynb, "the children of thy covenant", the children of Abraham thy friend.''
And so they were the children of the covenant, or promise, which God made with Abraham and his natural seed, respecting the land of Canaan, and their enjoyment of temporal good things in it; but they were not all of them the children of the promise, which God made to Abraham and his spiritual seed, whether Jews or Gentiles, respecting spiritual and eternal things; to whom alone the promises of God, being their God in a spiritual sense, of spiritual and eternal salvation by Christ, and of the grace of the Spirit of God, and of eternal life belong; and who are the seed which were promised to Abraham by God, saying, "thou shalt be a father of many nations",
Ge 17:4: for which reasons, because these spiritual promises belong to them, and because they themselves were promised to Abraham, as his children, therefore they are called "children of the promise": or rather, because as Isaac was a child of promise, being born after the Spirit, by virtue of the promise of God, through his divine power and goodness, when there were no ground or foundation in nature, for Abraham and Sarah to hope for a son; so these are called "children of promise", Ga 4:28, because they are born again, not through the power of nature, and strength of their own free will; they are not born of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, according to the will of God and his abundant mercy, by the word of truth, through his power, Spirit, and grace; and by faith receive the promises made unto them; and are counted and reckoned as "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise", Ga 3:29, whether they be Jews, or whether they be Gentiles: and since now the promises of God are all made good to these persons, the word of God is not without effect, or is not made void, by the casting off the children of the flesh, or the carnal seed of Abraham, who were not children of the promise in the sense now given.
{e} Seder Tephillot, fol. 3. 2. Ed. Basil. fol. 6. 1. Ed. Amstelod.
Romans 9:9
Ver. 9. For this is the word of promise,.... The following passage is the Scripture, which contains the promise concerning the birth of Isaac; which was the produce, not of nature, but of divine grace and power; and was typical of the regeneration of God's elect, who "as Isaac was, are the children of promise", Ga 4:28, for as Ishmael was a type of them that are born after the flesh, and are carnal men, so Isaac was a type of those, who are born after the Spirit, and are spiritual men: the promise is,
at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son; the passage referred to is in Ge 18:10; which there stands thus, "I will certainly return unto thee, according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son": some difference there is between the words as cited by the apostle, and as they stand in the original text; the word "lo", is omitted by the apostle, nor was there any necessity to repeat it, since it was used only to excite Abraham's faith, attention, and wonder; also the phrase "thy wife", is neglected, the reason is, because the words in Genesis are an address to Abraham, here the substance of the promise to him is produced; besides it was not only well known in the apostle's time, that Sarah was the wife of Abraham, but that as such she brought forth Isaac, wherefore it was not so very necessary it should be mentioned here; add to this, that it is not repeated in Ge 18:14, which will justify our apostle in the omission of it: but the greater seeming difference is, that what in Genesis is rendered, "according to the time of life", is by the apostle, "at this time": some think, that there may be an emendation of the present original text, and suppose a various reading, and that the apostle, instead of hyx, "life", read hzx, "this", but there is no occasion for such a supposition, or to make this amendment: for the phrase "the time of life", signifies the present time, the "nunc stans"; so R. Levi ben Gerson {f}, understands this phrase, "according to the time of life", hte tdmwew tmyyq ayhv tazh tek, "according to this time which is now standing and abiding" and adds, rightly is this said, because neither time past nor to come are to be found, only the present time, the "nunc stans" and afterwards more than once explains it, of this present time, the next year: and so both R. Solomon Jarchi, and R. Aben Ezra {g}, expound it, tazh tek, "according to this time", the year following; that is, exactly according to this present time next year, or this time twelve month; besides, in Ge 17:21 it is said, "at this set time", and in Ge 18:14, "at the appointed time"; all which support the apostle in his version.
{f} Perush in Gen. fol. 26. 4. & 27. 2, 3. Vid. in 2 Reg. iv. 16. {g} In Gen. xviii. 10.
Romans 9:10
Ver. 10. And not only this,.... This instance of Ishmael and Isaac, is not the only one, proving that Abraham's natural seed, the children of the flesh, are not all children, the children of God:
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, "it was said unto her", Ro 9:12, being in a parenthesis, "the elder shall serve the younger". The apostle was aware, that the Jews would be ready to say, that the instance of Ishmael and Isaac was not a pertinent one; since Ishmael was not born of Sarah, the lawful wife of Abraham, but of a bondwoman, which was the reason his rejection, when Isaac was the son of promise, by the lawful wife, and that they were children of Abraham in the line of Isaac, and so children of the promise, as he was: wherefore he proceeds to mention the case of Jacob and Esau, which was not liable to any such exception; seeing they not only had the same father, but the same mother, Isaac's lawful wife; they were conceived by Rebecca at once, were in the same womb together, were twins, and if any had the preference and advantage, Esau had it, being born first; and yet a difference was made between these two by God himself, and which was notified by him to the mother of them, before either were born.
Romans 9:11
Ver. 11. For [the children] being not yet born, So says {h} the Chaldee paraphrast,
"the prophet said unto them, was it not said of Jacob,
dylyta ald de, "when he was not yet born", that he should be greater than his brother?''
the Syriac version supplies, "his children", that is, Isaac's; and the Arabic version, "his two children". This shows, that the apostle designs not the posterity, but the very persons of Jacob and Esau; since as he speaks of their conception in the verse preceding, so of their birth in this: and though in the words of God to Rebecca, and which are urged in favour of the other sense, it is said, "two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people", Ge 25:23; yet this primarily respects the persons of Jacob and Esau, as the roots of their respective offspring; and only secondarily their posterity, as branches that should sprout from them; it properly regards their persons, and only in an improper, figurative, and metonymical sense, their seed; for in no other sense could two nations, or two manner of people be in Rebecca's womb, than as there were two persons there, who would be the authors of two nations and people; and whatever may be said for their respective posterity, taking their rise from one common father Isaac, or for their being chosen or rejected as nations, before they were in being as such, yet it cannot be said with any propriety, that "Rebecca conceived" their several offspring "by one, even by our father Isaac", Ro 9:10: which sense well agrees with the scope of the apostle, which is to prove, that all were not Israel which were of Israel, and that all Abraham's natural seed were not the children of God; which he could not better exemplify, than in the persons of Jacob and Esau; for to have instanced in the posterity of Esau, would have been foreign to his purpose, and not accord with the continuation of his discourse in the following verses, which entirely proceeds upon the subject of personal election and rejection, and with the scriptural account of the personal characters of Jacob and Esau; and from hence, as from many other passages, it may be concluded, that predestination, whether to life or death, is a personal thing, concerns particular persons, and not nations, or collective bodies of men:
neither having done any good or evil; Jacob and Esau were under all considerations upon an equal foot, were just in the same situation and condition, when the one was loved and the other hated; or in other words, when the one was chosen, and the other rejected; they were neither of them as yet born, and had they been born, their birth and parentage could have been no reason why one was chose and the other not, because in both the same; nor had the one performed a good action, or the other an evil one; so that Jacob was not loved for his good works, nor Esau hated for his evil ones; which confirms the truth of this doctrine, that the objects of predestination, whether to life or death, are alike, are in the same situation and condition: whether they are considered in the corrupt mass, or as fallen, they are all equally such, so that there could not be any reason in them, why some should be chosen and others left; or whether in the pure mass, antecedent to the fall, and without any consideration of it, which is clearly signified in this passage, there could be nothing in the one, which was not in the other, that could be the cause of such a difference made: so that it follows, that works neither good nor evil are the causes moving God to predestinate, whether to life or death; good works are not the cause of election to eternal life, for not only, this act of distinguishing grace, passed before any were done, but also these are fruits, effects, and consequence of it, and so cannot be the causes thereof; God does not proceed in order branches of salvation, as in calling, justification, &c. according to them, and therefore it cannot be thought he should proceed upon this foot in the first step to it; and which is ascribed to his free grace, in opposition to works. Evil works are not the cause of the decree of rejection, for this also being as early as the decree of election, as it must unavoidably be, was before any evil works were done; sin is not the cause of God's decree, but of the thing decreed, eternal death; otherwise all the individuals in the world being equally in sin, must have been rejected: it remains then, that not any works of men, good or bad, are the cause of predestination in either of its branches, but the sovereign will and secret counsel of God: that
the purpose of God according to election might stand: the decree of God, which is entirely free, and depends upon his own will and choice, stands firm and immutable, and is not to be disannulled by earth or hell, for it stands not on the precarious foot of works:
not of works: did it, it would not stand sure, for nothing is more variable and uncertain, than the actions of men:
but of him that calleth: who is the unchangeable Jehovah; it stands upon his invariable will and immutable grace, whose "gifts and calling are without repentance", Ro 11:29.
{h} Targum in Hos. xii. 3.
Romans 9:12
Ver. 12. It was said unto her,.... To Rebecca, Ge 25:23,
the elder shall serve the younger, or "the greater shall serve the lesser", an Hebrew way of speaking; so Japheth is called lwdgh, "the great", or, as we render it, "the elder", Ge 10:21; and the evil imagination is said {i} to be lwdg, "greater", that is, elder than the good, thirteen years; See Gill on "Lu 22:26"; The sense is, Esau shall be a servant to Jacob; which is to be understood, not of temporal servitude; for in this sense he never was a servant to him; so far from it, that as soon as Jacob had got the birthright and blessing, he was obliged to flee from the face and fury of Esau; and upon his return after many years, he sent messengers to Esau in a very submissive manner, charging them after this manner, "thus shall ye shall say to my lord Esau, thy servant Jacob saith thus", &c. Ge 32:4, and when he found that his brother was coming to meet him, which threw him into a panic fear, lest he should "smite [him], and the mother with the children", Ge 32:11, he prepares presents for him; and when he came to him, bowed himself seven times, and his wives and children bowed likewise; and the language in which he addressed his brother Esau, all the while they were together, was that of "my lord": now if this oracle was to be understood of outward temporal servitude, it is strange it should have no appearance, nor any shadow of an accomplishment in the persons of Jacob and Esau, supposing it was to have one in their posterity; and indeed the completion of it, in this sense, is not very evident in their offspring. It is certain, there was a long train of dukes and kings in Esau's family, before there was any king in Israel; the posterity of Esau were in lordly grandeur and splendour, when the children of Israel were grievously oppressed with hard bondage in Egypt. The single instance usually referred to, when the Edomites became tributaries to David, was near a thousand years after the giving out of this oracle; and this show of servitude did not last long, for in Joram's time they revolted, and so continued; and it is evident, that at the time of the Babylonish captivity, the children of Edom were prosperous and triumphant, and said concerning Jerusalem, "Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof", Ps 137:7: this servitude therefore is to be understood in a spiritual sense, of Esau's exclusion from the favour of God, and blessings of grace, signified by his being rejected from inheriting the blessing, which was given to Jacob; and it appeared that he was not a son, but a servant, by his departure, and pitching his dwelling elsewhere; which showed he had no interest in spiritual adoption, no right to the covenant of grace, nor was he an heir of heaven, all which were peculiar to Jacob: Esau was a servant of sin, under the dominion of it, and in bondage to it; whilst Jacob was the Lord's freeman, and, as a prince, had power with God and with men, and prevailed: Esau was serviceable to Jacob, both in things temporal and spiritual; as reprobates are to the elect, for all things are for their sakes, and work together for their good; Jacob's being obliged to flee from his brother, was for his good; by this means he got him a suitable wife, and large substance: his brother's meeting him on his return, which gave him so much pain and uneasiness, issued in his spiritual good; this sent him to the throne of grace, to humble himself before God, acknowledge his mercies, and his dependence on him, to implore his help, and plead his promises; and thus the oracle was verified in the persons of Jacob and Esau.
{i} Midrash Kohelet, fol. 80. 1.
Romans 9:13
Ver. 13. As it is written,.... In Mal 1:2;
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. These words are explanative of the former; they are of like import, and the one interpret the other; and show, that the former are to be understood in a spiritual, and not in a temporal sense, and of the persons, and not the posterity of Jacob and Esau; for though Malachi prophesied long after Jacob and Esau were personally dead, yet the Lord in that prophecy manifestly directs the murmuring Jews to the personal regard he had had to Jacob and Esau, and which had continued in numberless instances to their respective posterities, in order to stop their mouths, and reprove their ingratitude; and though he speaks of the nation of the Edomites, and to the posterity of Israel, yet it is evident, that he has a respect to the persons of Jacob and Esau, from whence they sprung, when he says, "was not Esau Jacob's brother?" Mal 1:2, now though an Edomite may be said to be brother to an Israelite, yet Esau is never said, nor can he with any propriety be said to be the brother of Jacob's posterity: it remains, that these words regard their persons, and express the true spring and source of the choice of the one, and the rejection of the other; and which holds true of all the instances of either kind: everlasting and unchangeable love is the true cause and spring of the choice of particular persons to eternal salvation; and hatred is the cause of rejection, by which is meant not positive hatred, which can only have for its object sin and sinners, or persons so considered; but negative hatred, which is God's will, not to give eternal life to some persons; and shows itself by a neglect of them, taking no notice of them, passing them by, when he chose others; so the word "hate" is used for neglect, taking no notice, where positive hatred cannot be thought to take place, in Lu 14:26.
Romans 9:14
Ver. 14. What shall we say then?.... A form of expression the apostle frequently uses, when he is about to introduce an objection, as is what follows:
is there unrighteousness with God? This is not an objection of his own, but of an adversary, which he takes up and returns an answer to; and which itself greatly serves to settle and confirm the true sense and meaning of the apostle in this place; as that it could not be, that election and rejection of men should proceed according to their merits; or that God chooses some for their good works, and rejects others for their wicked works, because no man could ever pretend to charge God with unrighteousness on this account; nor could it be that God chose and rejected men, upon a foresight of their good and evil works, for this also would not be liable to such an objection; nor that the Jews, having made the law of none effect by their traditions, despised the Gospel, crucified Christ, and persecuted his disciples, are therefore cast off, and the Gentiles, being obedient both in word and deed, are received into favour, for this likewise would not be chargeable with unrighteousness by men; but that two persons, as Jacob and Esau, and the same may be said of all mankind, being upon an equal foot, not being yet born, nor having done either good or evil, an inequality, a difference is made between them, by God himself; the one is chose, the other passed by: now in this is some show, some pretence at least, for such an objection; nor is it any wonder to meet with it from the carnal reason of men; wherefore we may be sure that the latter, and not either of the former, is the true sense of the apostle; since only this, and not either of them, is liable to such an exception: let us attend to the apostle's answer, which is "first" in his usual manner, by way of detestation and abhorrence,
God forbid: God is not unrighteous in his nature; nor in any of his ways and works; nor in this, in choosing some and rejecting others. There is no unrighteousness with God in that part of predestination, commonly called election; for this is neither an act of justice, nor injustice; not of justice, but of grace and mercy; of undue and undeserved grace and mercy, of mere sovereign grace and mercy; and is what God was not obliged to do; wherefore to choose some and not others, is no act of injustice; for injustice is a violation of justice, which has no place in this affair: if it is an act of injustice, it must be either to them that are chosen, or to them that are not; not to them that are chosen, to them it is an act of favour and good will, they are chosen to grace and glory, to holiness here, and happiness hereafter; not to them that are passed by, because they had no right nor claim to the grace and glory, which by this act are denied them, and therefore no injustice is done them. Every prince may choose his own ministers and favourites, and who he will have of his privy council, without doing any injustice, to those he takes no notice of; every man may choose his own company who he will converse with, without doing any wrong to such he does not think fit to admit to an intimacy with him; and yet men are not willing to allow the Most High that liberty, which every man daily takes, and may lawfully make use of: nor is there any unrighteousness with God in the other branch of predestination, commonly called reprobation, which is either negative or positive; negative reprobation is the act of preterition, or God's passing by, leaving, taking no notice of some, while he chose others: now the objects of this act are to be considered either in the pure, or in the corrupt mass; if in the pure mass, i.e. of creatureship, which seems to be the apostle's meaning, as being not yet created, made, or born, and having done neither good nor evil; no injustice is done by this act, for as it found them, it left them; it put nothing into them, no evil in them, nor appointed them to any, of any kind; man after, and notwithstanding this act, came into the world an upright creature, and became sinful, not by virtue of this act, but by their own inventions: or if considered as in the corrupt mass, as fallen creatures, sunk into sin and misery, which is the case of all mankind; since God was not obliged to save any of the sinful race of men, whose destruction was of themselves, it could be no injustice to pass by some of them in this condition, when he chose others; for if it would have been no injustice to have condemned all, as he did the angels that sinned, whom he spared not, it can be no act of injustice in him, to leave some of them in that condition, which sin had brought them into, whilst he has mercy on others; unless to have mercy on any, can be thought to be an act of injustice: what unrighteousness can there be in this procedure, any more than in drowning the world of the ungodly, whilst Noah and his family were saved in the ark? or in raining showers of fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities of the plain, whilst Lot, his wife, and two daughters, were delivered from the same? Positive reprobation is the decree, or appointment to damnation: now as God damns no man but for sin, so he has decreed to damn no man but for sin; and if it is no unrighteousness in him to damn men for sin, as to be sure it is not, so it can be no unrighteousness in him to decree to damn any for it: upon the whole it appears, that whatever show, upon first sight, there may be for a charge of unrighteousness against such a procedure of the Divine Being, there is no real foundation for it. The objection is to be treated with abhorrence and indignation.
Romans 9:15
Ver. 15. For he saith to Moses,.... That is, God said to Moses. The apostle goes on to answer to the above objections, by producing some testimonies out of the writings of Moses, in favour of both branches of predestination; showing, that the doctrine he had advanced, was no other than what God himself had delivered to Moses, whose name and writings were in great esteem with the Jews, whereby the apostle might hope to give full satisfaction in this point. The first passage he cites, is in Ex 33:19.
And will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. This is produced, in favour of special, particular, and personal election, and to clear it from any charge of unrighteousness; and by it, it appears, that God bestows his grace and mercy in time, on such persons he has willed and determined from all eternity to bestow it; this, is clear from hence, for since all this is dependent on his will, it must be as this was his will from eternity, seeing no new will can possibly arise in God, God wills nothing in time, but what he willed before time; that this grace and mercy are shown only to some persons, and that the only reason of this is his sovereign will and pleasure, and not the works and merits of men; wherefore since this grace and mercy rise out of his own free good will and pleasure, and are by no means the creature's due, it most clearly follows, that God in determining to bestow his grace and mercy, and in the actual doing of it, whilst he determines to deny it, and does deny it to others, cannot possibly be chargeable with any unrighteousness.
Romans 9:16
Ver. 16. So then it is not of him that willeth,.... This is not a consequence drawn by an adversary, showing that if this be the case, it signifies nothing for men to will or do, they may even sit still and do nothing, but depend on the mercy of God; but this is a conclusion of the apostle's from the above cited testimony, inferring from thence, that election, which is what he is discoursing of, is "not of him that willeth",
nor of him that runneth: that is, is not owing to the will or works of men, to the desires, inclinations, and affections of their minds, or to the actions of their lives; these are not the motives, conditions, or causes of this act:
but of God that sheweth mercy; in a free sovereign way and manner, which he is not obliged to by anything the creature wills or works; he is at full liberty, notwithstanding whatever they will or do, to give his grace and mercy, when, where, and to whom he pleases; and therefore to give it to some, and deny it to others, can never be accounted an act of injustice, since he is not bound to give it to any. Some make the it to be the blessing of Isaac, which was not of the will of any of the parties concerned; not of Isaac who willed it to Esau; nor of Esau who willed it to himself, but had it not; nor of the will of the persons who had their desires, not of the will of Rebecca, who was desirous of it for her son Jacob, nor of the will of Jacob, who desired it for himself, though he had it; nor of either of them that ran, not of Esau, who made haste to hunt for, and prepare venison for his father, nor of Jacob, who ran to the flock, for two kids of the goats; but of God that showed mercy to him, who, according to his sovereign will and pleasure, had signified before to Rebecca, that "the elder should serve the younger", Ge 25:23: as the apostle had mentioned this so lately, it might still be in his thoughts, and he may allude to it; but election being what he is discoursing of in the context, that is the "it" here designed; and what is true of that, is true of salvation in all its parts, and therefore some understand it in the large sense of salvation; though by others so qualified and limited, as to spoil the glory of the text: some saying that the sense is, it is not of him that willeth and runneth wrong, but of the grace and mercy of God; but as no man would ever assert, that salvation is of him that wills and runs wrong, so the apostle had no occasion to deny it: others say, that it is not only of him that wills, and only of him that runs, but also of God that shows mercy; making man's will and works joint causes with the mercy of God in man's salvation; and besides, as Austin {k} long ago observes, according to this sense, the words might as well be read, it is not only of God that shows mercy, but of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, which no Christian would dare to say: the true sense is, that as election, which is the leading step to salvation, is not owing at all to the will of men, but to the good pleasure and will of God; and not at all to the works of men, that being done before them, and they being the fruits and effects of that, but to the free love, grace, and good will of God; so salvation in all its parts and branches, as redemption, justification, regeneration, calling, and conversion, faith, repentance, hope, love, &c. and eternal life, is not to be ascribed at all to the will of men, nor at all to the works of men, but entirely and alone to the love, grace, and mercy of God through Christ.
{k} Enchiridion, c. 32.
Romans 9:17
Ver. 17. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh,.... arq rma, "The Scripture saith", is a Talmudic {l} way of speaking, used when any point is proved from Scripture; and is of the same signification with
anmxr rma, "the merciful God says"; and so the sense of it here is, God said to Pharaoh; the testimony here cited, stands in Ex 9:16; where it is read thus, "for this cause have I raised thee up",
Kytdmeh, or "made thee stand", "for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth"; and is produced by the apostle in proof of the other branch of predestination, called reprobation, and to vindicate it from the charge of unrighteousness: in which may be observed, that the act of raising up of Pharaoh is God's act,
even for this same purpose have I raised thee up; which may be understood in every sense that is put upon that phrase, unless that which some Jewish {m} writers have annexed to it, namely, that God raised Pharaoh from the dead; otherwise, I say, all the rest may well enough be thought to be comprised in it; as that God ordained and appointed him from eternity, by certain means to this end; that he made him to exist in time, or brought him into being; that he raised him to the throne, promoted him to that high honour and dignity; that he preserved him, and did not cut him off as yet; that he strengthened and hardened his heart, irritated, provoked, and stirred him up against his people Israel; and suffered him to go all the lengths he did, in his obstinacy and rebellion: all which was done,
that I might shew my power in thee; his superior power to him, his almighty power in destroying him and his host in the Red sea, when the Israelites were saved: and the ultimate end which God had in view in this was,
that my name might be declared throughout all the earth; that he himself might be glorified, and that the glory of his perfections, particularly of his wisdom, power, and justice, might be celebrated throughout the world. The sum of it is, that this man was raised up by God in every sense, for God to show his power in his destruction, that he might be glorified; from whence the apostle deduces the following conclusion.
{l} T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 82. 2. & 84. 1. Bava Metzia, fol. 47. 1. Zebachim, fol. 4. 1, 2. & passim. {m} Pirke Eliezer, c. 42.
Romans 9:18
Ver. 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will,.... These are the express words of the former testimony: it follows,
and whom he will he hardeneth; which is the just and natural consequence of what is contained in the latter; for if God could, or he did, without any injustice, raise up Pharaoh, and harden his heart against him and his people, that he might rise up against him and destroy him by his power for his own glory, then he may harden any other person, and even whom he will: now this hardening of men's hearts may be understood in perfect agreement with the justice and holiness of God: men first harden their own hearts by sinning, as Pharaoh did; what God does, is by leaving them to the hardness of their hearts, denying them that grace which only can soften them, and which he is not obliged to give, and therefore does them no injustice in withholding it from them; by sending them both mercies and judgments, which through the corruption of their hearts, are the means of the greater hardening of them; so judgments in the case of Pharaoh, and mercies in the case of others; see Isa 6:10; by delivering them up into the hands of Satan, and to their own lusts, which they themselves approve of; and by giving them up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, as a just punishment for their impieties.
Romans 9:19
Ver. 19. Thou wilt say then unto me,.... That is, thou wilt object to me; for this is another objection of the adversary, against the doctrine the apostle was advancing: and it is an objection of a mere natural man, of one given up to a reprobate mind, of an insolent hardened sinner; it discovers the enmity of the carnal mind to God; if is one of the high things that exalts itself against the knowledge of him; it is with a witness a stretching out of the hand against God, and strengthening a man's self against the Almighty; it is a running upon him, even upon the thick bosses of his bucklers; it carries in it the marks of ill nature, surliness, and rudeness, to the last degree:
why doth he yet find fault? The objector does not think fit to name the name of "God", or "the Lord", but calls him "he"; and a considerable emphasis lies upon the word "yet": what as if he should say, is he not content with the injustice he has already exercised, in passing by some, when he chose others; in leaving them to themselves, and hardening their hearts against him, and to go on in their own ways, which must unavoidably end in destruction; but after all this, is angry with them, finds fault with them, blames, accuses, and condemns them, for that which they cannot help; nay, for that which he himself wills? this is downright cruelty and tyranny. The objector seems to have a particular regard to the case of Pharaoh, the apostle had instanced in, when after God had declared that he had raised him up for this very purpose, to make known his power, and show forth his glory in all the world, still finds fault with him and says, "as yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?" Ex 9:17; and yet he himself had hardened his heart, and continued to harden his heart, that he might not let them go as yet; and when he had let them go, hardened his heart again to pursue after them, when he drowned him and his host in the Red sea; all which in this objection, is represented as unparalleled cruelty and unmercifulness; though it is not restrained to this particular case, but is designed to be applied to all other hardened persons; and to expose the unreasonableness of the divine proceedings, in hardening men at his pleasure; and then blaming them for acting as hardened ones, when he himself has made them so, and wills they should act in this manner:
for who hath resisted his will? This is said in support of the former, and means not God's will of command, which is always resisted more or less, by wicked men and devils; but his will of purpose, his counsels and decrees, which stand firm and sure, and can never be resisted, so as to be frustrated and made void. This the objector takes up, and improves against God; that since he hardens whom he will, and there is no resisting his will, the fault then can never lie in them who are hardened, and who act as such, but in God; and therefore it must be unreasonable in him to be angry with, blame, accuse, and condemn persons for being and doing that, which he himself wills them to be and do. Let the disputers of this world, the reasoners of the present age, come and see their own faces, and read the whole strength of their objections, in this wicked man's; and from whence we may be assured, that since the objections are the same, the doctrine must be the same that is objected to: and this we gain however by it, that the doctrines of particular and personal election and reprobation, were the doctrines of the apostle; since against no other, with any face, or under any pretence, could such an objection be formed: next follows the apostle's answer.
Romans 9:20
Ver. 20. Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against God?.... Or "answerest again to God": some have been so weak and wicked as to suggest, that the apostle met with an objection he could not answer, or give a fair solution of, and therefore takes the method he does: but when the several things returned in answer by the apostle are considered, it will appear that he has taken the wisest method to silence such an audacious objector, and that he abundantly clears God from the charge of cruelty and unmercifulness. And he answers "first", by putting the insolent creature in mind of what he was; "nay, but O man, who art thou?" &c. Thou art man, and not God; a creature, and not the Creator; and must not expect that he, thy Creator, will give an account of his matters to thee, or a reason why he does, this or the other thing. Thou art but a man, who in his best estate was vanity, being mutable; thou art a fallen sinful creature, and obnoxious to the wrath and displeasure of God for thy sins, and darest thou to open thy mouth against him? thou art a poor, foolish, and ignorant man, born like a wild ass's colt, without understanding, and wilt thou take upon thee to confront, direct, or counsel the Most High, or tell him what is fitting to be done, or not done? "next" the apostle answers, by pointing out his folly and madness, in replying to God. To speak to God in behalf of a man's self at the throne of grace, in the most submissive manner, for any mercy or favour wanted, is an high privilege, and it is a wonderful condescension in God to admit of; and when a man, a good man takes upon him to plead with God on the behalf of others, of a wicked people, a sinful nation, he ought to set before him the example and conduct of Abraham, who in a like case acknowledged himself to be but dust and ashes, and more than once entreated, that the Lord would not be angry at his importunity; but for a man to answer again to God, which a servant ought not to do to his master, to litigate a point with God, to dispute a matter with him, is the highest instance of arrogance and impudence: "woe unto him that striveth with his Maker, let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth", Isa 45:9: with their equals, with men like themselves, but let no man dare to "contend with God"; if he should, "he cannot answer him one of a thousand", Job 9:3; for "he is wise in heart", in forming all his counsels, purposes, and decrees; "and mighty in strength", to execute them; "who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?" Job 9:4. Another way the apostle takes in answering the objection is, by showing the absurdity of a creature's wrangling with God about his make, and the circumstances in which he is made:
shall the thing formed, say unto him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? reference is had to Isa 45:9; Now as it would be a most absurd thing for the clay, was it capable of speaking, to say to the fashioner of it, why dost thou put me into such or such a shape and form? or for any piece of workmanship to say to the maker of it, he has no hands, no head, no judgment and skill; or for a child to say to its parents, what begettest thou, or what hast thou brought forth? so absurd and unreasonable is it, for any to say to God, why hast thou appointed me to such and such ends and purposes, and has brought me into being in such a manner, and under such circumstances? There is a story in the Talmud {n}, which may be pertinently produced here;
"it happened to R. Eleazar ben Simeon, of Migdal Gedur, that he went from his master's house, and he was riding on an ass, and travelling by the sea side, and as he rejoiced exceedingly, and his heart was lifted up because he had learnt much of the law, there was joined to him a certain man that was very much deformed, and says to him, peace be upon thee Rabbi; but he did not return the salutation to him, but says to him "Raca", how deformed is that man! perhaps all thy townsmen are as deformed as thee; he replied to him, I do not know, but go and say, ynavev
Nmwal, "to the workman that made me", how ugly is this vessel thou hast made, when he knew in himself that he has sinned; upon this the Rabbi dismounted his ass, and fell down before him, and said unto him, I entreat of thee forgive me; he said unto him, I cannot forgive thee, till thou goest "to the workman that made me", and say, how ugly is this vessel which thou hast made.''
{n} T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 20. 2. Massechet Derech Eretz, c. 4. fol. 18. 1.
Romans 9:21
Ver. 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay,.... By the power the potter has over the clay, to shape it in what form he pleases, and out of it to make what vessels he pleases, and for what purposes he thinks fit, which will be most to his own advantage, the apostle expresses the sovereign and unlimited powder which God has over his creatures; the passages referred to, are Isa 64:8, in which God is represented as the potter, and men as clay in his hands; now if the potter has such power over the clay which he did not make, only has made a purchase of, or has it in his possession, much more has God a power, who has created the clay, to appoint out of it persons to different uses and purposes, for his own glory, as he sees fit; even
of the same lump, to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour. The apostle seems to design hereby, to point out to us the object of predestination to be man, as yet not made, but as lying in the mere mass of creatureship, signified by the unformed clay, before put into any shape; and is an allusion to the first creation of man, out of the clay, or dust of the earth, Ge 2:7; for such a consideration of man best agrees with the clay, lump, or mass, not yet formed, than as already made, and much less as fallen and corrupted: for if men, in predestination, were considered in the corrupt mass, or as fallen creatures, they could not be so well said to be made out of it, both to honour and dishonour; but rather since they were all dishonourable, that some were left in that dishonour, and others removed from it unto honour: besides, if this is not the case, God must create man without an end, which is contrary to the principle of reason and wisdom; the end is the cause, for which a thing is what it is; and it is a known rule, that what is first in intention, is last in execution, and "vice versa": the end is first fixed, and then the means; for God to create man, and then to fix the end of his creation, is to do what no wise potter would do, first make his pots, and then think of the end of making them, and the use they are to be put unto. To make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour, is for God to appoint creatures, which are to be made out of the same mass and lump, for his own glory; which end, his own glory, he determines to bring about by different means, as these following: with respect to the vessels of honour, whom he appoints for his glory, he determines to create them; to suffer them to fall into sin, whereby they become polluted and guilty; to raise and recover them, by the obedience, sufferings, and death of his Son; to regenerate, renew, and sanctify them, by his Spirit and grace, and to bring them to eternal happiness; and hereby compass the aforesaid end, his own glory, the glorifying of his grace and mercy, in a way consistent with justice and holiness: with respect to the vessels of dishonour, whom he also appoints for the glorifying of himself, he determines to create them out of the same lump; to suffer them to fall into sin; to leave them in their sins, in the pollution and guilt of them, and to condemn them for them; and hereby gain his ultimate end, his own glory, glorifying the perfections of his power, justice, and holiness, without the least blemish to his goodness and mercy: now if a potter has power, for his own advantage and secular interest, to make out of the same clay what vessels he pleases; much more has God a power, out of the same mass and lump of creatureship, to appoint creatures he determines to make to his own glory; which he brings about by different methods, consistent with the perfections of his nature.
Romans 9:22
Ver. 22. What if God, willing to show his wrath,.... The apostle proceeds to clear God from any charge of cruelty and unmercifulness, by observing his conduct in time, both towards those he passes by, and towards those he chooses; for in this and the following verse, nothing is said relating to any act of God before time, everything of that kind being considered already. In this verse, the apostle considers the conduct of God towards the vessels of dishonour; and let it be observed, that these are called
vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; they are said to be vessels, and so no longer considered in the clay, in the mass and heap of creatureship, but as creatures formed and made, and brought into being; and so to be used as instruments in God's hands, to subserve his ends and purposes, and therefore called "vessels"; and not only so, but "vessels of wrath", fallen sinful creatures, and so deserving of the wrath of God, and objects of his vindictive justice, in whom he may righteously display his wrath and vengeance: hence they may be so called, being as vessels filled with his wrath; as such who are the instruments and executioners of his wrath are called, in Isa 13:5, wmez ylk, "vessels of his wrath"; and in
Jer 50:25; where the Septuagint use the same phrase as here: and they are moreover said to be "fitted for destruction", as Haman is said to be by the Jews {o}; whom they affirm to be the same with Memucan, and ask why is his name called Memucan? and answer,
twnerwpl Nkwmv, "because he was fitted for punishment": so these are said to be "fitted for destruction", that is, eternal damnation; not by God, for this does not respect God's act of ordination to punishment; but by Satan, the god of this world, that blinds them, who works effectually in them, and leads them captive at his will; and by themselves, by their own wickedness, hardness of heart, and impenitence, do they treasure up to themselves wrath, against the day of wrath, so that their destruction is of themselves: a phrase somewhat like this is used in Ps 31:12, where the Psalmist, under some dismal apprehensions of himself, says, that he was like dba ylk, "a perishing vessel", or "a vessel of perdition"; the Septuagint render it, skeuov apolwlov, "a lost vessel". Now what is the method of the divine conduct towards such persons? he
endures [them] with much longsuffering; as he did the old world, before he destroyed it; and as he did Pharaoh, before he cut him off: God not only supports such persons in their beings, amidst all their impieties and iniquities, but follows and fills them with his providential goodness, insomuch that many of them have more than heart can wish; nay, to many he affords the outward means of grace, which they slight and despise; externally calls them, but they refuse, loving darkness rather than light, and therefore are inexcusable: now if after all this patience, indulgence, and forbearance, when he could in justice have sent them to hell long ago, he is "willing to show his wrath"; his displicency at sin and sinners, his vindictive justice, his righteous vengeance:
and to make his power known; what it is he can do, by the utter destruction and damnation of such persons; what man in his senses can ever find fault with such a procedure, or charge it with tyranny, cruelty, and unmercifulness?
{o} T. Bab. Megilia, fol. 12. 2.
Romans 9:23
Ver. 23. And that he might make known the riches of his glory,.... That is, his glorious riches, the perfections of his nature, his love, grace, and mercy, his wisdom, power, faithfulness, justice, and holiness; all which are most evidently displayed in the salvation of his people, here called
vessels of mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory. They are said to be vessels, and so considered as creatures, made and brought into being; "vessels of mercy", and so fallen creatures, and by sin become miserable, for only such are objects of mercy: they are not called so, because deserving of mercy more than others, they are in no wise better than others, and are by nature children of wrath, even as others; but because God of his infinite goodness fills them with his mercy, displays it in them, in the redemption of them by his Son, in the regeneration of them by his Spirit, and in their eternal salvation: and these are by him "afore prepared unto glory"; to everlasting happiness, which he has chosen them to before time, and calls them to in time; to this glory he does not take them, until he has prepared them for it; which act of preparation does not regard the eternal predestination of them to eternal life, but an act of his grace towards them in time; and which lies in putting upon them the righteousness of his Son, and in putting his grace in them; or in other words, in justifying them by the imputation and application of the righteousness of his Son unto them, and by the regeneration, renovation, and sanctification of their hearts, by his Spirit. Now what if God willing to make known his glorious perfections, by displaying his mercy to such sinners, and by preparing them for heaven in a way consistent with his holiness and justice, what can any man that has the exercise of his reason object to this? The whole of his conduct is free from blame and censure; the vessels of wrath he shows his wrath upon, are such as fit themselves for destruction, and whom he endures with much longsuffering and patience, and therefore he cannot be chargeable with cruelty; the vessels of mercy he brings to glory, none of them are taken thither, until they are prepared for it, in a way of righteousness and holiness, and therefore he cannot be charged with acting contrary to the perfections of his nature.
Romans 9:24
Ver. 24. Even us whom he hath called,.... From election the apostle proceeds to calling, the fruit and evidence of it, taking the same method he did in Ro 8:30, with a view to treat of the call of the Gentiles, of which he afterwards gives proof from prophecy; whence it appears to be according to divine predestination, upon which prophecy is founded; for God foretells that such a thing will be, because he has foreordained it shall be. These words are explanative of the former, and show who the vessels of mercy are; they are such whom God calls by his grace. Election may be known by calling, as the cause by its effect, and that without an extraordinary revelation. This may as well be known, as man's adoption, justification, and the forgiveness of his sins; for as all the chosen are, and shall be called in time, so all that are truly called by the grace of God, are manifestly, and to a demonstration, the chosen vessels of salvation: if a man is satisfied of his calling, he ought to be equally so of his election, the one being demonstrable by the other; and for such an one to doubt of it, is his sin and crime. Moreover, the above phrase, "afore prepared for glory", is here further explained; to be afore prepared for glory, is no other than to be called, sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God; for this is the saints' preparation for glory, before they come to it; and hereby the means are expressed, even sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, through which God appoints his people unto salvation: now this calling is to be understood, not of a call to any office, as of Aaron to the priesthood, of Saul to the kingdom, of the disciples of Christ to apostleship, or of ministers to the work of the ministry; for persons may be called to the highest office in church and state, as Judas to: apostleship, and Pharaoh to the throne of Egypt, and yet have no share in electing grace: nor of a call by the external ministry of the word, which is often slighted, despised, and of none effect; in this sense many are called, who are not chosen: but of a call that is by the powerful, efficacious, and irresistible grace of God; a call that is internal, that reaches the heart, and not the ear only: a special one that is peculiar to God's elect, is by special grace, and is to special blessings, as both grace and glory; it is an high, heavenly, and holy calling, and is without repentance; between which and glorification, as between it and eternal election, there is a close and an inseparable connection. The objects of this grace follow,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles; not all the Jews, nor all the Gentiles, but some of each; as all are not chosen, all are not redeemed, only some out of every kindred, tongue, nation, and people; so not all, but some only are called by grace: and this is not peculiar to the Jews, it reaches to the Gentiles also; and under the present dispensation, to the far greater number of them.
Romans 9:25
Ver. 25. As he also saith in Osee,.... Ho 2:23, so "Hosea" is called "Osee", as here, in the Septuagint in Ne 10:23. That is, as God says in the prophecy of Hosea, which was given by divine inspiration; and speaks of the calling of the Gentiles, as the spiritual Israel, after God had wrote a "lo-ammi", Ho 1:9, and a "loruhamah", Ho 1:6, upon the people of the Jews; and shows, that he had appointed some from among the Gentiles, to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ; since he foretells their calling, long before they were in being; which could have no other foundation than his own eternal sovereign will and pleasure:
I will call them my people, which were not my people; his people they were before he called them, in some sense; inasmuch as he had chosen them for his people, had promised in covenant they should be, had given them to Christ as his people, and him to be a covenant to them: who, as such, made reconciliation for them, sanctified them by his blood, redeemed and saved them; but then they were not known to be the people of God, neither by themselves, who knew not God, and so could not know themselves to be his people; nor by others, by the Jews, by whom they were called the uncircumcision, sinners of the Gentiles; looking upon the character or the people of God, as only belonging to themselves: God had not as yet laid hold on them as his people, and claimed his right in them, and made known himself to them as their covenant God; he had not avouched them to be his people, nor had they avouched him to be their God; as yet they were not his willing people, nor a holy people, not being formed for himself, by his mighty grace; nor a people near unto him, with respect to worship and fellowship, but afar off from him. His calling them his people, is his acquainting them with their relation to him, which he had taken them in to himself, of his own grace; for so it is in Ho 2:23: "And I will say unto them which were not my people, thou art my people": in the effectual calling, the Spirit of God is sent down into the hearts of his people, to witness their relation to him, and to work faith in their souls, to receive the testimony; when they reply and say, "thou art my God", Ho 2:23, and so they come to know themselves to be the people of God, of which they were before ignorant; and to be known others, by being made a willing people, in the day God's power upon them, willing to be saved by him in his own way, and willing to serve and worship him in his own ordinances, and according to his own appointment; and by being holy and righteous, having the characters, and enjoying the privileges of the people of God:
and her beloved, which was not beloved. In the text in Ho 2:23, it is, "I will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy": hence the Vulgate Latin has added this clause to the text, though unsupported by any copy, or other version. The apostle is to be justified in his version, by the Septuagint interpreters, who have rendered the passage in Hosea, "I will love her that was not beloved"; and by the true sense of the word Mxr there used, which signifies to love in the most kind, tender, and endearing manner; see Ps 18:1; where the word is used and so rendered. The sense is not, that God's chosen ones among the Gentiles were not the objects of his love before calling; for their very calling is the fruit, effect, and so the evidence of love before. The love of God is from everlasting to everlasting, invariably and unchangeably the same; he had chosen them in his Son; he had made a covenant with them in Christ, had put them into his hands, and made them his care and charge; he had sent him to die for them, and obtain eternal redemption for them; and all this before he called them, which abundantly proves his love to them: but this love was not manifested to their souls; it had not been shed abroad in their hearts; they had no sensation of it in their breasts; the streams of that river of God had not as yet flowed into their souls; nor were they partakers of the effects of it in themselves; but being called by grace, they feel, they experience, and enjoy that, and all the happy: fruits and effects of it; the loving kindness of God is let down into their hearts in the effectual calling, and with it he draws them to himself, as a fruit and evidence of his everlasting and unchangeable love to them.
Romans 9:26
Ver. 26. And it shall come to pass that in the place,.... This is another citation out of Hosea, and is to be seen in Ho 1:10, and the meaning is, that in those countries, as here in Great Britain, in the very selfsame place, or spot of ground,
where it was said unto them, ye are not my people; where were nothing but idolatry and idolatrous worshippers, and whose worship, works, and actions, declared them not to be the people of God:
there shall they be called the children of the living God; not only children of God, but of the living God; in opposition to their idol gods, their lifeless deities, and senseless statues of gold, silver, brass, wood, or stone, they fell down to and worshipped. The chosen of God among the Gentiles, were from all eternity predestinated to the adoption of children; this blessing was provided, laid up, and secured for them, in the covenant of grace; in this relation of children were they given to Christ, and under this consideration of them did he partake of the same flesh and blood with them, and died, to gather them together, who were scattered abroad in the several parts of the world; and because they were antecedently sons by adopting grace, therefore the Spirit of God in effectual calling is sent down into their hearts to bear witness to their spirits, that they are the children of the living God, and to work faith in their souls to believe it; by which grace they receive this blessing, as all others, even the right and privilege of being the children of God; by this they claim it, and enjoy the comfort of it; and so are manifestly, both to themselves and others, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; though this will more clearly appear another day, than it does now.
Romans 9:27
Ver. 27. Esaias crieth concerning Israel,.... The apostle having produced proper testimonies in proof of the calling of the Gentiles, proceeds to mention others; showing, that some few of the Jews also were to be called, according to prophecy, founded upon divine predestination; which, though they are full proofs of the calling of some from among the Jews, yet at the same time suggest the casting off of the far greater number of them; and which is the apostle's view in citing them, as appears from what he says both here and in the two following chapters. The first testimony is taken out of
Isa 10:22, and is prefaced or introduced with these words; which either express the great concern of mind and sorrow of heart, with which the prophet spoke them, even with strong crying and tears, seeing a remnant of them only was to be saved; or they show his heart's desire and prayer to God, "for Israel", as the words may be rendered, how that he cried to the Lord for them, entreated him with earnestness and importunity, and wrestled with him on their behalf; or they declare the presence of mind, the freedom of expression, the boldness and intrepidity with which he delivered this message to the Jews, which he knew must be ungrateful to them; in doing which, he run the risk of losing his interest in their affections, if not his life; and inasmuch very probably they did not choose to hear it, but turned away from him, he cried aloud, he spared not, he lift up his voice like a trumpet, as he is bid to do elsewhere, resolving they should hear what he had to say, from the Lord of hosts. This is a form of speech used by the Jews, in citing Scripture; thus, xwu
aybnh, "the prophet cries" {p}, namely, in Isa 26:1, which is spoken of the same prophet as here; and again {q} the Holy Spirit
txwu, "cries, and says", in some certain passage of Scripture; and in another place {r} the Holy Spirit "cried", saying, as in Joe 3:3: "they have cast lots for my people".
Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea: this part of the testimony seems rather to be taken from Ho 1:10, which may easily be accounted for; since the apostle had just cited the words in Hosea, and so carrying them in his mind, transcribes this sentence from thence; it perfectly agreeing in sense with the passage in Isaiah he had in view, where it stands thus, "though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea", Isa 10:22; that is, though the number of them be such as to be compared thereunto; though they are many as the sand of the sea, as the Targum, Kimchi, and Aben Ezra explain it. This was promised unto Abraham, and had its accomplishment in the days of Solomon, and in after times; they were for quantity, for number, as the sand of the sea, even innumerable; and for quality, being barren and unfruitful, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers:
a remnant shall be saved; that is, a few persons only; rav arqy
jemh, "few are called a remnant", as Kimchi on the place observes; these are the remnant among the Jews, according to the election of grace; the few that were chosen, though many were called by the external ministry of Christ and his apostles; the little city, and few men in it, even the escaped of Israel, he that was left in Zion, and that remained in Jerusalem; the little flock among them, which were as sheep among wolves; the few that entered in at the strait gate, and found the way to eternal life; the few that shall be saved; and these shall certainly be saved, with a spiritual and eternal salvation. These, according to the prophecy, were to return to the mighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah; be converted to him, and so saved by him with an everlasting salvation: God had resolved upon it, whose counsel shall stand; he had promised it in covenant, which is ordered in all things and sure; he sent his Son to save these his people from their sins, who is become the author of eternal salvation to them; the grace of God is efficacious and powerful enough, to make them willing to be saved by Christ, and to bring them to him, to venture upon him, and commit their souls to him, to be saved by him; and almighty power is concerned, to keep them through faith unto salvation: so that this little remnant, through the Father's everlasting and unchangeable love, the Son's purchase, prayers, and preparations, and the spirits grace, which works them up for this selfsame thing, shall be certainly and completely saved; though with respect to the difficulties attending it, which could have been surmounted by none but Christ, and by reason of their discouragements arising from sin, temptations, and persecutions, they may be said to be scarcely saved.
{p} Tanchuma, fol. 17. 3. apud Surenhus. Biblos Katallages, p. 14. {q} Mechilta, fol. 15. 1. Ib. {r} Megillat Esther, fol. 93. 1.
Romans 9:28
Ver. 28. For he will finish the work,.... This passage has some difficulty in it: some, instead of "work", read "account", and suppose it is an allusion to the balancing of accounts, when the remainder is cut off, which commonly is but little; and so regards the small number of the Jews that shall be called and saved, as before: others read it "the word", and differently explain it; some understanding it of the incarnate Word, of his being emptied, and made of no reputation, of his being cut off in a very short time, a few years after he had entered upon his public ministry, and of the few persons converted under it; others of the law, of the cutting off, or abolishing the ceremonial law, perfecting or completing the moral law, and abbreviating it, or reducing it into a short compendium; others of the Gospel, bringing in and revealing a perfect righteousness, for the justification of sinners, which the law could not do; all foreign to the apostle's purpose. Those who think God's work, his strange work is meant, his work of punitive justice he will finish,
and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth, when he cut off and destroyed the greater part of the people of the Jews, and saved a remnant, seem to come nearer the mind of the prophet and the apostle's design, in citing this passage. The words as in Isaiah, I would choose to render and explain thus;
Uwrx Nwylk, "the absolute", or "precise degree", so Aben Ezra, interprets it, Mvhm rwzg, "that which is decreed by God", the decree concerning the salvation of the remnant, hqdu Pjwv, "he", i.e. God "shall cause to overflow in righteousness", Isa 10:22, as an overflowing river; that is, he shall abundantly execute it, he shall completely fulfil it, to finish and cut it short in the most righteous manner, consistent with all his divine perfections; hurxnw hlk yk, "for the decree and that determined", so Aben Ezra, trzgn hrzg, "the decree decreed" by God, "the Lord God of hosts", hve, "shall execute", accomplish, make short and full work of it, "in the midst of all the land", Isa 10:23, that is, of Judea: so that the words contain a most strong and invincible reason, why the remnant shall be saved; because God has made an absolute decree, concerning the salvation of it, which he will accomplish in the fullest manner, agreeably to his justice and holiness: the logov, or "word", the apostle from the prophet speaks of, that should be finished, and cut short and accomplished in righteousness, is the sentence, counsel, or decree, conceived in the divine mind, concerning this matter: hence as the decree of election stands firm and sure, not upon the works of men, but upon the absolute, sovereign, and efficacious will of God; so the salvation of his chosen people is not precarious, but a most sure and certain thing.
Romans 9:29
Ver. 29. And as Esaias said before,.... In the beginning of his prophecy, in Isa 1:9.
Except the Lord of sabaoth had left us a seed; the title and character the great God goes by here, is "Lord of sabaoth", that is, "of hosts", or "armies"; the Septuagint often leave the word untranslated, as here and elsewhere, as in 1Sa 1:11. He is Lord of the hosts of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, whom he brings forth by number, calls by their names, and them to praise him; of the angels, the multitude of the heavenly host, that do his pleasure, fight under him, and for him; and of the hosts of nations, of the several kingdoms of the world, who are all under his government, and among whom he acts according to his sovereign will and pleasure. Kimchi on the place says, he is called so,
"because of "the hosts above", and because of "the hosts below", who are the Israelites, that are called "hosts"; wherefore he would not consume us all, as we deserved:''
no, according to the council of his own will, he left them "a seed"; or as it is in Isaiah, a very small remnant": and so the Syriac here,
adyro, a remnant"; both signify one and the same, namely, a few persons only: "a remnant" signifies a few, which remain out of a large number; and so does "seed", which is reserved for sowing again, after the whole stock is sold off, or consumed: and the leaving of this small number designs God's gracious acts of reserving in the election of a people for himself; the calling them by his grace in time, and preserving them from general corruption; which if he had not done among the Jews, as Jarchi on the text says,
"of himself, and by his mercies, and not for our righteousnesses,''
we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha; the cities which God destroyed with fire and brimstone from heaven, for their iniquities: had it not been for electing grace, they would have been like the inhabitants of these cities for wickedness; and the case would have been the same with us and with the whole world, had it not been for God's act of election, choosing some to holiness here, and happiness hereafter. The decree of election is so far from being a door to licentiousness, that it is the true spring and source of all real holiness, that has been, or is in the world; and had it not been for this, there would have been no such thing as holiness in the world; and consequently not only Judea, but thee whole world, were it not for this, must have been long before now, like Sodom and Gomorrah, in their punishment.
Romans 9:30
Ver. 30. What shall we say then?.... To God's calling of a large number of the Gentiles, and only a very few of the Jews, according to his eternal purposes and decrees; what can be objected to it? is he chargeable with any unrighteousness? must it not be referred to his sovereign will and pleasure? is it not an instance of his grace and goodness, that he calls and saves some, when they were all so wicked, that he might in justice have destroyed every individual of them? or what is further to be said, concerning both Jews and Gentiles? or what can be objected to what may be further observed concerning them? as
that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness; the very same persons among them, who are, called by grace, and are vessels of mercy, before their calling were without a righteousness, stout hearted, and far from one; being without Christ, and destitute of his Spirit; they were ignorant of righteousness, of the righteousness of God, and of his law, and consequently of what true righteousness is; they were unconcerned about it, and did not labour after it, as the Jews did. They did not pursue and improve the light of nature, about God and things of a moral kind, as they might have done; but held the light and truth they had in unrighteousness, and indeed were filled with nothing else: and yet these persons
have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. The righteousness they attained unto, was not a righteousness of their own, not the righteousness of works, or a righteousness by the deeds of the law, to which the righteousness which is of faith is always opposed; nor faith itself, which is distinguished from it; but the righteousness of Christ, so called, not because that faith is the cause or condition of it, but because the discovery of it is made to faith; that receives it, lays hold on it, and exercises itself on it; by it the soul renounces its own righteousness, looks to, and depends on Christ's, and rejoices in it. These Gentiles being called by grace, "attained", "comprehended", or "apprehended" this righteousness; not by the light of nature, which makes no discovery, nor gives the least hint of it; but by the light of faith they apprehended it, as revealed in the Gospel; which faith they had not of themselves, but of God; so that the whole of this account is a wonderful instance of the grace of God, and abundantly confirms the observation made before by the apostle, that "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy", Ro 9:16; since these persons had nothing in them, disposing and qualifying them for a justifying righteousness, and yet attained one; and the grace appears to be the more distinguishing, by what follows.
Romans 9:31
Ver. 31. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,.... The Israelites, the far greater part of the Jews, who were not called by the grace of God, were all very zealous of the law, called "the law of righteousness"; because the matter of it was righteous, it was so in its own nature; and because perfect obedience to it is righteousness; as also because they sought for righteousness by the deeds of it. They very violently and eagerly pursued after it, they tugged and toiled, and laboured with all their might, as persons in running a race, to get up to the law, and the righteousness of it; and yet Israel, with all the pains and labour taken,
hath not attained to the law of righteousness: some of them fancied they had, supposing an external conformity to it, to be all that it insisted upon; not knowing the spirituality of it, that it required truth and holiness in the inward parts; and that he that offended in one point of it, was guilty of all, and therefore could not be justified by it.
Romans 9:32
Ver. 32. Wherefore? because they sought it not by faith,.... The question is asked, why they did not attain to that, which with so much diligence they pressed after? the answer is, because, as they did not seek for righteousness in a right place, or object, they sought for it in the law, and the works of it, where it is never to be found by a sinful creature, and not in Christ, in whom only are righteousness and strength; so they did not seek for it in a right way, by faith in Christ, without which it is impossible to please God, and by which only true righteousness is discerned and received:
but as it were by the works of the law; not by works which looked like works of the law, and were not; but they sought it as if they expected their justification before God was to be by works of righteousness done by them; or as if it was partly by their own works, and partly by the goodness of God, accepting of them for a justifying righteousness. The Alexandrian Copy, and some others, read only, "as it were by works"; and so does the Vulgate Latin version: another reason, or else a reason of the former is,
for they stumbled at that stumbling stone; meaning the word of the Gospel, at which Peter says they stumbled, and particularly the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ; or rather Christ himself, who was "to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness", 1Co 1:23.
Romans 9:33
Ver. 33. As it is written,.... In Isa 8:14; for the beginning and end of this citation are out of the latter, and the middle of it out of the former. This is an instance of gldm, "skipping", from place to place, concerning which the rules with the Jews were {s}, that the reader
"might skip from text to text, but he might not skip from prophet to prophet, except only in the twelve prophets, only he might not skip from the end of the book to the beginning; also they might skip in the prophets, but not in the law;''
which rules are exactly complied with by the apostle. The beginning of this citation is out of Isa 28:16:
behold I lay in Zion. The "stone" said to be laid in Zion, is by the "Chaldee paraphrast" interpreted of a "king"; by R. David Kimchi, of King Hezekiah, and by Jarchi of the King Messiah; and is truly applied by the apostle to Jesus Christ: the layer of this stone is God the Father, who laid him as the foundation stone, in his eternal purposes and decrees, in his counsels and covenant, in promise and in prophecy, in the mission of him into this world, and in the preaching of the everlasting Gospel: the place where he is laid is Zion, meaning either literally Judea or Jerusalem, where the Messiah was to appear, whither he came, and from whence his Gospel went forth; or mystically the church, where he is laid as the foundation of it, and of the salvation of all the members thereof; though, through the sin and unbelief of others, he proves to be
a stumbling stone, and rock of offence; which phrases are to be seen in Isa 8:14, and are spoken of, and ascribed to a divine person, even to the Lord of hosts; and are by the Targumist thus paraphrased, "and if ye obey not", hyrmym, "his word shall be for revenge, and for a stone smiting, and a rock of offence", and in the Talmud {t}, it is said, that
"the son of David (the Messiah) shall not come until the two houses of the fathers are destroyed out of Israel; and these are the head of the captivity which is in Babylon, and the prince in the land of Israel, as it is said, Isa 8:14.''
So that, according to the ancient Jews, this passage belongs to the Messiah, and is properly made use of for this purpose by the apostle, who had seen the accomplishment of it in the Jews; who stumbled at the outward meanness of Jesus of Nazareth, at his parentage, the manner of his birth, his education, the mean appearance of himself and followers; at his company and audience, his ministry, miracles, death, and the manner of it; and so believed not in him, for righteousness, life, and salvation; and thus it came about that they did not attain, or come up to the law of righteousness, or the righteousness of the law: but
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed; that is, who believes in Christ unto righteousness, who builds his faith, and hope of eternal salvation on him, the foundation God has laid in Zion, and at which the unbelieving Jews stumbled and fell; he shall neither be ashamed here nor hereafter: he shall not be ashamed of his faith and hope in Christ; nor of Christ, as the Lord his righteousness; nor shall he be ashamed or confounded at his appearing, but shall be justified before men and angels, and be received into his kingdom and glory. There is some difference between the passage as here cited, and as it stands in Isa 28:16, where it is read, "he that believeth shall not make haste": either to lay any other foundation, being fully satisfied with this, which is laid by God; or shall not make haste to flee away, through fear of any enemy, or of any danger, being safe as built on this foundation; and so shall never fall, be moved, or ashamed and confounded. Some have fancied a various reading, but without any reason. A very learned Oriental critic {u} of our own nation has observed, that the Arabic words "Haush" "Hish" answer to the Hebrew word, vwx, the prophet uses, and which have three significations in them, "hasten", to "fear", and be "ashamed"; the first of these is retained here by the Jewish commentators and modern versions; the second by the "Chaldee paraphrast", and Syriac translation; and the third by the Septuagint, and the apostle; and they may be all taken into sense, for he that is afraid runs about here and there, and at length is put to shame and confusion.
{s} T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 24. 1. Yoma, fol. 69. 2. Maimon. Tephilla, c. 12. sect. 14. {t} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 38. 1. {u} Pocock. Not. Miscell. in Port. Mosis, p. 10, 11.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Being about to discuss the rejection of the Jews and
the calling of the Gentiles, and to show that the whole agrees with
the sovereign electing love of God, the apostle expresses strongly
his affection for his people. He solemnly appeals to Christ; and his
conscience, enlightened and directed by the Holy Spirit, bore
witness to his sincerity. He would submit to be treated as
"accursed," to be disgraced, crucified; and even for a time be in the
deepest horror and distress; if he could rescue his nation from the
destruction about to come upon them for their obstinate unbelief. To
be insensible to the eternal condition of our fellow-creatures, is
contrary both to the love required by the law, and the mercy of the
gospel. They had long been professed worshippers of Jehovah.
The law, and the national covenant which was grounded thereon,
belonged to them. The temple worship was typical of salvation by
the Messiah, and the means of communion with God. All the
promises concerning Christ and his salvation were given to them.
He is not only over all, as Mediator, but he is God blessed for
ever.
Being about to discuss the rejection of the Jews and
the calling of the Gentiles, and to show that the whole agrees with
the sovereign electing love of God, the apostle expresses strongly
his affection for his people. He solemnly appeals to Christ; and his
conscience, enlightened and directed by the Holy Spirit, bore
witness to his sincerity.
All the
promises concerning Christ and his salvation were given to them. He is not only over all, as Mediator, but he is God blessed for
ever.
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary