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ROM. 1. 1, 2.
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle,
separated unto the Gospel of God, (which He promised afore by His
prophets in the Holy Scriptures.)"
Moses having written five books, has nowhere put his own name to
them, neither have they who after him put together the history of
events after him, no nor yet has Matthew, nor John, nor Mark, nor
Luke; but the blessed Paul everywhere in his Epistles sets his own
name. Now why was this? Because they were writing to people, who
were present, and it had been superfluous to show themselves when they
were present. But this man sent his writings froth afar and in the
form of a letter, for which cause also the addition of the name was
necessary. But if in the Epistle to the Hebrews he does not do the
same, this too is after his own wise judgment. For since they felt
prejudiced against him, lest on hearing the name at the outstart, they
should stop up all admission to his discourse, he subtly won their
attention by concealing the name. But if some Prophets and Solomon
have put their names, this I leave as a subject for you to look
further into hereafter, why some of them wished to put it so, and some
not. For you are not to learn everything from me, but to take pains
yourselves also and enquire further, lest ye become more dull-witted.
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ." Why did God change his
name, and call him Paul who was Saul? It was, that he might not
even in this respect come short of the Apostles, but that that pre
minence which the chief of the Disciples had, he might also acquire
(Mark iii. 16); and have whereon to ground a closer union with
them. And he calls himself, the servant of Christ, yet not merely
this; for there be many sorts of servitude. One owing to the
Creation, according to which it says, "for all are Thy servants"
(Ps. cxix. 91); and according to which it says,
"Nebuchadnezzar, My servant" (Jer. xxv. 9), for the work is
the servant of Him which made it. Another kind is that from the
faith, of which it saith, "But God be thanked that ye were the
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from a pure heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered unto you: being then made free from sin,
ye became the servants of righteousness." from. vi. 17, 18.)
Another is that from civil subjection (toliteias), after which it
saith, "Moses my servant is dead" (Jos. i. 2); and indeed all
the Jews were servants, but Moses in a special way as shining most
brightly in the community. Since then, in all the forms of the
marvellous servitude, Paul was a servant, this he puts in the room of
the greatest title of dignity, saying, "a servant of Jesus
Christ." And the Names appertaining to the dispensation he sets
forth, going on upwards from the lowest. For with the Name Jesus,
did the Angel come from Heaven when He was conceived of the Virgin,
and Christ He is called from being anointed, which also itself
belonged to the flesh. And with what oil, it may be asked, was He
anointed? It was not with oil that He was anointed, but with the
Spirit. And Scripture has instances of calling such "Christs":
inasmuch as the Spirit is the chief point in the unction, and that for
which the oil is used. And where does it call those "Christs" who
are not anointed with oil? "Touch not," it says, "Mine
anointed, and do My prophets no harm" (Ps. cv. 15), but at
that time the institution of anointing with oil did not yet even exist.
"Called an Apostle." He styles himself
"called" in all his Epistles, so showing his own candor
(eugnwmosunhn), and that it was not of his own seeking that he
found, but that when called he came near and obeyed. And the
faithful, he styles, "called to be saints," but while they had been
called so far as to be believers, he had besides a different thing
committed to his hands, namely, the Apostleship, a thing full of
countless blessings, and at once greater than and comprehensive of,
all the gifts.
And what more need one say of it, than that whatsoever Christ was
doing when present, this he committed to their hands when He
departed. Which also Paul cries aloud, speaking thereof and
magnifying the dignity of the Apostles' office; "We are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech by us;" i.e. in Christ's
stead. "Separated to the Gospel of God." (2 Cor. v. 20.)
For as in a house, each one is set apart for divers works; thus also
in the Church, there be divers distributions of ministrations. And
herein he seems to me to hint, that he was not appointed by lot only,
but that of old and from the first he was ordained to this office;
which also Jeremy saith, that God spake concerning himself,
"Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, I
ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jer. i. 5.) For in
that he was writing to a vainglorious city, and one every way puffed
up, he therefore uses every mode of showing that his election was of
God. For he Himself called him, and Himself separated him. And
he does this, that he may make the Epistle deserve credit, and meet
an easy reception. "To the Gospel of God." Not Matthew then
alone is an Evangelist, nor Mark, as neither was this man alone an
Apostle, but they also; even if he be said pr eminently to be this,
and they that. And he calleth it the Gospel, not for those good
things only which have been brought to pass, but also for those which
are to come. And how comes he to say, that the Gospel "of God" is
preached by himself? for he says, "separated to the Gospel of
God"--for the Father was manifest, even before the Gospels. Yet
even if He were manifest, it was to the Jews only, and not even to
all of these as were fitting. For neither did they know Him to be a
Father, and many, things did they conceive unworthily of Him.
Wherefore also Christ saith, "The true worshippers" shall come,
and that "the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John iv.
23.) But it was afterwards that He Himself with the Son was
unveiled to the whole world, which Christ also spake of beforehand,
and said, "that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ Whom Thou has sent." (John xvii. 3.) But he calls it
the "Gospel" of God, to cheer the hearer at the outstart. For he
came not with tidings to make the countenance sad, as did the prophets
with their accusations, and charges, and reproofs, but with glad
tidings, even the "Gospel of God;" countless treasures of abiding
and unchangeable blessings.
Ver. 2. "Which He promised afore by His Prophets in the Holy
Scriptures."
For the Lord, saith he, "shall give the word to them that proclaim
glad tidings with great power" (Ps. lxviii. 12, Sept.); and
again, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of
peace." (Is. lii. 7; Rom. x. 15.) See here both the name
of the Gospel expressly and the temper of it, laid down in the Old
Testament. For, we do not proclaim it by words only, he means, but
also by acts done; since neither was it human, but both divine and
unspeakable, and transcending all nature. Now since they have laid
against it the charge of novelty also, He shows it to be older than
the Greeks, and described aforetime in the Prophets. And if He
gave it not from the beginning because of those that were unwilling to
receive it, still, they that were willing did hear it. "Your father
Abraham," He says, "rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and
was glad." (John viii. 56.) How then comes He to say, Many
prophets desired to see the things which ye. see, and have not seen
them?" (Matt. xiii. 17.) He means not so, as ye see and
hear, the Flesh itself, and the very miracles before your eyes. But
let me beg you to look and see what a very long time ago these things
were foretold. For when God is about to do openly some great things,
He announces them of a long time before, to practise men's hearing
for the reception of them when they come.
"In the Holy Scriptures." Because the Prophets not only spake,
but also writ what they spake; nor did they write only, but also
shadowed them forth by actions, as Abraham when he led up Isaac, and
Moses when he lifted up the Serpent, and when he spread out his hands
against Amalek, and when he offered the Paschal Lamb.
Ver. 3. "Concerning His Son which was made of the seed of
David, according to the flesh."
What dost, thou, O Paul, that after lifting up our souls so, and
elevating them, and causing great and unutterable things to pass m show
before them, and speaking of the Gospel, and that too the Gospel of
God, and bringing in the chorus of the Prophets, and showing the
whole of them heralding forth many years before those things which were
to come: why dost thou again bring us down to David? Art thou
conversing, oh tell me, of some man, and giving him Jesse's son for
a father? And wherein are these things worthy of what thou hast just
spoken of? Yea, they are fully worthy. For our discourse is not,
saith he, of any bare man. Such was my reason for adding,
"according to the flesh;" as hinting that there is also a Generation
of the Same after the Spirit. And why did he begin from that and not
from this the higher? It is because that was what Matthew, and
Luke, and Mark, began from. For he who would lead men by the hand
to Heaven, must needs lead them upwards from below. So too was the
actual dispensation ordered. First, that is, they saw Him a man
upon earth, and then they understood Him to be God. In the same
direction then, as He Himself had framed His teaching, did His
disciple also shape out the way which leadeth thither. Therefore the
generation according to the flesh is in his language placed first in
order, not because it was first, but because he was for leading the
hearer from this up to that.
Ver. 4. "And declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead, even Jesus Christ."
What is said has been made obscure by the close-folding of the words,
and so it is necessary, to divide it. What then is it, which he
says? We preach, says he, Him Who was made of David. But this
is plain. Whence then is it plain, that this incarnate "Person"
was also the Son of God? First, it is so from the prophets;
wherefore he says, "Which He had promised afore by the Prophets in
the Holy Scriptures." (v. 2.) And this way of demonstration is
no weak one. And next also from the very way of His Generation:
which also he sets forth by saying, "of the seed of David according
to the flesh:" for He broke the rule of nature. Thirdly, from the
miracles which He did, yielding a demonstration of much power, for
"in power" means this. Fourthly, from the Spirit which He gave to
them that believe upon Him, and through which He made them all holy,
wherefore he saith, "according to the Spirit of holiness." For it
was of God only to grant such gifts. Fifthly, from the
Resurrection; for He first and He alone raised Himself: and this
Himself too said to be above all a miracle sufficient to stop the
mouths even of them that behaved shamelessly. For, "Destroy this
Temple," He says, "and in three days I will raise it up" (John
xix.); and, "When ye have lifted" Me "up from the earth, then
shall ye know that I am He" (ib. viii. 28); and again, This
"generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given
unto it, but the sign of Jonas." (Matt. xxi. 39.) What then
is the being "declared?" being shown, being manifested, being
judged, being confessed, by the feeling and suffrage of all; by
Prophets, by the marvelous Birth after the Flesh, by the power
which was in the miracles, by the Spirit, through which He gave
sanctification, by the Resurrection, whereby He put an end to the
tyranny of death.
Ver. 5. "By Whom we have received grace and Apostleship for
obedience to the faith."
See the candor of the servant. He wishes nothing to be his own, but
all his Master's. And indeed it was the Spirit that gave this.
Wherefore He saith, "I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is
come, He will guide you into all truth" (John xvi.
12): and again, "Separate Me Paul and Barnabas." (Acts
xiii. 2.) And in the Epistle to the Corinthians, he says, that
"to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the
word of knowledge" (1 Cor. xii. 8, 11); and that It
divideth all as It willeth. And in addressing the Milesians, he
says, "Over which the Holy Ghost hath made you shepherds and
overseers." (Acts xx. 28.) You see, he calls the things of
the Spirit, the Son's, and the things of the Son, the
Spirit's. "Grace and Apostleship;" that is, it is not we that
have achieved for ourselves, that we should become Apostles. For it
was not by having toiled much and labored that we had this dignity
allotted to us, but we received grace, and the successful result is a
part of he heavenly gift. "For obedience to the faith." So it was
not the Apostles that achieved it, but grace that paved the way before
them. For it was their part to go about and preach, but to persuade
was of God, Who wrought in them. As also Luke saith, that "He
opened their heart" (Acts xvi. 14); and again, To whom it was
given to hear the word of God. "To obedience;" he says not, to
questioning and parade (kataskeuhn) of argument but "to obedience."
For we were not sent, he means, to argue, but to give those things
which we had trusted to our hands. For when the Master declareth
aught, they that hear should not be nice and curious handlers of what
is told them, but receivers only; for this is why the Apostles were
sent, to speak what they had heard, not to add aught from their own
stock, and that we for our part should believe--that we should
believe what?--"concerning His Name." Not that we should be
curious about the essence, but that we should believe on the Name;
for this it was which also wrought the miracles. For it says, "in
the Name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk." (Acts iii. 6.)
And this too requireth faith, neither can one grasp aught of these
things by reasoning (logismp katagabein). "Among all nations,
among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ." What? did
Paul preach then to all the nations? Now that he ran through the
whole space from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and from thence again went
forth to the very ends of the earth, is plain from what he writes to
the Romans; but even if he did not come to all, yet still what he
says is not false, for he speaks not of himself alone, but of the
twelve Apostles, and all who declared the word after them. And in
another sense, one should not see any fault to find with the phrase,
if about himself, when one considers his ready mind, and how that
after death he ceaseth not to preach in all parts of the world. And
consider how he extols the gift, and shows that it is great and much
more lofty than the former, since the old things were with one nation,
but this gift drew sea and land to itself. And attend to this too,
how free the mind of Paul is from all flattery; for when conversing
with the Romans, who were seated as it were upon a sort of summit of
the whole world, he attaches no more to them than to the other
nations, nor does he on the score of their being then in power and
ruling, say, that they have in spiritual things also any advantage.
But as (he means) we preach to all the nations, so do we to you,
numbering them with Scythians and Thracians: for if he did not wish
to show this, it were superfluous to say "Among whom are ye also."
And this he does to take down their high spirit (kenpn to fushma) and
to prostrate the swelling vanity of their minds, and to teach them to
honor others alike to themselves: and so he proceeds to speak upon this
very point.
Ver. 6. "Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ."
That is, along with whom ye also are: and he does not say, that he
called the others with you, but you with the others. For if in
Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, much less is there king
and private man. For even ye were called and did not come over of
yourselves.
Ver. 7. "To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be
saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ."
See how continually he puts the word "called," saying, "called to
be an Apostle; among whom ye also are called; to all that be in
Rome, called:" and this he does not out of superfluity of words,
but out of a wish to remind them of the benefit. For since among them
which believed, it was likely that there would be some of the consuls
(upatwn; Ben. consulares) and rulers as well as poor and common
men, casting aside the inequality of ranks, he writes to them all
under one appellation. But if in things which are more needful and
which are spiritual, all things are set forth as common both to slaves
and to free, for instance, the love from God, the calling, the
Gospel, the adoption, the grace, the peace, the sanctification,
all things else, how could it be other than the uttermost folly, whom
God had joined together, and made to be of equal honor in the greater
things, those to divide on account of things on earth? on this
ground, I presume, from the very outstart, this blessed Apostle,
after casting out this mischievous disease, conducts them to the mother
of blessings, humble-mindedness. This made servants better, since
they learnt that they should take no harm from their servitude, while
they had the true freedom; this would incline masters to be gentle, as
being instructed that they have no advantage in being free, unless the
goods of faith have the first place given them. And that you may learn
that he was not doing this to work confusion, by dashing all things,
but still knew the best distinction, he wrote not simply to all that
were in Rome, but with a definition added, "beloved of God." For
this is the best discrimination, and shows whence the sanctification
was. Whence then was the sanctification? from Love. For after
saying, "beloved," then he proceeds, "called to be saints,"
showing that it is from this that the fount of all blessings is. But
saints he calls all the faithful. "Grace unto you and peace."
Oh address, that bringeth countless blessings to us! This also
Christ bade the Apostles to use as their first word when entering into
houses. (Luke x. 5.) Wherefore it is from this that Paul also
in all places takes his beginning, from grace and peace; for it was no
small war which Christ put an end to, but indeed one varying and of
every kind and of a long season (toikilon kai tantodaton); and this
not from our labors, but through His grace. Since then love
presented us with grace, and grace with peace, having set them down in
the due order of an address, he prays over them that they may abide
perpetual and unmoved, so that no other war may again be blown into
flame, and beseeches Him that gave, to keep these things firmly
settled, saying as follows, "Grace be unto you and peace from God
our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." See in this passage,
the "from" is common to the Son and the Father, and this is
equivalent to "of whom." For he did not say, Grace be unto you and
peace from God the Father, "through" our Lord Jesus Christ;
but, "from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Strange! how mighty is the love of God! we which were enemies and
disgraced, have all at once become saints and sons. For when he calls
Him Father, he shows them to be sons; and when he says sons, he has
unveiled the whole treasure of blessings.
Let us then keep showing a conversation worthy of the gift, and hold
on in peace and holiness. For other dignities are but for a time, and
are brought to an end along with this life present, and may be bought
with money (whence one might say they are not dignities at all but
names of dignities only, having their strength in the investiture of
fine array and the servility of attendants), but this as having been
given of God, the gift of sanctification and adoption, is not broken
through even by death, but even here maketh men conspicuous, and also
departs with us upon our journey to the life to come.
For he that holdeth on in the adoption, and keeps an exact watch upon
his holiness, is much brighter and more happy even than he that is
arrayed with the diadem itself, and has the purple; and has the
delight of abundant peace in the present life and is nurtured up with
goodly hopes, and hath no ground for worry and disturbance, but enjoys
constant pleasure; for as for good spirits and joy, it is not
greatness of power, not abundance of wealth, not pomp of authority,
not strength of body, not sumptuousness of the table, not the adorning
of dresses, nor any other of the things in man's reach that ordinarily
produces them, but spiritual success, and a good conscience alone.
And he that hath this cleansed, even though he be clad in rags and
struggling with famine, is of better spirits than they that live so
softly. So too he that is conscious of wicked deeds, even though he
may gather to himself all men's goods, is the most wretched of all
men. For this cause Paul, living in continual hunger and nakedness,
and being scourged every day was joyful, and went more softly than they
that were then emperors. But Ahab though a king, and indulging in a
sumptuous luxury, when he had done that one sin, groaned and was out
of spirits, and his countenance was fallen both before the sin and
after the sin. If then we wish to enjoy pleasure, above all things
else let us shun wickedness, and follow after virtue; since it is not
in the nature of things for one to have a share thereof on any other
terms, even if we were mounted upon the king's throne itself.
Wherefore also Paul saith, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace." (Gal. v. 22.) This fruit then let us keep
growing by us, that we may be in the fruition of joy here, and may
obtain the kingdom to come, by the grace and love towards man of our
Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom and with Whom, be glory to the
Father, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, even unto all
ages. Amen.
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