nature being absorbed, so that we have one Christ, and not two, one Lord Jesus and but one Lord Jesus.

16. Christians seldom, perhaps never, lay too much stress on the fact and the doctrine of Christ's resurrection. The Scriptures fully admit that it is essential, fundamental, v. 4. 1 Cor. 15: 14–18. Without it, Christ's servants are of all men most miserable. Without it, they would all go sadly through life, like the two disciples, saying, "We trusted that it had been he, which should have redeemed Israel." Luke 24: 21. If Christ rose not, then his people will not rise, and so it is all over with them, and their pleasing anticipations. Christ's resurrection is here introduced to establish his Sonship with God. It makes one sad to find Stuart saying: "How could the resurrection declare, in any special manner, that Christ was the Son of God? Was not Lazarus raised from the dead? Were not others raised from the dead, by Christ, by the apostles, by Elijah, and by the bones of Elisha? And yet was their resurrection proof that they were the Sons of God?" The answer to these vain questions is obvious and simple, and has been given a thousand times. Slade: "Jesus having been put to death as a blasphemer for calling himself Christ the Son of the blessed,' God would not have raised him from the dead, if he had been an impostor: His resurrection therefore was a public testimony, borne by God himself, to the truth of our Lord's pretensions." The same is found almost verbatim in Macknight. Nor is this all. So truly did the fulness of the Godhead dwell in him bodily that incontestably and gloriously the power of his own divinity, his own omnipotence, appeared not only during his life in raising the dead, in his own name, but after he was dead he raised his own body by the same irresistible energy according to his own predictions. If such great facts do not establish all claims set forth by the Saviour, nothing can.

17. Blessed gospel! blessed ministry. vs. 1, 5. O how men ought to preach. O how they ought to hear. The stupor, with which many proclaim and listen to the word of God, is strong proof that by nature they are dead in trespasses and sins. The most animated preaching falls far below the zeal, which the glory of our theme would warrant. Often the best preaching is but shouting in dead men's ears.

18. The great end of the ministry of the Gospel is not gained until men yield the obedience of faith. v. 5. The mercy shown to us poor sinners of the Gentiles, in making known to us the word of life, deserves perpetual eucharistic offerings. Who loves as he ought? Paul claims special interest in all Gentiles, and they ought to respond to his kind calls.

19. Missions ought to find favor with all converted men, v. 5. The man, who has no desire to see all nations brought to a saving acquaintance with Christ, does not love either Christ or his neighbor. Scott: "The end of the gospel-ministry is to bring sinners, of all nations, to obey the commands of God, by believing in his Son, and submitting to his authority; that his name may be glorified in their salvation, and that they may become a peculiar people to shew forth his praises." Men must know and believe the truth. There is no way by which Christ may receive his promised reward but by the wide propagation and hearty reception of his gospel. Isa. 496; 53: 10-12.

20. It is a great thing for us to get a true apprehension of grace, and to remember that every good and perfect gift comes down from God. Let us hold fast the doctrine of divine gratuity, especially in the whole matter of salvation, in the conversion of the soul, the establishment of a church, and the ordination of the ministry.

21. The whole scheme of the gospel supposes that Christ is glorified by the salvation of men, so that all the progress of the saving truth is for his name, i. e. to his honor, and therefore we are bound to receive that gospel ourselves, and make it known to others. Haldane: "Men are very unwilling to admit that God should have any end with respect to them greater than their happiness. But his own glory is everywhere in the Scripture represented as the chief end of man's existence, and of the existence of all things."

22. If men are ever to know the saving power of Christ's grace, it must be by a holy and effectual calling, vs. 6, 7. Something quite beyond a mere outward invitation or persuasion is necessary to move the dead soul. To some, such a doctrine is discouraging. To those taught from heaven, it gives all the encouragement they have, and all they need. If Ezekiel must prophesy over the dry bones, let him go at it in good earnest, for God is able to make them stand up a great army.

23. What a sad change has come over the church of Rome. "The Lord's beginning a good work in any place will not tye him to keep up the candlestick there in all time coming; for Rome, that then was famous for saints in it, is now become the seat of the beast."

24. It far more than compensates the saints for all the ill will and ill treatment they receive from men that they are beloved of God, v. 7. God loved them with compassion and good will even when they were his enemies by wicked works. "It is the greatest love that God can show to man, being everlasting love, which originates

with himself." It is because God thus loves his people that he brings them to a saving knowledge of himself. Jer. 31:3.

25. Men are never the servants of God indeed and in truth, so as to secure to them the divine favor, until they are saints, or holy ones, v. 7. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. This is the will of God, even your sanctification.

26. The best manners flow from pious affections. "True politeness is genuine kindness, kindly expressed." Even in saluting people that he never saw, Paul uses endearing terms, and sends to them the best wishes respecting both their souls and bodies. Dutch Annotations: "By the word grace is understood the original or fountain of all God's benefits towards us, and by the word peace, the fruits and sense thereof." It is much to be lamented that some good people, who really feel kindly, seem to have so strange an aversion to any proper expression of the real state of their hearts. Beyond cold civility, you get little or nothing from them. Such follow neither apostolic example, nor apostolic precept.

27. God's people are abundantly provided with all good things. They have grace and peace. Scott: "Without grace there can be no substantial peace: in proportion as grace is communicated, peace may be expected; and when grace shall ripen into perfect holiness, peace will become complete fruition."

28. All believers have one God and Father, as well as one Lord Jesus Christ, v. 7.

29. It is impossible to give a satisfactory explanation to even the forms of apostolic salutation without admitting that there is more than one person in the Godhead. The form of baptism given in the Gospel, and the form of benediction in 2 Cor. 13: 14, determine the number of persons in the Godhead to be three; but verse 7 as clearly determines that there is more than one person, from whom grace and mercy may be sought by prayer and supplication for ourselves and our friends.

CHAPTER I.

VERSES 8-17.

THE INTRODUCTION AND THEME.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

8.

FIRST, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. First: Peshito and Ferme: In the first place. It ordinarily marks the order of time, though in Matt. 6: 33 and in not a few other cases it includes the order of importance. In Rom. 3: 2 it is rendered chiefly. Here it is equivalent to, I begin by saying; Tholuck: Before I proceed to other matters. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. In this as in many other places the authorized version and most versions take no notice of the Greek particle, often rendered truly, indeed. Yet Tyndale, Cranmer and the Genevan read, Verely I thanke etc. My God. It is a

declaration of an appropriating faith. Through Jesus Christ may qualify either part of the clause, so as to make the apostle say that Jehovah is his God through Jesus Christ, or that he offers his thanks through Jesus Christ. For you all, because of you all, on account of you all; Rheims: for al you. That your faith is spoken of. It is a meager exposition given by Macknight: "The faith of the Romans, which occasioned so much discourse, was their turning from idols." He might as well have said it was their turning from theft, or lying, or uncleanness. The faith of the Romans was a mighty principle. It turned them from all sorts of sin. It made them love all the commandments. It specially regarded Jesus Christ, and there in the imperial city set up the banner of the cross, and in so public and fearless a manner that the church of Rome was already a city set on a hill that could not be hid, but her faith was spoken of over the Roman empire, which now embraced Western Asia and Northern Africa, as well as nearly all Europe. In Luke 2: I the phrase all the world is so used, though the Greek terms are not the same in the two places; but they mean the same thing. Beza paraphrases these words: Every where by all the churches.

9. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Paul justly felt the importance of fully gaining the confidence of the brethren at Rome, and therefore uses all fair means to accomplish his object. He had before asserted his divine. mission and his thanks for the grace granted to the church of Rome. He now avows in the strongest terms his lively and affectionate interest in them. God is my witness. Alford: There could be no other witness to his practice in his secret prayer, but God. This was no vain use of God's name. The occasion justified a solemn appeal to the searcher of hearts, involving the nature of an oath. Paul often makes such, but never frivolously. 2 Cor. 1:23; 11:31; Gal. 1:20; Phil. 1:8; 1 Thess. 2:5, IO. Serve; we have the cognate noun in Rom. 9:4; 12:1. The verb is rendered worship; Acts 7: 42; 24: 14; Phil. 3: 3; and even where rendered serve, it commonly denotes worship, or religious service. We have it again in v. 25, where it denotes religious service offered to idols. Paul's service unto God was not only outward but with his spirit; not merely by rites but with his heart. Ferme reads: cheerfully, with my whole soul, and unfeignedly. Compare John 4: 23, 24. This service was rendered. in the gospel, either in publishing the gospel, or in accordance with its requirements. The former is the better; each gives a good sense, and both are true. In v. In v. I the gospel is called the gospel