[a] resurrection from the dead] Ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν is the general word which contains under it the rising again of every dead body, and is applicable to every such particular that riseth, and so here denotes the resurrection of Christ, being by the context particularly determined to that, as in other places it may denote the resurrection of any one or more men, as the context shall enforce. I count myself obliged to do whatsoever I can (either in the preaching of the gospel or confirming them which have received it) to all sorts of men in the world, both those of the churches in Asia, Ephesus, &c. which are in Greece, and others which are most distant from them, and by the Greeks called Barbarians; and so I count myself to owe to you Romans the taking a journey to you at this time, from which I have hitherto been hindered, ver. 13. And so it is not my fault, who for my part, and as much as my will is concerned in it, am most cheerfully ready to take this journey to Rome also, to preach the gospel among you. For I am so far from concealing that I am very forward and earnest to make known the gospel of Christ, whatsoever opposition or persecution or pains it cost me, knowing it to be a most effectual means, the only one now designed by God, to bring all men that embrace it to repentance and reformation of life, (see note [a] ch. x,) and that which is by God appointed to be made known not only to the Jews, who had the privilege of having it first revealed to them, (see Acts iii. 26,) but to all others of all the nations of the world. For that economy of God's, that gracious method of accepting and rewarding all those that shall receive the faith and obedience of Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, is in or by the gospel revealed and promulgated, to this end, that men should believe on him and obey him sincerely, and so be partakers of it, and being justified by faith should continue to live by faith; that according to that which is said by the prophet Habakkuk, ch. ii. 4, The just shall by God's mercy accepting and rewarding his faith (his adherence and fidelity to him) return from captivity and live happily, so now in like manner all that fear God should return from the captivity of sin, and continue ¹⁰ the righteousness of God by faith is revealed to faith. B 2 [b] righteousness] For the explaining of this verse, the first thing to be examined is the notion of δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, and with the addition of Θεοῦ, the righteousness of God. Δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, signifies not always the virtue of just dealing, but sometimes, by a metonymy, the matter about which that is conversant, the things which by law are required of any, and in performance of which his righteousness consequently consists. Thus when, Matt. iii. 15, Christ saith to John, Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, by righteousness are meant all those things that under that more imperfect ministry of John were prescribed men, and required of them to do, to their being approved by God. Thus those things which are required of Jews to perform under the Mosaical law are called δικαιοσύνη ἡ ἐν νόμῳ, the righteousness which is in the law, Phil. iii. 6. And there being two sorts of proselytes of the Jews, one, of those which undertook the whole law of the Jews, were circumcised, &c. the other, of those which only received the seven precepts of the sons of Adam and Noah, the former of these were called indifferently λυγὶς, proselytes of the covenant, and λυγὶς, proselytes of righteousness. Where righteousness signifies all those commands and ordinances which in that Mosaical covenant were required of the Jews, and without submission to which no stranger was permitted to come into their inner court of the temple, and join with them in the worship of God. To this purpose it is observable what was the prime occasion of this Epistle, the great charge which by the Jews was laid on Paul for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, and thereby promising them acceptance and mercy from God for all their past sins on condition of their embracing the gospel, and living for the future according to that rule, without any performance of the ritual laws of Moses, circumcision, &c. This the Jews violently opposed, as that which was an apostatizing from the law of Moses, and the setting up a new righteousness, a new summary of performances, a new law, to the prejudice of the Mosaical. What Paul had thus done he here asserts and stands to, as that which was now the declared will of God, under the gospel, though distant from that which had before been required of Jews under the law. And as now For on the other side the displeasure and vengeance of God is most severely denounced against those that join impious and unrighteous lives with the profession of Christianity, that obey not the gospel which they receive, ch. ii. 8, (and such are the Gnostic heretics among you,) or that by indulgence in vicious courses obstruct the gospel, suffer it not to have force on themselves or others: (see ch. ii. 24.) [c] hold] The word κατίχω signifies two things, (very distant,) to retain and hold fast, and to obstruct or hinder. Κατίχειν, κρατεῖν, κωλύειν, συνέχειν, saith Hesychius, it signifies, to hold fast, to hinder, to compress. In the notion of hindering it is taken, 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7, and in the other in divers places. By this means it is become uncertain what it should signify here, especially when either way the sense is very commodious: for even they that retain the truth in unrighteousness, that under the acknowledgment and profession of the truth, veil and join all manner of impious living, do thereby hinder and obstruct the truth, viz. the force of it on themselves, and the propagation of it to others by that impious living of theirs. But the former is the more likely sense of it, and most agreeable to the consequents, of their knowing the truth and becoming unexcusable thereby. It being certain (and by their profession acknowledged) that God, as far as is necessary, is made known among them; for indeed God himself hath revealed and made himself known (beyond all excuse of ignorance) by the various methods that he hath made use of. For those things that are not of themselves visible, the infinite power and divinity of God, which from time to time, ever since the creation of the world, have been in themselves invisible, yet being beheld and seen, (as in reflection,) by his various dealings in the world, are now become visibly discernible, so far as to render them which do not discern, or which knowing do not serve and worship him as God, that is, do not live according to the rule of the gospel, utterly uncapable of the excuse of faultless ignorance: (see note [k] Matt. i.) [d] from the creation] The phrase ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου is here joined with ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ, the invisible things or attributes of God, his power and Godhead, from the foundation or creation of the world, that is, ever since the creation; so doth ἀπ' ἀρχῆς κτίσεως, from the beginning of the creation, signify, Mark x. 6, and xiii. 19, and 2 Pet. iii. 4; so κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, Matt. xiii. 35, the things hidden from the foundation of the world, and ch. xxv. 34, Luke xi. 50, Heb. iv. 3, where it clearly signifies from, that is, ever since the creation; and so ch. ix. 26: so Rev. xiii. 8, and xvii. 8, names written and not written in the book of the Lamb from, that is, ever since, the foundation of the world. By which it appears that there is no necessity of understanding God's ποιήματα, doings or actions here, of the works of the creation, but of all things that from that time to this inclusively have been done in the world by him; and so it will be extended to all the doctrines and miracles and actions of Christ, the whole business of the gospel. Because that knowledge which they have and boast of (and from thence style themselves Gnostics, the deepest knowing men) is not by them made use of to the worshipping or acknowledging of him, but they have fallen to the worshipping of images, (which are in Hebrew called vanities, falsities, ver. 25, and nothings, see note [d] ch. viii.) and by so doing put out that light which was vouchsafed them by God. (How this was true of the Gnostics, see notes [e] [f].) [e] knew God] The phrase γνόντες τὸν Θεόν, knowing God, here seems to refer the whole present discourse to the Gnostics, who were so called from their assuming to themselves so much of the knowledge of God and the mysteries of religion. And these being a sort of heretics in that first age under the apostles, who affirmed Simon to be God the Father that appeared in Mount Sinai, as also God the Son that Assuming the title of Gnostics, of knowing more, of being wiser than other men, they have proved more sottish than any, And instead of the invisible majesty and glorious appearances of God in bright clouds, &c., wherein God on mount Sinai manifested himself to Moses, but was not seen by him, they have expressed him and worshipped him in the images of Simon ¹¹ retain, or, hinder. that they are, εἰς τὸ εἶναι. εἰκόντε φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου. ¹² among them, ἐν αὐτοῖς. ¹³ done, ποιήμασι. ¹⁴ so far ¹⁵ the likeness of an image of corruptible man, ὁμοιόματι [f] glory] The word δόξα, glory, here seems to refer to the notion or use of it, Exod. xxiv. 16, where it is said of God's presence and appearance there in the Mount Sinai, וַיִּשְׁכַּן כְּבוֹר יְהוָה עַל ה', the glory of the Lord abode upon the mount. From whence it is that the word schechinah, "abiding," is ordinarily used to signify this or the like glorious appearance, or presence of God, and is directly parallel to δόξα, glory, here. Now of God's appearance on Mount Sinai it is to be observed, 1. that God did not there exhibit himself in any bodily shape; Upon which provocation of theirs God hath withdrawn his grace from them, hath not restrained, but left them to themselves, to the pursuit of all their filthy desires, and permitted them to break out into all uncleannesses of the most odious unnatural kinds, one with another to commit all reproachful and unnatural villainies: A just punishment on them that had changed the gospel into a fable, (see note [f]), or the true invisible God into an idol, (a falsity, an empty vain nothing, ver. 21,) worshipping mere creatures even above and in opposition to the Creator, (see 2 Thess. ii. 4,) that one eternal Majesty whom all are obliged to worship. [g] more than the Creator] Of the use of παρὰ for above one instance will suffice in the * Epistle of Eleazar the high priest to Ptolemy, telling him by way of great acknowledgment and gratitude, Πάντα ὅσα σοι συμφέρει, καὶ εἰ παρὰ φύσιν ἐστίν, ὑπακουσόμεθα, "All things that are profitable to you, though they be above nature, we will obediently perform." Thus Luke xiii. 2 and 4, ἁμαρτωλοὶ παρὰ πάντας, sinners above all others; though, Luke iii. 13, it be more fully expressed by πλέον παρὰ, more besides or above. As for the other notion of παρὰ for contrary to, (which here may have place also, for he that worships any thing above or beside the one true God, doth it in opposition to him, and to the wronging and robbing him,) we have an express testimony for it, Acts xviii. 13, παρὰ τὸν νόμον, contrary to the law. This, I say, hath provoked God to leave them to their own lusts without restraint, to permit them to fall into reproachful sins, and mere violences, and contumelies of nature: for even their women— ᵇ their idolatry bringing these unnatural lusts upon them, the punishment of that former sin: (see note [f] Jude.) And this by way of retaliation, as they have not thought fit to acknowledge God in their practices, (but only to boast of their deep knowledge,) so God hath left them to themselves, and given them up to a villainous, detestable, abominable state of mind, to commit unnatural things, such as nobody will think tolerably fit, or approve of; 29, 30. Whether sins of uncleanness of all sorts, of which they are full, or whether malice, bloodiness, contention, (which also these Gnostics every where professed against the Christians,) falseness, baseness of disposition, infusing hatred and variance secretly into all, detestable abominable people, most insolent in their reproaching of others, and boasting of themselves, inventors of all sorts of strange villainies, especially those of uncleanness, contemners of all that are [h] reprobate] The word ἀδόκιμος hath two notions especially, one among the metallists, the other belonging to the agones. Any metal that will not bear the δοκιμή, or trial, or which, being tried, betrays itself to be adulterate, is ἀδόκιμος, reprobate. But the notion that seems most peculiarly to belong to it in the New Testament is the other, taken from the agones, where, as he that strives as he ought, and conquers, is δόκιμος, approved, 2 Tim. ii. 15, and James i. 12, δόκιμοι καὶ ληψόμενοι στέφονον, approved, and such as shall receive the crown, and in other authors, εὐδόκιμοι, well approved, (and of other creatures, ἵππος δόκιμος, an approved horse, in the Ἱππατρικά,) so he that loses the game and prize, that doth not run or strive, νομίμως, according to the laws of the game, and so overcome, is said to be ἀδόκιμος, to miscarry in the race, and so to lose the reward of it. Thus in Democrats, Δόκιμος ἀνὴρ καὶ ἀδόκιμος οὐκ ἐξ ὧν πρᾶσσει μόνον, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν βούλεται, "A man is approved or rejected not only by what he doth, but by what he wills." So in the Sibylline Oracles, 'Ἀγνὸς γὰρ Χριστὸς τούτοις τὰ δίκαια βραβεύσει, Καὶ δοκίμους στέψει— "Christ will crown the approved." Thus 1 Cor. ix. 27, it is at the conclusion of an agonistical discourse of running and cuffing, &c., the close of which is, that the apostle uses all his most earnest endeavours, lest, (being a κήρυξ, preacher, crier, officer, in the agones, to propose the laws and rewards of the agones to others, which is ἀνακηρύττειν and ἀποκηρύττειν, to proclaim such a man conqueror, such a man to have lost,) he himself should ἀποκηρυχθῆναι, be rejected, found incapable of the reward by all aspired to, that is, fail of that crown of eternal life. So 2 Tim. iii. 8, ἀδόκιμοι περὶ τὴν πίστιν, in the matter of faith, such as were found unworthy of reward by God, proposed to Christians. So Titus i. 16, ἀδόκιμοι to every good work, that do nothing fit to be approved by God or man: where yet, as in all the former places, the figure λιτότης is to be observed, the word being used, not for him only that deserves no reward, or that misses it, but for him that is most contrary, the most vile and wicked, that deserves the contrary punishment, (as ἀσεβής, and ἄνομος, and ἀχρεῖος, and ἀσχημοσύνη, ungodly, without law, unprofitable, uncomeliness, signify the most wicked, the most unfaithful servant, most violent opposer of the law, the greatest impurities, and many other the like,) and therefore is interpreted by βδελυκτοὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀπειθεῖς that went before, being abominable, and dis- * Aristena Hist. 70. Interpret. p. 861. A. [i] covetousness] The word πλεονεξία in this and many other places of the New Testament, which we generally render covetousness, signifies excessive or unnatural lusts, (not desire of money only,) and is ordinarily set down among the basenesses of the Gnostic heresy, as I here suppose it is. So Eph. iv. 19, οἵτινες ἀπηλγηκότες, who giving over all labour, (as idleness was the mother-sin of the Sodomites,) gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ, in inordinate unnatural desires. Thus in Photius Epist. 168, ἡ βάρβαρος πλεονεξία signifies “such lust as was among barbarians or heathens.” (and had been before exemplified in Joseph’s Egyptian mistress,) τὸν ὀχληρὸν ἑραστήν κτησαμένη, “which possessed the disturbed lover,” as there it follows. So in St. Chrysostom, speaking of these unnatural lusts, Ὁρᾶς, saith he, ὅτι ἀπὸ πλεονεξίας τὸ πᾶν, “You see that it comes all from this inordinate desire, ἐπιθυμίας οὐκ ἀνασχομένης εἴσω τῶν οἰκείων ὄρων μένειν, lust not enduring to stay or be contained within its own bounds.” So in Antiochus λογ. ξαὶ ἐπιθυμία γυναικῶν καὶ πλεονεξιῶν, “desire of women, and such like inordinations.” For as to the nature of the word, it is known to come from πλέον ἔξω, and to signify any immoderate desire of any thing above one’s portion. So in Aristotle it is opposed ἰσύτητι, to equality. So in Hesychius, Πλεονεξία, τὸ πλέον τοῦ δίοντος ἐκ τινὸς λαμβάνειν, “to take more than is due or meet of any thing.” So in Lucian de Cal, the calumniator is described to be one that will have and enclose all his auditors to himself, will let no man else be heard, and for this he calls him πλεονεκτήν, one that assumes more than belongeth to him. And so Democrats in his Γνωμ. defines πλεονεξία to be speaking all, and not enduring to hear anybody else. And in Themistus’ Paraphrase of the first book de Anima, πλεονεκτεῖν is taken for any kind of exceeding, πᾶσαν γνῶσιν τιμίαν εἶναι, πλεονεκτεῖν δὲ ἑτέραν ἑτέρας, “one exceeds or excels the other:” and in Isocrates, ᵇ Tom. 2. p. 24. l. 13. ᶜ In Nicocl. [k] despiteful] The word ὑβρισταί may here most probably denote those unnatural lusts also. And so is it manifestly affirmed and defined by 8 Plato, Ἐπιθεμίας δὲ ἀλόγως ἱλκοῦσης ἐπὶ ἡδονὰς, καὶ ἀρξάσης ἐν ἡμῖν τῇ ἀρχῇ ὕβρις ἐπωνομίσθη, "When desire draws us irrationally to pleasures, and gets dominion over us, this is named ὕβρις, contumely." So 9 Dio in Œconomico, Κλαίων οὐδεὶς προιτρέψατο ὑβριστήν, "By weeping none ever incited the contumelious," that is, the unlawful lover. So in 1 Phintys's book of the woman's sobriety, the adulterous wife is said ἀδονὰς ἕνεκεν ἁμαρτάνεν καὶ ὑβρίσεν, "to be for pleasure's sake guilty of sin and contumely." And so in 2 Nicostratus, παῖδες ἐξ ἀκολασίας καὶ ὕβριως γεγονότες, are "adulterous brats." So in Philostratus de Vita Apoll. l. 1. c. 11, ὑβριστὴς ἄνθρωπος is presently said to be κακὸς τὰ ἐρω- By this it appears how little can be said in excuse of those seducers among you, who judge and condemn the orthodox Christians as breakers of the law, only because they are not circumcised, &c., when they who thus condemn them observe not the law, no, not in that very particular which circumcision peculiarly noted, the abstaining from abominable uncleannesses, but live and go on in those sins, ch. i. 29, and so condemn themselves in judging others. [a] whosoever thou art that judgest] Ὁ κρίνων, thou that judgest, here and in the end of the verse, and ver. 3, is clearly the Gnostic Judaizer, who teaches the observation of the Mosaical law, and accuses the orthodox Christians, who are not circumcised, for breakers of the law; and yet himself runs riotously into those sins, for the abstaining from which, circumcision was designed and instituted by God. This judging and condemning of the Gentile Christians was by them taken up from the Jews, who having themselves guilt enough of sins, as well as the Gentiles, would yet discriminate themselves from all others by this or the like character of legal observances, as by that which should justify them, or free them from judgment, under which the Gentiles, which knew not the Mosaical law, and were not circumcised, were to lie, and be accursed. This was the thing that John Baptist warns them of, to bring forth meet fruits of repentance, and not to say within themselves, We have Abraham to our father, which they were apt to believe should stand them in stead in the absence of all those fruits. This was the great error of that people, consequent to their opinion of their absolute election, whereby they resolved that it was not their just or pious performances that were looked on by God, or required to their justification, but their being Abraham's seed, within the covenant, ¹ Ap. Stobæ. p. 291. Ser. 42. HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. C THEREFORE thou art inexcusable, O man, 1 [a] whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. Whereas it is most infallibly certain and acknowledged by all, that God passes judgment rightly, not sparing a Jew for his outward ceremonies when he punishes a Gentile that lives as well as he, but punishing sin, rewarding disobedience (if it be not reformed and forsaken) wheresoever he finds it, without any acceptance of persons, or consideration of external performances or privileges or advantages in any. [b] truth] The Hebrew אבייה signifies both truth and justice, and is rendered by ἀλήθεια and δικαιοσύνη, and here one of them is put for the other, ἀλήθεια, truth, for δικαιοσύνη, justice, so as on the other side ἄδικον μαμμωνᾶ, the unjust mammon, is opposed to the true riches. See note [f] on Matt. xxiii. And then how is it possible that thou shouldst judge the pure Christian to be a breaker of the law, and thereupon in a damnable estate, only for not being circumcised, and yet deem thyself safe, when thou art guilty of those filthinesses which were most eminently prohibited by the law of circumcision? Or shall God's great patience and longanimity in deferring his vengeance on unbelievers, and his forbearing so long to punish thy sinful course, be cast away upon thee, be despised and not made use of by thee? Dost thou not consider that all this longsuffering of God to thee is purposely designed to bring thee to reformation, and if it work not that effect will tend to thy heavier ruin? Wilt thou thus go on in obdurate resisting of all God's methods, and be never the better by his deferring these judgments so long, but only to add more weight to thy ruin when it comes? Who shall not consider circumcision or uncircumcision, but punish or reward every man according to his actions. To them that by constancy of pure Christian performances, and by patient bearing of the persecutions that fall upon them for that profession, go on in pursuit of that reward which Christ hath promised to such, he shall bestow another life upon the loss of this, eternal bliss in the world to come: 8—10. But to schismatical factious men, which are as it were born and composed and made up of contention, (as the Gnostics are,) that resist the right way, deny the Christians the liberty of not being circumcised, and themselves live in all unnatural sins, those that do thus renounce the gospel, and live contrary to the law, to such all judgments must be expected, desolations and destructions here in a most eminent manner, and eternal misery attending them. And as the Jew shall have had the privilege to be first rewarded for his good performances, (as appears by Christ's being first revealed to him, in whom consequently and proportionably he shall have all spiritual grace and crown, if he embrace Christ, and live exactly and constantly according to his directions,) so must he also expect to have his punishment and destruction first, and that a sad one at this present by ³ according to, κατά. ⁴ Or, retribution of: for the King's MS. reads, ἀνταπνδύσεως. ⁵ patience of the good work, ὑπομονὴν ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ. ⁶ those that are of, or, from contention, τοῖς ἐξ ἐπιθείας. ⁷ worketh, κατεργαζομένοι. ⁸ Ἕλληνες, Greek. ⁹ Greek. For God's rewards and punishments are not conferred by any uncertain rule of arbitrary favour or displeasure, neither depend they upon any outward privileges or performances, as either having or not having received the law, being or not being circumcised, but are exactly proportioned according to men's inward qualifications or demeanours. For all those of the Gentile world, who having not received the Mosaical law of circumcision, have sinned against that knowledge of God which hath otherwise been afforded them, shall be adjudged to perdition, though not by the law of Moses, (it shall never be laid to their charge that they have not been circumcised,) or though they be punished, yet shall not they have that aggravation of their sin and punishment which belongs to those which have received the law of Moses, they shall only be judged for their not observing the law of nature, (see Theophylact,) the law of Moses being not able to accuse them. And those who having received the law of Moses, and in it the sign of the covenant, circumcision, do not yet live according to it, (such are these unbelieving Jews and Judaizing Gnostics,) all the benefit that they shall reap by their having received the law and circumcision shall be to have that their accuser, by which they may be condemned the deeper, instead of their advocate to plead for them. For, to speak to the latter first, (see note [b] Matt. vii.,) it is a dangerous unchristian error to think that the hearing or knowing their duty, the having the law delivered to them, (yea, and the seal of the covenant, circumcision in their flesh,) without conscientious practice of the duties thereof, shall And for the former, it is clear, for when the other people of the world, which have not had that revelation of God's will and law which the Jews had, do without that revelation, by the dictate of their reason, and those natural notions of good and evil implanted in them, (and by those precepts of the sons of Adam by parents transmitted to children, and so, without any further revelation from heaven, come down unto them,) perform the substantial things required in the law of Moses, and denoted by circumcision and other ceremonies; this is an argument and evidence that these men do to themselves supply the place of Moses's law. And that obligation to punishment, which is ordinarily caused by the law, these men demonstrate themselves to have, without help of the Mosaical law; from whence also it is, that as conscience (which, according to the nature of the word, is a man's knowing that he hath done or not done what is by law commanded) is constantly witness either for or against them, that they have done or not done their duty; so the general notions and instincts of good and evil that are in them, without any light from the Mosaical law, do either accuse them as transgressors of the law of God, or else plead for them that they have not culpably done any thing against it. From whence it appears to be most just, even by their own confession, that they that have sinned without law, transgressed the law of nature, should also be punished, though they never heard of this Mosaical law, (which was the thing affirmed, ver. 12, from whence to ver. 16 all that hath been said is but a parenthesis.) [c] their thoughts the mean—] The λογισμοὶ μεταξύ ἀλλήλων here are the practical κοινοὶ ἔννοιαι, common notions of good and evil, which are among the generality of men, even heathens, without any light from the Mosaical law, and are called λογισμοὶ, reasonings, because reason, when it comes to a maturity, if it be not precorrupted with false doctrines and prejudices, will be able to conclude that this ought to be done, and not that, and so give us the principles of all moral actions. And when I speak of perishing and judging, ver. 12, I speak of that doom which shall involve all, both Jews and Gentiles, at that great day, when Christ Jesus, being by his Father seated in his regal power, shall at the end of all come forth again to judge the world, not according to outward privileges or performances, but inward qualifications and demeanours, being, as he is, a searcher of hearts; for then shall the Jews be dealt with either in judgment or mercy, as they have lived or not lived according to [d] my gospel] Paul's preaching every where whither he came, is literally to be styled his εὐαγγελίον, or gospel; and so it seems to signify here. So in the Epistle of Clemens Romanus (contemporary to that apostle) ad Corinth. after the mention of blessed Paul's Epistles, he bids them mark τί πρῶτον ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἔγραψε, "what he hath first written to you (Corinthians) in the beginning of the gospel," that is, at the time when the gospel was by him first preached among them. And thus shall the process be to the Judaizing Gnostics, in this or the like form. Thou that callest thyself, or sayest thou art a Jew, though indeed thou art not; thou that dependest on the outward performances of the law, circumcision, &c. as if justification were to be had by that, and could not be had without it; thou that boastest that God is thy father or favourer in a peculiar manner, because thou adherest so faithfully to his law, even in opposition to Christ's reformations (see note [g] Matt. v.); [e] called a Jew] Ἐπονομάζεσθαι is somewhat more than ὀνομάζεσθαι: it signifies an addition to one's proper name, and so it was here. The Gnostics assumed to themselves the name of Jews, pro- Thou that undertakest to know all the mysteries of God's will, (and thence art by thyself called a Gnostic, or knowing person,) and upon examination, to approve and practise the highest perfections by the skill which thou hast in the law of Moses; [f] approves] That δοκιμάζειν, to prove or try, signifies so to examine and prove as to approve, appears by some other places where the word is used. So 1 Cor. xi. 28, Let a man prove or examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, &c. where it is certain that if upon examination he find himself unworthy, he must not so eat; for if he do, he eats damnation to himself, ver. 29; and therefore it must signify the approving himself to God and his own conscience. So Rom. xiv. 22, Happy is he who doth not judge or condemn himself, ἐν ᾧ δοκιμάζει (not, in what he examines himself, but) in what, upon deliberation, he so likes, approves, as to think fit to act accordingly; that is, happy is he that, when he is resolved of the matter of the action, that it is lawful, doth it with such care that he hurt not others, that he hath nothing to blame in himself when he hath done it. So Gal. vi. 4, Let every man δοκιμάζειν, prove his own work, that is, so prove, examine his own actions, as to approve them to himself, his own conscience, and to God, and then he shall have glorying or rejoicing (that is, he shall be able to comfort himself) εἰς ἰαυτὸν μόνον, toward himself alone, that is, by looking on himself absolutely, and not only in conjunction or comparison with other men, which is meant by καὶ οὐκ εἰς τὸν ἕτερον, and not towards another, to which belongs the reason rendered in the next verse, For every one shall bear his own burden. So Eph. v. 10, Walk as children of light, δοκιμάζοντες τί ἐστιν εὐάρεστον τῷ Κυρίῳ, examining, proving what is acceptable to the Lord; but this so, that they also approve themselves to study and pursue it, or else they do not walk like children of light, like Christians. The truth is, this is not so familiar a phrase, the proving what is acceptable to God, as the former is, of proving and approving himself or his own works: yet because the examining and the approving of God's will is a direct undertaking and obligation to practise it, and because it is a ridiculous thing, and that which will never stand in any stead, to examine what is well pleasing to God, and, when he hath done so, to act or practise the contrary, therefore the apostle, that exhorts to this as to a duty which will stand them in some stead, and as an evidence of their walking as children of light, (not as the partial condition or a means to perform God's will, but as the knowing God's will in the scripture, when it is looked on as a good thing, is the practising of it,) must be supposed to contain in this phrase of proving, the approving also, and not only so, but also the performing (at least in endeavour and study) what is acceptable to the Lord, and shall to them appear to be so, and not only the examining what is thus acceptable. And then one other place, Rom. xii. 2, will by the same reason be clearly intelligible also in this sense, where they are exhorted by all the exceeding mercies and compassions of God to present themselves to God a living and well pleasing sacrifice, and instead of conformity with the world, to be transfigured, that is, eminently and visibly changed, by or in the renovation of their mind, εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν, (which notes this to be an effect, if not the end, of this renovation of mind,) that they may C 2 And so by that advantage takest thyself to be a most knowing person, fit to lead all others, and despising the orthodox Christians for blind and ignorant (see note [a] James iii.); Assumest great matters to thyself, as having a scheme or abstract of all knowledge and true religion (see note [c] 2 Peter i.) by the knowledge and understanding which thou hast, and by the glosses which thou givest of the law; [g] form] Μόρφωσις, σχηματισμός, εἰκών, saith Phavorinus, (out of Hesychius,) "a scheme" or "image" of a whole matter; but this, saith he, ἐπίπλαστον, οὐκ ὃν δέ, "that which is feigned," or believed, or pretended to be so, "but is not;" and for this he cites this place of the apostle, and so indeed very pertinently, the Gnostic here thinking that he hath a scheme or complete form of all knowledge, and truth, and mysteries of religion, when he hath it not, but is far from it. Theophylact hath another notion of it for ζωγράφησις, "painting to the life," and interprets the place of the Jewish doctor, who ζωγραφεῖ καὶ μορφοῖ τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐν ταῖς τῶν μαθητῶν ψυχαῖς, "forms and draws to the life the knowledge of good and the truth in the hearts of disciples." Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the unbelieving Gentiles, seeing and judging by your evil lives, are aliened from Christianity, have an evil opinion of the profession, and of Christ, whom you worship, and so those scriptures which mention the dishonour of God's name among the Gentiles, Isaiah lii. 5, Ezek. xxxvi. 20. 23, may fitly be accommodated to you. For men that thus live it is madness to think that circumcision will stand them in any stead: for circumcision is a sacrament to seal benefits to them who are circumcised, if the condition required of them (that is, the sanctity and purity signified thereby) be performed also; but if not, there is no special advantage comes to them by being circumcised, that is, by thus complying with the Mosaical law. And by the same reason, if those who are not observant of the law, or circumcised, viz. the Christians of the Gentiles, live those lives of purity and sanctity which that sacrament was set to engage men to, they shall be accepted by God as well as if they had been circumcised. And those that having not been circumcised, nor received the law of Moses, (see note [g] Matt. v.,) but only those natural dictates and directions which are common to all men, if they yet do the things commanded in the law of the Jews, that is, the moral substantial part of it, they shall condemn thee, who being in that legal state, and observing not the sense and meaning, but only the letter of the law, art outwardly circumcised, but dost not perform that purity which that ceremony was set to signify, and to engage all that are circumcised to observe it. [h] by the letter] The notion of διὰ is here to be observed, and is best expressed by in. So in Pausanias, διὰ φόβων γίνεσθαι, in metu versari, "to be in a condition of fears or dangers." So here, ch. iv. 11, For he is not the child of Abraham, such as to whom the promises pertain, who is born of his race or seed, and no more; nor is that the available circumcision which is external, that mark imprinted on the flesh: But he is the Jew indeed, the true child of Abraham, (who shall be accepted by God,) though he be not so by birth, who in the purity of the heart performs those substantial laws required by God of the Jews, and revealed to them more distinctly than ¹² ordinances, δικαιώματα: see note [b] ch. viii. ¹³ the uncircumcision which is of nature, ἡ ἐκ φύσεως ἀκροβυστία. ¹⁴ which art by, or, with, or, in the letter, &c. a transgressor of the law? τὸν διὰ γράμματος καὶ περιτομῆς παραβάτην νόμου; ¹⁵ in the visible part, ἐν τῷ φανερῷ. ¹⁶ in the visible part, in the flesh, ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκί. ¹⁷ in the hidden part, ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ. ¹⁸ from, &c.