Whereas, ver. 2, he saith to the Jews, that though he shall most diligently have called and sent apostles unto them, never giving over, till their measure of iniquities being filled up their destruction was now at the door, as a night at the end of a long day, yet they will continue refractory, and not believe the ⁴ Faith indeed, "Apa ἡ νίστιν. not of me. ⁵ voice is gone out into all the land. ⁶ inquired For I shall declare this mystery to you, this great secret of God's providence, (which may keep the Gentiles from being proud, vv. 18. 20,) viz., that a great part of the people of the Jews are now at this present become blind, and that that is made use of by God, that, by occasion of that, the gospel may (by departing a while from them) be preached to and received by the generality of the Gentiles, and they compacted into Christian churches, (and this in very mercy to those Jews, that they by seeing the Gentiles believe might at length be provoked to do so too, by way of emulation, vv. 11. 31.) And so all the true children of Abraham, Jews and heathens both, but particularly the remnant of the Jews, shall come in and repent, and believe in Christ: and this agreeably to that prophecy, Isaiah lix. 20: There shall come to Sion a redeemer—some powerful means shall be used to bring the Jews to repentance and reformation of their impieties—or a deliverer to them that turn from iniquities in Jacob, who shall rescue all the penitent believing Jews from the approaching evils. And so by this means God's covenant shall be made good to them, in bringing them to reformation and amendment, and then accepting and pardoning as many as shall come in after all this. It is true indeed, and observable to you Gentiles, that in respect of the present preaching of the gospel, they are now laid aside as persons utterly rejected, on purpose that ye may receive the benefit of ¹⁵ obduration is in part befallen, πώραις ἀπὸ μέρους γέγονεν. ¹⁶ so long till the fulness of the Gentiles do come in, ἄχρις οὗ εἰσέλθῃ. ¹⁷ escape, σωθήσεται. ¹⁸ And, Kal. Here it will be objected again, that by this it seems to be concluded, that then God hath utterly cast off the Jews, his ancient people, having cast them off from the preaching of the gospel. To this I answer, that the objection is utterly causeless and groundless; for that the Jews are not utterly cast off, I myself am a visible example, who had not only the gospel revealed to me from heaven by Christ, but am employed as an apostle to preach to others, who yet am an Israelite, as lineally descended from Abraham, by Benjamin, as any can be supposed to be. 2, 3. God hath according to his threats, Deut. xxix. 28, cast off the rebellious Israelites; but those whom he did foresee to be such whom he might, according to the rules which in the gospel he hath prescribed, approve and love, his honest, faithful servants, that have any kind of probity in them, those sheep that hear his voice, he hath not now cast off, or passed any decree against them: of which kind, though they seem but few, yet are there not so few. In like manner as in the story of Elias, 1 Kings xix. 10, when he comes to God, and complains of the wickedness of that people, their murdering God's prophets, and throwing down his altars, (then built by pious men of the ten tribes to serve God with, when they were not permitted to go to Jerusalem, in which case the prohibition of building private altars is by the learned Jews said to have ceased,) and doing it in so universal a style as if he were the one only pious man left in the land, and that that was the reason that they now plotted and attempted to kill him also. [a] maketh intercession] Ἐντυγχάνειν κατά τινος, is to commence an accusation against any man, 1 Macc. viii. 32. x. 61. 63. and xi. 31. To this complaint he receives answer by the voice from heaven, 1 Kings xix. 12, in these words: I have reserved, or left for myself out of that deluge of sin, wherein the ten tribes are involved, or, (as the Hebrew may be rendered,) I will reserve a remnant of seven thousand men, which have not, or shall not bow the knee to Baal, (as there were some that observed that law, and so were exempt from the de- So at this season some, though a few in proportion, have been preserved, such as, according to the rules of the gospel, God hath determined to receive, humble, obedient servants of his, which have readily received the faith of Christ, (answerable to those, ver. 4, that bowed not the knee to Baal,) and from their former sins did now, on Christ's call, turn to him, and so were capable of that justification brought in by Christ: which, consisting in pardon of sins to all penitent believers, and not in rewarding of works, belongs to those which thus return to him: (see note on 1 Peter ii. 6.) And if this means of reserving of them and of their escaping out of that deluge were by the mercies of God in Christ, and their embracing the gospel the only condition required on their part to make them capable of it, then sure is it not by adhering to the Mosaical performances, nor by special merit of their own, imputable to themselves, for then the gospel were not the gospel. But if it be of works— 7, 8. The short then is, that the generality of that people have not attained that justification that God will crown, but the election, the remnant (see note [b] Luke xiii. and note [c] 1 Pet. ii.) that being called by Christ did not neglect to make use of it, these have attained it; but all the rest, that made not use of that grace, (resisted Christ when he was preached to them,) these have grown obstinately blind: and in them is performed what Isaiah, ch. xxix. 10, spoke of those who had first hardened their hearts against God, God gave them up to absolute obduration and blindness and deafness, and so they continue unto this day. 9, 10. And so what David said prophetically of some in his time, Psalm lxix. 22, (by way of retribution to their sins,) that the things that were for their good, their very necessary food and refreshment, should turn to their mischief; so doth the preaching of the gospel now to their obduration. As he said that they should be blinded, and go stooping, not able to look up to heaven; the like is now fallen on the Jews; the preaching of the gospel hath been their ² hath been, γέγονε. ³ The King's MS. omits these words to the end of the verse, and so doth the ancient Latin translation, and Origen, Chrysostom and Ambrose. ⁴ of senselessness, eyes not to see, ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ μὴ βλέπων. ⁵ gin and trap, θῆραν καὶ σκάνδαλον. ⁶ bow thou down, σέγκαμψον. [b] slumber] The Hebrew רדס signifies to nod, as that is an effect either of sleepiness or of old age, or again of stupor, lethargy, senselessness, and is accordingly rendered κατάνυξις, deep sleep, Isaiah xxix. 10, (from whence this place is cited; so Psalm lx. 3, οἶνος κατανύξεως, is the stupifying wine used to be given to them that were to be put to death. And so in Marcus Eremita, Νουθεσ. Ψυχωρ. p. 948. A. speaking of οἰνοποσίαι, "drinking of wine," he adds, πόνον τῆς κατανύξεως ἐξ αὐτῆς, "the pain of stupidity or intoxication from it:" but otherwhere it signifies not only a deep sleep, (deeper than that which is noted by שָׁנָה,) and from thence also stupor, lethargy, among the rabbins, but also astonishment, and is by the Septuagint rendered δεῖνός φόβος, 1 Sam. xxvi. 12, (where yet it should be a deep sleep, and so the Targum reads שָׁנָה, a strong sleep,) and again, a trance or ecstasy; and so Gen. ii. 21, it is rendered ἑκστασις, ecstasy; and so Acts x. 10, ἑκστασις, ecstasy, is set for a deep sleep or trance, wherein visions are received. Aquila renders it in Isaiah καταφορᾶ, transportation, Theodotion ecstasy, ἑκστασις, psalm lxviii. 28; the Septuagint, 1 Sam. xxvi. 12, have θάμβος, amazement. By all which it appears, that the word in its latitude signifies such a supine habit of mind as is usual in the state of lethargy or stupidity, a state of senselessness, a spirit of stupidity, saith the Syriac, however acquired, whether from a sleepy lethargic humour, (and so it follows here, Eyes that see not, &c.) or else from a trance. Of which second notion see note [d] on Acts x. The word, saith Theophylact, properly signifies ἐμπήγνυσθαι καὶ προσηλοῦσθαι, "being nailed and fastened to any thing," and so denotes ἀνίατον τῆς γνώμης καὶ ἀμετάθετον, "an incurableness and immutableness of mind." But this refers to the Attical notion of the word as it is rendered compunction, which is not it which the Hellenists understood or used it in. But here it is again objected, that this doctrine of ours concludes us to think that the Jews are utterly cast off, by this their not receiving the gospel, and that now they are past all hope of recovering. To this I answer again, that this is not our doctrine, or duly concluded from it, but this only: that as by their obstinacy the Gentiles have received a huge advantage, the gospel preached to them by us, when we were driven away by the Jews; so the Gentiles receiving the gospel hath been made use of by the infinite wisdom of God to make the Jews jealous and emulous, and troubled to see themselves so outstripped by those whom they so contemned, so to make that emulation an instrument to bring them in to Christ also. [c] fall] The Hebrew נפל, which is rendered by πίπτω, to fall, often signifies to lie along in the posture of one that is fallen, and accordingly Exod. xxi. 18. is rendered κατακλίνεσθαι, to lie along; and so verbs are often taken in a sense noting continuance or duration, as to be born of God, is to live a regenerate or new life. And so the context here inclines it, where it cannot be denied that they did fall, and that that was the effect (he speaks not of the intention or design) of their stumbling. All that can be denied therefore is, that this fall of theirs is to continue for ever; and accordingly he adds, that this their stumbling and falling was, if made use of, a very proper means as yet to And if by thus punishing of their unbelief and obduration, so much advantage have accrued to the Gentiles, and so the multitude of the Jewish unbelievers hath been the means of converting many heathens, how much more shall the addition of the multitude of Jewish believers, if they shall yet repent and come in, be matter of confirmation of the faith to the Gentiles, and a means to bring them all to receive it, to convert the Gentiles over all the world? [d] fulness The word πλήρωμα, fulness, is a known famous word, used by the ancients for the whole body of the congregation or church compacted together, in opposition to schisms and breaches in it. So in c Meletius, "Αρχοντες καὶ ἱερεῖς σὺν τῷ Χριστωνύμῳ πληρώματι, 'The governors and priests with all the fulness,' that is, church, 'that bears the name of Christ.' So in f Dionysius Alexandrinus, πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς συναγωγῆς, 'All the fulness of the congregation of Israel,' from Exod. xii, where the Septuagint read πλῆθος, multitude. So in St. Basil's Liturgy, p. 43, d. τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας φύλαξον, 'preserve the fulness of the church.' And accordingly being admitted into the church is by St. Basil Ep. 197, ad Diodor, and the fathers expressed by εἰς ἐκκλησιαστικὸν πλήρωμα διαδέχεσθαι, 'to be received into the ecclesiastic fulness;' either according to the Hebrew idiom, which uses כלא (from כלא, to be filled,) for collecting and congregating, or perhaps according as Matt. ix. 16, πλήρωμα is the piece that being put into the garment, the garment, which was before torn, is made whole again. In this sense I conceive the word is here to be taken, for the Jews being added to the church, their coming in or being gathered, and laying hold on the faith, (being provoked thereto by seeing the Gentiles believe,) and so filling up the vacuity, as it were, which was formerly in the church, by their standing out impenitently. That this should now still belong to any (yet future) return of the Jews in a visible remarkable manner, is no way necessary, the circumstances of the context applying it to those first times wherein the Epistle was written: and therefore Origen against Celsus, speaking of the Jews, saith distinctly, θαρροῦντες δ' ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἀποκαταστήσονται, 'We affirm confidently that they shall not be restored.' And St. Chrysostom, in his discourse against the Jews, denies that they shall ever be returned to their country; and cites Josephus for that opinion, that their ἐρήμωσις or desolation shall be perpetual. And so Cæsarius, Gregory Nazianzen's brother, being asked of the ἀνάκλησις, 'revocation of the Jews about the end of the world,' answers resolutely, 8 Οὐδίπω πεισθήσομαι Ἰουδαίους ἀνακικλήσκεσθαι, &c. 'I will never be persuaded that the Jews shall be recalled, nor indeed doth the apostle teach, any such thing in the words that are well and truly delivered by him, but not rightly understood or applied by others.' And all this seems to have foundation in the express words of Daniel, ch. ix. 27, he shall make it desolate even to the consummation. And the Jewish writing called Seder-Olam affirms the same, viz. that 'after their second ejection out of Canaan, the Jews shall never return thither again.' Others indeed have been of another opinion, that there shall be a visible calling of the Jews; and some of the ancients have joined thereto the thousand years reign of Christ upon the earth, and pretended apostolical tradition for it, but have not by the church of God been judged to have any just plea to c Περὶ τῆς τοῦ Πατὰ ἀρχῆς, p. 2. f Ep. adv. Paul. Sams. p. 193. C. This of the multitude of the converted Gentiles I speak with some reflection on myself, and therein I proclaim the success I have had in preaching to the Gentiles, (many of whom have been converted by me:) To this end, that I may work some emulation or jealousy in my brethren the Jews, and bring some of them to repentance, and belief in Christ. For if the casting off the contumacious Jews be a means of sending and spreading the gospel to the Gentiles, and so of bringing them into the church, and obtaining pardon for them upon their repentance, what a miracle of mercy will it be for these Jews now to repent, and to be actually reassumed into God's favour, and to receive the faith of Christ! Even as great a miracle, as fit to work upon the Gentiles (both to make them all believe on Christ, when his And sure they are not yet so totally rejected, the whole nation of them, but that God hath still some respect unto them, if more of them will believe and come in to Christ also, as some have done; for as when the cake of the first of the dough is offered up for a heave offering, Num. xv. 20, the whole lump or mass of dough is by that means hallowed; so if the patriarchs, Abraham, &c. were persons so favourably looked on by God, then there is no doubt of it, but that the rest of the whole nation, that sprang from them, are so looked on also, if they be believers, and so capable of God's mercy, as Abraham was, or if now they shall return and repent and come in to Christ. And therefore in the mean time they ought not to look on themselves with desperation, nor to be looked on with despising and censure by the Gentiles. But, on the contrary, if God, in his just judgments on the Jews, have broken off some of them, as branches from a tree, and ingraffed thee (the Gentiles) as a scion is wont to be, in that place where the branch was cut off, and so made thee partaker of the juice of the root and the fatness of the good olive tree, that is, of Abraham, made thee partaker of the promises to his seed, remission of sins, and justification; (see ver. 24.) Do not thou triumph over them: and for those of them that have received the faith, but stand zealously for their ceremonies of the Mosaical law, do not thou despise or reject them for that; or, if thou be apt to do so, then, for thy humiliation, remember, that Abraham being the root from which the Jews naturally spring, and the Gentiles only graffed in, you being now but branches at most, and not the natural seed of Abraham, must not think higher of yourselves than of Abraham, and that natural seed of his, all Christian Jews that lineally descend from him, and by being believers partake of his faith also as well as of his flesh: (see ch. xiv. 1.) Or if thou that art a Gentile shalt, for the magnifying thyself and despising the Jew, think fit to pretend that the Jews were rejected on purpose that the Gentiles might be taken in in their stead; The answer to such is ready; that if this be ⁹ And if, El 34. ¹⁰ wild olive branch, ἀγριέλαιος. For if God proceeded with so much severity against his own people the Jews, ye are in reason to expect no less severity to you Gentiles, if ye do not obey the gospel, and live regularly according to the dictates of Christ. Two things then there are in this matter most visible and remarkable, the abundant kindness of God, and withal his severity; severity on the Jews that stand out contumaciously against the faith of Christ, but infinite mercy on the Gentiles if they make that use of his mercy afforded them which is fit, if having received they obey the gospel and walk worthy of it; for otherwise they must expect severity also. And so likewise nothing can keep the Jews in this state of rejection or excision but their wilful continuing in unbelief, which when they break off, God can and certainly will receive them in again. For if ye Gentiles, which were a kind of wild olive branch, were taken off from the wildness natural to you, and ingraffed into the stock of Abraham, received into the church, graffed into the stock of a good olive tree, from which the Jews were cut off, which is not only against the custom (see note [f] [e] turn away ungodliness] The Hebrew, Isa. lix. 20, read וַיְלַשֵּׁב, that is, and to them that turn or even to them, the i being often expletive, or noting apposition. Instead of this the Septuagint read, it seems, וַיִּשְׁבִּי, and so render it καὶ ἀποστρίψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ, and shall turn iniquities from Jacob; and St. Paul, as his manner is, cites the words of their translation, wherein they have a sense very commodious, and most agreeable to the context here, that many of the Jews shall by God's grace, and wise methods used toward them, be reformed and converted. But beside this, it will be most reasonable to enlarge them also, and interpret them according to the original notation of the Hebrew, that God will take care for the delivering of them that thus return and repent. As for the truth of that which is here concluded from this citation, that as yet many more Jews should repent, and receive the gospel, that hath been demonstrated by the event, first, when the Jews saw Christ's predictions, Matt. xxiv, manifestly fulfilled in the Roman armies' sitting down before the city; for then many turned Christians, and went out of the city, and were delivered from the following evils; and, secondly, after that, when the temple and the city were destroyed, and they brought in subjection by the Romans, then many were humbled and turned Christians; and, thirdly, after that also, in Justin Martyr's days, Γινώσκων ἴτι καθ' ἡμίραν τινὰς μαθητενομίνοις εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, "Every day there were some that came in to be Christ's disciples;" which is the cause of the scaling so many of every tribe, Rev. vii. 4, (see notes [c d e] on that chapter,) answerable to Ezek. ix. 4, and is the meaning of their escaping here. The sum then of this chapter being the setting forth the great mercy and wisdom of God toward Jews and Gentiles, but particularly toward the Jews, (who though for their crucifying of Christ, and contumacy against the Spirit in the preaching of the apostles, they were so far forsaken, as that leaving them the apostles departed to the Gentiles, yet were by way of rebound benefited by this preaching to the Gentiles, provoked to emulation by the multitude of the converted Gentiles, and so themselves brought to believe also, great multitudes of them,) is said to be a great mystery, ver. 25, and so intimated again, ver. 33, &c., and seems to be the very doctrine to which St. Peter refers, 2 Pet. iii. 15, concerning God's longanimity, deferring and delaying his execution on his enemies, (foretold Matt. xxiv.) on purpose that as many Jews as possibly might, should before that be brought in to believe, For God's special favours allowed to this people, and his promises made to their fathers, are such, as that he will never change or repent of them, ver. 1, and consequently will still make them good to them upon their repentance; and to that end doth in his providence use a most excellent way to bring the obdurate Jews to repentance, by shewing them the issue of the gospel among the Gentiles, that that may provoke them by way of emulation not to fall short of such heathens whom they have so long despised. For as ye Gentiles having gone on in a long course of idolatry, have now, upon the Jews rejecting the gospel, had the gospel preached to you; So the Jews of this age having been contumacious, and from whose disobedience it is that this mercy hath come to the Gentiles, shall by this very means (this mercy upon you in suffering the gospel to be preached to you) reap some considerable benefit also, viz., be stirred by emulation to look after the gospel thus believed on by the Gentiles, and count it a shame to them, a people so favoured by God, if they be not as wise or pious as the Gentiles, which from their idolatry they now behold to come in and believe on God. All this serves to illustrate the grace and mercy of God both to Jews and Gentiles, that both may attain salvation by his grace, without which neither of them can be saved. For God hath permitted the Gentiles first, and now the Jews and all sorts of men, to wallow in disobedience and contumacy, that by that means he might reduce both. The Gentiles being idolaters had Christ preached to them, which was occasioned by the Jews rejecting of him, for O the depth of the abundant goodness of God, in bearing the contumacy of the Gentiles first, and then of the Jews; and of his wisdom, in making the desertion of the Jews a means of calling the Gentiles; and of his knowledge, in knowing how (probably) to work upon the most obstinate Jews, viz., by envy and emulation toward the Gentiles, (as also by those heavy calamities that according to Christ's prediction fell upon them, see note [e]:) how unsearchable are his determinations, and how admirable his ways of bringing them to pass! According to that of Isaiah xl. 13, that his ways are in wisdom so much above ours, that no thoughts of ours are fit in any degree to be taken into counsel with him. It is impossible all the men upon the earth could have foreseen these methods, or ever have thought to have advised them. And the justice is such also, that no man can speak any thing against the equality of his proceedings herein; for, first, it is a matter of mere bounty and goodness, and every man may with his own do what he lists; no man can claim any thing that hath not been allowed him, and therefore there can be nothing of injustice objected to him if others have been more bountifully treated; and yet further, secondly, the Jews themselves thus deserted of God have their ways of mercy also if they do observe it. For the whole dispensation of grace, calling and salvation both of Jews and Gentiles, is to be imputed to God's free undeserved mercy; the mercy of the call is from him, all good is received by him, and the honour of all belongs unto him; and therefore to him be ascribed all the glory of this and all other things for ever and ever. Amen. The sum then of this chapter being the setting forth the great mercy and wisdom of God toward Jews and Gentiles, but particularly toward the Jews, (who though for their crucifying of Christ, Seeing then the gospel, without any addition of legal performances, is the only way to salvation, (which is the thing on the proving of which all the former part of the epistle was spent,) and that the gospel is the spiritualizing and perfecting of the law, (which he shews by going ethically through the several parts of it, the ritual or ceremonial in this chapter, the judicial, ch. xiii. 1, the moral, ver. 8, &c.) I do therefore exhort you, brethren, by the bowels or exceeding great mercies of God, that (instead of the impure Gnostic practices that are so rife among you, and which pretend to be grounded on their mystical understanding of the law and scriptures of the Old Testament,) you preserve yourselves in all purity and holiness, and so offer up unto God (as a kind of heave offering) your bodies (the workhouses and shops of action and practice) a living sacrifice, (in opposition to their dead ones under the law,) an holy, pure one, (in opposition to those external, carnal, legal ones, which had no kind of intrinsical goodness in them, but only as they were commanded them for a time by God,) acceptable to God, (whereas the other were not so whensoever they were not joined with holy life, nor are now any longer so, having been abolished by Christ,) your rational worship of him, (in opposition to that wherein the irrational creatures, the cattle, &c. were offered up to God in his worship.) [a] reasonable service] What notion of λογική λατρεία, which we have rendered rational service, is here to be fastened on, is not easy to determine. It may possibly be such as will be agreeable to the notion of ὁ λόγος, the word, as it signifies Christ, and then it is the Christian service. It may be as λόγος signifies the word or scripture, and then it will be that worship which is prescribed us in the scripture; and so the Syriac seems to understand it, setting down for λογική γέος, secundum os verbi, "according to the mouth of the word," that is, such as the word prescribes. It may be also as λόγος, word, is opposed to νόμος, law, and then it will be the evangelical worship. And once more, it may note such a worship of God as is most agreeable to reason, and such as a rational man will resolve to be most agreeable to so excellent and pure a Deity. But the circumstances of the place, and opposition to the sacrifices of the law, the beasts that were offered there, seem to restrain it to the vulgar and ordinary notion of λογική, rational, in opposition to the irrational sacrifices under the law, as ζῶσα, living, before, to the dead bodies among them. Thus is the table of Christ called by Theodoret λογική τράπεζα, rationalis mensa, Serm. 6. de Provid. that is, "the table or altar where we offer up ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto God," instead of those tables or altars on which the beasts were offered. Thus in Hermes in Piemandro, in the hymn or εὐλόγιον, which closes the book, this prayer is to be found, Διέξαι λογικὰς θυσίας, "Receive these rational sacrifices." Thus I conceive may λογικὸν γάλα, rational milk, 1 Pet. ii. 2, be rendered also, not that milk of cattle, which men's bodies are wont to be fed with, but this rational milk, by which men's souls are improved, to wit, instruction, or Christian doctrine. And thus the ancient Latin translation hath rendered it in both places. And suffer not yourselves to be ensnared with the filthy sensual practices of the Gnostics of this age, that by joining with the Jews against the orthodox Christians, avoid persecution themselves, and bring it upon others, and by that means seduce many, but by undertaking the Christian faith, and that renovation of mind and actions, wherein repentance (required of you at your baptism) consists, let your Christianity appear in the new form and shape of your lives, that ye may be able to discern and approve and practise (see note [f] ch. ii.) what it is that God now commands us Christians, even those evangelical commands of his, which are good (as all the Judaical law cannot be said to be, there being many things permitted for the hardness of their hearts which must not be permitted now) and well-pleasing (as now their ceremonial performances, sacrifice, &c. are not, nor ever were, but when joined with good lives) and perfect (as even the moral part, as it was understood by the Jews, was not till it was enlarged, or at least interpreted by Christ, Matt. v., and as the practices of the Gnostics certainly are not, which yet pretend to the highest perfection.) For I, in respect of that apostolical authority which by the favour and commission of Christ is given unto me, take upon me to admonish every person among you, that he do not exalt himself above that which belongs to him, (as the Gnostics do, who pretend to such heights of knowledge and perfection, as to despise the governors of the church, (see note [d] Jude 8,) and consequently run into such extravagances,) but every man in sobriety to possess the graces which God hath given him, to the benefit of the church, and not the despising of others, especially those that are placed over him by Christ. For as in the body of man, where there are many members, they have not all offices or places of the same esteem or dignity which some have; So all we Christians make up one body, of which Christ is the head, and are fellow-members in respect of one another, but yet have several functions and offices in his church. And having such peculiar functions to which we are designed, differing one from another, according to our several designations, let us exercise them to the edification of one another: if a man be designed If to the office of a deacon, one designed to do some inferior services in the church, let him set himself to the discharge of that: the doctor, or he that teacheth the doctrine of the gospel where it is already planted, let him busy himself about that: He that, when the doctrine of the gospel is taught and planted, is appointed to preach to them the practical use of it, and exhort them to live accordingly, let him employ himself thus: he that distributes his goods, or perhaps the goods of the church, to the poor, let him do it liberally: he that is to govern in the church, let him be very careful and diligent in government: he that gives alms, (which is the duty of every private Christian that is able,) let him do it merrily, not fearing or doubting that he shall impoverish himself or his posterity by that means. Let your love of God appear to be sincere, and such as will abide the trial, Ephes. i. 4, Luke i. 6; and so also your love to one another, let it be unfeigned, detesting and flying from every impious practice, such as are observable among the Gnostics; and for the true Christian course, both toward God and men, cleave fast and zealously to it. Made up of nothing but perfect kindness to one another, contrary to the envying, &c. ch. i. 29, in the Gnostics; humble, contrary to their fastidiousness and pride, ch. i. 30. Industrious and nimble to do any thing that belongs to your calling, and having that earnest affection to God's service that shall inflame and set you most ardently about it, and accordingly doing those things that in respect of the circumstances of time and place, wherein now you are, may most tend to the honour of God and building up of the church. [b] serving the Lord] The authority of those copies is great which read καιρῷ δουλεύοντες in this place, serving the time or the season, which being written short thus, κῷ, might easily be mistaken for κυρίῳ. One argument that it is here to be retained is Ignatius's Epistle to Polycarp, where he joins two precepts together, Πλέον σπουδαῖος γίνου οὗ εἶ, τοὺς καιρούς καταμάνθανε, "Become more diligent than thou art, observe or consider the seasons or times:" that is, the times being times of great corruption first, and then of persecution also, (both mentioned in the former part of the period, ἐτεροδιδασκαλοῦντες μὴ σε καταπληστίωσαν, "let not the heterodox or false teachers move thee or terrify thee;" στῆθι ἱδραῖος, "stand firm," and μάλιστα δὲ ἕνεκεν Θεοῦ πάντα ὑπομένειν ἡμᾶς δεῖ, "we must beyond all persevere and endure all for God's sake,") he must not be slothful, but very diligent to defend his In the midst of those afflictions that now fall upon you, rejoicing in respect of that bliss which we hope for in another world, and consequently never see note [k] Matt. vi. Shewing liberality to all that want, as earnest in it as in any thing that brings in most advantage to yourselves, or instead of pursuing others, ver. 14, doing them as much kindness as you can. Repay nothing to contumelies, but friendly and kind usage. Comply with the condition and state of other men, affected with all the good and evil that belongs to them. Very affectionate and compassionate in your kindness one to another, pretending not to mysterious knowledge, as the Gnostics do, but behaving yourselves as the modestest sort of Christians do, not persuading or conceiting yourselves that you are wiser than the rest of your brethren. Never acting any revenges upon them which you think have done you injuries; taking care beforehand, that whatsoever you do, it be that which is fit for you to do before the heathens, and which may not disgrace the Christian profession before them, or alien them from it by seeing your lives and actions vile. And particularly, (as far as lieth in you, and is possible for you by all actions of meekness and charity to procure,) living peaceably among them. To that end, (as ver. 17, so again,) not taking the matter of avenging the injuries done to you into your own hands, but referring it to the punishment of God or the magistrate under him, to whom, as he himself saith, Deut. xxxii. 25, it belongs to punish offences. It being the Christian's duty, and his only prudent method of overcoming enemies, to do them all acts of kindness and charity, whereby thou shalt melt them at length, be they never so hard-hearted; (as when an artificer that deals in metals cannot melt any metal by putting fire under it, he pours live coals on the top of it, and by that means melts any thing that is hardest to melt. This figure must be made use of to interpret this place, which if it were literally understood might seem to command that Then for the judicial laws, that great supreme one ought to be taken into special care of all Christians—that of obedience to the supreme powers rightly established and constituted, although they be not Jews but Romans. Nothing in Christianity ought to be pretended or made use of to give any man immunity from obedience, which from all subjects, of what quality soever, apostles, teachers, &c., is due to those to whom allegiance belongs, (contrary to the Gnostics' doctrine and practice, Jude 8;) but on the contrary, every person under government, of what rank soever he be, is to yield subjection to the supreme governor legally placed in that kingdom, as to him which hath commission from God, as every supreme magistrate must be resolved to have, though he be an heathen. [a] higher powers] What ἰξουσία, power, here signifies will appear sufficiently by the οἱ γὰρ ἄρχοντες, for the rulers, &c. ver. 3, for the γὰρ, for, being a rational or causal particle, applies the speech to that which had gone before, and so expresses the ἰξουσίαι, powers, ver. 1, to be the ἄρχοντες, rulers, ver. 3, and so again the annexing of ἰξουσίων, power, ver. 3, doth confirm the same. Nor indeed can the power, abstracted from the person of the magistrate, be able to do what is here said of ἰξουσία, viz. commend or encourage, ver. 3, avenge and punish, ver. 4. And the matter is clear, for, ver. 3, φοβεῖσθαι ἰξουσίων, the powers being feared, is all one with ἄρχοντες εἰσι φόβος, the rulers are a fear or terror, in the beginning of the verse; and ver. 4, immediately upon the mention of the power and the praise which they that do well shall have ἰξ αὐτῆς, ver. 3, from the power, it is added, Θεοῦ γὰρ διάκονός ἐστι σοι, for he (that must needs be the person of the magistrate) is a minister of God to thee for good; and, He bears not the sword in vain, or for no end, for he is the minister of God, an avenger of wrath, &c. Thus is ἰξουσίαι and ἀρχαί used Luke xii. 11, when the disciples are said to be brought before principalities and powers, that is, without question, princes and men in authority, and so are κυριότητες, dominions, 2 Pet. ii. 10, all that are in authority; and so in this Epistle, ch. viii. 38, ἀρχαί and ἰξουσίαι, principalities and powers, are certainly persons (heathen magistrates) who persecute Christians; and so Ephes. iii. 11, ἀρχαί and ἰξουσίαι are persons to whom somewhat was to be made [a] disputations] Διαλογισμός here seems to signify the arguings or reasonings, and consequently resolutions of men concerning themselves, to the managing their whole course of life, what is lawful or unlawful for them, and particularly here (as the context enforceth it) the reasonings and resolutions of those, that from the liberty of disusing the Mosaical law given by Christ, conclude the lawfulness of eating any thing, ver. 2. A fuller instance or example of this notion of the word I have not met with than in Epicurus's Epistle to Idomeneus, speaking of the torments he was then under ready to die, as great as were imaginable, Ἀντιπαρετάτετο δὲ πᾶσι τούτοις τὸ κατὰ ψυχὴν χαῖρον ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν γεγονότων ἡμῖν διαλογισμῶν μνήμῃ. "The joy that he had in his mind, upon the remembrance of the reasonings which he had in his lifetime, stood in battle array against all those torments of the strangury," &c. What those διαλογισμοί, or reasonings of Epicurus were, appears in his Epistle to Menaceus in Diog. Laert., wherein, as in an apology for himself, and a declaration of the truth of his opinions, he confesses it is not eating or drinking, or any other of the sensualities of the world put together, that beget a pleasant life, ἀλλὰ νήφων λογισμὸς, καὶ τὰς οἴτιας ἐξερευνῶν πάσης αἱρίσεως καὶ φυγῆς, καὶ τὰς δόξας ἐξελαύνων, ἀφ' ὧν πλείστος τὰς ψυχὰς καταλαμβάνει θόρυβος, "but a sober discourse or reasoning, and such as searches out the causes of all choice or aversation, and drives away those false opinions, from which the greatest perturbation that seizeth on our mind doth proceed." This νήφων λογισμὸς, &c., h Curcul. act. 1. scen. 1. From which divine commission it is directly consequent, that he that makes any violent resistance or opposition to the supreme magistrate, opposes that violence to God's commission, and shall accordingly receive that punishment which belongs to so sacrilegious a contumacy, the wrath and judgment of God belongs to him. [b] damnation] The word κρίμα, according to its literal importance, signifies judgment, and no more, and is applied to human judgments sometimes, either going to law, contentiones in foro, 1 Cor. vi. 7, or else sentences of temporal punishments on malefactors. So Luke xxiii. 40, where one thief saith to the other, Σὺ ἐν αὐτῷ κρίματι εἶ, Thou art in the same judgment or sentence of death, capital punishment, called κρίμα θανάτου, ch. xxiv. 20, judgment of death temporal. Otherwhere it as clearly signifies divine, and that eternal punishment; as Acts xxiv. 25, τοῦ κρίματος τοῦ μέλλοντος ἴσεσθαι, judgment to come, that is, cer- And certainly if thou hast not some wicked purposes in thine heart, thou wilt never be tempted to do this; for they that do not design any ill, have little reason to be afraid of magistrates; or consequently to desire to prevent their ill usage of them by taking up arms against them. For though it be possible governors may be tyrants, yet this possible fear is not in any reason to move any to certain sin; but on the other side, every one is to look on the magistrate as God's officer, and to trust himself in God's protection, and count that princes do not use to punish men for doing well, but for doing ill; for ¹ supreme. ² from, ἀνδ. ³ by, ὑνδ. ⁴ from it, ἐξ αὐτῆς. For that is as considerable a part of the magistrate's office, (to which he is designed by God, and for which thou art to count thyself happy in him, to assist, and not resist him,) that God hath set him over thee, to secure and defend thee, and help thee to a peaceable possession of all God's other benefits, which are all worth nothing to thee, if thou mayest not enjoy them peaceably. And that is a reasonable consideration to move thee to adventure the hazard of being injured by magistrates, and not to cast off their yoke on every remoter fear of it, but to take the possible dangers and certain benefits together, and from thence to conclude, that it is for the subjects' good that princes are set over them. And generally it is our own fault if there be any thing formidable in them. In that case, indeed, the magistrate hath a sword put in his hands by God, and it is his office to be God's executioner of punishment on malefactors, and he is obliged to do so by conscience toward God, whose officer and commissioner he is. And consequently our obedience is due to him, not only for fear of punishment from the magistrate, for it is possible a cunning or a prosperous offender or rebel may avoid that, but in obedience to the constitution of God, whose officer he is, and to the command of honouring and paying subjection, &c. to him. For this is the distinct reason why tributes and customs are paid to kings; viz. because they are commissioners sent from God; who having full power over all we have, as the free donor of all, may assign his commissioners what proportion he please, and that a liberal one, as he did the double portion to the elder brother; and this but very reasonable, seeing, in the discharge of their office, they spend themselves with an unwearied patience and constancy attending on it, as the hardest and heaviest task that any man in a kingdom undergoes, and is therefore in proportion the most richly to be rewarded of any. This therefore lays all obligation on you to render to princes (as a debt due from subjects) all extraordinary or ordinary payments, as also that reverence and honour which by the law of God belongs to them, as well as obedience and diligent subjection, ver. 1. For ye Christians must not think that your Christian liberty will free or disoblige you from the discharge of any debt or duty to any man, inferior or superior, that is, either of justice to ordinary men, or subjection to those whom God hath set over you: one debt only ye must owe all, (and yet pay that too as oft as occasions are presented,) that of charity, which must be so paid that it be always owing; and if this be discharged as Christ requires, not only to friends, but to all, even those that have behaved themselves as enemies to us, the persecuting heathen emperors, &c., this is that perfection of the law which Christ requires, Matt. ix. 48. For all the six commandments of the second table, the five here named, and the sixth that hath all this while been insisted on, that of honour thy parents, kings, &c. ver. 1, all these, I say, are but parts of that great duty of charity, or loving thy neighbour, &c. so strictly now commanded by Christ, and so far from being now evacuated or abrogated, that it is rather heightened in each branch, and improved by the gospel, and consequently every of those six, and particularly that of duty to kings, is still required under Christianity, let the Gnostics' advocates, and patrons of liberty (or rather licentiousness) under that pretence, teach what they please to the contrary. That charity that is required of us Christians is so far from depriving any other of his right, that it gives rules of all abundance of mercy and goodness to all, for in that consists that perfection of the law which Christ requires, Matt. v. (see note [e] Matt. xii.) And that exhortation to keep close to all Christ's precepts, to discharge to all men that duty which Christ requires by prescribing us charity, ver. 18, is now the rather to be pressed, because of the particularity of time, which should make us watchful to the performance of all duties, the time of our de- [c] salvation] What σωτηρία, salvation or deliverance, here signifies, (somewhat different from the notion of it, chap. x. note [a]), may be guessed by what hath been oft mentioned of the word σωζόμενοι and σώζεσθαι in the Gospels, Matt. x. note [h], Luke xiii. note [b], &c., the deliverance of the believing Jews or Christians out of persecutions, which (after the example of Christ) befell them in the first age, and from which they were delivered partly by the great act of vengeance from Christ upon the Jews, the crucifiers of him, and persecutors of his followers, (see Luke xxi. 28.) and partly by their departing generally out of Judæa before that destruction befell the Jews, (see Rev. vii. notes [d e],) and partly by the halcyonian days, which under Vespasian were allowed the Christians after this time in all places. The approaching of this is everywhere used, as an antidote or cordial consideration, to arm them in time of affliction; and so here the considering that this is now nearer than when they first embraced the faith, and that therefore now it were unreasonable to fall off, and lose all their past faith and sufferings, when now a little while more will land them safe at their expected haven, the deliverance so promised. This probably is the meaning of the phrase, 1 Pet. i. 5, σωτηρία ἑτοίμη ἀποκαλυφθῆναι ἐν καιρῷ ἑσχάτῳ, deliverance ready to be revealed in the last time, and perhaps σωτηρία ψυχῶν, ver. 9, the saving of their lives, (antecedent to that of their souls,) the delivering them from those imminent dangers that the Christians were under from the Jews, till that their destruction, (for that that is the meaning of σώζειν ψυχὴν, Matt. xvi. 15, Mark viii. 35, Luke ix. 24, saving or finding his life, see those places, and note [e] on 2 Pet. i.) That it is there to be thus understood may be probable by ver. 10, where, saith he, the prophets inquired concerning this σωτηρία, salvation or deliverance, what time it was likely to come, ver. 11, which seems to confine it to some eminent event or passage in this world, and that, it seems, now ready to fall out in that present age, ver. 12. So 2 Pet. iii. 15, where he bids them count the longanimity of God, (that is, his sparing or deferring the punishment of the Jews so long,) σωτηρίαν, deliverance, viz. that the Jews might come in to the faith, and all the believing Jews might have time to go out of Jerusalem, (see note [g] on Matt. xxiv.) and so be rescued out of that common destruction. To this, I conceive, belong these words in the Epistle of Barnabas, p. 227, Ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ ἡμέραι ἑσονται πονηραι καὶ ῥύπαραι, ἐν αἴς ἡμεῖς σωθησόμεθα, "In his" (that is, Christ's) "kingdom there shall be evil and foul days, in which we shall be saved or escape;" and that which follows, "γενόμενα ἡμῖν ἐστι φανερὰ, ἐκεῖνοις δὲ σκοτεινὰ," to us there shall be lightsome, but to them dark black events." This is set down most plainly, 2 Pet. ii. 6, 7, 9, by the example of Sodom and Lot; Sodom destroyed, and Lot and his family preserved; and so also of the old world, ver. 5, when Noah and seven more were preserved, where ῥύεσθαι is all one with σώζεσθαι. And it [d] the day is at hand] Ἡ ἡμέρα ἤγγικεν, the day draweth nigh, is all one with ἐγγίζουσαν τὴν ἡμέραν, the day approaching, Heb. x. 25, and shall there be explained, which that it may belong to the destruction of the Jews, and whatever inseparable attendants of that, may appear Ezek. vii. 10. Behold the day, behold it is come, the morning is gone forth; which is clearly the approaching of this day, (and so other of the phrases used in the New Testament for that destruction are to be met with in that chapter, An end, the end, &c. ver. 2, 3. 6.) and yet more perfectly, ver. 12, The time is come, the day draweth near, and these spoken clearly (as that whole chapter) of the final destruction of that whole people. The approach of which being here mentioned as a motive to encourage the Christian Jews to hold out, and not to fall off to the Gnostics' impure courses, (who, by helping them to escape persecutions, corrupted and inveigled many,) this phrase is here by way of accommodation applied to that time, as a time of light, unfit for the works of darkness. See note [a] on Heb. x. and Luke xxi. 34. [e] rioting] What κῶμος signifies is not so commonly observed. Theophylact defines it τὰ μετὰ μίθης καὶ ὕβρεως ἄσματα, "songs with drunkenness and contumely." In which definition, as the word ὕβρις, contumely, is oft used in an impure sense, to denote unlawful loves and pursuits, so in all probability doth it there, for the night-amorous revels are they that are peculiarly signified by κῶμοι. So Wisd. xiv. 23, where speaking of the heathens κρύφια μυστήρια, secret mysteries, he joins with them ἐμμανείς κώμους, mad revels; and as the effects thereof, adds, οὔτε βίους, οὔτε γάμους καθαρούς φυλάσσουσι, they keep neither lives nor marriages pure. So 2 Macc. vi. 4, when he saith the temple was filled ἀσωτίας καὶ κώμων, he adds, ῥαθυμούντων μεθ' ἐταίρων, dallying with harlots, γυναιξὶ πλησιαζόντων—And he that doth this is in Theocritus