Reference: Romans, Epistle to The
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(3.) This epistle was probably written at Corinth. Phoebe (Ro 16:1) of Cenchrea conveyed it to Rome, and Gaius of Corinth entertained the apostle at the time of his writing it (Ro 16:23; 1Co 1:14), and Erastus was chamberlain of the city, i.e., of Corinth (2Ti 4:20).
(4.) The precise time at which it was written is not mentioned in the epistle, but it was obviously written when the apostle was about to "go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints", i.e., at the close of his second visit to Greece, during the winter preceding his last visit to that city (Ro 15:25; comp. Ac 19:21; 20:2-3,16; 1Co 16:1-4), early in A.D. 58.
(5.) It is highly probable that Christianity was planted in Rome by some of those who had been at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Ac 2:10). At this time the Jews were very numerous in Rome, and their synagogues were probably resorted to by Romans also, who in this way became acquainted with the great facts regarding Jesus as these were reported among the Jews. Thus a church composed of both Jews and Gentiles was formed at Rome. Many of the brethren went out to meet Paul on his approach to Rome. There are evidences that Christians were then in Rome in considerable numbers, and had probably more than one place of meeting (Ro 16:14-15).
(6.) The object of the apostle in writing to this church was to explain to them the great doctrines of the gospel. His epistle was a "word in season." Himself deeply impressed with a sense of the value of the doctrines of salvation, he opens up in a clear and connected form the whole system of the gospel in its relation both to Jew and Gentile. This epistle is peculiar in this, that it is a systematic exposition of the gospel of universal application. The subject is here treated argumentatively, and is a plea for Gentiles addressed to Jews. In the Epistle to the Galatians, the same subject is discussed, but there the apostle pleads his own authority, because the church in Galatia had been founded by him.
(7.) After the introduction (1:1-15), the apostle presents in it divers aspects and relations the doctrine of justification by faith (1:16-11:36) on the ground of the imputed righteousness of Christ. He shows that salvation is all of grace, and only of grace. This main section of his letter is followed by various practical exhortations (12:1-15:13), which are followed by a conclusion containing personal explanations and salutations, which contain the names of twenty-four Christians at Rome, a benediction, and a doxology (RO 15:14-ch. 16).
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in Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the district of Lybia around Cretans and Arabians,
Now after these things were ended, Paul resolved in his spirit to travel through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem. "After I get there," he said, "I must see Rome, too."
And when he had passed through those districts and encouraged the disciples in many addresses, he came into Greece where he spent three months. Just as he was about to set sail for Syria, the Jews laid a plot against him, and he determined to return through Macedonia.
For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, so as not to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to get to Jerusalem, if it were possible, by the day of Pentecost.
Just now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a minister of the church at Cenchrae.
Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are associated with them. Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas, and all the saints associated with them.
Gaius, my host, and the host of the church, salutes you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, salutes you, and so does brother Quartus.
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
Erastus remained at Corinth; Trophimus I left behind me ill at Miletus.
Hastings
ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE
1. Time, occasion, and character.
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"Judge not, that you may be judged, yourselves;
While they were gazing into the sky as he was going up, suddenly there were two men in white garments standing by them, and they said: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into the sky will come back in just the same way as you have seen him going into the sky."
Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, together with the whole church, to select some of their number, and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The men chosen were Judas called Bar-Sabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
So they, when they had been dispatched, went down to Antioch, and after gathering the whole multitude together, they handed them the letter,
She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. read more. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city.
had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe.
Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.
After spending some time there, he set out and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, in order, and strengthened all the disciples. Now a certain Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, a learned man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. read more. He had been instructed in the ways of the Lord, and being full of zeal, he used to speak and to teach accurately the facts about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; and when Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him home and explained to him more accurately the way of God. When he wished to cross over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples in Corinth to receive him. On his arrival he mightily helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public argument, proving to them from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.
Now after these things were ended, Paul resolved in his spirit to travel through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem. "After I get there," he said, "I must see Rome, too."
Now after these things were ended, Paul resolved in his spirit to travel through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem. "After I get there," he said, "I must see Rome, too."
Now after these things were ended, Paul resolved in his spirit to travel through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem. "After I get there," he said, "I must see Rome, too."
Now after these things were ended, Paul resolved in his spirit to travel through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem. "After I get there," he said, "I must see Rome, too." So he sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, while he himself kept back for a time on his way into Asia.
So he sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, while he himself kept back for a time on his way into Asia.
So he sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, while he himself kept back for a time on his way into Asia. Now just at this time, there arose no small commotion concerning the Way. read more. There was a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, and brought rich profit to his workmen. He gathered them together with others of like occupation, and said: "Men, you know that by this business we make our money. "And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but almost throughout all of Asia, this fellow Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, by telling them that they are no gods at all who are made with hands. "So there is danger not only that our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana will be brought into disrepute, and that she herself may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world now worships." After listening to this they were filled with rage, and cried out again and again, saying, The city was filled with commotion. They rushed like one man into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's companions in travel. When Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not let him, and some of the Asiarchs, too, who were his friends, sent word to him repeatedly, entreating him not to venture into the theater. Now some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in an uproar, and the majority had no idea why they were come together. And they brought Alexander out of the crowd, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, would have made a defense to the people, but when they saw that he was a Jew they all, with one voice, for about two hours, shouted, At length the recorder got them quiet. "Men of Ephesus," he said, "who here does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-guardian of the great Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? "Since these facts cannot be gainsaid, you ought to be calm and do nothing reckless. "For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. If then Demetrius and his craftsmen have a grievance against any one, the courts are open and there are the proconsuls; let them accuse one another. But if you desire anything further, it must be settled in the regular assembly. For indeed we are in danger of being accused in regard to this day's riot, since there is no cause for it, nor shall we be able to give account for this disorderly gathering."
Just as he was about to set sail for Syria, the Jews laid a plot against him, and he determined to return through Macedonia.
Just as he was about to set sail for Syria, the Jews laid a plot against him, and he determined to return through Macedonia.
Just as he was about to set sail for Syria, the Jews laid a plot against him, and he determined to return through Macedonia. There accompanied him as far as Asia, Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.
From Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for a gospel of God, which through his prophets he promised beforetime, in holy writings; read more. this gospel is concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of David's posterity in respect of his bodily nature, but was by his resurrection from the dead instated as Son of God, with power, in respect of his spirit of holiness. It is through him, even Jesus Christ our Lord, that I received grace and apostleship to promote obedience to the faith among all the Gentiles, for his name's sake; among whom you also are called to be Jesus Christ's. To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, bless you, and give you peace.
To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, bless you, and give you peace. First I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout all the world. read more. God is my witness, to whom I render holy service in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I am ever making mention of you in my prayers, always entreating him that now at length, if such be his will, the way may be made clear for me to come to you. For I am longing so to see you, in order to impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established; that is, that I with you may be encouraged by you, each of us by the other's faith, yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, that many a time I have planned to come to you??hough until now I have been hindered??o as to have some harvest-fruit among you also, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. To Greeks and to barbarians, to the cultured and to the uncultured, I have a debt to discharge. So much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
So much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. FOR I AM PROUD OF THE GOSPEL. IT IS GOD'S SAVING POWER FOR EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES. FOR THE JEW FIRST, AND ALSO FOR THE GENTILE. read more. FOR IN IT IS BEING REVEALED A RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH PROCEEDS FROM GOD, FROM FAITH UNTO FAITH; AS IT IS WRITTEN. For God's wrath is ever being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who smother the truth by their unrighteousness. This is so because that which may be known of God is manifest among them; for God has made it manifest to them. For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, even his everlasting power and divinity, has been clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made. So they have no excuse. For although they knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While they professed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the majesty of the imperishable God for an idol, graven in the likeness of perishable man, or of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their own bodies; because they exchanged the truth of God for an untruth, and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God has given them up to passions of dishonor; for on the one hand their women actually changed the natural function of sex into that which is against nature; and on the other hand their men likewise abandoned the natural use of women, and were ablaze with passion for one another; men with men practising shameless acts and receiving in their own person that recompense of their wrong-doing which necessarily followed. And just as they refused to continue to retain God in their knowledge, so did God cast them out to an outcast mind, to do those things which were indecent. They were overflowing with every kind of iniquity, depravity, greed, and malice. They were full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and malignity. They became whisperers, back-biters, hated of God, insolent, haughty, boastful. They invented sins. They were disobedient to parents. They were without sense, without faith, without natural affection, without mercy. Though they knew well the ordinance of God, that those who practise such vices are worthy of death, they not only continue to do the same, but were even applauding those who practise vice.
You are therefore inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, that sits in judgment; for in judging another you are condemning yourself. You, the judge, are habitually practising the very same things. "We know that God's judgment against those who practise such vices is in accord with the truth," you say? read more. Very well; and do you suppose, you who judge those that practise such vices, and are doing the very same, that you will elude the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long patience? Do you not know that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance? In your hardness and impenitence of heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the Day of Wrath, when the righteous judgment of God is revealed. For He will render to every man according to his works; eternal life to those who by patience in well-doing strive for glory and honor and immortality; but anger and wrath upon those who are self-willed and disobey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. Anguish and calamity will be upon every soul of man who practices evil, upon the Jew first, and also upon the Gentile; but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without law will also perish without law; and all who have sinned under law will be judged by law. For it is not the hearers of law who are righteous in the eyes of God; nay, it is the doers of law who will be accounted righteous. For when Gentiles, who have no law, obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they even though they have no law, are a law to themselves. For they show that the work of the Law is written in their hearts, while their conscience bears them witness, as their reasonings accuse, or it may be defend, them, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. Now if you bear the name of a Jew, and rely upon law, and boast yourself in God, and know his will, and can test the things that differ; if you are instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of the young, because you have in the Law the form of knowledge and of the truth??ell then, you who are teaching others, do you ever teach yourself? You who are preaching that a man should not steal, do you practise theft? You who keep saying that a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who hold idols in abhorrence, are you plundering their temples? You who are making your boast in the Law, do you habitually dishonor God through your transgressions of the Law?
What special privilege, then, has the Jew? Or what is the use of circumcision? Much in every way. First of all, because to them were entrusted the oracles of God. read more. Supposing some of them have proved faithless? By no means! Be sure that God is ever true, though all mankind prove false. As it is written, That thou mayest be found just in thine argument, And gain thy cause when thou contendest. But if our unrighteousness thus brings out God's righteousness, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous?? speak after the manner of men??hen he inflicts his anger on us? Be it far from us; for in that case how could God judge the world? But if by a falsehood of mine the truthfulness of God has been made to redound to his glory, why am I still tried as a sinner? And why not say (as I myself am slanderously reported to say), "Let us do evil that good may come out of it"? Such arguments are rightly condemned. What then? Are we Jews in a better position? Not at all, for I have already charged all, both Jews and Gentiles, with being under sin. As it is written. There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none that understands, none that seeks for God! All have swerved from the right path; Every one of them has become corrupt. There is none that practices good, no, not one. Their throat is an open grave; With their tongues they have used deceit. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and ruin are in their paths; And the path of peace they have not known. Reverence for God is not before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law; so that every mouth may be shut, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. For no man will be justified in God's sight by works of the Law; for through the Law comes the consciousness of sin. But now, quite apart from any law, a righteousness coming from God has been fully brought to light, continually witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets. I mean a righteousness coming from God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, since all have sinned and lack the glory which comes from God; but they are now being justified by his free grace through the deliverance that is in Christ Jesus. For God openly set him forth for himself as an offering of atonement through faith, by means of his blood, in order to show forth his righteousness??ince in his forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed??o show forth his righteousness, I say, at this present time; that he himself might be just, and yet the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of boasting? It is shut out. What sort of law forbids it? A law of works? No, but a law of faith. For I conclude that a man is justified by faith, altogether apart from the deeds of the Law. Is God then the God of the Jews alone, and not of the Gentiles also? He is God of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised through faith, and by their faith will he justify the uncircumcised. Do we then render law invalid through faith? Certainly not; on the contrary we make it stand.
who was betrayed to death for our transgressions, and raised again to life for our justification.
Surely, brothers, you know (for I am speaking to those who know what law means) that law governs a person only during his lifetime? For a married woman who has a husband is bound by law to her husband during his lifetime; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. read more. So then, if during her husband lifetime, she unites herself with another man, she will be counted an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the Law, so that she is no adulteress, even if she unites herself with another man. So also, my brother, you were made dead to the Law through the body of Christ; that you should be joined to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were unspiritual, the sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were ever active in every part of our bodies, leading us to bear fruit unto death. But now we have been released from the Law, because we are dead to that in which we were held; so that we are now in thralldom in new and spiritual conditions, and not under the old written code. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary I should not have become acquainted with sin had it not been for the Law; for except the Law had repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not lust," I should never have known the sin of lust. But when sin had gained a vantage-ground, by means of the commandment, it stirred up within me all manner of lust; for where there is no law, sin is dead. Once I lived apart from the Law, myself; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the very commandment which should have meant life, this I found to mean death. For sin, when it had gained a vantage-ground through the commandment, beguiled me, and through it slew me. So then the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did then that which was good become for me death? Never! but sin did; that it might be manifest as sin, by that the unutterable malignity of sin might become plain through the commandment. For we know that the Law is spiritual; but as for me, I am a creature of flesh, bought and sold under the dominion of sin. For what I perform I know not; what I practise is not what I intend to do, but what I detest, that I habitually do. If then I habitually do what I do not intend to do, I am consenting to the Law, that it is right. And now it is longer I myself who do the deed, but it is sin which has its home in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, no good thing has its home; for while to will is present with me, to carry out that which is right is not. For the good that I intend to do, I do not; but the evil which I do not; but the evil which I do not intend to do, that I am ever practising. But if I do the very thing I do not intend to do, it is no more I who practise it, but sin which has its home in me. I find, then, this law, that when I intend to do good, evil is ever present with me. For in my inmost self I delight in the law of God; but I find a different law in my bodily faculties, waging war with the law of my will, and taking me prisoner to that law of sin which is in my bodily faculties. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this slave of death? Oh, thank God! it is through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself in my will am in thralldom to the law of God; yet in my animal nature I am in thralldom to the law of sin.
Thus there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death. read more. For God has done what the Law could not do, weakened as it was by flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; in order that the Law might be fulfilled in us who order our lives not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they who live after the flesh, give their attention to the things of the flesh; But they who live after the spirit, give their attention to spiritual things. To be earthly minded means death; To be spiritually minded means life and peace. For to be earthly minded is enmity against God; For such a mind is not subject to the Law of God, Nor can it be; And they who are earthly minded cannot please God. But you are not earthly, but spiritual, if indeed the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you. If any one does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. But if Christ is in you, though your bodily self is dead because of sin, your spirit is full of life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also make your dying bodily self live by his indwelling Spirit in your lives. Therefore, brothers, we are debtors??ut not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;
Therefore, brothers, we are debtors??ut not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; for if you go on living according to the flesh, you are on the road to die; but if by the Spirit you keep putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. read more. For only those are sons of God who are led by God's Spirit. For you have not received a spirit of slavery in order that you should once more be afraid; but you have received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry out, "My Father, my dear Father!" For his Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; but to share his glory, we must now be sharing his sufferings. For I count as nothing what we now suffer, in comparison with the glory which will soon be unveiled to us. All nature even is waiting with eager longing for the unveiling of the vision of God's sons. For nature was subjected to imperfection, not by its own will, but by the will of Him who thus made it subject??21 yet not without the hope that some day nature itself also will be freed from the thralldom of decay, into the freedom which belongs to the glory of the children of God.
For we know that all nature has been groaning and travailing together until this hour. And not only that, we ourselves, although we are grasping the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves are inwardly groaning, while we are waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body. read more. For by hope we are saved; but hope which is clearly seen is no longer hope. Who hopes for what he clearly sees? But if we hope for something that we do not see, we then patiently wait for it. In the same way the Spirit also takes hold with us in our weakness; for we know knot how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And the Searcher of Hearts knows what the Sprit's meaning is, because his intercessions for the saints are according to the will of God. Now we know that all things continually work together for good to those who love God, to those who have been the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, so that he might be the eldest of a great brotherhood; and whom he foreordained, those he also called; and whom he called, those he also justified; and whom he justified, those he also glorified. What shall we say then, to these things? If God be for us, Who can be against us?
What shall we say then, to these things? If God be for us, Who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, But freely delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? read more. Who shall accuse God's elect? God acquits them; Who is there to condemn them? Will Christ who died? Yes, and who rose from the dead, The Christ who is also at the right hand of God, And is interceding for us? What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall anguish, or calamity, or persecution, or famine? Shall nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors Through Him who loved us.
I am speaking the truth in Christ, it is no lie. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have deep sorrow and incessant anguish in my heart. read more. For I was on the point of praying to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. For they are Israelites; to them belong the sonship, the Shekinah glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law; the service of the temple, and the promises; theirs are the patriarchs, and of them, as concerning the flesh, is Christ, who is over all, God, blessed forever, Amen. It is not, however, as though God's word had failed! For they are not all Israel who have sprung from Israel; they are not all children of Abraham because they are Abraham's descendants. The promise was, In Isaac shall thy posterity be called. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as his posterity. For thus is the word of promise, According to this season I will come, and Sarah shall bear a son. And not only so, but when Rebecca was pregnant by our forefather Isaac, though one man was the father of both children, and even though they were still unborn, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that the purpose of God might stand according to election, not of works, but of Him who called, it was said to her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? that there is injustice with God? No indeed. His words to Moses are. I will have mercy on whom I choose to have mercy; I will have compassion on whom I choose to have compassion. So then it is not a question of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, It is for this very purpose that I have raised you up, To show in you my power, And to proclaim my name far and wide, in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will, he hardens. Then you will say to me. "Why does he still go on finding fault? Who can withstand his will?" "Nay, but who are you, O man, that replies to God? Shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it, "Why did you do me like this?" Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for noble, and another for ignoble uses?
What then shall we say? That Gentiles who never pursed righteousness have overtaken it, even the righteousness of faith?
But to Israel he says, All day long I have been spreading out my hands unto a disobedient and contrary people.
Supposing that some of the branches have been broken off, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among the branches and have become a partaker with them of the fatness of the olive tree, do not glory over the branches; or if you are glorying, remember that it is not you who uphold the root, but the root which upholds you. read more. "Branches have been broken off," you say, "that I might be grafted in." True, through their unbelief they were broken off, and by your faith you stand. Do not be puffed up, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Fix your gaze, therefore, on the goodness and the severity of God; towards those who fell, severity, but towards you, God's goodness, if you continue stedfast in his goodness; otherwise you, too, will be cut off. And they also those Jews, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in again; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a mere wild olive tree, and have been grafted, contrary to nature, into a fruitful olive tree, how much more shall these, the natural branches, be regrafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, my brothers, have you ignorant of this hidden truth, for fear that you become wise in your own conceits. that a hardening in part has befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles is come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written. The deliver will come from Zion, He will banish all ungodliness from Jacob; This is my covenant with them, When I shall take away their sins. In relation to the gospel, the Jews are God's enemies for your sake; but in relation to the election, they are dearly loved for their forefather's sake. For no change of purpose can annul God's free gift and call. And as in times past you were yourselves disobedient to God, but now, thanks to their disobedience, have obtained mercy; even so they also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy. For God has locked up all in the prison of disobedience, that upon all he may have mercy. Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unfathomable are his judgments, and how unsearchable his paths! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Who has first given to Him, So as to receive payment in return? For of him and through him, and for him, are all things. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.
Welcome a man of weak faith, but not for the purpose of deciding doubtful points.
But he who has misgivings, and yet eats meat, is condemned already, because his action is not based on faith; and whatever is not based on faith is sin.
Or again, as Isaiah says. There shall be the root of Jesse, And he that arises to rule over the Gentiles; On him shall the Gentiles hope. Now the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may be overflowing with hope in the power of the Holy Spirit. read more. And I myself also am confident regarding you, my brothers, that you yourselves are already full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and well able to give advice to one another. Still I have written unto you the more boldly, in part, by way of reminding you, because of that gift of grace which God bestowed upon me, in making me a priest of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles. I act as priest of the gospel of God; so that the Gentiles, when offered before him, may be an acceptable sacrifice, because consecrated by the Holy Spirit. I have then my boast in Christ Jesus concerning the things of God. For I will not dare to speak of any thing except that which Christ has done through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, through the might of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit. So that beginning at Jerusalem and its environs, I have proclaimed without reserve the gospel of Christ, even as far as Illyricum. My ambition has been, however, to preach the gospel where Christ's name was not already known, so that I might not build upon another man's foundation. But, as Scripture says, He shall be seen by those to whom no news about him ever came, And those who have never heard of him shall understand. This is why I have been so hindered from coming to you.
This is why I have been so hindered from coming to you. But now, since I have no more any "opening" in these parts, and since I have longed for many years to come to you read more. whenever I go to Spain, I am hoping to see you on my way there, and to be set forward by you on my way there, and to be set forward by you on my journey thither, after I have enjoyed your company for a little while. Just now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints. For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make an offering for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. Yes, it has been made their good pleasure, and their debt, too. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual riches, they owe it to them also to minister to them the Jews in worldly goods. When, therefore, I have settled this, and have secured to them the poor at Jerusalem the fruit of this collection, I shall come on by you into Spain. And I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ. Brothers, I beseech you, by Jesus Christ our Lord, and by the love which the Spirit gives, to help me in my struggle by your prayers to God on my behalf,
Brothers, I beseech you, by Jesus Christ our Lord, and by the love which the Spirit gives, to help me in my struggle by your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the disobedient in Judea; that my mission to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the saints;
that I may be delivered from the disobedient in Judea; that my mission to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the saints; and that I may come to you in joy, by the will of God, and find rest together with you. read more. The God of peace be with you all! Amen.
but by all the churches among the Gentiles. Salute likewise the church that meets in their home. Salute Epaenetus, my dearly beloved, the first man in Roman Asia to believe in Christ.
Now I commend you to Him who is able to keep you stedfast, according to my gospel, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, whereby is unveiled the secret truth which was kept secret through immemorial ages, but now has been brought to light, and by command of the eternal God made known to the Gentiles by the scriptures of the Prophets, so that the Gentiles might hold obedience of the faith. read more. Unto Him, the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever. Amen.
I am thankful to God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
Morish
This may justly be called the fundamental epistle of Christian doctrine. Its value and importance are seen in that its doctrine lays in the soul a moral foundation by the presentation of God in qualities or attributes which the state of things existing in the world appears to call in question. Thus God is justified in the eyes of the believer, and this being the case, the purposes of His love are made known to him.
In looking at all that is around us in the world, everything appears to be out of order: the presence and domination of sin, a broken law, and the corrupt and violent will in man, all call in question the righteousness of God; while the scattering of God's people Israel raises the question of His faithfulness to His promises.
Now in Christ all this finds its full and complete answer. The Son of God, by whom all were created, has Himself come in the likeness of sinful flesh, and, by offering Himself a sacrifice for sin, has completely vindicated God's righteousness, while revealing His love. At the same time the man, or order of man, that has sinned against God has been judicially removed by His death from before the eye of God, so that God can present Himself to man in grace.
The moral perfection of the offerer of necessity brought in resurrection, in which all the pleasure of God's grace in regard to man is set forth in righteousness; and Christ risen is the deliverer who is to come forth from Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Thus God's faithfulness to His covenant is established in Zion. God is proved to be faithful and righteous: we have here the first elements of the knowledge of God.
But it way be desirable to open up the epistle a little in detail. After the introduction, in which the fact may be noticed that the glad tidings are said to be concerning God's Son, a picture is given us of the moral condition of man in the world, whether heathen, philosopher, or Jew. In the heathen we see the unchecked development of sin (Rom. 1). In the philosopher the fact that light in itself does not control evil (Rom. 2); and in the Jew that law is proved to be powerless to bring about subjection to God, or to secure righteousness for man. The conclusion is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God
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After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and, after embracing them, bade them farewell, and started for Macedonia. And when he had passed through those districts and encouraged the disciples in many addresses, he came into Greece where he spent three months. read more. Just as he was about to set sail for Syria, the Jews laid a plot against him, and he determined to return through Macedonia.
Smith
Romans, Epistle to the.
1. The date of this epistle is fixed at the time of the visit recorded in Acts 20:3 during the winter and spring following the apostle's long residence at Ephesus A.D. 58. On this visit he remained in Greece three months.
2. The place of writing was Corinth.
3. The occasion which prompted it,,and the circumstances attending its writing, were as follows:--St. Paul had long purposed visiting Rome, and still retained this purpose, wishing also to extend his journey to Spain. Etom. 1:9-13; 15:22-29. For the time, however, he was prevented from carrying out his design, as he was bound for Jerusalem with the alms of the Gentile Christians, and meanwhile he addressed this letter to the Romans, to supply the lack of his personal teaching. Phoebe, a deaconess of the neighboring church of Cenchreae, was on the point of starting for Rome, ch.
and probably conveyed the letter. The body of the epistle was written at the apostle's dictation by Tertius, ch.
but perhaps we may infer, from the abruptness of the final doxology, that it was added by the apostle himself.
4. The origin of the Roman church is involved in obscurity. If it had been founded by St. Peter according to a later tradition, the absence of any allusion to him both in this epistle and in the letters written by St. Paul from Rome would admit of no explanation. It is equally clear that no other apostle was like founder. The statement in the Clementines --that the first tidings of the gospel reached Rome during the lifetime of our Lord is evidently a fiction for the purposes of the romance. On the other hand, it is clear that the foundation of this church dates very far back. It may be that some of these Romans, "both Jews and proselytes," present. On the day of Pentecost
carried back the earliest tidings of the new doctrine; or the gospel may have first reached the imperial city through those who were scattered abroad to escape the persecution which followed on the death of Stephen.
At first we may suppose that the gospel had preached there in a confused and imperfect form, scarcely more than a phase of Judaism, as in the case of Apollos at Corinth,
or the disciples at Ephesus.
As time advanced and better-instructed teachers arrived the clouds would gradually clear away, fill at length the presence of the great apostle himself at Rome dispersed the mists of Judaism which still hung about the Roman church.
5. A question next arises as to the composition of the Roman church at the time when St. Paul wrote. It is more probable that St. Paul addressed a mixed church of Jews and Gentiles, the latter perhaps being the more numerous. These Gentile converts, however, were not for the most part native Romans. Strange as the: paradox appears, nothing is more certain than that the church of Rome was at this time a Greek and not a Latin church. All the literature of the early Roman church was written in the Greek tongue.
6. The heterogeneous composition of this church explains the general character of the Epistle to the Romans. In an assemblage so various we should expect to find, not the exclusive predominance of a single form of error, but the coincidence of different and opposing forms. It was: therefore the business of the Christian teacher to reconcile the opposing difficulties and to hold out a meeting-point in the gospel. This is exactly what St. Paul does in the Epistle to the Romans.
7. In describing the purport of this epistle we may start from St. Paul's own words, which, standing at the beginning of the doctrinal portion, may be taken as giving a summary of the contents. ch.
Accordingly the epistle has been described as comprising "the religious philosophy of the world's history "The atonement of Christ is the centre of religious history. The epistle, from its general character, lends itself more readily to an analysis than is often the case with St. Paul's epistles. While this epistle contains the fullest and most systematic exposition of the apostle's teaching, it is at the same time a very striking expression of his character. Nowhere do his earnest and affectionate nature and his tact and delicacy in handling unwelcome topics appear more strongly than when he is dealing with the rejection of his fellow country men the Jews. Internal evidence is so strongly in favor of the genuineness of the Epistle to the Romans that it has never been seriously questioned.
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So those who were scattered abroad were going everywhere preaching the word.
"This was said three times, and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.
He had been instructed in the ways of the Lord, and being full of zeal, he used to speak and to teach accurately the facts about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.
Now it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul, after passing through the hinterland, came to Ephesus, where he found a few disciples. "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" he asked them. "No" said they, "we did not even hear that there is a Holy Spirit." read more. "Into what, then, were you baptized?" he asked. And they said, "Into the baptism of John."
FOR I AM PROUD OF THE GOSPEL. IT IS GOD'S SAVING POWER FOR EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES. FOR THE JEW FIRST, AND ALSO FOR THE GENTILE. FOR IN IT IS BEING REVEALED A RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH PROCEEDS FROM GOD, FROM FAITH UNTO FAITH; AS IT IS WRITTEN.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a minister of the church at Cenchrae. I beg you to give her a Christian welcome, as the saints should; and to assist her in any matter in which she may have need of you. For she herself has been made an overseer to many people, including myself.
I, Tertius, who write this letter, salute you in the Lord.