15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent as it is went into all the earth, wand their words unto the ends of the hearing of us-a Or, preaching-v Paalm 19.4. Mats. 24.14.&38. 19. Mark 16.15. tentively considered by the people; 5thly. The message which Taylor remarks on this quotation, which is taken from Isaiah be the objection of a Jew: as if he had said, A divine mission 14. How, then, shall they call on Him] As the apostle had laid so much stress ou believing, in order to salvation; and as this doctrine, without farther explanation, might be misun derstood, it was necessary to show how this faith was produced; and, therefore, he lays the whole doctrine down in a beautifully graduated order:-1. There can be no salvation without the Gospel: a dispensation of mercy and grace from God alone, here called, ver. 15. The Gospel of peace; glad tidings of good things. 2. This must be preached, proclaimed in the world for the obedience of faith. 3. None can effectually preach this, unless he have a divine mission; for how shall they preach, unless they be SENT, ver. 15. matter must come from God; and, the person who proclaims it, must have both authority and unction from on high. 4. This divinely commissioned person, must be heard: it is the duty of all to whom this message of salvation is sent, to hear it with the deepest reverence and attention. 5. What is heard, must be credited for they who do not believe the Gospel, as the record which God has given of his Son, cannot be saved, verse 14. 6. Those who believe, must invoke God, by Christ, which they cannot do, unless they believe in him; and in this way alone, they are to expect salvation. Professing to believe in Christ, without earnest importunate prayer for salvation, can save no man. All these things the apostle lays down as essentially necessary: and they all follow from this grand proposition, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. But, says the apostle, How shall they CALL upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they BELIEVE in him, of rehom they have not heard? And how shall they HEAR, without a preacher? And how shall they PREACH, except they be sent? And with what message, which can bring salvation, can they be sent, but with the GOSPEL OF PEACE, the GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS. there is first, A proper MESSAGE: 2dly, A proper MESSENGER; When, therefore, 3dly, The message PREACHED, proclaimed, or properly deliver ed by him; 4thly, The proclamation properly HEARD, and at 66 is the ordinary means of salvation; faith in Christ is the re 17. So then, faith cometh by hearing] Preaching the Gospel ing, God sends; if heard attentively, faith will be produced: and if they believe the report, the arm of the Lord will be result of hearing the word, the doctrine of God preached. Preach vealed in their salvation. objection; you say, they have not all BELIEVED: I ask, have they not all HEARD? Have not the means of salvation been 18. But I say, Have they not heard?] But to return to the placed within the reach of every Jew in Palestine; and within the reach of all those who sojourn in the different Gentile countries where we have preached the Gospel; as well to the Jews as to the Gentiles themselves 1 Yes; for we may say of the preaching of the Gospel, what the Psalmist has said (Psal xix. 2, 3.) of the heavenly bodies; Their sound went into all celestial luminaries have given testimony of the eternal power and Godhead of the Deity to the habitable world; the Gospel the earth, and their words unto the end of the world. As the of Christ has borne testimony to his eternal goodness and mercy, to all the land of Palestine; and to the whole Roman empire. There is not a part of the Promised Land in which these glad tidings have not been preached; and there is scarcely a place in the Roman empire in which the doctrine of Christ crucified has not been heard: if, therefore, the Jews and Gentiles have not believed, the fault is entirely their own as God has amply furnished them with the means of faith and of salvation. which the Septuagint, and the apostle who quotes from them. renders, boyyos, sound; and hence, some have thought that In Psalm xix. 4. the Psalmist has Dp kavam, their line, the word in the Psalm was originally p kolam, their voice But that p kav, is used for toord or speech, is sufficiently evident from Isaiah xxviii. 10. line upon line, precept upon precept, &c. where p is analogous to word, or direction. It is very remarkable that these words of David, quoted by St. Paul, are mentioned in Sohar Genes. fol. 9. where it is said powy Abdey mashicha ein un millin-" These words are the servants of the Messiah, and measure ont both the things above and the things beneath." To this notion of them the apostle may refer in his use of them in this place; and to a Jew the application would be legitimate. preaching among the Gentiles-but is not this according to 23 19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First, Moses saith, I will Jews, in consequence of those offers of mercy made to the 20. But Esaias, (the Greek orthography for Isaiah,) is very 1. In the preceding chapter are several quotations from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms; and as the apostle seems to take them with considerable latitude of meaning, it has been thought that he only uses their words, as being well calculated to express his sense: without paying any attention to their original import. This principle is too lax, to be introduced in such solemn circumstances. Dr. Taylor has made Some judicious and useful distinctions here. After observing that, if we allow this principle, no argument can be built on any of the apostle's quotations; and that it must have been an indifferent thing with him, whether he did or did not understand the Scripture; as, on this supposition, they would serve him as well without, as with the true meaning: he adds, the apostle was a strict and close quoter of the Scriptures: but he did not always quote them in the same manner, or for the same purpose. Sometimes his intention goes no farther than using the same strong expression, as being equally applicable to the point in hand. So, verses 6, 7, and 8, of this chapter, he uses the words of Moses, not to prove any thing; nor, as if he thought Moses spoke of the same subject; but only as intimating, that the strong and lively expressions which Moses used concerning the doctrine he taught, were equally applicable to the faith of the Gospel. So in the same manner, verse 18. he quotes Psal. nor finally rejected God has not universally nor finally rejected Israel; nor are they all at present rejecters of the Gospel, for there is a rem SAY then, Hath God cast For, I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. a1 Sam. 12.22. Ger. 31.37,-b2 Cor. 11.22. Phil. 3.5. 2 God his foreknew. NOTES-This chapter is of the prophetic kind. It was by the Spirit of prophecy, that the apostle foresaw the rejection of the Jews, which he supposes in the two preceding chapters; for when he wrote the epistle, they were not in fact rejected; seeing their polity and church were then standing. But the event has proved that he was a true prophet; for we know that in about ten or eleven years after the writing of this letter, the temple was destroyed, the Jewish polity overthrown, and the Jews expelled out of the Promised Land, which they have never been able to recover to the present day. This 1. Confirms the arguments which the apostle had adranced to establish the calling of the Gentiles. For the Jews are, in fact, rejected; consequently, our calling is, in fact, not invalidated by any thing they suggested, relative to the perpetuity of the Mosaic dispensation. But that dispensation being wholly subverted, our title to the privileges of God's e Ch.8.20-d Gr. in Elias? church and people stands clear and strong: the Jewish con- 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. in the days of St. Paul. 7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have re-blinded. 5 Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. el Kings 19.10, 14-f1 Kings 19.18.-g Ch.9.27-b Ch.4.4,5 Gal.5.4. See Den. 4,5-1 Ch.9.31. & 10 3.-k Or, hardened. 2 Cor 3. 14. leving Jews, he comments, ver. 1-7. (2.) As to the duration of it, it is not final and perpetual, for all Israel, or the nation of the Jews, which is now blinded, shall one day be saved, or brought again into the kingdom or covenant of God. Upon the state of these blinded Jews, he comments, ver. 7. to the end of the chapter. His design in discoursing upon this subject, was not only to make the thing itself known; but partly to engage the attention of the unbelieving Jew; to conciliate his favour, and if possible to induce him to come into the Gospel scheme, and partly to dispose the Gentile Christians not to treat the Jews with contempt; (considering that they derived all their present blessings from the patriarchs, the ancestors of the Jewish nation, and were ingrafted into the good olive-tree, whence the Jews had been broken,) and to admonish them to take warning by the fall of the Jews, to make a good improvement of their religious privileges, lest, through unbelief, any of them should relapse into heathenism, or perish finally at the last day. The thread of his discourse leads him into a general survey and comparison of the several dispensations, of God towards the Gentiles and Jews; and he concludes this survey with adoration of the depths of the divine knowledge and wisdom exercised in the various constitutions erected in the world, ver. 30-36. See Taylor's notes, p. 340. Verse 1. I say then, Hath God cast away his people?] Has he utterly and finally rejected them? for this is necessarily the apostle's meaning, and is the unport of the Greek word arwraro, which signifies to thrust or drive away; from ar, from, and wow, to thrust or drive;-has he thrust them off, and driven them eternally from him? God forbid, by no means. This rejection is neither universal, nor final. For, I also am an Israelite, I am a regular descendant from Abra ham, through Israel or Jacob, and by his son Benjamin. And I stand in the church of God; and in the peculiar covenant; for the rejection is only of the obstinate and disobedient; for those who believe on Christ, as I have done, are continued in the church. 2. God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew] God has not finally and irrecoverably rejected a people, whom he has loved (or approved,) so long, ov posyve, for this is evidently the meaning of the word in this place, as we have already seen, chap. viii. 29. and is a very general meaning of the original verb y yadda, in Hebrew, and york, in Greek as I have had often occasion to notice in different parts of this work, and what none will deny, who consults the original. See Schleusner, Parkhurst, &c. Wot ye not what the scripture saith] Ove oidare, do ye not know what the Scripture saith. The reference is to 1 Kings xix. 10, 14. And the apostle's answer to the objecting Jew, is to the following effect: God hath not universally thrust away his people, for whom, in the promise to Abraham, he intended, and to whom decreed to grant his special favour and blessing; but the case is now, much as it was in the days of Elijah; that prophet, in his addresses to God, made his complaint against Israel thus: 3. Lord, they have killed thy prophets] They will not permit any person to speak unto them in thy name; and they murder those who are faithful to the commission which they have received from thee. Digged down thine altars] They are profligate and profane beyond example, and retain not the slightest form of religion. I am left alone) There is no prophet besides myself left, and they seek to destroy me. 4. But what saith the answer of God] The answer which God made, assured him that there were seven thousand, that is, several or many thousands, for so we must understand the word seven, a certain, for an uncertain number. These had continued faithful to God; but because of Jezebel's persecution, they were obliged to conceal their attachment to the true religion; and God, in his providence, preserved them from her sanguinary rage. Who have not bowed the knee] Baal was the god of Jezebel; er, in other words, his worship was then the worship of the state: but there were several thousands of pious Israelites who had not acknowledged this idol; and did not partake in the idolatrous worship. 5. Even so then, at this present time] As in the present day the irreligion of the Jews is very great; yet there is a rem nant, a considerable number, who have accepted of the grace of the Gospel. According to the election of grace.] And these are saved just as God has saved all believers from the beginning; they are chosen by his grace; not on account of any worth or excellence in themselves, but through his goodness are they chosen to nave a place in his church, and continue to be his people, en 8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit 9 And David saith, Let their table he made a snare, and a 1 Isa 9.10-m Or, remorse.--n Deu. 29.4. Isa 6.9 Jer 5.21. Eack. 122. Matt.13 6. And if by grace] And let this very remnant of pious Jews, who have believed in Christ Jesus, know that they are brought in precisely in the same way as God has brought in the Gentiles; the one having no more trorthiness to plead than the other; both being brought in, and continued in by God's free grace, and not by any observance of the Mosaic law. And this is done according to the election of grace, or the rule of choosing any persons to be the people of God upon the footing of grace; which takes in all that believe in his son Jesus Christ: some of the Jewish people did so believe; therefore those believing Jews are a remnant according to the election of grace. They are saved in that way, in which alone God will save inankind. And if by grace-Then let these very persons reinember that their election and interest in the covenant of God has no connexion with their old Jewish works; for were it of works, grace would lose its proper nature, and cease to be what it is, a free, undeserved gift. But if it be of works] On the other hand, could it be made appear that they are invested in these privileges of the kingdoin of Christ, only by the observance of the law of Moses, then GRACE would be quite set aside; and if it were not, work, or the merit of obedience, would lose its proper nature, which excludes favour and free gift But it is not, and cannot be of WORKS; for those very Jews who now believe, and are happy in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, are so according to the election of grace, which does not mean a particular act of God's sovereignty that has singled out some of the Jews who deserved to have been cast off, as well as the rest; but it is that general scheme of grace, according to which God purposed to take into his church and kingdom, any, among either Jews or Gentiles, who should believe on Christ. And the remnant here mentioned were not selected from their country. men, by such a sovereign act of God's grace as might have taken in the whole if it had so pleased: but they were admitted into, and received the privileges of the Messiah's kingdom; because they believed on the Lord Jesus, and received in as their only Saviour, and thus came into that scheme of election which God had appointed. And we may observe further, that out of this election, they, as well as the others, would have been excluded, had they, like the rest, remained in unbelief; and into this election of grace all the Jews to a man, notwithstanding they were all sinners, would have been ta ken, had they believed in Christ Jesus. This is the true notion of the election of grace. See Taylor. 7. What then] What is the real state of the case before us? Israel, the body of the Jewish people, have not obtained that which they so earnestly desire, i, e. to be continued, as they have been hitherto, the peculiar people of God; but the elec tion hath obtained it; as many of them as have believed in Jesus Christ, and accepted salvation through him; this is the grand scheme of the election by grace; God chooses to make those his peculiar people who believe in his Son, and none other shall enjoy the blessings of his kingdom. Those who would not receive him are blinded; they have shut their eyes against the light, and are in the very circumstances of those mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, chap. xxix. 10. 8. God hath given them the spirit of slumber] As they had wilfully closed their eyes against the light; so God has, in judgment, given them up to the spirit of slumber. The very word and revelation of God, which should have awakened their consciences, and opened their eyes and ears, have had a very different effect; and because they did not receive the truth in the love thereof, that which would otherwise have been the savour of life unto life, has become the savour of death unto death; and this continues to the present day. 9. And David suith, Let their table, &c.] And from their present disposition, it is reasonable to conclude, that the same evils will fall upon them as fell upon the disobedient in former times, as predicted by David, Psa. Ixix. 22, 23, that their very blessings should become curses to them; and their temporal mercies be their only recompense; and yet, even these earthly blessings, by not being enjoyed in the Lord, should be a stumbling-block over which they should fall; and instead of being a blessing, should be the means of their punishment. They would have a worldly Messiah, and therefore they rejected him whose kingdom was not of this world. 10. Let their eyes be darkened.] All these words are deela 11 I say, then, Have they stumbled that they should fall ? God forbid but rather, through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the 'diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13 For, I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of thein. q Ac 13,46 & 16.6 & 22 19,21 & 8:48. Ch. 10. 19.- Or, decay, or, loss.-9 Ac.9. 1213220221. Ch. 15 16 Gal. 1.15 & 22,7,8,9. Fph.3.8. 1 Tím 2.7. 2 Tim, 1.11. rative, and not imprecatory. God declares what will be the case of such obstinate unbelievers: their table, their common providential blessings, will become a snare, a trap, a stum bling-block, and the means of their punishment. Their eyes will be more and more darkened, as they persist in their un belief, and their back shall be bowed down always; far from becoming a great and powerful nation, they shall continue ever in a state of abject slavery and oppression, till they acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiab; and submit to receive redemption in his blood. 11. Have they stumbled that they should fall Have the Jews, now for their disobedience and unbelief rejected, so sinned against God as to be for ever put out of the reach of his mercy? By no means. Are they, as a nation, utterly irrecoverable? This is the sense of the place, and here the prophecy of the restoration of the Jewish nation commences. But rather, through their fall salvation is come] The church of God cannot fail: if the Jews have broken the everlasting covenant, Isa. xxiv. 5. the Gentiles shall be taken into it, and this very circumstance shall be ultimately the means of exciting them to seek and claim a share in the blessings of the new covenant; and this is what the apostle terms provoking them to jealousy, i. e. exciting thein to emulation, for so the word should be understood. We should observe here, that the fall of the Jews was not, in itself, the cause or reason of the calling of the Gentiles: for whether the Jews had stood or fallen, whether they had embraced or rejected the Gospel; it was the original purpose of God to take the Gentiles into the church; for this was absolutely implied in the covenant made with Abraham: and it was in virtue of that covenant that the Gentiles were now called; and not BECAUSE of the unbelief of the Jews. And hence we see that their fall was not the ne. cessary means of the salvation of the Gentiles, for certainly the unbelief of the Jews, could never produce faith in the Gentiles. The simple state of the case is: the Jews, in the most obstinate and unprincipled manner, rejected Jesus Christ and the salvation offered them in his naine: then the apostles turned to the Gentiles, and they heard and believed. The Jews themselves perceived that the Gentiles were to be put in possession of similar privileges to those which they, as the peculiar people of God, had enjoyed: this they could not bear, and put forth all their strength in opposition and persecution, The calling of the Gentiles, which existed in the original purpose of God, became in a certain way accelerated by the unbelief of the Jews, through which they forfeited all their privileges, and fell from that state of glory and dignity in which they had been long placed as the peculiar people of God. See Taylor. 12 Now, if the fall of them] The English reader may imagine that because fall is used in both these verses, the original word is the sanie. But their fall, and the fall of them, is apa ropa, the same word which we render offence, chap. v. 15, 17, 18, and might be rendered lapse. Whereas that they should fall (ver. 11.) is iva nowo. Now, TITTW, to fall, is used in a sense so very emphatical as to signify being slain. So Homer, I. viii. ver. 475. Ηματι του στ' αν οι μεν επί πρύμνησι μαχώνται, And for Patroclus slain, the crowded hosts In narrow space, shall at the ships contend. Such the Divine decree. And again, II. xi. ver. 84. Όφρα μεν πως ην και αέξετο ἱερον ημαρ, Τέφρα μαλ' αμφοτέρων βέλε ήπτετο, πιπτεδελαος. COWPER. It is well known that to fall in battle means to be killed. It is in such a sense as this, that St. Paul used the word fall, when he says, Have they stumbled that they should FALL he means a full quite destructive and ruinous; whereas by their fall, and the full of them, he means no more than such a lapse was recoverable; as in the case of Adam's offence. See Dr. Taylor. restored to the divine favour 15 For, if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead ? 16 For, if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And, if some of the branches be broken off, and w thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree; 18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 1 Cor.7,16.&9.22. 1 Tim. 4.16. James 5 20-u Lev. 23. 10. Num. 15. 18,19,20,21.v J.11.16 Acts 2.39 Eph. 2. 12,13,-x Or, for them.-y 1 Cor. 10.12. show them the high pitch of glory and blessedness to which they had been called, that they might have a due sense of God's mercy in calling them to such a state of salvation; and, that they might be jealous over themselves, lest they should fall as the Jews had done before them: and he dwells particularly on the greatness of those privileges which the Gentiles had now received, that he might stir up the minds of his countrymen to emulation: and might be the means of saving some of them, as he states in the following verse. I magnify mine office] This is a very improper translation of any diakoviav pov dogate, which is, literally, I honour this my ministry. Dr. Taylor has justly observed, that magnify, except when applied to the Most High, carries with it, in our language, the idea of stretching beyond the bounds of truth. Whereas the apostle simply means that he does justice to his ministry, by stating the glorious things which he was commissioned to preach among the Gentiles: blessings which the Jews by their obstinacy, had forfeited. 14. Might save some of them.] And yet all these were among the reprobate, or rejected; however, the apostle supposed that none of them was irrecoverably shut out from the divine favour; and that some of them, by his preaching, might be disposed to receive salvation by Christ Jesus. 15. But life from the dead] If the rejection of the Jews became the occasion of our receiving the Gospel, so that we can even glory in our tribulations, though they themselves became chief instruments of our sufferings; yet so far must we feel from exulting over them, that we should esteem their full conversion to God as great and choice a favour as we would the restoration of a most intimate friend to life, who had been at the gates of death. The restoration of the Jews to a state of favour with God, to which the apostle refers, and which is too plainly intimated by the spirit of prophecy, to admit of a doubt, will be a most striking event. Their being preserved, as a distinct people, is certainly a strong collateral proof, that they shall once more be brought into the church of God: and their conversion to Christianity will be an incontestable proof of the truth of Divine Revelation; and doubtless will become the means of converting multitudes of deists, who will see the prophecies of God which had been delivered so long before, so strikingly fulfilled in this great event. We need not wonder if a whole nation should then be born as in a day. 16. For, if the first fruit be holy As the consecrating the first-fruits to God, was the means of drawing down his blessing upon the rest: so the conversion of Abraham to the true faith, and the several Jews who have now embraced Christianity, are pledges that God will, in process of time, admit the whole Jewish nation into his favour again, so that they shall constitute a part of the visible church of Christ. If the root be holy, so are the branches.] The word holy, in this verse, is to be taken in that sense which it has so frequently in the Old and New Testaments, viz. consecrated, set apart to sacred uses. It must not be forgotten that the first converts to Christ were from among the Jews; these formed the root of the Christian church: these were holy, aytoi, consecrated to God, and those who among the Gentiles were converted by their means, were also aytot, consecrated: but the chief reference is to the ancestors of the Jewish people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and as these were devoted to God, and received into his covenant; all their posterity, the branches which proceeded from this root, became entitled to the same privileges: and as the root still remains, and the branches also, the descendants from that root still remain ; they still have a certain title to the blessings of the covenant; though, because of their obstinate unbelief, these bless. ings are suspended, as they cannot, even on the ground of the old covenant, enjoy these blessings but through faith: for i was when Abraham believed God, that it was accounted to him for righteousness; and thus he became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 17. And, if some of the branches, &c.] If the present nation of the Jews, because of their unbelief, are cut off from the blessings of the church of God, and the high honour and dignity of being his peculiar people; and thou being a wild olive-ye Gentiles, being without the knowledge of the true God, and consequently bringing forth no fruits of righteousness; wert graffed in among them, are now inserted in the original stock, having been made partakers of the faith of Abraham, and consequently of his blessings; and enjoy, as the people did who sprang from him, the fatness of the olive tree, the promises made to the patriarchs, and the spiritual privileges of the Jewish church." The riches of the world] If in consequence of their unbe lief, the riches of God's grace and goodness be poured out on the whole Gentile world; how much more shall that dispensation of grace and mercy enrich and aggrandize the Gentiles, which shall bring the whole body of the Jews to the faith of the Gospel. Here the apostle supposes, or rather predicts, that such a dispensation shall take place; and that therefore the Jews have not so stumbled as to be finally irrecoverable. 13. This, and the following verse should be read in a paren. thesis. St. Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, wished to 18. Boast not against the branches.] While you are ready to acknowledge that you were included in the covenant made ROMANS. The apostle having adopted this metaphor as the best he could find, to express that act of God's justice and mercy by which the Jews were rejected, and the Gentiles elected in their stead; and, in order to show that though the Jewish tree was cut down, or its branches lopped off, yet it was not rooted up, he informs the Gentile helievers, that as it is customary to insert a good scion in a bad or useless stock, they who were bad, contrary to the custom in such cases, were grafted in a good stock, and their growth and fruitfulness proclaimed the excellence and vegetative life of the stock in which they were inserted. This was the goodness of the heavenly Gardener to them; but it was severity, aroтouta, an act of excision to the Jews. The reader will observe that this term belongs to ingraft. ing: often, in this operation, a part of a branch is cut off; in GO continue in his goodness: otherwise, thou also shalt becut off. that part which remains in connexion with the tree, a little 23. If they abide not in unbelief] So, we find that their re and degraded, God can, in the course of his providence and dvov, naturally wild and barren; for, that the wild olive |