Rom 1:32, 2:26, 5:16, 18, 8:4 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 32. Who, knowing the judgment of God ] δικαιωμα, the grand rule of right which God has revealed to every man, the knowledge of which he has, less or more, given to every nation of the world, relative to honouring parents, taking care of their own offspring, keeping their engagements, &c., &c. In the worst states of heathenism this great principle has been acknowledged; but, through the prevalence of corruption in the heart, this law, though acknowledged, was not obeyed; and the corruption increased so that those were highest in repute who had cast off all restraints of this kind; so that they even delighted in them; συνευδοκουσι, highly applauded, and gladly associated with those transgressors: which argues the very highest pitch of moral depravity. 1. THE preceding chapter gives us one of the finest views of the Gospel of Christ, to be met with any where. It is God's method of saving a lost world , in a way which that world could never have imagined: there is nothing human in it; it is all truly and gloriously Divine ; essentially necessary to the salvation of man, and fully adequate to the purposes of its institution. Though it is an extension of the old covenant, yet it is almost wholly dissimilar; being as different from that as the person is from the picture which represents it, and as the substance is from the shadow projected by it. It is a scheme as worthy of God as it is necessary for man ; hence there are no excluding clauses in it-it is for the Jew and for the Greek ; for the wise and for the unwise ; for all the nations of the universe, and for all the individuals of those nations. He blasphemes God who holds the contrary. 2. As God never does any thing that is not fitting, suitable , and necessary to be done, he has not made an unnecessary display of his mercy and goodness in the incarnation and death of his Son-all this was necessary , else it had not been done. But how does the necessity appear? In the deep-rooted and widely extended corruption and profligacy of the nations of the earth. Of these the apostle gives a most affecting and distressing picture. 1. Almost every trace of original righteousness had been obliterated . 2. The proofs of God's eternal power and providence, so manifest in the creation and preservation of the universe, were wholly disregarded. 3. A vain philosophy, without right, principle , or end , was substituted for those Divine truths which had been discovered originally to man. 4. Their hearts were contaminated with every vice which could blind the understanding, pervert the judgment, corrupt the will, and debase the affections and passions. 5. This was proved in the most unequivocal manner, by a profligacy of conduct which had debased them far, far below the beasts that perish; and the apostle here gives a list of their crimes, every article of which can be incontrovertibly proved from their own history and their own writers: crimes which, even bad as the world is now, would shock common decency to describe. See the whole of the second, third, sixth , and ninth Satires of Juvenal . 3. So completely lost were the heathens to a knowledge of the influence of God on the souls and the necessity of that influence, that they asserted, in the most positive manner, that man was the author of his own virtue and wisdom. Cicero, Nat. Deor ., lib. iii. c. 36, declares it a general opinion that, although mankind received from the gods the outward conveniencies of life- virtutem autem nemo unquam acceptam Deo retulit -"virtue none ever thought they received from the Deity." And again:-"This is the persuasion of all, that fortune is to be had from the gods; wisdom from ourselves." And again:-"Whoever thanked the gods for his being a good man? Men pray to Jupiter, not that he would make them just, temperate , and wise ; but rich and prosperous." JUVENAL, on this point, speaks thus:- Monstro, quod ipse tibi possis dare: Semita certe Tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae . Sat. x. v. 363. The path to peace is virtue ; which, I show, Thyself may fully on thyself bestow . In the same stain, HORACE, EPIST. lib. i. E. xviii. v. penult. Haec satis est orare Jovem, qui donat et aufert: Det vitam det opes : aequum mi animum ipse parabo. To Jove for life and wealth I pray, These Jove may give or take away; But, for a firm and tranquil mind , That blessing for myself I find . Thus, they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools . See Madan's Juvenal , vol. ii. p. 53. 4. By all this we see what the world was, and what it would have continued to be had not God sent a Divine revelation of his will, and established a public ministry to proclaim and enforce it. Were man left to the power and influence of his fallen nature he would be, in all places of his dispersion on the earth, what the apostle describes in the 29th, 30th, and 31st verses of this chapter. Reader, magnify God, who has called thee from such deep darkness, to the marvellous light of the glorious Gospel of his Son; and walk as a child of the light and of the day, in whom there shall be no cause of stumbling.

‏ Romans 1:32

Verse 32. Who, knowing the judgment of God] δικαιωμα, the grand rule of right which God has revealed to every man, the knowledge of which he has, less or more, given to every nation of the world, relative to honouring parents, taking care of their own offspring, keeping their engagements, &c., &c. In the worst states of heathenism this great principle has been acknowledged; but, through the prevalence of corruption in the heart, this law, though acknowledged, was not obeyed; and the corruption increased so that those were highest in repute who had cast off all restraints of this kind; so that they even delighted in them; συνευδοκουσι, highly applauded, and gladly associated with those transgressors: which argues the very highest pitch of moral depravity.

1. THE preceding chapter gives us one of the finest views of the Gospel of Christ, to be met with any where. It is God's method of saving a lost world, in a way which that world could never have imagined: there is nothing human in it; it is all truly and gloriously Divine; essentially necessary to the salvation of man, and fully adequate to the purposes of its institution. Though it is an extension of the old covenant, yet it is almost wholly dissimilar; being as different from that as the person is from the picture which represents it, and as the substance is from the shadow projected by it. It is a scheme as worthy of God as it is necessary for man; hence there are no excluding clauses in it-it is for the Jew and for the Greek; for the wise and for the unwise; for all the nations of the universe, and for all the individuals of those nations. He blasphemes God who holds the contrary.

2. As God never does any thing that is not fitting, suitable, and necessary to be done, he has not made an unnecessary display of his mercy and goodness in the incarnation and death of his Son-all this was necessary, else it had not been done. But how does the necessity appear? In the deep-rooted and widely extended corruption and profligacy of the nations of the earth. Of these the apostle gives a most affecting and distressing picture. 1. Almost every trace of original righteousness had been obliterated. 2. The proofs of God's eternal power and providence, so manifest in the creation and preservation of the universe, were wholly disregarded. 3. A vain philosophy, without right, principle, or end, was substituted for those Divine truths which had been discovered originally to man. 4. Their hearts were contaminated with every vice which could blind the understanding, pervert the judgment, corrupt the will, and debase the affections and passions. 5. This was proved in the most unequivocal manner, by a profligacy of conduct which had debased them far, far below the beasts that perish; and the apostle here gives a list of their crimes, every article of which can be incontrovertibly proved from their own history and their own writers: crimes which, even bad as the world is now, would shock common decency to describe. See the whole of the second, third, sixth, and ninth Satires of Juvenal.

3. So completely lost were the heathens to a knowledge of the influence of God on the souls and the necessity of that influence, that they asserted, in the most positive manner, that man was the author of his own virtue and wisdom. Cicero, Nat. Deor., lib. iii. c. 36, declares it a general opinion that, although mankind received from the gods the outward conveniencies of life-virtutem autem nemo unquam acceptam Deo retulit-"virtue none ever thought they received from the Deity." And again:-"This is the persuasion of all, that fortune is to be had from the gods; wisdom from ourselves." And again:-"Whoever thanked the gods for his being a good man? Men pray to Jupiter, not that he would make them just, temperate, and wise; but rich and prosperous."

JUVENAL, on this point, speaks thus:-

Monstro, quod ipse tibi possis dare: Semita certe Tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae.

Sat. x. v. 363.

The path to peace is virtue; which, I show,

Thyself may fully on thyself bestow.

In the same stain, HORACE, EPIST. lib. i. E. xviii. v. penult.

Haec satis est orare Jovem, qui donat et aufert: Det vitam det opes: aequum mi animum ipse parabo.

To Jove for life and wealth I pray,

These Jove may give or take away;

But, for a firm and tranquil mind,

That blessing for myself I find.

Thus, they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. See Madan's Juvenal, vol. ii. p. 53.

4. By all this we see what the world was, and what it would have continued to be had not God sent a Divine revelation of his will, and established a public ministry to proclaim and enforce it. Were man left to the power and influence of his fallen nature he would be, in all places of his dispersion on the earth, what the apostle describes in the 29th, 30th, and 31st verses of this chapter. Ro 1:29-31

Reader, magnify God, who has called thee from such deep darkness, to the marvellous light of the glorious Gospel of his Son; and walk as a child of the light and of the day, in whom there shall be no cause of stumbling.

‏ Romans 2:26

Verse 26. Therefore if the uncircumcision, &c.] If the Gentile be found to act according to the spirit and design of the law, his acting thus uprightly, according to the light which God has afforded him, will be reckoned to him as if he were circumcised and walked agreeably to the law.

‏ Romans 5:16

Verse 16. And not as it was by one that sinned] That is, the judicial act that followed Adam's sin (the sentence of death pronounced upon him, and his expulsion from paradise) took its rise from his one offence alone, and terminated in condemnation; but the free gift of God in Christ takes its rise also from the many offences which men, in a long course of life, have personally committed; and the object of this grace is to justify them freely, and bring them to eternal life.

‏ Romans 5:18

Verse 18. Therefore, as by the offence of one, &c.] The Greek text of this verse is as follows:-αραουνωςδιενος παραπτωματοςειςπανταςανθρωπουςειςκατακριμα. αυτωκαιενος δικαιωματοςειςπανταςανθρωπουςειςδικαιωσινζωης; which literally rendered stands thus:-Therefore, as by one offence unto all men, unto condemnation; so likewise, by one righteousness unto all men, to justification of life. This is evidently an elliptical sentence, and its full meaning can be gathered only from the context. He who had no particular purpose to serve would, most probably, understand it, from the context, thus:-

Therefore, as by one sin all men came into condemnation; so also by one righteous act all men came unto justification of life: which is more fully expressed in the following verse. Now, leaving all particular creeds out of the question, and taking in the scope of the apostle's reasoning in this and the preceding chapter, is not the sense evidently this?-Through the disobedience of Adam, a sentence of condemnation to death, without any promise or hope of a resurrection, passed upon all men; so, by the obedience of Christ unto death, this one grand righteous act, the sentence was so far reversed, that death shall not finally triumph, for all shall again be restored to life. Justice must have its due; and therefore all must die. The mercy of God, in Christ Jesus, shall have its due also; and therefore all shall be put into a salvable state here, and the whole human race shall be raised to life at the great day. Thus both justice and mercy are magnified; and neither is exalted at the expense of the other.

The apostle uses three remarkable words in these three verses:-l. δικαιωμα, justification, Ro 5:16. 2. δικαιοσυνη, which we render righteousness, Ro 5:17; but is best rendered justification, as expressing that pardon and salvation offered to us in the Gospel: See Clarke on Ro 1:16. 3. δικαιωσις, which is also rendered justification, Ro 5:18.

The first word, δικαιωμα, is found in the following places: Lu 1:6; Ro 1:32; 2:26; 5:16, 18; 8:4; Heb 9:1, 10; Re 15:4; 19:8; to which the reader may refer. δικαιωμα signifies, among the Greek writers, the sentence of a judge, acquitting the innocent, condemning and punishing the guilty; but in the New Testament it signifies whatever God has appointed or sanctioned as a law; and appears to answer to the Hebrew mishpat Yehovah, the statute or judgment, of the Lord; It has evidently this sense in Lu 1:6: Walking in all the commandments and ORDINANCES, δικαιωμασι, of the Lord blameless; and it has the like meaning in the principal places referred to above; but in the verse in question it most evidently means absolution, or liberation, from punishment, as it is opposed to κατακριμα, condemnation, Ro 5:18. See Clarke on Ro 1:16; and see Schleusner in voce.

The second word, δικαιοσυνη, I have explained at large in Ro 1:16, already referred to.

The third word δικαιωσις, is used by the Greek writers, almost universally, to denote the punishment inflicted on a criminal, or the condemnatory sentence itself; but in the New Testament where it occurs only twice, (Ro 4:25, he was raised for our justification, δικαιωσιν; and Ro 5:18, unto justification of life, δικαιωσινζωης,) it evidently signifies the pardon and remission of sins; and seems to be nearly synonymous with δικαιωμα. Dr. Taylor thinks that "δικαιοσυνη is Gospel pardon and salvation, and has reference to God's mercy. δικαιωμα is our being set quite clear and right; or our being restored to sanctity, delivered from eternal death, and being brought to eternal life; and has reference to the power and guilt of sin. And δικαιωσις he thinks may mean no more than our being restored to life at the resurrection." Taking these in their order, there is: First, pardon of sin. Secondly, purification of heart, and preparation for glory. Thirdly, the resurrection of the body, and its being made like to his glorious body, so as to become a fit tabernacle for the soul in a glorified state for ever and ever.

The same writer observes that, when the apostle speaks of forgiveness of sins simply, he insists on faith as the condition; but here, where he speaks of justification of life, he mentions no condition; and therefore he supposes justification of life, the phrase being understood in a forensic sense, to mean no more than the decree or judgment that determines the resurrection from the dead. This is a favourite point with the doctor, and he argues largely for it: see his notes.

‏ Romans 8:4

Verse 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us] That the guilt might be pardoned through the merit of that sacrifice; and that we might be enabled, by the power of his own grace and Spirit, to walk in newness of life; loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves: and thus the righteousness, the spirit, design, and purpose of the law is fulfilled in us, through the strength of the Spirit of Christ, which is here put in opposition to the weakness of the law through the flesh.

It is very likely that the concluding clause of this verse, which is the very same as that found in the common text of the first verse, has been transferred to that verse from this place.