Romans 5:1-11

Ninth Section.—The fruit of justification: Peace with God, and the development of the new life into the experience of Christian hope. The new worship of Christians: They have the free access to grace into the Holy of holies. Therefore they rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and of the revelation of the real Shekinah of God in the real Holy of holies. They even glory in tribulation also, by which this hope is consummated. The love of God in Christ as security for the realization of Christian hope; Christ’s death our reconciliation; Christ’s life our salvation. The bloom of Christian hope: The solemn joy that God is our God.

Romans 5:1-11

1Therefore being justified by faith, we have1 peace with God through our 2Lord Jesus Christ: By [Through] whom also we have [have had the]2 access by faith3 [or omit by faith] into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice [triumph]4 in [the]5 hope of the glory of God. 3And not only so, but we glory [triumph]6 in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience 4[constancy];7 And patience [constancy], experience [approval];8 and experience 5[approval], hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God [God’s love] is shed abroad [has been poured out] in our hearts by [by means of] the Holy Ghost which is [who was] given unto us. 6For when we were yet9 without strength, in due time [κατὰ καιρόν, at the proper time] Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die 8[though, for the good man, perhaps some one may even dare to die]. But God10 commendeth [doth establish] his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then [therefore], being now justified11 by [ἐν] his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him [or, through him from the wrath]. 10For if, when we were [being]12 enemies, we were reconciled to God by [through, διά] the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by [in, ἐν] his life. 11And not only so, but we also joy [And not only that—i.e., reconciled—but also triumphing]13 in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by [through] whom we have now received the atonement [the reconciliation].14

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

General Survey.—1. Peace with God arising from justification, as hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2). 2. The continuance in, and increase of, this peace, even by tribulations, amid the experience of the love of God (Romans 5:3-5). 3. The proof of the continual increase of the peace, and the certainty of salvation of Christians (Romans 5:6-9). 4. Reconciliation as the pledge of deliverance (salvation), and, as the appropriated atonement, the fountain of blessedness. On Romans 5:1-8, Winzer, Commentat., Leipzig, 1832. [Romans 5:1-12 and chap. 8 describe the effect of justification upon the feelings, or the emotional man; chap. 6, the effect upon the will, or the moral man. It produces peace in the heart and holiness in the character of the believer.—P. S. ]

Romans 5:1. Therefore, being justified by faith [Δικαιωθέντες οὖν ἐκ πίστεω ς]. The οὖν expresses the conclusion that arises from the preceding establishment of the truth of the δικαίωσις by faith [Romans 3:21 to Romans 4:25]. Therefore δικαιωθέντες is closely connected with δικαίωσις. [The aorist tense δικαιωθέντες, which is emphatically placed at the head of the sentence, implies that justification is an act already done and completed when we laid hold of Christ by a living faith, but not necessarily at our baptism (Wordsworth), which is a sealing ordinance, like circumcision (Romans 4:11), and does not always coincide in time with regeneration and justification (remember the case of Abraham and Cornelius on the one hand, and Simon Magus on on the other). ἐκ πίστεως, out of faith, as the subjective or instrumental cause and appropriating organ, while the grace of God in Christ is the objective or creative cause of justification, by which we are transferred from the state of sin and damnation to the state of righteousness and life.—P. S.] Meyer: “The extent of the blessedness of the justified (not their holiness, as Rothe would have it) shall now be portrayed.” It is a description of the blessedness of Christians in its source, its maintenance, its apparent imperfection yet real perfection, its certainty, and its ever more abundant development. The condition of one who is not justified is that of fighting with God (see Romans 5:9).

[We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, εἰρήνην ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν θεόν‚ κ.τ.λ. The bearing of the difference of reading here deserves more attention than it has yet received. We reluctantly adopt, for internal reasons, with Dr. Lange and the great majority of commentators, the indicative ἔκομεν, we have, for the subjunctive ἔκωμεν (Vulg.: habeamus). The latter, it must be admitted, has in its favor not only the overwhelming weight of ancient MSS., Versions, and Fathers,15 but also the critical canon: lectio difficilior princi atum tenet; being the more difficult reading, its alteration into the easier ἔκομεν can be better accounted for than its introduction. If we retain ἔκωμεν(with Lachmann, Tregelles, and Alford, 5th ed.), we must consistently take καυκώμεθα, Romans 5:2-3, likewise in the subjunctive mood; and thus the whole passage, instead of being, as usually understood, a statement of the blessed effects of justification upon the heart, becomes an exhortation to go on from peace to peace and from glory to glory, on the ground of the accomplished fact of justification. Different explanations, however, may be given to ἔκωμεν. (1) The deliberative sense: shall we have? But the deliberative subjunctive is only used in doubtful questions, as Mark 12:14 : δῶμεν ἤ μὴ δῶμεν; Romans 6:1 : ἐπιμένωμεν τῇ άμαρτίᾳ; (2) The concessive sense: we may have, it is our privilege to have. This would give excellent sense. But such a use of the Greek subjunctive approaching the meaning of the future, though easily derived from the general principle that the subjunctive mood signifies what is objectively possible, as the indicative expresses what is actual, and the optative what is desirable or subjectively possible, is somewhat doubtful, and not mentioned by Winer (p. 268, 7th ed.), who, in independent sentences, admits only the conjunctivus adhortativus and the conjunctivus deliberativus; comp. Kühner, §§ 463, 464, and Jelf, § 415. (3) There remains, therefore, only the hortative sense: let us have peace. But here arises the doctrinal difficulty, that peace is not the result of man’s exertions, but a gift of God bestowed, and the object of prayer in the epistolary inscriptions; comp. 1 and 2 Peter 1:2 : “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you;” yet two analogous passages might be quoted—viz., 2 Corinthians 5:19 : kαταλλάγητε τῶ Θεῶ, reconciliamini Deo; and especially Hebrews 12:28 : ἔκωμεν κάριν, let us have grace (where, however, some MSS. read ἒκομεν, the Vulg. habemus, and where κάρις is understood by some in the sense of gratitude).16 It might be said, also, in support of this explanation, that faith, hope, love, and all Christian graces, are likewise gifts of grace, and yet objects to be pursued and maintained. (4) A few commentators, quite recently Forbes (not in the translation, but in the comments, p. 179), take ἔκωμεν = κατέκωμεν, let us hold fast and enjoy peace; comp. Hebrews 10:23 : κατέκωμεν τὴν ὁμιλογίαν τῆς ἐλπίδος . But in this case we should expect the article before εἰρήνην, and a previous mention of peace in the argument. The indicative ἔκομεν, on the other hand, is free from all grammatical and doctrinal difficulty, and is in keeping with the declaratory character of the section.—Peace with God, εἰρήνην πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, in our relation to God. It expresses the state of reconciliation (opposite to the state of condemnation, Romans 8:1), in consequence of the removal of God’s wrath and the satisfaction of His justice by the sacfice of Christ, who is our Peace; Ephesians 2:14-16. Comp. Herodian 8, 7. Romans 8:0 : ἀντὶ πολέμου μὲν εἰρήνην ἔκοντες πρὸς θεούς, and other classical parallels quoted by Meyer and Philippi. On πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, comp. Acts 2:17; Acts 24:16; 2 Corinthians 7:4. This objective condition of peace implies, as a necessary consequence, the subjective peace of the soul, the tranquillitas animi, the pax conscientiœ, which flows from the experience of pardon and reconciliation; Philippians 4:7; John 16:33. Sin is the source of all discord and war between man and God, and between man and man; and hence there can be no peace until this curse is removed. All other peace is an idle dream and illusion. Being at peace with God, we are at peace with ourselves and with our fellow-men. Paul often calls God the “God of peace;” Romans 15:33; 2Co 13:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:16; Hebrews 13:20. Comp. also Isaiah 32:17 : “the work of righteousness is peace.”—P. S.]

Romans 5:2. Through whom also we. These words do not announce a climax in the description of the merit of Christ (Köllner); nor do they state the ground of the preceding διὰ ̓Ιησοῦ X. (Meyer), but the immediate result of the redemption. [καί, also, is not accumulative, but indicates that the προςαγωγὴ εἰς τὴν κάριν, itself a legitimate consequence of justification, is the ground of εἰρήνη.—P. S.]—Have obtained access. [τὴν προζαγωγήν ἐσκήκαμεν; literally, have had the (well-known, the only possible) introduction (in the active sense), or better, access (intransitive). The perfect refers to the time of justification and incorporation in Christ, and implies the continued result, since in Him and through Him, as the door and Mediator, we have an open way, the right and privilege of daily approach to the throne of grace; in distinction from the one yearly entrance of the Jewish high-priest into the Holy of Holies. This is the universal priesthood of believers.—P. S.] Explanations of the προςαγωγή: 1. Meyer: admission, introduction (Hinzuführung). This is claimed to be the only grammatical signification.17 It certainly denotes the entrance effected by mediation, where it means admission, audience. But this requirement [the προσαγωγεύς, sequester, the mediator or interpreter, who introduces persons to sovereigns, Lamprid. in Alex. Sev. 4.—P. S.] is secured here by δἰ οὗ, which does not well suit this interpretation. 2. Access. [Vulg.: accessum; πρόζοδος, εἴζοδος.] The view of Œcumenius, and most expositors [Philippi, Ewald, Stuart, Hodge, Alford]; see Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12. (Tholuck finally decides for the active sense.) The image, at bottom, is plainly not that of a worldly audience with an Eastern king, but the type of the entrance of the high-priest into the Holy of Holies (see 1 Peter 3:18 : Χριστὸς ἔπαθεν, ἵνα ἡμᾶς προζαγάγη τῶ θεῷ; Hebrews 10:19 : ἔκοντες τὴν παῤῥησίαν εἴς τὴν εἲζοδον τῶνἁγίων ἐν τῶ αἵματι ̓Ιησοῦ). This view is also in harmony with the idea of the Epistle, by which Christianity is the true worship restored, or rather first realized; and in this connection the δόξα θεοῦ has reference to the Shekinah of the Holy of Holies.—Obtained (erlangt haben). Tholuck justly regards it as pedantic prudery in Meyer (after Fritzsche) to hold that ἐσκήκαμεν does not mean nacti sumus et habemus, but habuimus (when we became Christians). Meyer more appropriately says: “The divine grace in which the justified participate is represented as a spacial compass.” But he has not made good this remark. We have free access into the real Holy of Holies, which is grace; and hope to behold in it the real Shekinah, the δόξα of God; and, looking at it, to participate of it.—Into this grace. [The ταύτην is emphatic—such a glorious grace.—P. S.] Those who adhere to the reading τῇ πίστει in Romans 5:2 [see Textual Note 3] connect therewith εἰς τὴν κάριν (a connection which Meyer properly rejects, πίστις εἰς τὴν κάριν!), and understand προσαγωγή absolutely: access to God.18 But the προσαγωγή can refer only to κάρις (Meyer, and others), and, indeed, to grace as justifying grace; and does not denote saving favor in general (Chrysostom), although that central idea of grace comprehends all. For other untenable explanations: the gospel (Fritzsche); hope of blessedness (Beza); apostleship (Semler); see De Wette. The access to this grace is more particularly explained by the addition, wherein [ἐνᾗ refers to κάριν, not to the doubtful πίστει.—P. S.] we stand, or into which we have entered. The ἑστήκαμεν therefore does not denote here, standing fast (Tholuck, Meyer), either in the sense of subjective activity (Beausobre),19 or of objective, secure possession (Calvin).20 It refers back to the act of the δικαίωσις, with which the introduction into the κάρις has begun, and accordingly the προσαγωγή denotes the free and permanent access of all believers into the κάρις, in contrast with the once yearly entrance of the high-priest into the Holy of Holies. We need hardly mention that this permanent access is effected and conditioned by the life of prayer, and especially by daily purification, in the comfort of the atonement (Hebrews 10:22-23).

And triumph (glory) in the hope of the glory of God [καὶ καυκώμεθα ἐπ’ ἐλπίδιτῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ]. The verb καυκάομαι [usually with ἐν, also with ἐπί, ὑπέρ, and with the accusative of the object] denotes the expression of a joyous consciousness of blessedness with reference to the objective ground of blessedness; in which true glorying is distinctly contrasted with its caricature, vain boasting in a vain state of mind, and from a vain ground or occasion. Reiche emphasizes the rejoicing, Meyer the glorying. The ἐπί, explained as propter (by Meyer), denotes more definitely the basis on which Christians establish their glorying.21 The ground of the glorying of Christians in their present state is not the δόξα θεοῦ itself, but the hope of the glory of God, as one conception; indeed, the whole Christianity of this life is a joyous anticipation of beholding the glory.22 Tholuck: “δόξα θε͂οῦ is not, as Origen holds, the genitive of object, the hope of beholding this glory, which would need to have been expressed more definitely; still less is Chrysostom’s view right, that it is the hope that God will glorify Himself in us. Neither are Luther, Grotius, Calixtus, Reiche, correct in calling it the genitive of author, the glory to be bestowed by God; but it is the genitive of possession, participation in the glory possessed by God; comp. 1 Thessalonians 2:12.” But more account should be made of beholding, as the means of appropriation. To behold God’s glory, means also, to become glorious. This is definitely typified in the history of Moses (2 Corinthians 3:13; Exodus 34:33). Tholuck also remarks: “The θεωρεῖν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, John 17:24, is the participation in the δόξα θεοῦ, the συγκληρονομεῖν, the συμβασιλεύειν, and συνδοξασθῆναι τῷ Χριστῷ; Rom 8:17; 2 Timothy 2:11. Cocceius: ‘Hœc est gloriatio fidelium, quod persuasum habent, fore, ut Deus gloriosus et admirabilis in ipsis fiat illuminando, sanctificando, Iœtificando, glorificando in ipsis; 2 Thessalonians 1:10.’ ” As the seeing of man on God’s side perfects the vision of man, according to 1 Corinthians 13:12, it is the beholding of the glory of the Lord on man’s side by which he shall become perfectly conformed to the Lord, and thus an object of perfect good pleasure, according to 1 John 3:2; Matthew 5:8; comp. 2 Peter 1:4. The goal of this reciprocal δοξάζειν and δοξάζεσθαι is, in a conditional sense, the removal to the inheritance of glory in the future world; 2 Corinthians 5:1; and, in the absolute sense, the time of the second coming of Christ; Revelation 20:0.

[This triumphant assurance of faith is incompatible with the Romish doctrine of the uncertainty of salvation. A distinction should be made, however, between assurance of a present state of grace, which is necessarily implied in true faith, as a personal apprehension of Christ with all His benefits, and assurance of future redemption, which is an article of hope (hence ἐπ’ ἐλπίδι), and must be accompanied with constant watchfulness. Christ will lose none of those whom the Father has given Him (John 17:12; John 10:28-29); but God alone knows His own, and to whom He chooses to reveal it. We must give diligence to make our calling and election sure to ourselves (2 Peter 1:10), and work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, because God worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13). The possibility of ultimate failure was a powerful motive and stimulus to faithfulness and holiness even in the life of an apostle, who exercised severe self-discipline, lest, having preached to others, he might himself at last be rejected, and lose the incorruptible crown of the Christian race (1 Corinthians 9:27). How much more, then, should ordinary Christians, who stand, take heed lest they fall (1 Corinthians 10:12)!—P. S.]

Romans 5:3. And not only so [sc., do we triumph in the hope of glory; comp. the parallels in Meyer]. Tholuck appropriately says: “This hope of the Christian—sure of its triumph—seems to be put to scorn by the present condition, as those first Christians had to bear the scorn of the Gentiles by contrasting their gloomy present with their abundant hope. [Quotations from Minucius Felix, Arnobius, and Melanchthon.] But the Apostle’s lofty mind shows how that δόξα is not an outward accident, but a moral glorification, having its root in this θλίψις; therefore this itself, as the means of perfection, is the subject of triumph.” See Romans 8:17; Romans 8:28; Rom 8:35; 2 Corinthians 11:30; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 [ὅταν γὰρ , δυνατός εἰμι]; 2 Timothy 2:11; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 5:12; Act 5:41; 1 Peter 4:12; James 1:3; James 1:12. [It is a universal law, acknowledged even in the world, that no great character can become complete without trial and suffering. As the firmness of the root is tested by the storm, and the metal is purified in the heat of the furnace, so the strength and purity of character is perfected by trial. The ancient Greeks and Romans admired a good man struggling against misfortune as a spectacle worthy of the gods. Plato describes the righteous man as one who, without doing injustice, yet has the appearance of the greatest injustice, and proves his own justice by perseverance against all calumny unto death; yea, he predicts that the perfect man, if such a one should ever appear, would be scourged, tortured, and nailed to the post (Politia, p. 74 sq. ed. Ast.). Seneca says (De prov. iv. 4): “Gaudent magni viri rebus adversis non aliter quam fortes milites bellis triumphant.” Edmund Burke: ”Obloquy is a necessary ingredient of all true glory. Calumny and abuse are essential parts of triumph.” But what a difference between the proud stoicism of the heathen, who overcomes the misfortunes by haughty contempt and unfeeling indifferentism, and the Christian’s gentle patience, forgiving love, and cheerful submission to the holy will of God, who ordered tribulation as a means and condition of moral perfection! Comp. my book on The Person of Christ, p. 90 ff., 216 f.—P. S.]

In [on account of] tribulations. [Comp. 2 Corinthians 7:4.] The ἐν must express the antithesis to the preceding; it must therefore not be explained as local: in [amidst] the tribulations (as Köllner, Glöckler, Baumgarton-Crusius). In that case, the very object of the κανκᾶσθαι would be wanting. [Gloriamur de calamitatibus, not, in calamitatibus. The θλίψεις (or their moral results rather) are the object and ground of the καύκησις; καυκᾶσθαι being mostly constructed with ἐν; Romans 5:11; Galatians 6:13; 2 Corinthians 10:15. The Jew is said to glory in the law, the Christian in the cross, &c. So also Tholuck, Meyer, Alford, Hodge. The tribulations are to the Christian what the scars of the battlefield are to an old soldier; comp. Galatians 6:17.—P. S.]23

Knowing [because we know] that tribulation. This is the normal development of the believer’s life out of its tribulation. Yet this development is not a natural necessity (see Matthew 13:21). Yet it is assumed in the exceptions that the faith was somehow damaged. [The following climax is remarkably vivid and pregnant.]

Romans 5:4. Constancy (endurance, steadfastness). The ὑπομονή is not patientia here (Vulgate, Luther, E. V.). Yet steadfastness cannot be acquired without patientia. Luke 22:28 : οἱ διαμεμενηκότες μετ̓ ἐμοῦ ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς. Comp. James 1:3. [The virtue of ὑπομονή, which Chrysostom calls the βασιλὶς τῶν , is patient endurance (Ausdauer, Standhaftigkeit), and combines the Latin patientia and perseverantia. It involves the element of ἀνδρία, the bravery and manliness with which the Christian contends against the storms of trials and persecutions. Meyer adduces, as applicable here, Cicero’s definition of perseverantia: “in ratione bene considerata stabilis et perpetua permansio.” On the difference between ὑπομονή, μακροθυμία, and ἀνοκή, comp. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, Second Series, ed. 1864, p. 11.—P. S.]

Approval (proof), δοκιμή. [Comp. 2 Corinthians 2:9; 2Co 8:2; 2 Corinthians 9:13; Philippians 2:22.]. Not trial (Grotius), for the δλίψις itself is trial; nor experience (Luther [E. V.]), for experience is the whole Christian life. It is the condition of approval, whose subjective expression is the consciousness of being sealed; Ephesians 2:13. [Bengel: “δοκιμή est qualitas ejus, qui est δόκιμος.” Hodge: “The word is used metonymically for the result of trial, i.e., approbation, or that which is proved worthy of approbation. It is tried integrity, a state of mind which has stood the test.” James 1:3 : τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως κατεργάζεται ὑπομονήν, does not contradict our passage; for δοκίμιον, as Philippi remarks, corresponds to θλίψις, and is a means of trial, or = (δοκιμασία, trial, probation, the result of which is δοκιμή, approval.—P. S.]

Hope [ἐλπίδα, viz., τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ, which is naturally suggested by Romans 5:2. Hope, like faith and love, and every other Christian grace, is never done in this world, but always growing, and as it bears flower and fruit, its roots strike deeper, and its stem and branches expand. Every progress in Christian life strengthens its foundations.—P. S.] Thus the apparent opposite of Christian hope, affliction, or tribulation, is changed into pure hope, so that the stock of Christian hope ever becomes more intensive and abundant. Eternal profit is derived from all temporal loss and harm.

Romans 5:5. Maketh not ashamed. Strictly: it does not shame, by causing to be deceived. [Calvin: Habet certissimum salutis exitum. Bengel: Spes erit res. Comp. Psalms 119:116 : אַל־חְּכִישֵׁנִי; Sept.: μὴ καταισκύνῃς με . Meyer quotes parallels from Plato.—P. S.] Christian hope is formed from the same material of divine spiritual life as faith and love; it is really faith itself, tending toward completion; or it is love itself as it here lives in the principles of perfection. Therefore it is infallible.

Because God’s love [genitive of the subject, not of the object, as in Romans 5:8 : τὴν ἑαυτοῦ . The ground of our assurance that hope shall not put us to the shame of disappointment, is not our own strength or goodness, but the free love of God to us and in us.—P. S.] It is plain from the context that God’s love to us is meant (Origen, Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin, and down to Philippi [Meyer, De Wette, Tholuck, Stuart, Alford, Hodge]), and not our love of God (Theodoret, Augustine, Klee, Glöckler [Anselm, St. Bernárd, several Catholic expositors (amor infusus, justitia infusa), Hofmann], and others). Our love of God can at best be a testimony of our hope, but not the ground of the infallibility of our hope. See also Romans 5:8. Yet the antithesis should not be too strongly pressed: the love of God for us shed abroad in the heart, becomes our love to God.24—Has been (and continues to be) poured out [as in a stream, ἐκκέκυται]. Denoting the richest experience and sense of God’s love. [Comp. Acts 2:17; Acts 10:45; Titus 3:6, where πλουσίως is added. Philippi: “The love of God did not descend upon us as dew in drops, but as a stream which spreads itself through the whole soul, filling it with a consciousness of His presence and favor.”—P. S.]25—In our hearts. Strictly: throughout them: ἐν, not εἰς. [ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις denotes the motus in loco, as Meyer says, or the rich diffusion of God’s love within our hearts. Comp. Psalms 45:2, Septuagint: ἐξεκύθη κάρις ἐν κείλεσί σου. Alford (after Olshausen): “ἐν may be taken pregnantly, ἐκκέκ. εἰς καὶ μένει ἐν—or better, denotes the locality where the outpouring takes place—the heart being the seat of our love, and of appreciation and sympathy with God’s love.”—P. S.]—By means of the Holy Spirit who was given unto us [διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦ δοθέντος ἡμῖν]. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the causality of the experience of the love of God. Romans 8:15-16; Galatians 4:6. [The Holy Spirit mediates all the gifts of grace to us, and glorifies Christ in us. Olshausen and Alford refer the aorist participle to the Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit. But this could not apply to Paul, who was called afterwards. Hence it must be referred to the time of regeneration, when the pentecostal fact is repeated in the individual.—P. S.]

Romans 5:6. For Christ, when we were yet [Ἔτι γὰρ Χριστὸς ὁντων ἡμῶν, κ.τ.λ.. On the different readings, ἔτι γάρ, for yet, or still, with a second ἔτι, after ἀσθενῶν א), εἴγε, if indeed, with the second ἔτι (B.), ἕτι γάρ, without the second ἔτι (text. rec.), εἰς τί γάρ ((D 2. F.), εἰ γάρ, εἰ δέ, see Textual Note 9.—P. S.] The ἔτι, [tunc adhuc], according to the sense, belongs to ὄντων, &c. [Comp. Matthew 12:46 : ἕτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος; Luke 15:20 : ἕτι δέ αὺτοῦ μακρὰν . Similar transpositions of ἔτι among the classics. See the quotations of Meyer in loc., and Winer, Gramm., p. 515.—P. S.] Seb. Schmid, and others, have incorrectly understood ἔτι as insuper [moreover, furthermore; but this would be ἔτι δέ, Hebrews 11:36, not ἔτι γάρ.—P. S.]; contrary not only to the meaning of the word, but also to the context. They hold that the ἔτι does not enhance the preceding, but gives the ground why the confidence of salvation is an ever-increasing certainty. Tholuck, with Meyer, favoring the ἔτι at the beginning of the verse, says that ἔτι has been removed at the beginning because a Bible-lesson began with the verse [with the word Χριστός]. The result was, that it was partly removed, partly doubled, and partly corrected. We hold that the twofold ἔτι, which Lachmann reads [and which Cod. Sin. sustains] has a good meaning as emphasis.

Romans 5:7. When we were yet weak, or, without (spiritual) strength [ὄντων ἡμῶν ]. The state of sin is here represented as weakness or sickness in reference to the divine life, and consequently as helplessness, in order to declare that, at that time, believers could not do the least toward establishing the ground of their hope. [Comp. Isaiah 53:4, Septuagint: τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει, with Matthew 8:17 : τὰς . Sin is here represented as helpless weakness, in contrast with the saving help of Christ’s love.—P. S.] The ὰσθενεῖς are then denominated α Ìσεβεῖς, ungodly, in order to express the thought that we, as sinners, could not add any thing to the saving act of Christ, but did our utmost to aggravate the work of Christ. Sinfulness is represented, therefore, not merely as “the need of help,” and thus “as the motive of God’s love intervening for salvation” (Meyer), but as the startingpoint of redemption, where the love of God accomplished the great act of salvation without any cooperation of sinners—yea, in spite of their greatest opposition.

At the proper time (or, in due season). Κατὰ καιρόν. Two26 connections of the κατὰκ.: 1. It is united to ὄντων, &c. We were weak according to the time [pro temporum rationed,] in the sense of excuse (Erasmus); in the sense of the general corruption (according to Calvin, Luther, Hofmann). Against this are both the position of καιρός, and its signification. 2. It is referred to ἀπέθανεν, but in different ways. Origen: at that time, when He suffered. Abelard: held awhile in death. [Kypke, Reiche, Philippi, Alford, Hodge: at the appointed time, foretold by the prophets.—P. S.] Meyer: As it was the full time [proper time] for the deliverance of those who lived at that time. Better: It was the fit time in the history of humanity. This by no means weakens the principal thought, which rather requires the definite statement that the sacrificial death of Christ was according to Divine wisdom; since the necessity for salvation and the capacity for salvation were decided with the fulness of natural corruption. The highest heroism of the self-sacrifice does not exclude its reasonableness. See Romans 16:25; Galatians 4:4; Eph 1:10; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 1:3. [κατὰ καιρόν is = ἐνκαιρῶ, εἰς καιρόν, ἐπὶ καιροῦ, καιρίως, tempore opportuno; in opposition to παρὰ καιρόν, tempore alieno, untimely. Here it is essentially the same with the πλήρωμα τῶν καιρῶν, Ephesians 1:10, and the πλήρωμα τροῦ κρόνου, Galatians 4:4; comp. Mark 1:15. Christ appeared when all the preparations for His coming and His kingdom in the Jewish and Gentile world were completed, and when the disease of sin had reached the crisis. This was God’s own appointed time, and the most, or rather the only, appropriate time. Christ could not have appeared with divine fitness and propriety, nor with due effect, at any other time, nor in any other race or country. We cannot conceive of His advent at the time of Noah, or Abraham, or in China, or among the savage tribes of America. History is a unit, and a gradual unfolding of a Divine plan of infinite wisdom. Christ is the turning-point and centre of history, the end of the old and the beginning of the new humanity—a truth which is confessed, wittingly or unwittingly, by every date from A. D. throughout the civilized world.—P. S.]

For the ungodly. ὑπέρ, for, for the good of. It is a fuller conception than the idea instead of, ἀντί, if we remember that, where the question is concerning a dying for those who are worthy of death, the conception naturally involves a well-understood ἀντί. See Matthew 20:28. The terms ὑπέρ and περί [which Paul uses synonymously, Galatians 1:4] are more comprehensive; but the expression ἀντί is the most definite one. [Meyer contends that ὑπέρ and περί always mean for, in behalf of, for the benefit of, and not ἀντί, in the place of, loco, although, in the case of Christ, His death for the benefit of sinners was a vicarious sacrifice; Romans 3:25; Ephesians 5:2; 1 Timothy 2:6. Sometimes the ὑπέρ, like the English preposition for, according to the context, necessarily involves the ἀντι, as in 2Co 5:15; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21; Galatians 3:13; Philemon 1:13. The Apostle says ὑπὲρ , instead of ὑπέρ ἡμῶν, in order to bring out more fully, by this strong antithesis, the amazing love of Christ.—P. S.]

Romans 5:7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, though, for the good man, perhaps some one may even dare to die [Μόλις γάρ ὑπὲρ δικαίου (without the article) τις (the second γάρ seems to be exceptive, and introduces a correction of the preceding with reference to μόλις: with difficulty, I say, for it is a fact that) τοῦ (with the article) τάχα τις καὶ τολμᾷ .—P. S.]. The difficulty of this verse has led to various conjectures.27 The Peshito reads ὑπὲρ (unrighteous), instead of ὑπὲρ δικαίου; Erasmus, Luther, Melanchthon, &c., read δικαίου and ἀγαθοῦ as neuter words; Hofmann [formerly, not now.—P. S.]: at least the latter is neuter; Origen, on the contrary, held merely δικ. as neuter, and understood by ἀγαθός, Christ as the perfectly good One. But, as Meyer properly observes, that both substantives are masculine, is evident from the antithesis ἀσεβεῖς, by which the question is generally concerning a dying for persons. [δικαίου, without the article, must be masculine—a righteous person (not the right, τὸ δικαιον); but τοῦ , with the article, may, grammatically, be taken as neuter = summum bonum (the country, or any good cause or noble principle for which martyrs have died in ancient and modern times). Yet, in this case, the antithesis would be lost, since Christ likewise died for the highest good, the salvation of the world. The antithesis is evidently between men who scarcely are found to die for a δικαιος, though occasionally perhaps for ὁ (their) ἀγαθός, and Christ who died for ἀσεβεῖς, Romans 5:6; or ἁμαρτωλοί, Romans 5:8; and even for ἐκθροί (the very opposite of ἀγαθός), Romans 5:10. In both cases, the death for persons, not for a cause, is meant.—P. S.]

Explanations of the masculines:(1) There is no material difference between δίκαιος and ἀγαθός. “After Paul has said that scarcely for a ‘righteous’ man will one die, he will add, by way of establishing his assertion, that there might occur instances of the undertaking of such a death.” Meyer, in harmony with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Erasmus, Calvin,28 &c. But δικαιος is not ἀγαθός, and μόλις (scarcely) is not τάκα (possibly).

(2) ὁ is the benefactor. Knachtbull [Animadv. in libros N. T., 1659, p. 120], Estius [Cocceius, Hammond], and many others; Reiche, Tholuck: The Friend of Man. This is too special.

(3) The ἀγαθός stands above the merely righteous or just one. Ambrosiaster: the noble one, the ἀγαθός by nature; Bengel: homo innoxius exempli gratia, &c. [”δικ., indefinitely, implies a harmless (guiltless) man; ὁ , one perfect in all that piety demands, excellent, bounteous, princely, blessed—for example, the father of his country.”—P. S.]

Meyer regards all these as ”subtle distinctions.” [He quotes, for the essential identity of δίκαιος and ἀγαθός, Matthew 5:45;. Luke 23:50; Romans 7:12, where both are connected.—P. S.] Then the difference between the Old and New Testament would also be a subtle drawing of distinctions. The Old Testament, even in its later period, scarcely produced one kind of martyrdom; but the New Testament has a rich martyrdom. Yet we would understand the ἀγαθός in a more general sense. The δίκαιος instills respect, but he does not establish, as such, a communion and exchange of life; but the ἀγαθός inspires. Paul’s acknowledgment here, which was supported by heathen examples, is a proof of his apostolic considerateness, and of his elevation above all slavery to the letter. An ecclesiastical rhetorician would have suppressed the concession. The selection of the expression with τάκα and τολμᾶ is admirable; such self-sacrifices are always made headlong in the ecstasy of sympathetic generosity.

4. It is hardly necessary to mention the view [maintained by Meyer in the first edition, but now given up by him.—P. S.], that the second member of the sentence is interrogative: for who would dare to die readily even for the good?

[I can see no material difference between interpretations 2 and 3. The principal point in both is the distinction made between δίκαιος (taken in a narrower sense) and ὁ , corresponding to our distinction between just and kind. Such a distinction is made by Cerdo in Irenæus Adv. hœr. i. 27, quoted also by Eusebius, H. E., iv. Romans 11:0 : τὸν μὲν δίκαιον, τὸν δὲ , alterum quidem justum, alterum autem bonum esse; and by Cicero, De offic., iii. Romans 15 : ”Si vir bonus is est qui prodest quibus potest, nocet nemini, recte (certe) justum virum, bonum non facile reperiemus” (but some editions read: ”certe istum virum bonum”).29 The righteous man, who does all that the law or justice requires, commands our respect and admiration; the good man, the benefactor, who is governed by love, inspires us with love and gratitude. Then we would have the following sense: “It is hardly to be expected that any one would die for a righteous man, though for the good man (i.e., for a kind benefactor or intimate friend), this self-denial might possibly be exercised, and does occasionally occur. So Olshausen, Tholuck, Philippi, Turner, Stuart, Hodge, Alford, Wordsworth. The latter refers to the death of Orestes for Pylades, his alter ego, and of Alcestis for Admetus, her husband. Webster and Wilkinson: ”To make the admission less at variance with the first assertion, he substitutes for δικαίου, τοῦ , the man of eminent kindness and philanthropy, the well-known benefactor, κρηστός, ‘bonus,’ in advance of δικαίου.” The article before ἀγαθοῦ may be pressed as justifying the distinction: a righteous man, the good man, good to him, his benefactor. I confess, I am not quite satisfied with this interpretation, but it is better than any other.—P. S.]

Romans 5:8. But God doth establish [giveth proof of, συνίστησιν, as in iii. 5; comp. Textual Note8, on p. 113.—P. S.] God proves not merely His love in the death of Christ for sinners, according to Romans 5:6, but He makes it conspicuous and prominent; He exhibits it; He makes it the highest manifestation of His gospel. See John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21. Luther: He praises [E. V., He commends] His love toward us [τὴν ἑαυτοῦ , His own love, in contrast with the love of men, Romans 5:7.—P. S.]

Romans 5:9. Much more, therefore, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved through him from the wrath [ἀπὸ τῆςὀργῆς, from the well-known and well-deserved wrath to come.—P. S.] According to Estius, a conclusion a minoriad majus; according to Meyer, a conclusion a majore ad minus.30 Both are in part right and in part wrong, because neither view exactly applies. It is a conclusion from the principle to the consequence, and a conclusion from the truth of the almost incredible to the truth of that which is self-evident. The conclusion is still further strengthened by the antithesis: as enemies, we were justified by His blood, and, as being His fellow-participants in peace, we shall be preserved from the wrath by the glorious exercise of His authority, and then by His life. Preservation from wrath is a negative expression of perfect redemption. 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Compare the positive expression of 1 Tim. 4:18.—[By his blood. αἷμα is the concrete expression for the atoning death of Christ, which is the meritorious cause of our justification. This does not rest on our works, nor our faith, nor any thing we have done or can do, but on what Christ has done for us; comp. Romans 3:25.—P. S.]

Romans 5:10. For if, being enemies [εἰ γὰρἐκθροὶὅντες]. It may be asked whether ἐκθροί—that is, God’s enemies—is to be explained actively or passively; whether it denotes the enemies [haters] of God, according to Romans 8:7 [ἔκθρα εἰς θεόν]; Colossians 1:21 (Ephesians 2:15 does not belong here), or those who are charged with God’s wrath [hated by God], for which view Romans 11:28 [where ἐκθροι is the opposite of ἀγαπητοί; comp. also θεοστυγεῖς, Romans 1:13, and τέκνα ὀργῆς, Ephesians 2:3.—P. S.] has been cited. The passive interpretation has been supported by Calvin, Reiche, Fritzsche, Tholuck, Krehl, Baumgarten-Crusius, De Wette, Philippi, Meyer [Alford, Hodge], and the active or subjective interpretation by31 Spener, Tittmann, Usteri, and Rückert [among English commentators, by Turner]. Meyer says in favor of the first view: 1. ”Christ’s death did not destroy the enmity of men toward God; but, by effecting their pardon on the part of God, it destroyed the enmity of God toward men, whence the cessation of man’s enmity toward God follows as a moral consequence, brought about by faith. 2. And how could Paul have been able to infer properly his πολλῶ μᾶλλον, &c., since the certainty of the σωθησόμεθα rests on the fact that we stand in a friendly relation (grace) to God, and not on our being friendly toward God? ” These two arguments have a very orthodox sound, but are without a vital grasp of the fact of the atonement, and here without force. For, first of all, the death of Christ is as well a witness and seal of God’s love, which overcomes man’s enmity and distrust, as it is an offering of reconciliation, which removes the ὀργὴ θεοῦ in His government and in the conscience of man. This element constitutes the principal motive force in the living preaching of the gospel; for example, among the Moravians. In the next place, if we look away from God’s work in man, we have no ground for assuming an increase [πολλῶ μᾶλλον] in God’s love and grace in itself. God is unchangeable; man is changeable. The changed relation of man to God is indeed conditioned by a changed relation of God to him; but it is by virtue of God’s unchangeableness that the work of God, which has begun in man, bears the pledge of completion. See Philippians 1:6. The sealing signifies, not a sealing of God, but of man by God’s grace. It is not biblical to say, that Christ, by His death, has removed God’s enmity toward us. And yet the Apostle is alleged to say that here, just after he has said: But God sets forth and commends His love, &c. Then the odd sense would be: We have been even reconciled when we were not yet reconciled!

We were reconciled to God [κατηλλάγημεν τῷ Θεῷ].

[Some preliminary philological remarks on this important term, which occurs here for the first time, may be found useful. The verbs διαλάσσω, καταλάσσω, ἀποκαταλάσσω, συναλάσσω (from ἀλάσσω, to change), express the general idea of a change of relation of two parties at enmity into a relation of peace, or the idea of reconciliation (Versöhnang, Aussöhnung), with a slight modification, indicated by the prepositions—κατά, in relation to; διά, between; ἀπό, from; σύν, with, but without reference to the question whether the enmity be mutual, or on one side only—which must be decided by the connection. The noun διαλλαγή is more frequently used in the classics than καταλλαγή, but nowhere in the New Testament; the verb διαλάσσω, or διαλάττω occurs only once; in the pass. aor. 2 imperat., Matthew 5:24 : διαλλάγηθι τῶ ̣ σου, be reconciled to thy brother. The noun καταλλαγή is used four times in the New Testament; Romans 5:11 (E. V., atonement); Romans 11:15 (the reconciling); 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (reconciliation, twice); the corresponding verb καταλάσσω occurs six times—Romans 5:10 (twice); 1 Corinthians 7:11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20—and is always rendered in our E. V. to reconcile. The translation atonement, at the close of Romans 5:11, is etymologically correct (at-one-ment = reconciliation), but theologically wrong in the present use of the term = propitiation, expiation (which corresponds to the Greek ἱλασμός; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10). The καταλλαγή, in the Christian sense, signifies the great change in the relation betwen God and man, brought about by the voluntary atoning sacrifice of Christ, whereby God’s wrath has been removed, His justice satisfied, and man reunited to Him as His loving and reconciled Father. Some confine the word simply to a reconciliation of man to God, on the ground that no change can take place in God, or that God never hated the sinner. Others forget that the death of Christ is itself the most amazing exhibition of God’s love, whereby He attracts the sinner to Him. The two sides must not be abstractly separated. It is God who, in His infinite love, establishes a new relation between Himself and mankind through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, and removes all legal obstructions which separated us from Him; and on the ground of this objective and accomplished expiation (ἱλασμός) and reconciliation (καταλλαγή), we are called upon to be reconciled to Him (καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ; 2 Corinthians 5:20; comp. σώθητε , κ.τ.λ., Acts 2:40), i.e., to lay aside all enmity and distrust, and to turn in love and gratitude to Him who first loved us. Both sides are beautifully connected in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (which is often one-sidedly and wrongly quoted against the doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice), viz., the reconciliation effected once for all by God Himself through the death of His Son, having the world for its object and remission of sins for its effect; and the reconciliation of men to God as a moral process, in which men are exhorted to take part. The first is a finished act of infinite mercy on the part of God in Christ; the second, a change of feeling and a constant duty of man in consequence of what has been done for him. Comp. Kling and Wing on the passage in Lange on 2 Cor., p. 98 f., Amer. edition. Archbishop Trench (Synonymes of the New Testament, Second Part, p. 137 f.) gives the following judicious explanation of the term: “The Christian καταλλαγή has two sides. It is first a reconciliation, ‘quâ Deus nos sibi reconciliavit,’ laid aside His holy anger against our sins, and received us into favor—a reconciliation effected once for all for us by Christ upon His cross; so 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Romans 5:10; in which last passage καταλλάσσεσθαι is a pure passive, ‘ab to in gratiam recipi, apud quem in oaio fueris.’ But καταλλαγή is secondly, and subordinately, the reconciliation, ‘quâ nos Deo reconciliamus,’ the daily deposition, under the operation of the Holy Spirit, of the enmity of the old man toward God. In this passive middle sense καταλλάσσεσθαι is used; 2 Corinthians 5:20; and cf. 1 Corinthians 7:11. All attempts to make this, the secondary meaning of the word, to be the primary, rest not on an unprejudiced exegesis, but on a foregone determination to get rid of the reality of God’s anger against sin. With καταλλαγή connects itself all that language of Scripture which describes sin as a state of enmity (ἔκθρα) with God (Romans 8:7; Ephesians 2:15; James 4:4); and sinners as enemies to Him, and alienated from Him (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21); Christ on the cross as the Peace, and Maker of peace between God and man (Ephesians 2:14; Colossians 1:20); all such language as this, ”Be ye reconciled with God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).”—P. S.]

Meyer: “Accordingly it is necessary to understand κατηλλάγημεν and καταλλαγέντες not actively, but passively: reeonciled with God, so that He is no more hostile to us, having given up His wrath against us.” On Tittmann’s attempt to distinguish between διαλλάττειν and καταλλάττειν, see Tholuck on The Sermon on the Mount, Mat 5:24.32 The definition of these expressions is certainly connected with the explanation of ἐκθροί. It may be asked, however, whether the meaning is: God has been reconciled toward us (Meyer, Philippi); or: we have been reconciled toward God; or: there has been a mutual reconciliation? The first cannot be said [?], since the καταλλαγή denotes a change [from enmity to friendship]; also the καταλλαγή in 2 Corinthians 5:18, “τοῦ καταλλάξαντος ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῶ,” must be carefully distinguished from the ἱλασμός (see my Angewandte Dogmatik, p. 858).33 The sense is, therefore: While we were still enemies, adversaries of God, we were delivered by the death of Jesus, and the expiating ἱλασμός, which is identical with it, from guilty subjection to the punishment of the ὀργν́, and have been made objects of His conquering operation of love; and now, in the light of this operation of love, we have a heart delivered from the enmity of alienation from God—a heart which, in the train of love, has joy in God. But how can we distinguish between the objective and subjective change of humanity? It is plain, from the risen Redeemer’s salutation of peace and His gospel-message, that the love of Christ on the cross conquered the hatred of humanity. The risen Saviour’s salutation of peace contains the “peace on earth.” Add to all this the difference and antithesis between Romans 5:8-10, which are completely obscured by the prevalent explanation above alluded to. The clause, God commendeth his love toward us, is the inscription to the antithesis, namely: 1. Christ died for us when we were yet sinners. Through His (atoning) blood we have been justified, delivered from the sense of the ὀργή. The effect is, that much more, as being justified (negatively), we shall be saved from the ὀργή which will finally come upon the world. All this is ἱλασμός, expiating destruction of the guilt of sin. 2. The Son of God suffered death while we were enemies. Through His death we are reconciled to God. The effect is, that much more, as being reconciled (positively), we shall be delivered in the mighty power and rule of His life. καταλλαγή is all this.

[In (i.e., in vital union with) his life, ἐν τῆ ζωῆ αὐτοῦ, in antithesis to διὰ (through, by means of) τοῦ θανάτου. If even the death of Christ has such a saving efficacy, how much more His risen life, which triumphed over the realm of death and hell, ascended to the right hand of God Almighty, is clothed with all power in heaven and earth, and which, being communicated by the Holy Ghost to the believer, will conquer in him all opposition, and bring the work of salvation commenced here to a final and glorious consummation. Comp. John 14:19 : “Because I live, ye shall live also;” Romans 8:11; Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Hebrews 7:25. Salvation is effected by the death of Christ, but actually applied by His life; or His death is the meritorious, His life the efficacious cause of our salvaton. Hodge: ”There is, therefore, most abundant ground for confidence for the final blessedness of believers, not only in the amazing love of God, by which, though sinners and enemies, they have been justified and reconciled by the death of His Son, but also in the consideration that this same Saviour that died for them still lives, and ever lives, to sanctify, protect, and save them.”—P. S.]

Romans 5:11. And not only that, but also triumphing in God [Οὐ μόνον δὲ, ὰλλὰ καὶ καυχώ μενοι, (which is the correct reading, instead of the rec. καυχώμεθα, see Textual Note13) ἐν ῶ Θεῶ]. Explanations: 1. The participle καυχώμενοι stands for the finite verb; therefore we must supply ἐσμέν (hence the readings καυχώμεθα, καυχῶμεν,). Rückert, Tholuck. Only σωθμσόμεθα must be supplied to μόνον δέ. The construction then runs thus, according to De Wette: We have not only the hope of escaping from the wrath of God, but we also glory in God. 2. The participle cannot stand for the finite verb (see, on the contrary, the discussions with Meyer, in Tholuck). But even here σωθνσόμεθα only is to be supplied. The sense, then, is this: but not only shall we be saved by His life, but so that with this σώζεσθαι we shall also glory in God. [Alford: “Not only shall we be saved, but that in a triumphant manner and frame of mind.”] 3. Καταλλαγέντες must be supplied. Not only reconciled, but also glorying. Thus formerly Fritzsche, Köllner, Glöckler, Baumgarten-Crusius, and Meyer in his earlier editions. This explanation is proved to be relatively the most correct, as the σώζεσθαι denotes not a mere degree of salvation, but comprises salvation to the point of completion, and as καταλλαγέντς is repeated in δἰ οὗ νῦν τὴν καταλλαγὴν ἐλάβομεν. Our view is, however, that we have here an antithesis of climaxes. Οὐ μόνον σωθησόμεθα—καταλλαγέντες ἐν τῆ ζωῆ Χριστοῦ—ἀλλὰ καὶ καυκώμενοι ἐν ρτῶθεῶ διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. The rising climax is the following: 1. We are delivered from the wrath. 2. We are safely harbored in the life of Christ. 3. God, in His love, has become, through Christ, our God, in whom we glory. We glory not only in the hope of the δόξα of God, and not only conditionally in tribulations, &c., but we glory absolutely in God as our God; see chap. 8.

Through whom we have now. Reference to the future glory, as it is grounded in the experience of the present salvation, and ever develops itself from this base.—Have appropriated [τὴνκαταλλαγὴν ἐλάβομεν]. So we translate the ἐλάβομεν (angeeignet haben), to emphasize the fact of the ethical appropriation, which is very important for the beginning of the following section.

[It is safe to infer from ἐλάβομεν that καταλλαγν́ primarily means here a new relation of God to us, which He has brought about and which we receive, not a new relation of man to God, or a moral change in us, although this is a necessary moral consequence of the former, and inseparable from it. Hence καταλλαγέντες, in Romans 5:10, is parallel with δικαιωθέντες, Romans 5:9 : δικαιωθέντες σωθησόμεθα—καταλλαγὲντες. The article before κατλλαγήν indicates the well-known, the only possible reconciliation, that which was brought about by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. The E. V. here exceptionally renders κατ. by atonement, which, in its old sense (= at-one-ment), meant reconciliation, but is now equivalent to expiation, propitiation, satisfaction. The expiation of Christ (ἱλσμός, ἱλαήριον, the German Versühnung) is the ground and condition of the reconciliation of God and man (καταλλαγή, Versöhnung). Bengel says, on Romans 3:24 : “Propitiation (ἱλασμός) takes away the offence against God; reconciliation (καταλλαγή) has two sides (est δίπλευρος): it removes (a.) God’s indignation against us; 2 Corinthians 5:19; (b.) our alienation from God; 2 Corinthians 5:20.” In the same place Bengel distinguishes between καταλλαγή and ὰπολύτρωσις (redemption, Erlösung), by referring the former to God, the latter to enemies—i.e., sin and Satan. He remarks, however, that ἱλασμός and ἀπολύτρωσις are fundamentally one single benefit, namely, the restitutio peccatoris perditi.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1.Romans 5:1. The effect of justification is peace with God. Peace with God takes the place of our guilty relation, in which God seemed to be our enemy, because He was hostile to our sins—with which we were identified—and in his ὀργή separated us from Him, in order to separate us from sin. In this relation of guilt we were really His enemies, although we wished to appear to be the contrary. God, in His government, likewise seemed to oppose us unto death, as we opposed Him. And therefore we were at variance also with the best portion of the world, and with the kingdom of all good spirits, as we were at variance with ourselves and with God. But, with our justification, peace is established, and with it the reverse relation in all these respects. We should not speak of the peace of God as of a mere sensation; in the feeling of peace, the most glorious actual relation is reflected. We are not only in harmony, but in covenant union with God; not only in harmony with ourselves, but true to ourselves; not only in harmony with God’s presence and government in the world, and in all events, but also in connection with and under the protection of ”all the stars of heaven.”

2. [Romans 5:2. The access to the throne of grace.] The high-priest, who went into the Holy of Holies in the hope of beholding there the glory of God, was chiefly a type of Christ, who has gone into the real Holy of Holies for His own people, and has become the real atonement for us (Hebrews 9:0.); but he was also the type of believers, who, through Christ, likewise have free access to the Holy of Holies of grace, in the hope of beholding there the δόξα of God, and being glorified in it (see chap. 8.). On the certainty of the Christian’s hope, see Tholuck, p. 202.

3. We glory in tribulations also, Romans 5:3. Tribulations—subjectively, sorrows; and, taken together, the cross which the Christian must bear after His Saviour—are not only the ordained way to glory, but also the means of promoting glory. For believers shall attain not merely the glory of the Adamic paradise, but rather the higher glory of Christ’s paradise; and this they reach because they are similarly situated, and become like Him in death as in life. The Cross effects the enriched and established consummation.

4. The glorying of Christians is their joyous testimony of a blessed experience—the personal shape which the gospel takes. It is always conditioned according to its changing forms by a fundamental form of salvation; that is, established on the glory of God and Christ, in opposition to all the forms and disguises of self-glory.

5. The sorites, tribulation worketh constancy, &c. (Romans 5:3-5), represents tribulation also as a spiritual experience. Therefore a merely external suffering, such as any body may have, is not meant thereby, but the cross as a consequence of Christian faith. Faith leads into tribulation, because, as peace with God, it leads into conflict with the kingdom of darkness, and also with sin in ourselves, because it endows the ordinary suffering of this life with a spiritual character. Such a bearing of the cross looks to constancy, or steadfastness (passive patientia has active patientia as a result); steadfastness reaches its preliminary issue, as well as its final issue, in approval (experience); approval converts hope to confident assurance, which cannot deceive, because it is itself the prophecy of approaching glory. The Apostle’s sorites describes a chain of blessed experiences, which cannot be broken unless the first links to approval are rendered brittle by insincerity, but whose strength increases from link to link to that unconquerable assurance of hope.

6. The elder dogmatics, especially the Reformed, have made prominent the doctrine of approval and perseverance in grace; or, what is the same, the doctrine of sealing. They made sealing follow justification. If this great truth had been carefully guarded, the controversy between the Lutheran and Reformed theology, as to whether a pardoned person can fall from grace, could have been regarded as a mere question of words, to be solved by the further inquiry as to whether the question concerns Christians before, or after, they are sealed. The heart’s experience of justification must be put to proof, in which it becomes the historically established experience of life. Steadfastness in such proofs results inwardly in sealing by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 2:19; Revelation 7:3; Revelation 9:4; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30), and outwardly in the establishment of the Christian in the character of his new nature (δοκιμή). The nomen et omen indelebile of baptism, confirmation, and ordination, becomes the real character indelebilis only by approval, or sealing. This is ethically connected with the fact that, by the test of tribulation and steadfastness, a purifying process has taken place, by which a separation of the most combustible material has been effected.

7. The way which Christians pursue with Christ goes downward, according to appearance, and often according to feeling; but it goes upward, according to internal operation and experience. This occurs in a threefold relation: (1) Since all the high standpoints of worldly consciousness are without support, the Christian’s position in the fellowship of Christ, who is above, is established as his second nature. (2) The persevering fellowship in the historical ignominy of Christ, is fellowship in the historical honor which shall be received in the harvest of the world. (3) There is forming a dynamical nature of light and heat of the inner man, which, by its impulsive and sustaining power, as well as by the still stronger upward attraction, ascends to the kingdom of glory.

8. The experience of the love of God in Christ for us is changed, with its joy, into pure reciprocal love; and from the complete life of love of this new birth there arises pure salvation, which, in this world, is divided into hope and patience. See Romans 8:24-25; 1 John 3:0.

9. As the Holy Spirit caused the birth of Christ, so does He cause the new birth of Christians; Romans 5:5.

10. The contemplation of the love of God for us, which was revealed in the death of Jesus, in His dying for us (Romans 5:8), remains the ground of the life of love of believers. See Philippi, p. 166. On the ὑπέρ, see Meyer, p. 150. [P. 189 f., fourth edition. Meyer maintains here that in all the passages which treat of the object of the death of Christ (as Luke 22:19-20; Romans 8:32; Romans 14:15, &c.), the prepositions ὑπέρ and περί mean in commodum, for the benefit of, and must not be confounded with ἀντί, loco, instead of, which Paul never uses (but Christ Himself uses it, Matthew 20:28, δοῦναι τὴν ψυκὴναὑτοῦ λύτρον , comp. Mark 10:45, λύτρον ); but that Paul nevertheless teaches a satisfactio vicaria, by representing Christ’s death as a propitiatory sin-offering, Romans 3:25; Ephesians 5:2, &c.—P. S.]

11. After the Apostle has represented the sorites of the Christian’s subjective certainty of salvation (Romans 5:1-5), he makes a sorites of his objective certainty of salvation (Romans 5:6-11). The thesis from which he proceeds is the fact that, among men, there is scarcely one who will die for a righteous man, though perhaps one would die for the good man (see the Exeg. Notes; comp. Tholuck, p. 208). The sentence must be enlarged by the farther definition: No one would die for the ungodly, or for his enemy; but God has performed this miracle of love in the death of Christ. For Christ died for us when we were, in a negative view, incapable, and, in a positive view, even ungodly. Therefore the objective certainty of salvation is established in the following conclusions: (1) We were sinners, debtors, for whom Christ died; much more shall we, since we are justified and reconciled, be preserved from the wrath to come. (2) The death of the Son of God has overcome our enmity, and reconciled us; much more shall His life perfectly redeem us as reconciled until the consummation. (3) Since we have obtained reconciliation, we are happy even now in the triumphant joy that God is our God.

12. On the difference between the ἱλασμὁς and the καταλλαγὴ, see the Exeg. Notes [p. 166].

[Bishop Horsley (Serm. on Romans 4:25) on the atonement and reconciliation: “Those who speak of the wrath of God as appeased by Christ’s sufferings, speak, it must be confessed, a figurative language. The Scriptures speak figuratively when they ascribe wrath to God. The Divine nature is insusceptible of the perturbations of passion, and, when it is said that God is angry, it is a figure, which conveys this useful warning to mankind, that God will be determined by His wisdom, and by His providential care of His creation, to deal with the wicked, as a prince in anger deals with rebellious subjects. It is an extension of the figure when it is said that God’s wrath is appeased by the sufferings of Christ. It is not to be supposed that the sins of men excite in God an appetite of vengeance, which could not be diverted from its purpose of punishment till it had found its gratification in the sufferings of a righteous person. This, indeed, were a view of our redemption founded on a false and unworthy notion of the Divine character. But nothing hinders but that the sufferings of Christ, which could only, in a figurative sense, be an appeasement or satisfaction of God’s wrath, might be, in the most literal meaning of the words, a satisfaction to His justice. It is easy to understand that the interests of God’s government, the peace and order of the great kingdom, over which He rules the whole world of moral agents, might require that His disapprobation of sin should be solemnly declared and testified in His manner of forgiving it. It is easy to understand that the exaction of vicarious sufferings on the part of Him, who undertook to be the intercessor for a rebelliobus race, amounted to such a declaration. These sufferings, by which the end of punishment might be answered, being once sustained, it is easy to perceive that the same principle of wisdom, the same providential care of His creation, which must have determined the Deity to inflict punishment, had no atonement been made, would now determine Him to spare. Thus, to speak figuratively, His anger was appeased; but His justice was literally satisfied, and the sins of men, no longer calling for punishment, when the ends of punishment were secured, were literally expiated. The person sustaining the suferings, in consideration of which the guilit of others may, consistently with the principles of good policy, be remitted, was, in the literal sense of the word—so literally, as no other victim ever was—a sacrifice, and His blood shed for the remission of sin was literally the matter of expiation.”]

13. This section contains, in narrow compass, a sketch of the whole development of Christian salvation, in which its principial perfection34 is made emphatic at the beginning as well as at the conclusion, in order that the peripherical imperfection of the state of faith in this world may not be regarded in an Ebionitic way as a principial one. We must observe that, in Romans 8:0., this designation is further elaborated under a new point of view, and that there, too, the subjective and objective certainty of salvation can be distinguished.

14. The idea of the real worship of God reappears definitely here in the beginning as well as at the end of the section.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The fruits of the righteousness of faith. They are: 1. Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1); 2. Hope of future glory in the tribulations of the present time (Romans 5:2-5); 3. Confidence of salvation established on the love of God for us as made known in the propitiatory death of Christ (Romans 5:6-11).—Peace with God: 1. In what does it consist? 2. By whom do we obtain it? (Romans 5:1).—The peace of heart with God is the source of all other peace: 1. In homes; 2. In churches; 3. In nations.—By Christ we have obtained access to the grace of justification. In this are comprised: 1. A strong consolation (we are no more rejected from God’s face; the door is opened; we can come in); 2. A serious admonition (we should not disregard this access, but make use of it; and 3. We should often come with all our burdens.).—In what should and can we glory as Christians? 1. In the future glory which God shall give; 2. But also in the tribulations which He sends us (Romans 5:2-5); 3. In God Himself as our God.—Why should we, as Christians, glory also in tribulations? Because we know: 1. That tribulation worketh patience (endurance); 2. Patience (endurance) worketh experience (strictly, approval); comp. 2 Corinthians 2:9; 2 Corinthians 9:13; James 1:3); 3. Experience (approval) worketh hope; and 4. Hope maketh not ashamed (Romans 5:2-5).—Why does Christian hope prevent shame? 1. Because it is not a false hope; but, 2. It has its ground in the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Romans 5:5).—In what respect does God commend (prove) His love toward us? 1. In Christ’s dying at the appointed time for us; 2. But still more in His dying for us when we were yet sinners (Romans 5:6-8).—It is noble to die for a benefactor, but it is divine to die for evil-doers (Romans 5:7).—The importance of Christ’s life and death for men: 1. His death brings reconciliation when we are enemies; 2. His life brings salvation when we are reconciled (Romans 5:9-11).—Christ’s life our salvation (Romans 5:10).—Salvation by the life of Christ is necessary for Christians of the present time.—Let us speak of Christ’s death, but let us also speak continually of His life (Romans 5:10).

Luther: One has experience when he has been well tempted, and can therefore speak of it as having been in it himself (Romans 5:4).—God is our God, and we are His people, and we have all good things in common from Him and with Him, in all confidence (Romans 5:11).

Starke: Romans 5:2. Future glory is connected with justification by an indissoluble chain; Romans 8:18; Romans 8:30; Romans 8:32.

Romans 5:2. Nothing can make so happy as the hope of the incorruptible, undefiled, and imperishable inheritance which is reserved in heaven; 1 Peter 1:4.

Romans 5:5. He who has the Holy Spirit, is the only one who is certain that God’s love is shed abroad in his heart.

Romans 5:10. The death of Christ is the principal agency toward our reconciliation; but His resurrection is the seal and assurance that we are truly reconciled to God.

Romans 5:10. Christ’s resurrection is the ark of life and royal city of our salvation.

Romans 5:11. No one can glory in God but he who has Christ; for He is the way by which we come to the enjoyment of God; John 14:6. He, therefore, who does not have Him, is also without God in the world; Ephesians 2:12.—Hedinger: To be certain of the forgiveness of sin, is the fountain of all joy and consolation (Romans 5:1).—Beware of the hypocrite’s hope, which destroys! The believer clings to God’s love in Christ as an anchor to the rock; Hebrews 6:19. Would to God we understood this well! If we did, nothing could grieve and afflict us (Romans 5:5).—A Christian must regard the suffering of Christ not only as a mirror of wrath, but also as a mirror of love (Romans 5:8).—What a gloty! God’s child, and in good favor with Him! How incomprehensible, how glorious, and how blessed! (Romans 5:11).—Cramer: If we are justified by faith, we have free access to God, so that we do not need any patron or saint to prepare the way for us (Romans 5:2).—The suffering of Christians is their glory; for they suffer without guilt, and for Christ’s glory (Romans 5:3).—Osiander: The cross and tribulation make us humble and patient; they are therefore the most precious gems and best ornament of the children of God (Romans 5:3).—Nova Bibl. Tub.: Oh, how blessed is the cross! Though it pain the flesh, it brings eternal good. We are better purified by it, than gold is by fire; our hope is strengthened, and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart (Romans 5:5).—Love is rare among men, yet there are remarkable examples of some who have given up their lives for their fellow-citizens and brethren. But there is no comparison between all this and the love of Christ (Romans 5:7).—Who would not love in return a God so full of love, and prefer fellowship with Him to that of all others? (Romans 5:10).

Gerlach: Justification by faith not only gives free access to God’s grace at the present time, but it also confers the certainty of future glory (Romans 5:2).—In justification the believer receives the first germ of the whole new life. But since the germ grows into a tree, and the tree ever becomes more firmly rooted amid storms, all that the believer had at the beginning is renewed and established at every new stage of trial (Romans 5:5).—Since God has performed for sinners and enemies the greatest service, He will certainly not leave unfinished for the reconciled and righteous the much smaller remaining part of His work (Romans 5:9).—The Apostle begins to indicate here what he treats more at length in chap. vi.: Faith so transposes us into Christ, that His life, death, resurrection, and glory, become ours. Each circumstance from His history becomes the history of mankind believing in Him, as well as of each individual believer (Romans 5:10).

Lisco: The saving fruits of the righteousness acquired by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1-11).—The fruit of this righteousness (Romans 5:1-5).—The most certain sign of the love of God toward us just mentioned, is the redemption made by Christ (Romans 5:6-8).—The blessed result of this love of God and Christ, is the certain hope of the eternal duration of this love, and, finally, of our attainment of glory (Romans 5:9-11).

Heubner: Paul here strikes the note of the triumphal song of the justified. Listen: His readers should participate in his joy; we are reconciled, we are pardoned.—Without justification, there is no joy, no love, no happiness in life; without it, nothing can make us happy—neither nature, nor the love of men (Romans 5:1).—Grace is prepared, and offered to all. Many accept it, but all do not remain steadfast (Romans 5:2).—He on whom God has placed many burdens, has much entrusted to him; God has made him an object of distinction. Therefore, the higher and more joyous the Christian’s spirit is in suffering, the greater will be the increase of his joy and strength in conflict (Romans 5:3).—What influence does suffering exert on the Christian? (Romans 5:3).—The sacred hope of the Christian maketh not ashamed; it is holy in its object and ground.—Faith in the love of God is the ground of all hope (Romans 5:5).—The helplessness of the unimproved heart is followed by the saddest results of sin; just as severe sickness is succeeded by weakness (Romans 5:6).—God’s holy love of His enemies (Romans 5:8).—The greatest misery of a created being, is, to bear the wrath of God (Romans 5:9).—God’s love of us is a prevenient love (Romans 5:10)—Christ’s life is the ground of our salvation (Romans 5:10).

Besser: The salvation of those who are justified by faith. It is: 1. A present salvation; 2. Also a future one (Romans 5:1-11).—Tribulation is praiseworthy, because the evergreen of hope is sprinkled with the tears of tribulation (Romans 5:3-5).—God’s wrath is not human; God is love, and Divine wrath is connected with the love which takes no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but is an ardent, compassionate desire to save the sinner. Reconciliation is the execution of this loving determination of God by means of the atonement through the death of His Son (Romans 5:10).—God unites in the Church with pardoned sinners—who have faith in Jesus, and glory in God as their God—more intimately and gloriously than in Paradise with innocent man (Romans 5:11).

Schleiermacher, on Romans 5:7-8 : The death of Christ is the highest glorification of God’s love toward us. 1. God imposed death on our Redeemer as the most perfect proof of obedience; 2. Many are justified by this obedience.

Spener: 1. The fruits of justification: (a.) Peace; (b.) Access to God; (c.) The joy of future hope; (d.) Victory in tribulation and the cross; (e.) The gift of the Holy Ghost. 2. The causes of justification (Romans 5:1-11).

[Burkitt: One grace generates and begets another; graces have a generation one from another, though they all have one generation from the Spirit of God.—He that does not seek reconciliation with God, is an enemy of his soul; and he that rejoices not in that reconciliation, is an enemy to his own comfort.—Logan (sermon on Jesus Christ Dying for Sinners, Romans 5:7-8): The greatest trial and exercise of virtue is when an innocent man submits to the imputation of a crime, that others may be free from the punishment. This Christ did. He was betrayed like an impostor by one of His own disciples, apprehended like a robber by a band of soldiers, led like a malefactor through the streets of Jerusalem, nailed like a murderer to the accursed tree, and, in the sight of all Israel, died the death of a traitor and a slave, that he might atone for the real guilt of men.—Comp. Comm.: He that puts himself to the charge of purchasing our salvation, will not decline the trouble of applying it.—Hodge: As the love of God in the gift of His Son, and the love of Christ in dying for us, are the peculiar characteristics of the gospel, no one can be a true Christian on whom these truths do not exert a governing influence.—Annot. Paragraph Bible: God establishes His love toward man by demonstration; it is a love worthy of Himself, and which none but Himself can feel.

Comp. Chrysostom, De Gloria in Tribulationibus; Archbishop Usher, Four Sermons, Works, vol. xiii. 226; John Howe, Influence of Hope, Works, vol. vi. 277; Bishop Mant, The Love of God the Motive to Man’s Salvation, Sermons, vol. i.115; Jonathan Edwards, Men naturally God’s Enemies, Works, vol. ii. 130.—On the Section Romans 5:1-5, see Nath. Hornes, The Bracelet of Pearl of Sanctifying Graces, Works, 207; Richard Baxter, Short Meditations, Works, vol. xviii. 503; C. Simeon, Benefits arising from a Justifying Faith, Works, vol. xv. 116; J. Morgan, The Hidden Life Disclosed in Romans 5:1-5, an Exposition, Belfast, 1856.—J. F. H.]

Footnotes:

Romans 5:1; Romans 5:1.—[The reading ἕκωμεν (subjunctive, with a hortatory sense) is strongly attested by א1. A. B1. C. D. K. L., many cursives and versions (including Syriac and Vulgate), also by many fathers; adopted by Lachmann (in the margin), Scholz, Fritzsche, Alford (5th ed.). This array of authorities would compel us to adopt it instead of ἔκομεν (Rec., אcor. B2. F.), were it not for the following considerations: 1. The early transcribers frequently interchanged ο and ω. 2. The change having been made, it would be retained by the fathers, since it “indicates the incipient darkening of the doctrine of the righteousness of faith” (Lange). 3. The hortatory meaning is not in keeping with the context. Even Alford, after adopting the subjunctive, and alleging that it can only have the force of the imperative, denies this meaning. An exhortation on a new subject just here, would introduce a foreign element (Meyer). These reasons have been deemed, by many of the best editors, sufficient to outweigh the preponderant MSS. authority. Comp. the Exeg. Notes.—R.]

Romans 5:2; Romans 5:2.—[The perfect ἐσκήκαμεν is rendered erlangt haben by Lange; have had is the literal meaning, implying continued possession. We obtained (Amer. Bible Union) is open to the objection urged in Exeg. Notes. The article should be retained with access, as conveying a slight emphasis.—R.]

Romans 5:2; Romans 5:2.—[Lange rejects τῇ πίστει (Rec., א1. C. K. L., many versions). It is not found in B. D. F. G., and is rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Ewald, Alford. Meyer retains it, deeming it superfluous after Romans 5:1; but for that very reason likely to be omitted. A further variation, ὲν τῆ πίστει, increases the probability of its genuineness, since ἐν might readily be repeated from the preceding ἐσκήκαμεν. It may be regarded as doubtful, but we are scarcely warranted in rejecting it.—R.]

Romans 5:2; Romans 5:2.—[Triumph is not only a more literal rendering of καυκώμεθα, but can be retained throughout, whereever the verb occurs. The connection is with have had. If necessary, a semicolon after stand would indicate this.—R.]

Romans 5:2; Romans 5:2.—[Lange’s view of this passage requires the insertion of the article, which is not found in the Greek. See Exeg. Notes.—R.]

Romans 5:3; Romans 5:3.—[Rec.: καυκώμεθα א1. A. D. F. K. Alford considers this a mechanical repetition from Romans 5:2, and reads καυκώμενοι (B. C.), but the other reading is to be preferred.—R.]

Romans 5:3; Romans 5:3.—[Ὑπομονή Standhaftigkeit (Lange); endurance (Alford); patient endurance (Wordsworth)· Ansdauer, perseverantia (Meyer). The idea of patience is implied, but the result is referred to here.—R.]

Romans 5:4; Romans 5:4.—[Approval is certainly preferable to experience; and yet it is not altogether satisfactory. Lange, Meyer: Bewährung; Wordsworth: proof; Alford, Amer. Bible Union, as above.—R.]

Romans 5:6; Romans 5:6.—[The text is disputed at two points in this clause. Rec., with א. A. C. D1.3. K., and some fathers, read ἕτι γάρ; which is adopted by most modern editors. B. (followed by Alford) reads εἴγε, however. The MSS. authority for the former is so strong, that it would be adopted without hesitation, were not the decision complicated by another variation, viz., the insertion and omission of a second ἔτι after ἀσθενῶν. The authority for it (א. A. B. C. D1. F.) is even stronger than for the first. But this repetition has been deemed unnecessary, and many critical editors have therefore rejected the second ἔτι. (So Rec., Meyer, Lange apparently.) The insertion is explained as a displacement growing out of the fact, that an ecclesiastical portion began with Χριστὸς κ.τ.λ. But the uncial authority is too strong to warrant its rejection. Alford justly remarks: “We must either repeat ἔτι, … or adopt the reading of B.” He takes the latter alternative; it seems safer, with Griesbach, Lachmann, Wordsworth, to take the former. In that case, ἔτι may either be regarded as repeated for emphasis (see Exeg. Notes,) or Wordsworth’s view be adopted: Besides, when we were yet weak. The former is preferable.—R.]

Romans 5:8; Romans 5:8.—[Ὁθεός is wanting in B. Its position varies in other MSS. א. A. C. K. insert it after εἰς ἡμᾶς (so Rec.); D. F. L. before (so Tischendorf, Meyer). Alford rejects it, mainly on account of this variation in position. It is far more likely to have been omitted, because it was thought that Christ should be the subject. The most probable view is, that the Apostle intended to emphasize the fact that God thus showed His (εἁυτοῦ) love; hence the position at the end of the clause. This not being understood, it was moved forward and then rejected.—R.]

Romans 5:9; Romans 5:9.—[Literally: having been then justified. The E. V. means to convey this thought. It should be noticed that ἐν follows (E. V., by). The idea of instrumentality is not prominent; the sense seems to be pregnant. So also in Romans 5:10 : ἐν τῆ ζωῆ, by his life.—R.]

Romans 5:10; Romans 5:10.—[The parallelism is marred in the E. V.—R.]

Romans 5:11; Romans 5:11.—[Rec.: καυκώμεθα, poorly attested. Nearly all MSS. read καυκώμενουι, which is adopted by modern critical editors. On the meaning, and for justification of the above emendation, see Exeg. Notes.—R.]

Romans 5:11; Romans 5:11.—[Atonement is a correct rendering etymologically, but not theologically. Reconciliation is preferable also on the ground that it corresponds with reconcile (Romans 5:10), as the Greek noun does with the preceding verb.—R.]

[15][See Text. Note1. The Sinaitic MS. reads ΕΧΩ̊ΜΕΝ, the small ο the top of ω being a correction by a later hand, though this correction may possibly have been taken from an older MS. Tischendorf, in his recent edition of the Vatican MS., credits the correction ἔκομεν to B3., instead of B2., as is done by Alford, Meyer, and others. Dr. Hodge, who pays little or no attention to the different readings, and ignores Cod. Sin. altogether, although it was published two years before the revised edition of his Comm. on Romans, incorrectly says (p 205) that “the external authorities are nearly equally divided” between ἔκομεν and ἔκωμεν. Alford, in the 5th ed., has a long note and calls this “the crucial instance of overpowering diplomatic authority compelling us to adopt a reading against which our subjective feelings rebel. Every internal consideration tends to impugn it.” Retaining ἔκωμεν in the text (with Lachmann and Tregelles), he gives it up in the notes. Forbes very strenuously contends for ἔκωμεν, and consistently takes also κανκώμεθα in the hortative sense.—P. S.]

[16][Romans 12:18 refers to peace with men (like the famous sentence in Gen. Grant’s letter of acceptance of the nomination for the Presidency: Let us have peace).—P. S.]

[17][By Pape (Lex.) and Meyer, who quotes passages from Xenophon, Thucydides, Plutarch, &c., and explains: “Wir haben Durch Christum die Hinzuführung zu der Gnade, u. s. w., gehabt, dadurch nämlich dass Er selbst (1 Peter 3:18) vermöge seines den Zorn Gottes tilgenden Sühnopfers unser προζαγωγεύς geworden ist, oder, wie es Chrys. treffend ausdrück: μακπὰν ὄντας προςήγαγε.” Comp. Harless (p. 251) and Braune, on Ephesians 2:18. Chrysostom distinguishes, Ephesians 2:18, προζαγωγή and πρόζοδος: οὐκ εἶπενπ ρόζοδον, ἀλλὰ προζαγωγήν. But πρόζοδος, in classic Greek, has both the active and passive meaning. Hesychius defines προσαγωγν́: “προζέλευσις, recte: accessio, nempe ad deorum aras, supplicatio.” The word occurs only three times in the New Testament—here, and Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12, where the intransitive meaning, access, is the most natural.—P. S.]

[18][This is not necessary, τῇ πίστει and ἐν τῇ πίστει, whether genuine or not, can be taken as explanatory of the method of access to the throne of grace. The phrase “faith on grace” nowhere occurs in the Bible.—P. S.]

[19][ “Demeurer ferme signifie combattre courageusement.”—P. S.]

[20][ “ … ut firma stabilisque salus nobis maneat: quo significat, perseverantiam non in virtute industriave nostra, sed in Christo fundatam esse.” So also Philippi (feststehen, bleibend verharren), and Hodge: “We are firmly and immovably established.” Comp. John 8:44, where it is said of Satan that he stood not (οὐκ ἕστηκεν) in the truth; 1Co 15:1; 2 Corinthians 1:24.—P. S.]

[21][So also Philippi: “ἐπ̓ ἐλπίδι, propter spem. ἐπί mit dem Dative dient bei den Verbis der Affecte zur Angabe des Grundes. So γελᾷ ν, μέγα φρονεῖν, μαίνεσθα ι, ἀγανακτεῖν ἐπίτινι.”—P. S.]

[22][The reading of the Vulgate: gloriæ filiorum Dei, is, according to Meyer, a gloss which admirably hits the sense. But δόξα θεοῦ is more expressive in this connection. It is the glory which God Himself has (gen. possessionis), and in which believers shall once share; comp. Joh 17:22; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Revelation 21:11; 1 John 3:2.—P. S.]

[23][We add the comments of Hodge “Afflictions themselves are to the Christian a ground of glorying; he feels them to be an honor and a blessing. This is a sentiment often expressed in the word of God. Our Lord says: ‘Blessed are they who mourn;’ ‘Blessed are the persecuted;’ ‘Blessed are ye when men shall revile you.’ He calls on His suffering disciples to rejoice and be exceeding glad when they are afflicted; Matthew 5:4; Matthew 5:10-12. The apostles departed from the Jewish council, ‘rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ’s name;’ Acts 5:41. Peter calls upon Christians to rejoice when they are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, and pronounces them happy when they are reproached for His sake; 1 Peter 4:13-14. And Paul says: ‘Most gladly therefore will I glory in (on account of) my infirmities’ (i.e., my sufferings). ‘I take pleasure,’ he says, ‘in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake;’ 2 Corinthians 12:10-11. This is not irrational or fanatical. Christians do not glory in suffering, as such, or for its own sake, but as the Bible teaches: 1. Because they consider it an honor to suffer for Christ. 2. Because they rejoice in being the occasion of manifesting His power in their support and deliverance; and, 3. Because suffering is made the means of their own sanctification and preparation for usefulness, here, and for heaven hereafter. The last of these reasons is that to which the Apostle refers in the context.”—P. S.]

[24][Similarly Olshausen: “Die Gottesliebe zum Menschen, die aber in ihm die Gegenliebe weckt (1 John 4:19), und zwar nicht die Gegenliebe mit den bloss natürlichen Kräften, sondern mit den höheren Kräften des göttlichen Geistes.” Forbes; “The love here spoken of is not God’s love, as merely outwardly shown to us, but as shed abroad in our hearts as a gift, and it is placed in connection with other Christian graces—patience and hope.”—P. S.]

[25][Meyer: “Der Begriff des Reichlichen liegt schon in der sinnlichen Vorstellung des Ausschüttens, kann aber auch wie Titus 3:6 noch besonders ausgedrückt werden.”—P. S.]

[26][Or three, rather; for the words have also been connected by some with ἕτι = ἕτι τότε, adhuc eo tempore, at the time of our weakness.—P. S.]

[27][Jerome, Ep. 121 ad Algas., mentions five explanations; Tholuck.—P. S.]

[28][Calvin: ”Rarissimum sane inter homines exemplum exstat, ut pro justo quis mori sustineat: quamquam illad nonnunquam accidere possit.” The exception establishes the rule. Fritzsche, Hofmann (in the second edition of his Schrifbeweis, Romans 2:1, p. 348), and Meyer (4th ed.) have returned to this view. In the 1st ed. (which Hodge, p. 214, seems alone to have consulted), Meyer took τοῦ , on account of the article, as neuter (as did Jerome, Erasmus, Luther, Melanchthon, Rückert, and Hofmann in the first edition of his Schriftbeweis), and rendered the latter clause of the verse interrogatively: “denn wer wagt’s auch leichtlich für das Gute zu sterben?—P. S.]

[29][Tholuck (and Stuart after him) quotes a number of passages from the classics and the Talmud, which to my mind have no force at all.—P. S.]

[30][So also Hodge: ”It is an argument a fortiori. If the greater benefit has been bestowed, the less will not be withheld. If Christ has died for His enemies, He will surely save His friends.”—P. S.]

[31][The original, by mistake, mentions here Tholuck, who holds the opposite view, at least in the fifth and last edition of his Comm., p. 210, and says that the ὀργή θεοῦ necessarily implies also an ἕκθρα θεοῦ, although both are to be taken in a relative sense only, as the wrath and enmity of a father toward his children. He quotes the sentence of Hugo of St. Victor: ”Non quia reconciliavit amavit, sed quia amavit reconciliavit.”—P. S.]

[32][And also the note of Fritzsche on Romans 5:10. Tittmann, De Synon. N. T., i. 102 (approved by Robinson sub καταλάσσω), makes διαλάττειν to mean “efficere ut quæ fuit inimicitia mutua, ea esse desinat,” and καταλάττειν, “facere ut alter inimicum animum deponat.” This distinction is arbitrary and fanciful. Comp. the preceding remarks.—P. S.]

[33][In vol. iii, p. 858, of his work on Dogmatics, Dr. Lange distinguishes between καταλλαγή as belonging to the prophetical, ιλασμός to the priestly, and ἀπολύτρωσις to the kingly office of Christ.—P. S.]

[34][Principielle Vollkommenheit, perfection as a principle. The word principial (from principium), in the sense of initial, elementary, fundamental, though now obsolete, is used by Bacon. In German, the word is almost indispensable.—P. S.]