mh_parser/vol_split/45 - Romans/Chapter 9.xml

<div2 id="Rom.x" n="x" next="Rom.xi" prev="Rom.ix" progress="36.41%" title="Chapter IX">
<h2 id="Rom.x-p0.1">R O M A N S.</h2>
<h3 id="Rom.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Rom.x-p1">The apostle, having plainly asserted and largely
proved that justification and salvation are to had by faith only,
and not by the works of the law, by Christ and not by Moses, comes
in this and the following chapters to anticipate an objection which
might be made against this. If this be so, then what becomes of the
Jews, of them all as a complex body, especially those of them that
do not embrace Christ, nor believe the gospel? By this rule they
must needs come short of happiness; and then what becomes of the
promise made to the fathers, which entailed salvation upon the
Jews? Is not that promise nullified and made of none effect? Which
is not a thing to be imagined concerning any word of God. That
doctrine therefore, might they say, is not to be embraced, from
which flows such a consequence as this. That the consequence of the
rejection of the unbelieving Jews follows from Paul's doctrine he
grants, but endeavours to soften and mollify, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.1-Rom.9.15" parsed="|Rom|9|1|9|15" passage="Ro 9:1-15">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. But that from this it follows that
the word of God takes no effect he denies (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.6" parsed="|Rom|9|6|0|0" passage="Ro 9:6">ver. 6</scripRef>), and proves the denial in the rest of
the chapter, which serves likewise to illustrate the great doctrine
of predestination, which he had spoken of (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.28" parsed="|Rom|8|28|0|0" passage="Ro 8:28"><i>ch.</i> viii. 28</scripRef>) as the first wheel which
in the business of salvation sets all the other wheels a-going.</p>
<scripCom id="Rom.x-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9" parsed="|Rom|9|0|0|0" passage="Ro 9" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Rom.x-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.1-Rom.9.5" parsed="|Rom|9|1|9|5" passage="Ro 9:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.9.1-Rom.9.5">
<h4 id="Rom.x-p1.6">Paul's Anxiety for the Jews. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.x-p1.7">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.x-p2">1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my
conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,   2 That
I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.   3
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:   4 Who are
Israelites; to whom <i>pertaineth</i> the adoption, and the glory,
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service <i>of
God,</i> and the promises;   5 Whose <i>are</i> the fathers,
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ <i>came,</i> who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p3">We have here the apostle's solemn
profession of a great concern for the nation and people of the
Jews—that he was heartily troubled that so many of them were
enemies to the gospel, and out of the way of salvation. For this he
had <i>great heaviness and continual sorrow.</i> Such a profession
as this was requisite to take off the odium which otherwise he
might have contracted by asserting and proving their rejection. It
is wisdom as much as may be to mollify those truths which sound
harshly and seem unpleasant: dip the nail in oil, it will drive the
better. The Jews had a particular pique at Paul above any of the
apostles, as appears by the history of the Acts, and therefore were
the more apt to take things amiss of him, to prevent which he
introduces his discourse with this tender and affectionate
profession, that they might not think he triumphed or insulted over
the rejected Jews or was pleased with the calamities that were
coming upon them. Thus Jeremiah appeals to God concerning the Jews
of his day, whose ruin was hastening on (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.16" parsed="|Jer|17|16|0|0" passage="Jer 17:16">Jer. xvii. 16</scripRef>), <i>Neither have I desired
the woeful day, thou knowest.</i> Nay, Paul was so far from
desiring it that he most pathetically deprecates it. And lest this
should be thought only a copy of his countenance, to flatter and
please them,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p4">I. He asserts it with a solemn protestation
(<scripRef id="Rom.x-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.1" parsed="|Rom|9|1|0|0" passage="Ro 9:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>I say the
truth in Christ,</i> "I speak it as a Christian, one of God's
people, children that will not lie, as one that knows not how to
give flattering title." Or, "I appeal to Christ, who searches the
heart, concerning it." He appeals likewise to his own conscience,
which was instead of a thousand witnesses. That which he was going
to assert was not only a great and weighty thing (such solemn
protestations are not to be thrown away upon trifles), but it was
likewise a secret; it was concerning a sorrow in his heart to which
none was a capable competent witness but God and his own
conscience.—<i>That I have great heaviness,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.2" parsed="|Rom|9|2|0|0" passage="Ro 9:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. He does not say for what; the very
mention of it was unpleasant and invidious; but it is plain that he
means for the rejection of the Jews.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p5">II. He backs it with a very serious
imprecation, which he was ready to make, out of love to the Jews.
<i>I could wish;</i> he does not say, I do wish, for it was no
proper means appointed for such an end; but, if it were, <i>I could
wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren</i>—a
very high pang of zeal and affection for his countrymen. He would
be willing to undergo the greatest misery to do them good. Love is
apt to be thus bold, and venturous, and self-denying. Because the
glory of God's grace in the salvation of many is to be preferred
before the welfare and happiness of a single person, Paul, if they
were put in competition, would be content to forego all his own
happiness to purchase theirs. 1. He would be content to be cut off
from the land of the living, in the most shameful and ignominious
manner, as an anathema, or a devoted person. They thirsted for his
blood, persecuted him as the most obnoxious person in the world,
the curse and plague of his generation, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.13 Bible:Acts.22.22" parsed="|1Cor|4|13|0|0;|Acts|22|22|0|0" passage="1Co 4:13,Ac 22:22">1 Cor. iv. 13; Acts xxii. 22</scripRef>. "Now,"
says Paul, "I am willing to bear all this, and a great deal more,
for your good. Abuse me as much as you will, count and call me at
your pleasure; your unbelief and rejection create in my heart a
heaviness so much greater than all these troubles can that I could
look upon them not only as tolerable, but as desirable, rather than
this rejection." 2. He would be content to be excommunicated from
the society of the faithful, to be separated from the church, and
from the communion of saints, as a heathen man and a publican, if
that would do them any good. He could wish himself no more
remembered among the saints, his name blotted out of the
church-records; though he had been so great a planter of churches,
and the spiritual father of so many thousands, yet he would be
content to be disowned by the church, cut off from all communion
with it, and have his name buried in oblivion or reproach, for the
good of the Jews. It may be, some of the Jews had a prejudice
against Christianity for Paul's sake; such a spleen they had at him
that they hated the religion he was of: "If this stumble you," says
Paul, "I could wish I might be cast out, not embraced as a
Christian, so you might but be taken in." Thus Moses (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.33" parsed="|Exod|32|33|0|0" passage="Ex 32:33">Exod. xxxii. 33</scripRef>), in a like holy
passion of concern, <i>Blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which
thou hast written.</i> 3. Nay, some think that the expression goes
further, and that he could be content to be cut off from all his
share of happiness in Christ, if that might be a means of their
salvation. It is a common charity that begins at home; this is
something higher, and more noble and generous.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p6">III. He gives us the reason of this
affection and concern.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p7">1. Because of their relation to them: <i>My
brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.</i> Though they were
very bitter against him upon all occasions, and gave him the most
unnatural and barbarous usage, yet thus respectfully does he speak
of them. It shows him to be a man of a forgiving spirit. <i>Not
that I had aught to accuse my nation of,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.28.19" parsed="|Acts|28|19|0|0" passage="Ac 28:19">Acts xxviii. 19</scripRef>. <i>My kinsmen.</i> Paul was
a Hebrew of the Hebrews. We ought to be in a special manner
concerned for the spiritual good of our relations, our brethren and
kinsmen. To them we lie under special engagements, and we have more
opportunity of doing good to them; and concerning them, and our
usefulness to them, we must in a special manner give account.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p8">2. Especially because of their relation to
God (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.4-Rom.9.5" parsed="|Rom|9|4|9|5" passage="Ro 9:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>):
<i>Who are Israelites,</i> the seed of Abraham, God's friend, and
of Jacob his chosen, taken into the covenant of peculiarity,
dignified and distinguished by visible church-privileges, many of
which are here mentioned:—(1.) <i>The adoption;</i> not that
which is saving, and which entitled to eternal happiness, but that
which was external and typical, and entitled them to the land of
Canaan. <i>Israel is my son,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.22" parsed="|Exod|4|22|0|0" passage="Ex 4:22">Exod.
iv. 22</scripRef>. (2.) <i>And the glory;</i> the ark with the
mercy-seat, over which God dwelt between the cherubim—this was the
glory of Israel, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.4.21" parsed="|1Sam|4|21|0|0" passage="1Sa 4:21">1 Sam. iv.
21</scripRef>. The many symbols and tokens of the divine presence
and guidance, the cloud, the Shechinah, the distinguishing favours
conferred upon them—these were the glory. (3.) <i>And the
covenants</i>—the covenant made with Abraham, and often renewed
with his seed upon divers occasions. There was a covenant at Sinai
(<scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1-Exod.24.18" parsed="|Exod|24|1|24|18" passage="Ex 24:1-18">Exod. xxiv.</scripRef>), in the
plains of Moab (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1-Deut.29.29" parsed="|Deut|29|1|29|29" passage="De 29:1-29">Deut.
xxix.</scripRef>), at Shechem (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.1-Josh.24.33" parsed="|Josh|24|1|24|33" passage="Jos 24:1-33">Josh. xxiv.</scripRef>), and often afterwards; and
still these pertained to Israel. Or, the covenant of peculiarity,
and in that, as in the type, the covenant of grace. (4.) <i>And the
giving of the law.</i> It was to them that the ceremonial and
judicial law were given, and the moral law in writing pertained to
them. It is a great privilege to have the law of God among us, and
it is to be accounted so, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.19-Ps.147.20" parsed="|Ps|147|19|147|20" passage="Ps 147:19,20">Ps.
cxlvii. 19, 20</scripRef>. This was the grandeur of Israel,
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.7-Deut.4.8" parsed="|Deut|4|7|4|8" passage="De 4:7,8">Deut. iv. 7, 8</scripRef>. (5.) <i>And
the service of God.</i> They had the ordinances of God's worship
among them—the temple, the altars, the priests, the sacrifices,
the feasts, and the institutions relating to them. They were in
this respect greatly honoured, that, while other nations were
worshipping and serving stocks, and stones, and devils, and they
knew not what other idols of their own invention, the Israelites
were serving the true God in the way of his own appointment. (6.)
<i>And the promises</i>—particular promises added to the general
covenant, promises relating to the Messiah and the gospel state.
Observe, The promises accompany the giving of the law, and the
service of God; for the comfort of the promises is to be had in
obedience to that law and attendance upon that service. (7.)
<i>Whose are the fathers</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.9" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.5" parsed="|Rom|9|5|0|0" passage="Ro 9:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those men of renown, that
stood so high in the favour of God. The Jews stand in relation to
them, are their children, and proud enough they are of it: <i>We
have Abraham to our father.</i> It was for the father's sake that
they were taken into covenant, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.10" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.28" parsed="|Rom|11|28|0|0" passage="Ro 11:28"><i>ch.</i> xi. 28</scripRef>. (8.) But the greatest
honour of all was that <i>of them as concerning the flesh</i> (that
is, as to his human nature) <i>Christ came;</i> for he took on him
the seed of Abraham, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p8.11" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.16" parsed="|Heb|2|16|0|0" passage="Heb 2:16">Heb. ii.
16</scripRef>. As to his divine nature, he is the Lord from heaven;
but, as to his human nature, he is of the seed of Abraham. This was
the great privilege of the Jews, that Christ was of kin to them.
Mentioning Christ, he interposes a very great word concerning him,
that he is <i>over all, God blessed for ever.</i> Lest the Jews
should think meanly of him, because he was of their alliance, he
here speaks thus honourably concerning him: and it is a very full
proof of the Godhead of Christ; he is not only over all, as
Mediator, but he is God blessed for ever. Therefore, how much sorer
punishment were they worthy of that rejected him! It was likewise
the honour of the Jews, and one reason why Paul had a kindness for
them, that, seeing God blessed for ever would be a man, he would be
a Jew; and, considering the posture and character of that people at
that time, it may well be looked upon as a part of his
humiliation.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Rom.x-p8.12" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.6-Rom.9.13" parsed="|Rom|9|6|9|13" passage="Ro 9:6-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.9.6-Rom.9.13">
<h4 id="Rom.x-p8.13">The Divine Sovereignty. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.x-p8.14">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.x-p9">6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none
effect. For they <i>are</i> not all Israel, which are of Israel:
  7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, <i>are
they</i> all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
  8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these
<i>are</i> not the children of God: but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed.   9 For this <i>is</i> the word of
promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
  10 And not only <i>this;</i> but when Rebecca also had
conceived by one, <i>even</i> by our father Isaac;   11 (For
<i>the children</i> being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)   12 It was
said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.   13 As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p10">The apostle, having made his way to that
which he had to say, concerning the rejection of the body of his
countrymen, with a protestation of his own affection for them and a
concession of their undoubted privileges, comes in these verses,
and the following part of the chapter, to prove that the rejection
of the Jews, by the establishment of the gospel dispensation, did
not at all invalidate the word of God's promise to the patriarchs:
<i>Not as though the word of God hath taken no effect</i>
(<scripRef id="Rom.x-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.6" parsed="|Rom|9|6|0|0" passage="Ro 9:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), which,
considering the present state of the Jews, which created to Paul so
much <i>heaviness and continual sorrow</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.2" parsed="|Rom|9|2|0|0" passage="Ro 9:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), might be suspected. We are not to
ascribe inefficacy to any word of God: nothing that he has spoken
does or can fall to the ground; see <scripRef id="Rom.x-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.10-Isa.55.11" parsed="|Isa|55|10|55|11" passage="Isa 55:10,11">Isa. lv. 10, 11</scripRef>. The promises and
threatenings shall have their accomplishment; and, one way or
other, he will magnify the law and make it honourable. This is to
be understood especially of the promise of God, which by subsequent
providences may be to a wavering faith very doubtful; but it is
not, it cannot be, made of no effect; at the end it will speak and
not lie.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p11">Now the difficulty is to reconcile the
rejection of the unbelieving Jews with the word of God's promise,
and the external tokens of the divine favour, which had been
conferred upon them. This he does in four ways:—1. By explaining
the true meaning and intention of the promise, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.6-Rom.9.13" parsed="|Rom|9|6|9|13" passage="Ro 9:6-13"><i>v.</i> 6-13</scripRef>. 2. By asserting and proving
the absolute sovereignty of God, in disposing of the children of
men, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.14-Rom.9.24" parsed="|Rom|9|14|9|24" passage="Ro 9:14-24"><i>v.</i> 14-24</scripRef>. 3.
By showing how this rejection of the Jews, and the taking in of the
Gentiles, were foretold in the Old Testament, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.25-Rom.9.29" parsed="|Rom|9|25|9|29" passage="Ro 9:25-29"><i>v.</i> 25-29</scripRef>. 4. By fixing the true
reason of the Jews' rejection, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.30" parsed="|Rom|9|30|0|0" passage="Ro 9:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>, to the end.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p12">In this paragraph the apostle explains the
true meaning and intention of the promise. When we mistake the
word, and misunderstand the promise, no marvel if we are ready to
quarrel with God about the accomplishment; and therefore the sense
of this must first be duly stated. Now he here makes it out that,
when God said he would be <i>a God to Abraham, and to his seed</i>
(which was the famous promise made unto the fathers), he did not
mean it of all his seed according to the flesh, as if it were a
necessary concomitant of the blood of Abraham; but that he intended
it with a limitation only to such and such. And as from the
beginning it was appropriated to Isaac and not to Ishmael, to Jacob
and not to Esau, and yet for all this the word of God was not made
of no effect; so now the same promise is appropriated to believing
Jews that embrace Christ and Christianity, and, though it throws
off multitudes that refuse Christ, yet the promise is not therefore
defeated and invalidated, any more than it was by the typical
rejection of Ishmael and Esau.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p13">I. He lays down this proposition—that
<i>they are not all Israel who are of Israel</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.6" parsed="|Rom|9|6|0|0" passage="Ro 9:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), <i>neither because they
are,</i> &amp;c., <scripRef id="Rom.x-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.7" parsed="|Rom|9|7|0|0" passage="Ro 9:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>. Many that descended from the loins of Abraham and
Jacob, and were of that people who were surnamed by the name of
Israel, yet were very far from being Israelites indeed, interested
in the saving benefits of the new covenant. They are not all really
Israel that are so in name and profession. It does not follow that,
because they are the seed of Abraham, therefore they must needs be
the children of God, though they themselves fancied so, boasted
much of, and built much upon, their relation to Abraham, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.3.9 Bible:John.8.38-John.8.39" parsed="|Matt|3|9|0|0;|John|8|38|8|39" passage="Mt 3:9,Joh 8:38,39">Matt. iii. 9; John viii. 38,
39</scripRef>. But it does not follow. Grace does not run in the
blood; nor are saving benefits inseparably annexed to external
church privileges, though it is common for people thus to stretch
the meaning of God's promise, to bolster themselves up in a vain
hope.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p14">II. He proves this by instances; and
therein shows not only that some of Abraham's seed were chosen, and
others not, but that God therein wrought according to the counsel
of his own will; and not with regard to that law of commandments to
which the present unbelieving Jews were so strangely wedded.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p15">1. He specifies the case of Isaac and
Ishmael, both of them the seed of Abraham; and yet Isaac only taken
into covenant with God, and Ishmael rejected and cast out. For this
he quotes <scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.12" parsed="|Gen|21|12|0|0" passage="Ge 21:12">Gen. xxi. 12</scripRef>,
<i>In Isaac shall thy seed be called,</i> which comes in there as a
reason why Abraham must be willing to cast out the bond-woman and
her son, because the covenant was to be established with Isaac,
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.19" parsed="|Gen|17|19|0|0" passage="Ge 17:19">Gen. xvii. 19</scripRef>. And yet the
word which God had spoken, that he would be a God to Abraham and to
his seed, did not therefore fall to the ground; for the blessings
wrapt up in that great word, being communicated by God as a
benefactor, he was free to determine on what head they should rest,
and accordingly entailed them upon Isaac, and rejected Ishmael.
This he explains further (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.8-Rom.9.9" parsed="|Rom|9|8|9|9" passage="Ro 9:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8,
9</scripRef>), and shows what God intended to teach us by this
dispensation. (1.) That the children of the flesh, as such, by
virtue of their relation to Abraham according to the flesh, are not
therefore the children of God, for then Ishmael had put in a good
claim. This remark comes home to the unbelieving Jews, who boasted
of their relation to Abraham according to the flesh, and looked for
justification in a fleshly way, by those carnal ordinances which
Christ had abolished. They had confidence in the flesh, and looked
for justification in a fleshly way, by those carnal ordinances
which Christ had abolished. They had confidence in the flesh,
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.3" parsed="|Phil|3|3|0|0" passage="Php 3:3">Phil. iii. 3</scripRef>. Ishmael was a
child of the flesh, conceived by Hagar, who was young and fresh,
and likely enough to have children. There was nothing extraordinary
or supernatural in his conception, as there was in Isaac's; he was
born after the flesh (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.29" parsed="|Gal|4|29|0|0" passage="Ga 4:29">Gal. iv.
29</scripRef>), representing those that expect justification and
salvation by their own strength and righteousness. (2.) That the
<i>children of the promise are counted for the seed.</i> Those that
have the honour and happiness of being counted for the seed have it
not for the sake of any merit or desert of their own, but purely by
virtue of the promise, in which God hath obliged himself of his own
good pleasure to grant the promised favour. Isaac was a child of
promise; this his proves, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.9" parsed="|Rom|9|9|0|0" passage="Ro 9:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>, quoted from <scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.10" parsed="|Gen|18|10|0|0" passage="Ge 18:10">Gen. xviii.
10</scripRef>. He was a child promised (so were many others), and
he was also conceived and born by force and virtue of the promise,
and so a proper type and figure of those who are now counted for
the seed, even true believers, who are born, not of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God—of the incorruptible
seed, even the word of promise, by virtue of the special promise of
a new heart: see <scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.8" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.28" parsed="|Gal|4|28|0|0" passage="Ga 4:28">Gal. iv.
28</scripRef>. It was through faith that Isaac was conceived,
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p15.9" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.11" parsed="|Heb|11|11|0|0" passage="Heb 11:11">Heb. xi. 11</scripRef>. Thus were the
great mysteries of salvation taught under the Old Testament, not in
express words, but by significant types and dispensations of
providence, which to them then were not so clear as they are to us
now, when the veil is taken away, and the types are expounded by
the antitypes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p16">2. The case of Jacob and Esau (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.10-Rom.9.13" parsed="|Rom|9|10|9|13" passage="Ro 9:10-13"><i>v.</i> 10-13</scripRef>), which is much
stronger, to show that the carnal seed of Abraham were not, as
such, interested in the promise, but only such of them as God in
sovereignty had appointed. There was a previous difference between
Ishmael and Isaac, before Ishmael was cast out: Ishmael was the son
of the bond-woman, born long before Isaac, was of a fierce and
rugged disposition, and had mocked or persecuted Isaac, to all
which it might be supposed God had regard when he appointed Abraham
to cast him out. But, in the case of Jacob and Esau, it was neither
so nor so, they were both the sons of Isaac by one mother; they
were conceived <b><i>hex henos</i></b>—<i>by one conception;</i>
<b><i>hex henos koitou,</i></b> so some copies read it. The
difference was made between them by the divine counsel before they
were born, or had done any good or evil. Both lay struggling alike
in their mother's womb, when it was said, <i>The elder shall serve
the younger,</i> without respect to good or bad works done or
foreseen, <i>that the purpose of God according to election might
stand</i>—that this great truth may be established, that God
chooses some and refuses others as a free agent, by his own
absolute and sovereign will, dispensing his favours or withholding
them as he pleases. This difference that was put between Jacob and
Esau he further illustrates by a quotation from <scripRef id="Rom.x-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.2-Mal.1.3" parsed="|Mal|1|2|1|3" passage="Mal 1:2,3">Mal. i. 2, 3</scripRef>, where it is said, not of Jacob
and Esau the person, but the Edomites and Israelites their
posterity, <i>Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.</i> The
people of Israel were taken into the covenant of peculiarity, had
the land of Canaan given them, were blessed with the more signal
appearances of God for them in special protections, supplies, and
deliverances, while the Edomites were rejected, had no temple,
altar, priests, nor prophets—no such particular care taken of them
nor kindness shown to them. Such a difference did God put between
those two nations, that both descended from the loins of Abraham
and Isaac, as at first there was a difference put between Jacob and
Esau, the distinguishing heads of those two nations. So that all
this choosing and refusing was typical, and intended to shadow
forth some other election and rejection. (1.) Some understand it of
the election and rejection of conditions or qualifications. As God
chose Isaac and Jacob, and rejected Ishmael and Esau, so he might
and did choose faith to be the condition of salvation and reject
the works of the law. Thus Arminius understands it, <i>De rejectis
et assumptis talibus, certa qualitate notatis—Concerning such as
are rejected and such as are chosen, being distinguished by
appropriate qualities;</i> so John Goodwin. But this very much
strains the scripture; for the apostle speaks all along of persons,
he has mercy on whom (he does not say on what kind of people) he
will have mercy, besides that against this sense those two
objections (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.14 Bible:Rom.9.19" parsed="|Rom|9|14|0|0;|Rom|9|19|0|0" passage="Ro 9:14,19"><i>v.</i> 14,
19</scripRef>) do not at all arise, and his answer to them
concerning God's absolute sovereignty over the children of men is
not at all pertinent if no more be meant than his appointing the
conditions of salvation. (2.) Others understand it of the election
and rejection of particular person—some loved, and others hated,
from eternity. But the apostle speaks of Jacob and Esau, not in
their own persons, but as ancestors—Jacob the people, and Esau the
people; nor does God condemn any, or decree so to do, merely
because he will do it, without any reason taken from their own
deserts. (3.) Others therefore understand it of the election and
rejection of people considered complexly. His design is to justify
God, and his mercy and truth, in calling the Gentiles, and taking
them into the church, and into covenant with himself, while he
suffered the obstinate part of the Jews to persist in unbelief, and
so to un-church themselves—thus hiding from their eyes the things
that belonged to their peace. The apostle's reasoning for the
explication and proof of this is, however, very applicable to, and,
no doubt (as is usual in scripture) was intended for the clearing
of the methods of God's grace towards particular person, for the
communication of saving benefits bears some analogy to the
communication of church-privileges. The choosing of Jacob the
younger, and preferring him before Esau the elder (so crossing
hands), were to intimate that the Jews, though the natural seed of
Abraham, and the first-born of the church, should be laid aside;
and the Gentiles, who were as the younger brother, should be taken
in in their stead, and have the birthright and blessing. The Jews,
considered as a body politic, a nation and people, knit together by
the bond and cement of the ceremonial law, the temple and
priesthood, the centre of their unity, had for many ages been the
darlings and favourites of heaven, a kingdom of priests, a holy
nation, dignified and distinguished by God's miraculous appearances
among them and for them. Now that the gospel was preached, and
Christian churches were planted, this national body was thereby
abandoned, their church-polity dissolved; and Christian churches
(and in process of time Christian nations), embodied in like
manner, become their successors in the divine favour, and those
special privileges and protections which were the products of that
favour. To clear up the justice of God in this great dispensation
is the scope of the apostle here.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Rom.x-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.14-Rom.9.24" parsed="|Rom|9|14|9|24" passage="Ro 9:14-24" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.9.14-Rom.9.24">
<h4 id="Rom.x-p16.5">The Divine Sovereignty. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.x-p16.6">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.x-p17">14 What shall we say then? <i>Is there</i>
unrighteousness with God? God forbid.   15 For he saith to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion.   16 So then <i>it
is</i> not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy.   17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh,
Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show
my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all
the earth.   18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
<i>have mercy,</i> and whom he will he hardeneth.   19 Thou
wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will?   20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that
repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed
<i>it,</i> Why hast thou made me thus?   21 Hath not the
potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honour, and another unto dishonour?   22 <i>What</i> if
God, willing to show <i>his</i> wrath, and to make his power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction:   23 And that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto
glory,   24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews
only, but also of the Gentiles?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p18">The apostle, having asserted the true
meaning of the promise, comes here to maintain and prove the
absolute sovereignty of God, in disposing of the children of men,
with reference to their eternal state. And herein God is to be
considered, not as a rector and governor, distributing rewards and
punishments according to his revealed laws and covenants, but as an
owner and benefactor, giving to the children of men such grace and
favour as he has determined in and by his secret and eternal will
and counsel: both the favour of visible church-membership and
privileges, which is given to some people and denied to others, and
the favour of effectual grace, which is given to some particular
persons and denied to others.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p19">Now this part of his discourse is in answer
to two objections.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p20">I. It might be objected, <i>Is there
unrighteousness with God?</i> If God, in dealing with the children
of men, do thus, in an arbitrary manner, choose some and refuse
others, may it not be suspected that there is unrighteousness with
him? This the apostle startles at the thought of: <i>God
forbid!</i> Far be it from us to think such a thing; shall not the
judge of all the earth do right? <scripRef id="Rom.x-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.25 Bible:Rom.3.5-Rom.3.6" parsed="|Gen|18|25|0|0;|Rom|3|5|3|6" passage="Ge 18:25,Ro 3:5,6">Gen. xviii. 25; <i>ch.</i> iii. 5,
6</scripRef>. He denies the consequences, and proves the
denial.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p21">1. In respect of those to whom he shows
mercy, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.15-Rom.9.16" parsed="|Rom|9|15|9|16" passage="Ro 9:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>.
He quotes that scripture to show God's sovereignty in dispensing
his favours (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.19" parsed="|Exod|33|19|0|0" passage="Ex 33:19">Exod. xxxiii.
19</scripRef>): <i>I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious.</i> All God's reasons of mercy are taken from within
himself. All the children of men being plunged alike into a state
of sin and misery, equally under guilt and wrath, God, in a way of
sovereignty, picks out some from this fallen apostatized race, to
be vessels of grace and glory. He dispenses his gifts to whom he
will, without giving us any reason: according to his own good
pleasure he pitches upon some to be monuments of mercy and grace,
preventing grace, effectual grace, while he passes by others. The
expression is very emphatic, and the repetition makes it more so:
<i>I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.</i> It imports a
perfect absoluteness in God's will; he will do what he will, and
giveth not account of any of his matters, nor is it fit he should.
As these great words, <i>I am that I am</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.14" parsed="|Exod|3|14|0|0" passage="Ex 3:14">Exod. iii. 14</scripRef>) do abundantly express the
absolute independency of his being, so these words, <i>I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy,</i> do as fully express the
absolute prerogative and sovereignty of his will. To vindicate the
righteousness of God, in showing mercy to whom he will, the apostle
appeals to that which God himself had spoken, wherein he claims
this sovereign power and liberty. God is a competent judge, even in
his own case. Whatsoever God does, or is resolved to do, is both by
the one and the other proved to be just. <b><i>Eleeso on han
heleo</i></b>—<i>I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.</i>
When I begin, I will make an end. Therefore God's mercy endures for
ever, because the reason of it is fetched from within himself;
therefore his gifts and callings are without repentance. Hence he
infers (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.16" parsed="|Rom|9|16|0|0" passage="Ro 9:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), <i>It
is not of him that willeth.</i> Whatever good comes from God to
man, the glory of it is not to be ascribed to the most generous
desire, nor to the most industrious endeavour, of man, but only and
purely to the free grace and mercy of God. In Jacob's case it was
<i>not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth;</i> it was not
the earnest will and desire of Rebecca that Jacob might have the
blessing; it was not Jacob's haste to get it (for he was compelled
to run for it) that procured him the blessing, but only the mercy
and grace of God. Wherein the holy happy people of God differ from
other people, it is God and his grace that make them differ.
Applying this general rule to the particular case that Paul has
before him, the reason why the unworthy, undeserving, ill-deserving
Gentiles are called, and grafted into the church, while the
greatest part of the Jews are left to perish in unbelief, is not
because those Gentiles were better deserving or better disposed for
such a favour, but because of God's free grace that made that
difference. The Gentiles did neither will it, nor run for it, for
they <i>sat in darkness,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p21.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.16" parsed="|Matt|4|16|0|0" passage="Mt 4:16">Matt. iv.
16</scripRef>. In darkness, therefore not willing what they knew
not; <i>sitting</i> in darkness, a contented posture, therefore not
running to meet it, but anticipated with these invaluable blessings
of goodness. Such is the method of God's grace towards all that
partake of it, for he is found of those that sought him not
(<scripRef id="Rom.x-p21.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1" parsed="|Isa|65|1|0|0" passage="Isa 65:1">Isa. lxv. 1</scripRef>); in this
preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a
benefactor, whose grace is his own. Our eye therefore must not be
evil because his is good; but, of all the grace that we or others
have, he must have the glory: <i>Not unto us,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p21.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.1" parsed="|Ps|115|1|0|0" passage="Ps 115:1">Ps. cxv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p22">2. In respect of those who perish,
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.17" parsed="|Rom|9|17|0|0" passage="Ro 9:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. God's
sovereignty, manifested in the ruin of sinners, is here discovered
in the instance of Pharaoh; it is quoted from <scripRef id="Rom.x-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.16" parsed="|Exod|9|16|0|0" passage="Ex 9:16">Exod. ix. 16</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p23">(1.) What God did with Pharaoh. He raised
him up, brought him into the world, made him famous, gave him the
kingdom and power,—set him up as a beacon upon a hill, as the mark
of all his plagues (compare <scripRef id="Rom.x-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.14" parsed="|Exod|9|14|0|0" passage="Ex 9:14">Exod. ix.
14</scripRef>)—hardened his heart, as he had said he would
(<scripRef id="Rom.x-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.21" parsed="|Exod|4|21|0|0" passage="Ex 4:21">Exod. iv. 21</scripRef>): <i>I will
harden his heart,</i> that is, withdraw softening grace, leave him
to himself, let Satan loose against him, and lay hardening
providences before him. Or, by raising him up may be meant the
intermission of the plagues which gave Pharaoh respite, and the
reprieve of Pharaoh in those plagues. In the Hebrew, <i>I have made
thee stand,</i> continued thee yet in the land of the living. Thus
doth God raise up sinners, make them for himself, even for the day
of evil (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.4" parsed="|Prov|16|4|0|0" passage="Pr 16:4">Prov. xvi. 4</scripRef>),
raise them up in outward prosperity, external privileges (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.23" parsed="|Matt|11|23|0|0" passage="Mt 11:23">Matt. xi. 23</scripRef>), sparing mercies.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p24">(2.) What he designed in it: <i>That I
might show my power in thee.</i> God would, by all this, serve the
honour of his name, and manifest his power in baffling the pride
and insolence of that great and daring tyrant, who bade defiance to
Heaven itself, and trampled upon all that was just and sacred. If
Pharaoh had not been so high and might, so bold and hardy, the
power of God had not been so illustrious in the ruining of him; but
the taking off of the spirit of such a prince, who hectored at that
rate, did indeed proclaim God glorious in holiness, fearful in
praises, doing wonders, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.11" parsed="|Exod|15|11|0|0" passage="Ex 15:11">Exod. xv.
11</scripRef>. This is Pharaoh, and all his multitude.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p25">(3.) His conclusion concerning both these
we have, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.18" parsed="|Rom|9|18|0|0" passage="Ro 9:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. <i>He
hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he
hardeneth.</i> The various dealings of God, by which he makes some
to differ from others, must be resolved into his absolute
sovereignty. He is debtor to no man, his grace is his own, and he
may give it or withhold it as it pleaseth him; we have none of us
deserved it, nay, we have all justly forfeited it a thousand times,
so that herein the work of our salvation is admirably well ordered
that those who are saved must thank God only, and those who perish
must thank themselves only, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.13.9" parsed="|Hos|13|9|0|0" passage="Ho 13:9">Hos. xiii.
9</scripRef>. We are bound, as God hath bound us, to do our utmost
for the salvation of all we have to do with; but God is bound no
further than he has been pleased to bind himself by his own
covenant and promise, which is his revealed will; and that is that
he will receive, and not cast out, those that come to Christ; but
the drawing of souls in order to that coming is a preventing
distinguishing favour to whom he will. Had he mercy on the
Gentiles? It was because he would have mercy on them. Were the Jews
hardened? It was because it was his own pleasure to deny them
softening grace, and to give them up to their chosen affected
unbelief. <i>Even so, Father, because it seemed good unto thee.</i>
That scripture excellently explains this, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.21" parsed="|Luke|10|21|0|0" passage="Lu 10:21">Luke x. 21</scripRef>, and, as this, shows the sovereign
will of God in giving or withholding both the means of grace and
the effectual blessing upon those means.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p26">II. It might be objected, <i>Why doth he
yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.19" parsed="|Rom|9|19|0|0" passage="Ro 9:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Had the apostle been
arguing only for God's sovereignty in appointing and ordering the
terms and conditions of acceptance and salvation, there had not
been the least colour for this objection; for he might well find
fault if people refused to come up to the terms on which such a
salvation is offered; the salvation being so great, the terms could
not be hard. But there might be colour for the objection against
his arguing for the sovereignty of God in giving and withholding
differencing and preventing grace; and the objection is commonly
and readily advanced against the doctrine of distinguishing grace.
If God, while he gives effectual grace to some, denies it to
others, why doth he find fault with those to whom he denies it? If
he hath rejected the Jews, and hid from their eyes the things that
belong to their peace, why doth he find fault with them for their
blindness? If it be his pleasure to discard them as not a people,
and not obtaining mercy, their knocking off themselves was no
resistance of his will. This objection he answers at large,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p27">1. By reproving the objector (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.20" parsed="|Rom|9|20|0|0" passage="Ro 9:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>Nay but, O man.</i>
This is not an objection fit to be made by the creature against his
Creator, by man against God. The truth, as it is in Jesus, is that
which abases man as nothing, less than nothing, and advances God as
sovereign Lord of all. Observe how contemptibly he speaks of man,
when he comes to argue with God his Maker: "<i>Who art thou,</i>
thou that art so foolish, so feeble, so short-sighted, so
incompetent a judge of the divine counsels? Art thou able to fathom
such a depth, dispute such a case, to trace that way of God which
is in the sea, his path in the great waters?" <i>That repliest
against God.</i> It becomes us to submit to him, not to reply
against him; to lie down under his hand, not to fly in his face,
nor to charge him with folly. <b><i>Ho
antapokrinomenos</i></b>—<i>That answerest again.</i> God is our
master, and we are his servants; and it does not become servants to
answer again, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.9" parsed="|Titus|2|9|0|0" passage="Tit 2:9">Tit. ii.
9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p28">2. By resolving all into the divine
sovereignty. We are the thing formed, and he is the former; and it
does not become us to challenge or arraign his wisdom in ordering
and disposing of us into this or that shape of figure. The rude and
unformed mass of matter hath no right to this or that form, but is
shaped at the pleasure of him that formeth it. God's sovereignty
over us is fitly illustrated by the power that the potter hath over
the clay; compare <scripRef id="Rom.x-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.6" parsed="|Jer|18|6|0|0" passage="Jer 18:6">Jer. xviii.
6</scripRef>, where, by a like comparison, God asserts his dominion
over the nation of the Jews, when he was about to magnify his
justice in their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p29">(1.) He gives us the comparison, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.21" parsed="|Rom|9|21|0|0" passage="Ro 9:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. The potter, out of the
same lump, may make either a fashionable vessel, and a vessel fit
for creditable and honourable uses, or a contemptible vessel, and a
vessel in which is no pleasure; and herein he acts arbitrarily, as
he might have chosen whether he would make any vessel of it at all,
or whether he would leave it in the hole of the pit, out of which
it was dug.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p30">(2.) The application of the comparison,
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.22-Rom.9.24" parsed="|Rom|9|22|9|24" passage="Ro 9:22-24"><i>v.</i> 22-24</scripRef>. Two
sorts of vessels God forms out of the great lump of fallen
mankind:—[1.] <i>Vessels of wrath</i>—vessels filled with wrath,
as a vessel of wine is a vessel filled with wine; <i>full of the
fury of the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.20" parsed="|Isa|51|20|0|0" passage="Isa 51:20">Isa. li.
20</scripRef>. In these God is willing to show his wrath, that is,
his punishing justice, and his enmity to sin. This must be shown to
all the world, God will make it appear that he hates sin. He will
likewise make his power known, <b><i>to dynaton autou.</i></b> It
is a power of strength and energy, an inflicting power, which works
and effects the destruction of those that perish; it is a
destruction that proceeds from the <i>glory of his power,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.1.9" parsed="|2Thess|1|9|0|0" passage="2Th 1:9">2 Thess. i. 9</scripRef>. The eternal
damnation of sinners will be an abundant demonstration of the power
of God; for he will act in it himself immediately, his wrath
preying as it were upon guilty consciences, and his arm stretched
out totally to destroy their well-being, and yet at the same
instant wonderfully to preserve the being of the creature. In order
to this, God <i>endured them with much
long-suffering</i>—exercised a great deal of patience towards
them, let them alone to fill up the measure of sin, to grow till
they were ripe for ruin, and so they became <i>fitted for
destruction,</i> fitted by their own sin and self-hardening. The
reigning corruptions and wickedness of the soul are its
preparedness and disposedness for hell: a soul is hereby made
combustible matter, fit for the flames of hell. When Christ said to
the Jews (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.32" parsed="|Matt|23|32|0|0" passage="Mt 23:32">Matt. xxiii. 32</scripRef>),
<i>Fill you up then the measure of your father, that upon you may
come all the righteous blood</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.35" parsed="|Rom|9|35|0|0" passage="Ro 9:35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>), he did, as it were, endure them
with much long-suffering, that they might, by their own obstinacy
and wilfulness in sin, fit themselves for destruction. [2.]
<i>Vessels of mercy</i>—filled with mercy. The happiness bestowed
upon the saved remnant is the fruit, not of their merit, but of
God's mercy. The spring of all the joy and glory of heaven is that
mercy of God which endures for ever. Vessels of honour must to
eternity own themselves vessels of mercy. Observe, <i>First,</i>
What he designs in them: <i>To make known the riches of his
glory,</i> that is, of his goodness; for God's goodness is his
greatest glory, especially when it is communicated with the
greatest sovereignty. <i>I beseech thee show me thy glory,</i> says
Moses, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.18" parsed="|Exod|33|18|0|0" passage="Ex 33:18">Exod. xxxiii. 18</scripRef>.
<i>I will make all my goodness to pass before thee,</i> says God
(<scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.19" parsed="|Rom|9|19|0|0" passage="Ro 9:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), and that
given out freely: <i>I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious.</i> God makes known his glory, this goodness of his, in
the preservation and supply of all the creatures: the earth is full
of his goodness, and the year crowned with it; but when he would
demonstrate the riches of his goodness, unsearchable riches, he
does it in the salvation of the saints, that will be to eternity
glorious monuments of divine grace. <i>Secondly,</i> What he does
for them he does before <i>prepare them to glory.</i>
Sanctification is the preparation of the soul for glory, making it
meet to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light. This is
God's work. We can destroy ourselves fast enough, but we cannot
save ourselves. Sinners fit themselves for hell, but it is God that
prepares saints for heaven; and all those that God designs for
heaven hereafter he prepares and fits for heaven now: he works them
to the self-same thing, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.8" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.5" parsed="|2Cor|5|5|0|0" passage="2Co 5:5">2 Cor. v.
5</scripRef>. And would you know who these <i>vessels of mercy
are?</i> Those whom he hath called (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p30.9" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.24" parsed="|Rom|9|24|0|0" passage="Ro 9:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>); for whom he did predestinate
those he also called with an effectual call: and these not of the
Jews only, but of the Gentiles; for, the partition-wall being taken
down, the world was laid in common, and not (as it had been) God's
favour appropriated to the Jews, and they put a degree nearer his
acceptance than the rest of the world. They now stood upon the same
level with the Gentiles; and the question is not now whether of the
seed of Abraham or no, that is neither here nor there, but whether
or no called according to his purpose.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Rom.x-p30.10" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.25-Rom.9.29" parsed="|Rom|9|25|9|29" passage="Ro 9:25-29" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.9.25-Rom.9.29">
<h4 id="Rom.x-p30.11">Conversion of the Gentiles. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.x-p30.12">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.x-p31">25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my
people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not
beloved.   26 And it shall come to pass, <i>that</i> in the
place where it was said unto them, Ye <i>are</i> not my people;
there shall they be called the children of the living God.  
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the
children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be
saved:   28 For he will finish the work, and cut <i>it</i>
short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make
upon the earth.   29 And as Esaias said before, Except the
Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been
made like unto Gomorrha.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p32">Having explained the promise, and proved
the divine sovereignty, the apostle here shows how the rejection of
the Jews, and the taking in of the Gentiles, were foretold in the
Old Testament, and therefore must needs be very well consistent
with the promise made to the fathers under the Old Testament. It
tends very much to the clearing of a truth to observe how the
scripture is fulfilled in it. The Jews would, no doubt, willingly
refer it to the Old Testament, the scriptures of which were
committed to them. Now he shows how this, which was so uneasy to
them, was there spoken of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p33">I. By the prophet Hosea, who speaks of the
taking in of a great many of the Gentiles, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.23 Bible:Hos.1.10" parsed="|Hos|2|23|0|0;|Hos|1|10|0|0" passage="Ho 2:23,Ho 1:10">Hos. ii. 23 and Hos. i. 10</scripRef>. The
Gentiles had not been the people of God, not owning him, nor being
owned by him in that relation: "But," says he, "<i>I will call them
my people,</i> make them such and own them as such, notwithstanding
all their unworthiness." A blessed change! Former badness is no bar
to God's present grace and mercy.—<i>And her beloved which was not
beloved.</i> Those whom God calls his people he calls beloved: he
loves those that are his own. And lest it might be supposed that
they should become God's people only by being proselyted to the
Jewish religion, and made members of that nation, he adds, from
<scripRef id="Rom.x-p33.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.10" parsed="|Hos|1|10|0|0" passage="Ho 1:10">Hos. i. 10</scripRef>, <i>In the place
where it was said,</i> &amp;c., <i>there shall they be called.</i>
They need not be embodied with the Jews, nor go up to Jerusalem to
worship; but, wherever they are scattered over the face of the
earth, there will God own them. Observe the great dignity and
honour of the saints, that they are called the children of the
living God; and his calling them so makes them so. Behold, what
manner of love! This honour have all his saints.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p34">II. By the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of
the casting off of many of the Jews, in two places.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p35">1. One is <scripRef id="Rom.x-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.22-Isa.10.23" parsed="|Isa|10|22|10|23" passage="Isa 10:22,23">Isa. x. 22, 23</scripRef>, which speaks of the
saving of a remnant, that is, but a remnant, which, though in the
prophecy it seems to refer to the preservation of a remnant from
the destruction and desolation that were coming upon them by
Sennacherib and his army, yet is to be understood as looking
further, and sufficiently proves that it is no strange thing for
God to abandon to ruin a great many of the seed of Abraham, and yet
maintain his word of promise to Abraham in full force and virtue.
This is intimated in the supposition that the number of children of
Israel was as the sand of the sea, which was part of the promise
made to Abraham, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p35.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.17" parsed="|Gen|22|17|0|0" passage="Ge 22:17">Gen. xxii.
17</scripRef>. And yet only a remnant shall be saved; for many are
called, but few are chosen. In this salvation of the remnant we are
told (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p35.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.28" parsed="|Rom|9|28|0|0" passage="Ro 9:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>) from the
prophet, (1.) That he will complete the work: <i>He will finish the
work.</i> When God begins he will make an end, whether in ways of
judgment or of mercy. The rejection of the unbelieving Jews god
would finish in their utter ruin by the Romans, who soon after this
quite took away their place and nation. The assuming of Christian
churches into the divine favour, and the spreading of the gospel in
other nations, was a work which God would likewise finish, and be
known by his name <span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.x-p35.4">Jehovah</span>. As for
God, his work is perfect. Margin, <i>He will finish the
account.</i> God, in his eternal counsels, has taken an account of
the children of men, allotted them to such or such a condition, to
such a share of privileges; and, as they come into being, his
dealings with them are pursuant to these counsels: and he will
finish the account, complete the mystical body, call in as many as
belong to the election of grace, and then the account will be
finished. (2.) That he will contract it; not only finish it, but
finish it quickly. Under the Old Testament he seemed to tarry, and
to make a longer and more tedious work of it. The wheels moved but
slowly towards the extent of the church; but now he will <i>cut it
short,</i> and make a short work upon the earth. Gentile converts
were now flying as a cloud. But he will cut it short <i>in
righteousness,</i> both in wisdom and in justice. Men, when they
cut short, do amiss; they do indeed despatch causes; but, when God
cuts short, it is always in righteousness. So the fathers generally
apply it. Some understand it of the evangelical law and covenant,
which Christ has introduced and established in the world: he has in
that finished the work, put an end to the types and ceremonies of
the Old Testament. Christ said, <i>It is finished,</i> and then the
veil was rent, echoing as it were to the word that Christ said upon
the cross. And he will cut it short. <i>The work</i> (it is
<b><i>logos</i></b>—<i>the word,</i> the law) was under the Old
Testament very long; a long train of institutions, ceremonies,
conditions: but now it is cut short. Our duty is now, under the
gospel, summed up in much less room than it was under the law; the
covenant was abridged and contracted; religion is brought into a
less compass. And it is in righteousness, in favour to us, in
justice to his own design and counsel. With us contractions are apt
to darken things:—</p>
<verse id="Rom.x-p35.5">
<l class="t1" id="Rom.x-p35.6">————Brevis esse laboro,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Rom.x-p35.7">Obscurus fio————</l>
<l class="t1" id="Rom.x-p35.8"/>
<l class="t1" id="Rom.x-p35.9">I strive to be concise, but prove obscure.</l>
</verse>
<p id="Rom.x-p36">but it is not so in this case. Though it be cut short, it is
clear and plain; and, because short, the more easy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p37">2. Another is quoted from <scripRef id="Rom.x-p37.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9">Isa. i. 9</scripRef>, where the prophet is
showing how in a time of general calamity and destruction God would
preserve a seed. This is to the same purport with the former; and
the scope of it is to show that it was no strange thing for God to
leave the greatest part of the people of the Jews to ruin, and to
reserve to himself only a small remnant: so he had done formerly,
as appears by their own prophets; and they must not wonder if he
did so now. Observe, (1.) What God is. He is <i>the Lord of
sabaoth,</i> that is, the Lord of hosts—a Hebrew word retained in
the Greek, as <scripRef id="Rom.x-p37.2" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.4" parsed="|Jas|5|4|0|0" passage="Jam 5:4">James v. 4</scripRef>.
All the host of heaven and earth are at his beck and disposal. When
God secures a seed to himself out of a degenerate apostate world,
he acts as Lord of sabaoth. It is an act of almighty power and
infinite sovereignty. (2.) What his people are; they are a
<i>seed,</i> a small number. The corn reserved for next year's
seedings is but little, compared with that which is spent and
eaten. But they are a useful number—the seed, the substance, of
the next generation, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p37.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.13" parsed="|Isa|6|13|0|0" passage="Isa 6:13">Isa. vi.
13</scripRef>. It is so far from being an impeachment of the
justice and righteousness of God that so many perish and are
destroyed, that it is a wonder of divine power and mercy that all
are not destroyed, that there are any saved; for even those that
are left to be a seed, if God had dealt with them according to
their sins, had perished with the rest. This is the great truth
which this scripture teacheth us.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Rom.x-p37.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.30-Rom.9.33" parsed="|Rom|9|30|9|33" passage="Ro 9:30-33" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.9.30-Rom.9.33">
<h4 id="Rom.x-p37.5">Reception of the Gentiles and Rejection of
the Jews. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.x-p37.6">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.x-p38">30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness, have attained to
righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.   31
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not
attained to the law of righteousness.   32 Wherefore? Because
<i>they sought it</i> not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;   33 As it
is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of
offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p39">The apostle comes here at last to fix the
true reason of the reception of the Gentiles, and the rejection of
the Jews. There was a difference in the way of their seeking, and
therefore there was that different success, though still it was the
free grace of God that made them differ. He concludes like an
orator, <i>What shall we say then?</i> What is the conclusion of
the whole dispute?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p40">I. Concerning the Gentiles observe, 1. How
they had been alienated from righteousness: they followed not after
it; they knew not their guilt and misery, and therefore were not at
all solicitous to procure a remedy. In their conversion preventing
grace was greatly magnified: God was <i>found of those that sought
him not,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.x-p40.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1" parsed="|Isa|65|1|0|0" passage="Isa 65:1">Isa. lxv. 1</scripRef>.
There was nothing in them to dispose them for such a favour more
than what free grace wrought in them. Thus doth God delight to
dispense grace in a way of sovereignty and absolute dominion. 2.
How they attained to righteousness, notwithstanding: <i>By
faith;</i> not by being proselyted to the Jewish religion, and
submitting to the ceremonial law, but by embracing Christ, and
believing in Christ, and submitting to the gospel. They attained to
that by the short cut of believing sincerely in Christ for which
the Jews had been long in vain beating about the bush.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.x-p41">II. Concerning the Jews observe, 1. How
they missed their end: they <i>followed after the law of
righteousness</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.x-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.31" parsed="|Rom|9|31|0|0" passage="Ro 9:31"><i>v.</i>
31</scripRef>)—they talked much of justification and holiness,
seemed very ambitious of being the people of God and the favourites
of heaven, but they did not attain to it, that is, the greatest
part of them did not; as many as stuck to their old Jewish
principles and ceremonies, and pursued a happiness in those
observances, embracing the shadows now that the substance was come,
these fell short of acceptance with God, were not owned as his
people, nor went to their house justified. 2. How they mistook
their way, which was the cause of their missing the end, <scripRef id="Rom.x-p41.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.32-Rom.9.33" parsed="|Rom|9|32|9|33" passage="Ro 9:32,33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. They sought, but
not in the right way, not in the humbling way, not in the
instituted appointed way. <i>Not by faith,</i> not by embracing the
Christian religion, and depending upon the merit of Christ, and
submitting to the terms of the gospel, which were the very life and
end of the law. But they sought by the <i>works of the law;</i> as
if they were to expect justification by their observance of the
precepts and ceremonies of the law of Moses. This was the
<i>stumbling-stone at which they stumbled.</i> They could not get
over this corrupt principle which they had espoused, That the law
was given them for no end but that merely by their observance of
it, and obedience to it, they might be justified before God: and so
they could by no means be reconciled to the doctrine of Christ,
which brought them off from that to expect justification through
the merit and satisfaction of another. Christ himself is to some a
stone of stumbling, for which he quotes <scripRef id="Rom.x-p41.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.14 Bible:Isa.28.16" parsed="|Isa|8|14|0|0;|Isa|28|16|0|0" passage="Isa 8:14,28:16">Isa. viii. 14; xxviii. 16</scripRef>. It is sad
that Christ should be set for the fall of any, and yet it is so
(<scripRef id="Rom.x-p41.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.34" parsed="|Luke|2|34|0|0" passage="Lu 2:34">Luke ii. 34</scripRef>), that ever
poison should be sucked out of the balm of Gilead, that the
foundation-stone should be to any a stone of stumbling, and the
rock of salvation a rock of offence; so he is to multitudes; so he
was to the unbelieving Jews, who rejected him, because he put an
end to the ceremonial law. But still there is a remnant that do
believe on him; and they <i>shall not be ashamed,</i> that is,
their hopes and expectations of justification by him shall not be
disappointed, as theirs are who expect it by the law. So that, upon
the whole, the unbelieving Jews have no reason to quarrel with God
for rejecting them; they had a fair offer of righteousness, and
life, and salvation, made to them upon gospel terms, which they did
not like, and would not come up to; and therefore, if they perish,
they may thank themselves—their blood is upon their own heads.</p>
</div></div2>