Romans 8

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no obligation lying on a Christian to observe those ceremonies of Moses’s law, circumcision, &c., ch. vii. 4. 6, (from whence to the end of that chapter the apostle had made a digression to answer an objection, ver. 7,) nor consequently danger of damnation to him for that neglect, supposing that he forsake those carnal sins that the circumcised Jews yet indulged themselves to, and perform that evangelical obedience, (in doing what the mind illuminated by Christ directs us to,) that inward true purity (which that circumcision of the flesh was set to signify) that is now required by Christ under the gospel: (see note [c] ch. vii.)

Romans 8:2

For the gospel, which deals not in commanding of carnal outward performances, but of spiritual inward purity, the substance of those legal shadows, and that which was meant by them, and so is proper to quicken us to new life in or through the grace and assistance of Christ, who brought this new law into the world, hath freed us Christians from the power and captivity of sin, ch. vii. 23, and so also from death, the wages of sin, from neither of which was the law of Moses able to rescue any man.

[a] the law of sin] What νόμος ἁμαρτίας, the law of sin, here signifies, is discernible by the phrase immediately foregoing, Ὁ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς, &c., the law of the spirit of life by Jesus Christ, which unquestionably signifies no more than the Holy Spirit now under the gospel, which frees us from that which the law was not able to do. So saith Chrysostom and Theophylact, νόμον πνεύματος ἐνταῦθα τὸ πνεῦμα (τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα) καλεῖ, “the law of the spirit he there calls the Spirit, or Holy Spirit.” And then proportionably the law of sin must signify sin itself, which this Holy Spirit given by Christ in the gospel ἰθανάτωσε, say they, hath mortified. This those two ancients press, in opposition to some πονηρὰ γλῶσσαι, evil tongues, which interpreted the law of sin to be the Mosaical law. Of which yet the same apostle in the precedent chapter saith that it is spiritual, ver. 14, and holy, just, and good, ver. 12, spiritual, as given by the Spirit of God, and the teacher and

Romans 8:3

For when through the fleshly desires of men, carrying them headlong into all sin, in despite of the prohibitions of the law, ch. vii. 14, the law of Moses was by this means weak, and unable to reform and amend men’s lives, then most seasonably God sent his own Son in the likeness of flesh, that is, in a mortal body, which was like sinful flesh, (and differed nothing from it, save only in innocence,) and that on purpose that he might be a sacrifice for sin, and by laying our sins on him shewed great example of his wrath against all carnal sins by punishing sin in his flesh, that so men might be persuaded by love or wrought on by terrors to forsake their sinful courses:

[b] the flesh] Σὰρξ, the flesh, in this place cannot so fitly be said to signify the state or condition of men under the law (mentioned note [c], on ch. vii.) but that which is the means by which occasionally (as the διὰ notes) the law became so weak and unable to restrain men, viz. the carnal or fleshly appetite, which is so contrary to the proposals and prescriptions of the law. So ch. vii. 18, I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, that is, the carnal part of a man, (such especially as is there represented and defined, ver. 14, to be carnal, and sold under sin,) dwelleth no good thing: so here, ver. 1, They that walk after the flesh are opposed to those that walk after the Spirit, and that are in Christ Jesus: and so, vv. 4—7, where the φρόνημα σαρκὸς, mind or desire of the flesh is enmity to God, direct opposition to him, (viz. that law in the members warring against the law in the mind, ch. vii. 23,) and vv. 8, 9, 12, 13. And so in this verse, viz. that the carnality of men’s hearts was too strong for the Mosaical law to do any good upon them. And so the law was weak, not absolutely, but διὰ τὴν σαρκὸς, through the flesh, that is, the Mosaical dispensation, by the promises and terrors which it proposed, was not able to subdue carnal affections, to mortify lusts, to bring men to inward purity, which to the flesh was more ingrateful than that temporal promises should persuade any man to undertake it, when there were not temporal punishments to drive them to it, as in case of concupiscence, opposed to that inward purity, there were not, (see note [c] on ch. vii.) And so it was not possible for the law to bring them to any good; Christ’s reformation was necessary thus to call carnal sinners to repentance.

Romans 8:4

[c] righteousness] The word δικαίωμα is any thing that God hath thought meet to appoint or command his people, (see ch. ii. 26,) from δίκαιον, meet or right, as ἀρεστὸν or δόγμα, an ordinance or decree, are from ἀρέσκω and δοκέω, being pleased or thinking good. It is answerable to the Hebrew חֲקִיב, Num. xxx. 17, Deut. iv. 14, 40, 45, Ps. cxix. 12, and denotes those laws which God had given to the Jews beside the moral law, or law of nature to all, the peculiar ordinances of circumcision, &c. So Heb. ix. 1. “The first covenant had δικαιώματα, ordinances,” σύμβολα, θεσμούς καὶ νομοθεσίας, saith Theophylact, “types, institutions, laws,” as also λατρείας, “worships,” and ἅγιον κοσμικόν, meaning the tabernacle, all which were peculiar to the first covenant, the Mosaical economy; so Luke i. 6, where to ἐντολαί, the commandments, or moral law, is subjoined δικαιώματα, ordinances, or Jewish observances. And so here δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου is the ordinances of the law, or statute-law, as it were, as that of circumcision, &c., which being designed by God to teach them abstinence from all impurity, but not so made use of by the carnal Jews, is said here to be perfected and completed by Christ by his plain precepts of inward purity. By this perhaps may be explained Rev. xix. 8, where of the βύσσινον καθαρὸν καὶ λαμπρὸν, fine linen pure and white, it is affirmed, that it is δικαιώματα ἁγίων, which may be

Romans 8:5

For they that are carried by their own carnal inclinations, or by customs and habits of sin, and the carnal affections consequent thereto, do generally mind and meditate on carnal things; but they that are led by the Spirit of Christ, the duct of the gospel, study and mind those things wherein inward purity and sanctity doth consist.

Romans 8:6

And as the gospel is of force to free from sin more than the law was, so to free from death too, ver. 2. For that study or appetite or desire of the carnal man bringeth death, ch. vii. 5; but that will or desire that the Spirit or gospel infuses into us, or the desire and pursuit of spiritual things, (see Theophylact,) brings life and peace, that is, a vital state of soul under God here, and eternal salvation hereafter.

Romans 8:7

For the carnal appetite is a downright opposition to the law of God, too unruly to obey the commands of God: neither indeed can it be brought to that obedience by a bare prohibition of the law, for the swinge of passions and lusts are much more violent than so.

Romans 8:8

And so these men, carnal Jews, though they know the law, are very far from pleasing God, (see note [e] Matt. xii,) from being acceptable to him: the law doth nothing to the justifying of them that are thus far from obeying the true meaning of the law.

Romans 8:9

But ye Christians under the gospel, if ye have any of that spiritual divine temper which Christ came to infuse by his doctrine and example, are thereby engaged to all manner of sincere inward purity, to mortify the flesh with the affections and lusts; and if ye do not so, ye live not according to the gospel; and if not so, ye may thereby know that ye are no Christians, Christ will not own you for his, however ye have received the faith, and are admitted into that number.

Romans 8:10

But if ye be Christians indeed, translated and raised above the pretensions of the Jew to the purity ⁵ the body indeed may be a dead body, τὸ μὲν σῶμα νεκρόν.

Romans 8:11

And then even for your dead bodies they shall not finally perish neither, they shall be sure to be raised again; for the Spirit of God, by which you are to be guided and led, is that divine omnipotent Spirit that raised Christ’s dead body out of the grave; and if ye be guided by that, animated and quickened by that, live a pious and holy life, there is no doubt but God will raise your mortal bodies out of the graves also by the power of that same Spirit that raised Christ’s.

Romans 8:12

By these so many obligations therefore and interests of yours, the eternal well-being both of souls and bodies, ye are engaged to give over all care of satisfying or gratifying your flesh in its prohibited demands, to live no longer in your former habits of sin, now ye have received the faith of Christ.

Romans 8:13

For if contenting yourselves with the external performances of the Mosaical law, circumcision, &c., ye still continue to commit those sins which that was set to prohibit, this will bring all destruction upon you; it is not the Mosaical law will keep you from ruin. But if by the faith and example, and withal the grace and assistance of Christ, ye shall actually mortify all the polluted desires of the flesh, and live spiritually, according to what Christ now requires, ye shall certainly rise to the life immortal, or live eternally.

Romans 8:14

For this being led by the Spirit of Christ, living after Christ’s example, and doing what he commands and enables us to do, is an evidence that we, and not only the Jews, who challenge it as their peculiar, are (not only the servants, but) the children of God, and consequently that God will deal with us as with children, bestow the inheritance upon us.

Romans 8:15

Nay, the truth is, the condition of a Jew (see note on Luke ix. 10.) is so far from making men sons of God, that at the best it is but a slavish condition to be obliged to those performances which, being external, (as circumcision, &c.,) and having nothing of

[d] cry, Abba, Father] The phrase κράζειν, Ἀβᾶς, ὁ Πατήρ, may perhaps best be rendered crying Abba, that is, Father, so as the ὁ be the neuter, not masculine gender, and the abbreviate of ὁ ἰστί μεθερμηνευόμενον or ὁ ἰστί, which is by interpretation, or which is. If that be not it, both here and Gal. iv. 6, then, as Mark xiv. 36, (when it is used by Christ, who spake Syriac, it is certain that it was but the same word twice repeated,) so must it be here, and no more than a form of compellation, wherein a son expresseth his confidence and dependence on his father’s kindness and goodness to him; or else a form of petitioning, as in Christ it was, Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee, remove this cup from me. And so it signifies no more than to look upon God as children on a father, as on one that means all good to us, if we be not wanting to ourselves; referring to his rich evangelical promises, in opposition to the more servile affections of the Jews, which performed those external obediences only that were commanded under penalties, but had no care of purity and uprightness of actions, as slaves, and not as sons. That this should be taken from a Roman form of hæredipetæ, suing to a rich man for his inheritance, is but a fancy, sufficiently confuted by this, that the crying Abba here supposes having received the spirit of adoption, and doth not prepare for it. And so Gal. iv, because ye are (not, that ye may be) sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father; where first they are sons, and have the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, that filial spirit, and because they are such, God hath sent &c. As for that that follows, and if sons, then heirs, that is not peculiar to the Romans neither; for though among them the children of both sexes were admitted to inherit, but among the Jews the females were not admitted, save in defect of males; yet speaking here of sons, he may very fitly refer to sons among the Jews, and from the law of their inheriting the father’s goods, conclude of all children of God, and not only of males, (for that difference is not at all considered here,) that they shall do so too, that is, be heirs also. Besides, it was a law among the Jews, as well as the Romans, that adopted sons, in respect of inheriting, were equal with natural; and that is the thing that is chiefly here meant by, if sons, then heirs, that is, this adoption into sonship is as sure to bring us the inheritance, as if we were the natural sons of God.

Romans 8:16

And this condition and manner of God’s dealing with us under the gospel (see note [d] Luke ix.) is on God’s part a sure evidence to our consciences, if our filial obedience, and being wrought on by these means, be the like evidence on our parts, that we are more than servants, which was the highest that that kind of legal obedience could pretend to, even sons of God.

Romans 8:17

And if sons, then (according to the customs of all nations, see note [c]) heirs of heaven, heirs indeed of God the Father, and coheirs with Christ,

⁶ That same Spirit, Αὐτὸ τὸ Πνεῦμα.

Romans 8:18

And when I mention sufferings, (which as filial chastisements must be expected by us from our father,) the sufferings which at this time lie upon us Christians, I must not be thought to look upon them with any sadness, even in respect of this present life; for whatever our sufferings are, the deliverance is likely to be so much the more eminent and illustrious and glorious toward us that firmly adhere to Christ, (perhaps in this life, in rescuing us, while the Jews that persecute us and all others that join with them are destroyed, but most certainly in another,) that our sufferings will not be thought to bear any the slightest proportion with them.

Romans 8:19

For all the Gentile world are now attending, or waiting, as it were, to see what you Jews will do, who of you be true sons of God, who not; that is, who will now accept and embrace the faith of Christ, who will not; their happiness depending punctually upon the issue of this.

[e] creature] The word κτίσις, the creation or creature, being a general word, without a restraint, (and likewise with πᾶσα, all, joined to it, ver. 22,) is here set to comprehend all mankind, the gentiles as well as the Jews, and (having before spoken of the Jews) here the gentiles peculiarly. Thus κτίσις and κόσμος are all one, the creature and the world, and πᾶσα κτίσις, all the creation, (as the same is expressed here, ver. 22,) and πᾶς ὁ κόσμος, all the world, Mark xvi. 15, which is in St. Matthew in the parallel place, Matt. xxviii. 19, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, all nations, and so Col. i. 15, and so also κόσμος, the world simply, as κτίσις, creature here, for the heathen world, 2 Pet. i. 4, and elsewhere. So κωνὴ κτίσις, a new creature, 2 Cor. v. 17, is all one with κωνὸς ἄνθρωπος, the new man, Eph. iv. 24. All by Hebrew idiom, wherein בְּרִיאָה, creature, signifies man among their rabbins, as when they say of God,

[f] waiteth] What is here said of the ἀποκαραδοκία τῆς κτίσεως, the expectation of the creature, that is, of the gentile world, must be understood according to the sacred prophetic dialect, wherein men are said to desire, and seek, and hope, and expect that (sometimes) which they do not distinctly know or think of, upon this score, that it is the general, indefinite, though not the particular, determinate object of their desires; that supposing men to desire that which is best for them, most for their present turn, this being most eminently so, is the only true matter of satisfaction to those their appetites. Thus all men being supposed to desire felicity, are said to expect and desire Christ, because he is the only true way to that: as on the other side, the wicked, that pursue an evil course, are by the wise man said to seek death, though it is sure they have no particular design upon it; and so Prov. viii. 36, to love death. Thus when Jacob, Gen. xlix, calls Shiloh or the Messias, προσδοκία τῶν ἰθνῶν, the expectation of the Gentiles, and on whom the Gentiles shall trust, and so Hag. ii. 7. The desire of all nations shall come, that is, literally the temple, (that should then be re- edified,) and under that shadow, Christ, he in whose coming was con- tained a full satisfaction to all the wants and desires and thirsts of all the heathens in the world. And so here it is not at all necessary to the verifying of this speech of the apostle, that the gentile world all this while (or even at that time wherein he spake) should either know Christ, or what it was to be the sons of God, or that the revelation of this by the preaching of the gospel to the Jews tended so particularly to their advantage: but, as the gospel of Christ was the collection of all those advantages that they aspired to, and as being the sons of God was the believing on Christ when he was preached, so the apostle, that knew that upon the having preached over all the cities of Jewry, (and so made discovery who of them would repent and believe the gospel, who would be finally contumacious,) the gospel should immediately be preached to the Gentiles, and so the blessedest thing in the world befall

HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II.

[g] manifestation] The word ἀποκάλυψις, revelation, signifies the explaining or displaying somewhat that was before obscure and covered, and so the revelation of the sons of God will be the discovering who are truly such. This was to be done among the Jews, who all pretended to that title, by the apostles’ preaching the gospel to them, in the power of Christ’s resurrection; and they that did not now receive him so testified, it is evident they were bastards and not sons, though before they might have the excuse of ignorance to extenuate their fact, Luke xxiii. 34, 1 Cor. ii. 8. Thus it is said by old Simeon of Christ, (which should prove for the falling and raising of many in Israel, Luke ii. 34, a stumblingblock to the proud obstinate Pharisee, but a means of raising the humble sinner to new life, and a sign that should be matter of contradiction, a strange person, that should be matter of great dispute and division among the Jews, some believing and others rejecting him,) that by this means the thoughts, or machinations or designs, of many should be revealed; that is, by their dealing with Christ it should be discovered what kind of men they were, truly pious or no, those obedient children of God which they pretended to be, or else the quite contrary. Now because by the apostles’ preaching of Christ to the Jews this discovery was to be made, and so the gospel first preached to them before they went to the Gentiles, and upon the Jews’ rejecting Christ, the apostles were then to depart and go to the Gentiles, therefore the creature, or gentile world, are said earnestly to expect or wait for this discovery, as a thing by which they were to receive this great advantage, ἐπ’ ἐλπίδι, (in the end of ver. 20, which must connect with this the former part of that verse, so far being but in a parenthesis,) in hope that they also, ver. 21, that is, the Gentiles, that shall receive the gospel, as well as the believing Jews, shall be redeemed from their customs of sin, which made them such slaves, and become partakers of that glorious title of sons of God also.

Romans 8:20

For the heathen world hath for these many years been (for the generality of them) enslaved to Satan, and, by him, to that wretched miserable estate of ignorance and idolatry, and all those vain and unclean bestial worships; and so as many as have gone on in those vile courses have been involved also under that desperate impossibility (as to the eye of man) of recovering to the least degree of bliss; and all this not (absolutely) willingly, or upon their own free choice, but by the devil’s imposing it on them as an act of religion, a concomitant and effect of their idol-worships, (see note [g],) in which he commanded all these villainies. This makes it reasonable to suppose of these heathens, that they are willing to be rescued from lying any longer under these slaveries; and the gospel was the only means to do that. Thus much of the verse seems to be best put in a parenthesis, that so that which follows may connect the 19th with the 20th verse, thus; The creature attends the revelation of the sons of God, in hope

[h] made subject] The only difficulty here is, by whom the heathen world was subjected to that which is here called vanity, and after φθορὰ, corruption, ver. 21. For though here the passive ὑπετάγη, was subjected, might be so rendered as to refer to no other agent but themselves, that αὐθαίρετος δαίμων, the spontaneous devil, that most of our mischief and sin is imputable to, yet here follows, in this verse,

[i] vanity] Ματαιότης, vanity, hath a double notion; one, as it refers to the heathen idols, which being אֱלִילִים, nothings, are called μάταια, vain, or vanities, Acts xiv. 14; and so vanity here is all their ignorant filthy idol-worship; and so it is Eph. iv. 17, where he warneth them not to walk, as the rest of the Gentiles do, in the vanity of their own mind; and so ἱματαιώθησαν, they grew vain, Rom. i. 21, and φύσει μάταιοι, vain by nature, in the Book of Wisdom, speaking of that popular custom of idolatry that had generally overrun them all, and so 2 Pet. ii. 18. Another notion of the word there is as it is rendered by Hesychius,

E 2

Romans 8:21

That they also (the very heathens) shall by the gospel and the grace of Christ be rescued from

[k] corruption] Φθορὰ signifies sometimes those abominable unnatural uncleannesses which the Gentiles were guilty of, τὸ τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ φθορᾶς, 2 Pet. i. 4, the corruption through lust which was in the world, the unnatural lusts among the Gentiles and Gnostics. So again 2 Pet. ii. 12, γεγεννημένα εἰς φθορὰν, made to corrupt, or good for nothing but to corrupt others, an expression of ἄλογα ζῶα φυσικά, unnatural irrational creatures; and again, in the end of the verse, ἐν τῇ φθορᾷ αὐτῶν, in their corruption, which what it signifies may be guessed by the luxury and licentiousness that follows, ver. 13, and ἐντρυφῶντες ἐν ταῖς ἀπάταις αὐτῶν, living luxuriously in their decries, or heretical Gnostic practices: so again, δοῦλοι τῆς φθορᾶς, ver. 19, servants of corruption, answerable to δουλεία φθορᾶς here, the servitude of corruption, in the same sense clearly, and this very agreeable to Deut. iv. 16, lest you corrupt yourselves, &c. So Wisd. xiv. 12, having said that the devising of idols is the beginning of fornication, he adds, that the invention of them is φθορὰ ζωῆς, the corrupting of life. And in Philo de Special. leg. præc. 7, we have φθορὰ, πορνεία, μοιχεία, corruption, fornication, adultery, several branches of sin against that law, (see note [b] on 2 Pet. i, and [b] ch. ii, and [h] Col. ii.)

Romans 8:22

For this is visible enough every where in our preaching, that the Gentiles are very forward to re- ceive the gospel when they hear it, while ye Jews generally reject it; and so the Gentile world is as it were in pangs of travail ever since Christ’s time till now, ready to bring forth the sons of God, the true children of faithful Abraham, when the apostles, who must midwife out this birth, shall but preach unto them, Acts xxviii. 28.

Romans 8:23

And as the Gentile world do earnestly expect this discovery, (ver. 19,) who of you Jews will receive Christ, who not, that they may reap their advantage by it, have the gospel freely preached to them; so they that have received the faith, that are already converted, and so have not that want of the preaching or revealing of it, have yet another advantage of this revelation, viz. to have their persecutions at an end, which shall be according to Christ’s promise as soon as Christ hath been preached over all the cities of Jewry, Matt. x. 23; and so even we ourselves wait for this season, and groan in the mean while under the persecutions, expecting one kind of adoption, de- livérance from servitude and oppressions, the rescu- ing our outward man out of the afflictions which encompass us at the present, (see ver. 18,) (and de- livérance from which it is clear we have not yet attained to,) and also from death itself by the resurrection of the body.

[l] adoption] Υἱοθεσία, adoption, signifies the assuming those into the number of children which are not so naturally. In the 15th verse it is set opposite to δουλεία, servitude, and ver. 21 it is called ἐλευθερία, the liberty of the sons of God; for they that are adopted, if they were servants before, are made free men and sons together: and so here it may signify the change of state from servitude to sonship; and because it is spoken of in this verse as a thing not yet had, but expected by St. Paul and such as he, those that had the first-fruits of the Spirit, that is, had received the gospel, and believed in Christ, and so were already

[m] redemption] Ἀπολύτρωσις signifies deliverance generally, and that from pressure or calamity present or approaching, ἀποφυγὴ, ἀπόλυσις, escaping, release; and so ἀπολύτρωσις τοῦ σώματος may well be the bodies escaping from those pressures and perils that lie upon that, and make it groan also, (though in another sense than that wherein the word is used ver. 22, according to the use of scripture style and the figure ἀντανάκλασις, of using a word that had been used before in a different sense.) Thus Luke xxi. 28, your ἀπολύτρωσις, redemption, deliverance from persecutions, draweth nigh; and so it seems to be used here, of which he saith, ver. 24, that in hope they are escaped, and in the meantime, with patience expect, ver. 25. And of these distresses, and the advantages of and deliverance from them, he continues the discourse from hence to the end of the chapter, (as he had begun it, vv. 17, 18,) as that wherein our conformity with our elder brother consisted, to suffer, as he did, and wherein their delivery, so glorious and remarkable, would be a first preparative conformity to his resurrection. But this not to exclude, but include also the further deliverance of the body from death itself, by the resurrection, which is answerable to Christ’s resurrection also, and promised as the only means to support their faith and patience, who should not be delivered here, but lose their lives for the faith of Christ. Thus the word is used 1 Cor. i. 30.

Romans 8:24

For though by the promise of Christ we cer- tainly expect this rescue in God’s time, yet this we have as yet no possession of, save only in hope, which, according to the nature of it, is of things not pre- scutly enjoyed, for vision or possession excludeth hope.

Romans 8:25

All that hope doth is to provide us patience of what hardships at present lie upon us, being con- fident that in God’s time we shall be, though yet we are not, rescued out of them.

¹² is in pangs of childbirth, συνωδίνει. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοί. ¹⁴ the deliverance. ἐσώθημεν. ¹⁶ why doth he also hope? τί καὶ ἐλπίζει; ¹³ And not only so, but they also, Οὐ μόνον δί, ¹⁵ For in hope we are escaped. Τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι

Romans 8:26

And for the fortifying and confirming of this hope and this patience in us, even in the time of our greatest present pressures, we have this advantage from Christ now in the gospel; his Spirit, that raised him from the dead, and will raise us, ver. 11, intercedes and prays for us at the right hand of his Father, where he always maketh intercession for us, that not what is most easy, but most advantageous, may be sent us. And so, though according to the notion of things under the law, temporal felicity was a very considerable thing, and affliction in this world an expression of God’s wrath; now under the gospel there is a special kind of provision made, by assuring us that God knows best what is for our turns, and consequently that when we pray, but know not ourselves what is best, nor consequently what we ought to pray for particularly, health, or wealth, or honour, then Christ joins his helping hand to ours, joins his all-wise and divine prayers (for that which he knows we most want) to our prayers, and so helps to relieve us in all our distresses, not by rehearsing or reciting all our particular requests, and enforcing them upon his Father, but (which is far more for our turns) presenting unto him our general wants, interceding, yea, more than interceding for us, even powerfully bestowing those things which are truly best for us, though oftentimes they be least for our palates at the present.

[n] infirmities] The word ἀσθένεια, and ἀσθενίω, weakness, weak, and being weak, in the New Testament, often signifies diseases, distress, miseries, afflictions, that befall our human state; so Matt. viii. 17. it signifies the disease that Christ cured, and so Luke xiii. 11, 12. John v. 5. and xi. 4. Acts xxviii. 9; and so ἀσθενὴς sick, Matt. xxv. 39. Luke x. 9. Acts iv. 9. and v. 15, 16. 1 Cor. xi. 30. (as on the contrary, ἰσχύων, the strong, Matt. ix. 12, signifies the healthy), and ἀσθενίω Matt. x. 8. xxv. 36. Mark vi. 56. Luke iv. 40. vii. 10. ix. 2. John iv. 40. v. 3 and 7: so ch. vi. 2. xi. 1, 2, 3, 6. Act. ix. 37. xix. 12. Phil. ii. 26, 27. 2 Tim. iv. 20. Jam. v. 14. (and very oft for sin, the disease of the soul.) And so it signifies here even all the sad particulars mentioned ver. 35, and which, if the context be observed, will appear to belong unto this place, and will be agreeable to the notion of ΣΥΣ, which signifying πόνος, ὀδύνη, labour, sorrow, is frequently used for disease, distress, and rendered by the word here used, ἀσθένειαι, weaknesses: so is the word used 1 Cor. ii. 3, referring to the persecutions and dangers that Paul at Corinth had met with in his preaching: see note [b] on 1 Cor. viii., and [a] on Gal. iv.

Romans 8:27

And then God, that by being a searcher of hearts knoweth our wants exactly, understands also the desire and intention of the Spirit of Christ, without any need of its being articulately formed in words, viz., that interceding for all holy men, it asks for them all those things that tend to the making them better, whatsoever God likes and thinks best for them, not what they like themselves (and this immediately God grants to us, whatsoever it is, sometimes tribulations and afflictions, as the most proper and agreeable for us).

Romans 8:28

And accordingly this we know and find, that all things that do come to pass or befall them that sincerely love God, those that cordially adhere to him, or that according to the purport of the gospel are re-

¹⁷ joins in relieving, συναγτιλαμβάνεται: see note [b] Luke x. ¹⁸ distresses. ¹⁹ same Spirit, αὐτὸ τὸ Πνεῦμα. ²⁰ doth more than intercede, ὑπερεντυγχάνει. ²¹ unuttered groans, στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις. ²² that, ὅτι. ²³ Perhaps, for holy things, ὑπὲρ ἁγίων. ²⁴ according to God, κατὰ Θεόν. ²⁵ Or, God cooperates all to good: for the King’s MS. reads, πάντα συνεργεῖ ὁ Θεὸς εἰς τὸ ἀγαθόν.

HAMMOND, VOL. II. B

[o] according to his purpose] The phrase κατὰ πρόθεσιν, according to purpose, is by 9 Cyril of Jerusalem thus interpreted, that it signifies

Romans 8:29

For indeed whatsoever thus befalls us is not to be looked on as the act of man, by some general permission only of God, but as his special decree and choice for us. For all whom God hath forcepproved and acknowledged for his, according to the purport of the gospel, whom he knew as a shepherd doth his flock, John x. 14, (that is, the lovers of God, so favoured by him, ver. 28, and ch. xi. 2,) those he hath also forceppointed to suffer, 2 Thess. iii. 3, after the manner of Christ, Phil. iii. 10, that they might be like unto him as younger brothers unto the elder, Heb. ii. 10, and xii. 2, that he might have a church of persecuted Christians attaining to deliverances and to glory, ver. 18, just as he himself hath done before them.

Romans 8:30

And those whom he hath thus predetermined to sufferings, those he hath accordingly called to suffer actually, 1 Pet. ii. 21; and those whom he hath thus called to suffer, those upon such trials sincerely passed he justifieth or approveth of, commendeth and pronounceth them sincere; and those again he either hath or certainly will reward with eternal glory.

Romans 8:31

What difficulty then can there be in all this? what matter of doubt but that it will go well with us? For if God be a friend, all tends to our good, (which was the thing to be proved, ver. 28, and is proved convincingly, vv. 29, 30, by an argument called by logicians Sorites.)

Romans 8:32

For he that parted with his own Son in his bosom, and delivered him up to die for our sakes, how is it possible that he should not complete that gift by bestowing all other things that are profitable for us? and either afflictious or deliverances from present pressures, as he sees them most for our real advantage?

Romans 8:33

Who shall produce any accusation against those whom God doth approve of? (this the Jews did most bitterly against the Christians, and especially against St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, judging them

Romans 8:34

And then who dares be so bold as to condemn them? As for us, whatever we suffer here, our comfort and sure ground of hope and rejoicing is, that Christ our Lord and Captain hath suffered before us, and, which is more for our advantage, to assure us of delivery either here or hereafter, our crucified Lord is risen again, is ascended to the greatest dignity, and now reigns in heaven, and is perfectly able to defend and protect his, and hath that advantage to intercede for us to his Father, (which he really doth, ver. 26,) to help us to that constantly which is most for the supply of our wants.

Romans 8:35

And then it is not in the power of any persecutor on earth to put us out of the favour of God, or to deprive us of the benefits of his love to us, when Christ hath thus fortified us, and ordered even afflictions themselves to tend to our good: we may now challenge all present or possible evils to do their worst, all pressures, distresses, persecutions, wants, shame, the utmost fear and force, the sharpest encounters.

Romans 8:36

As indeed it is the portion of a Christian to meet with all these things in the discharge of his duty, and to have never a part of his life free from them, our Christianity being but as it were the passage to our slaughter, according to that of the psalmist, Psalm xliv. 22, spoken of himself, but most punctually appliable to us at this time, For thy sake &c.)

Romans 8:37

No, certainly; we have had experience of all these, and find these have no power to put us out of God’s favour; they are, on the contrary, the surest means to secure us in it, to exercise our Christian virtues, and to increase our reward, and so the most fatherly acts of grace that could be bestowed on us, through the assistance of that strength of Christ enabling us to bear all these, and be the better for them.

Romans 8:38

For I am resolved, that neither fear of death, nor hope of life, nor evil angels, nor persecuting princes or potentates, nor the pressures that are already upon us, nor those that are now ready to come,

Romans 8:39

Nor sublimity of honours, nor depth of ignominy, nor any thing else, shall be able to evacuate the ³⁰ But Ἀλλὰ. ὅτε μέλλοντα. ³¹ nor the present things, nor those that are to come, ὅτε ἐνεστῶτα E 2