{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"ROM","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Romans","commonName":"Romans","introduction":"THE GENUINENESS of the Epistle to the Romans has never been questioned. It has the unbroken testimony of all antiquity, up to CLEMENT OF ROME, the apostle's \"fellow laborer in the Gospel, whose name was in the Book of Life\" (Phi 4:3), and who quotes from it in his undoubted Epistle to the Corinthians, written before the close of the first century. The most searching investigations of modern criticism have left it untouched.\n\nWHEN and WHERE this Epistle was written we have the means of determining with great precision, from the Epistle itself compared with the Acts of the Apostles. Up to the date of it the apostle had never been at Rome (Rom 1:11, Rom 1:13, Rom 1:15). He was then on the eve of visiting Jerusalem with a pecuniary contribution for its Christian poor from the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, after which his purpose was to pay a visit to Rome on his way to Spain (Rom 15:23-28). Now this contribution we know that he carried with him from Corinth, at the close of his third visit to that city, which lasted three months (Act 20:2-3; Act 24:17). On this occasion there accompanied him from Corinth certain persons whose names are given by the historian of the Acts (Act 20:4), and four of these are expressly mentioned in our Epistle as being with the apostle when he wrote it--Timotheus, Sosipater, Gaius, and Erastus (Rom 16:21, Rom 16:23). Of these four, the third, Gaius, was an inhabitant of Corinth (Co1 1:14), and the fourth, Erastus, was \"chamberlain of the city\" (Rom 16:23), which can hardly be supposed to be other than Corinth. Finally, Phœbebe, the bearer, as appears, of this Epistle, was a deaconess of the Church at Cenchrea, the eastern port of Corinth (Rom 16:1). Putting these facts together, it is impossible to resist the conviction, in which all critics agree, that Corinth was the place from which the Epistle was written, and that it was despatched about the close of the visit above mentioned, probably in the early spring of the year 58. The FOUNDER of this celebrated church is unknown. That it owed its origin to the apostle Peter, and that he was its first bishop, though an ancient tradition and taught in the Church of Rome as a fact not to be doubted, is refuted by the clearest evidence, and is given up even by candid Romanists. On that supposition, how are we to account for so important a circumstance being passed by in silence by the historian of the Acts, not only in the narrative of Peter's labors, but in that of Paul's approach to the metropolis, of the deputations of Roman \"brethren\" that came as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns to meet him, and of his two years' labors there (Act 28:15, Act 28:30)? And how, consistently with his declared principle--not to build on another man's foundation (Rom 15:20) --could he express his anxious desire to come to them that he might have some fruit among them also, even as among other Gentiles (Rom 1:13), if all the while he knew that they had the apostle of the circumcision for their spiritual father? And how, if so, is there no salutation to Peter among the many in this Epistle? or, if it may be thought that he was known to be elsewhere at that particular time, how does there occur in all the Epistles which our apostle afterwards wrote from Rome not one allusion to such an origin of the church at Rome? The same considerations would seem to prove that this church owed its origin to no prominent Christian laborer; and this brings us to the much-litigated question.\n\nFor WHAT CLASS of Christians was this Epistle principally designed--Jewish or Gentile? That a large number of Jews and Jewish proselytes resided at this time at Rome is known to all who are familiar with the classical and Jewish writers of that and the immediately subsequent periods; and that those of them who were at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:10), and formed probably part of the three thousand converts of that day, would on their return to Rome carry the glad tidings with them, there can be no doubt. Nor are indications wanting that some of those embraced in the salutations of this Epistle were Christians already of long standing, if not among the earliest converts to the Christian faith. Others of them who had made the apostle's acquaintance elsewhere, and who, if not indebted to him for their first knowledge of Christ, probably owed much to his ministrations, seemed to have charged themselves with the duty of cherishing and consolidating the work of the Lord in the capital. And thus it is not improbable that up to the time of the apostle's arrival the Christian community at Rome had been dependent upon subordinate agency for the increase of its numbers, aided by occasional visits of stated preachers from the provinces; and perhaps it may be gathered from the salutations of the last chapter that it was up to that time in a less organized, though far from less flourishing state, than some other churches to whom the apostle had already addressed Epistles. Certain it is, that the apostle writes to them expressly as a Gentile Church (Rom 1:13, Rom 1:15; Rom 15:15-16); and though it is plain that there were Jewish Christians among them, and the whole argument presupposes an intimate acquaintance on the part of his readers with the leading principles of the Old Testament, this will be sufficiently explained by supposing that the bulk of them, having before they knew the Lord been Gentile proselytes to the Jewish faith, had entered the pale of the Christian Church through the gate of the ancient economy.\n\nIt remains only to speak briefly of the PLAN and CHARACTER Of this Epistle. Of all the undoubted Epistles of our apostle, this is the most elaborate, and at the same time the most glowing. It has just as much in common with a theological treatise as is consistent with the freedom and warmth of a real letter. Referring to the headings which we have prefixed to its successive sections, as best exhibiting the progress of the argument and the connection of its points, we here merely note that its first great topic is what may be termed the legal relation of man to God as a violator of His holy law, whether as merely written on the heart, as in the case of the heathen, or, as in the case of the Chosen People, as further known by external revelation; that it next treats of that legal relation as wholly reversed through believing connection with the Lord Jesus Christ; and that its third and last great topic is the new life which accompanies this change of relation, embracing at once a blessedness and a consecration to God which, rudimentally complete already, will open, in the future world, into the bliss of immediate and stainless fellowship with God. The bearing of these wonderful truths upon the condition and destiny of the Chosen People, to which the apostle next comes, though it seem but the practical application of them to his kinsmen according to the flesh, is in some respects the deepest and most difficult part of the whole Epistle, carrying us directly to the eternal springs of Grace to the guilty in the sovereign love and inscrutable purposes of God; after which, however, we are brought back to the historical platform of the visible Church, in the calling of the Gentiles, the preservation of a faithful Israelitish remnant amidst the general unbelief and fall of the nation, and the ultimate recovery of all Israel to constitute, with the Gentiles in the latter day, one catholic Church of God upon earth. The remainder of the Epistle is devoted to sundry practical topics, winding up with salutations and outpourings of heart delightfully suggestive. \n\n\n\nNext: Romans Chapter 1\n\n","order":45,"numberOfChapters":16,"sha256":"b8a602d2ed3395e50b3ee5f84c6c9c736a6e21b7c0aabb38a28263eef72f3b6d","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ROM/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ROM","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":16,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ROM/16.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ROM","chapter":16},"totalNumberOfVerses":385},"chapter":{"number":15,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["Let every one of us--lay himself out to \n\nplease his neighbour--not indeed for his mere gratification, but \n\nfor his good--with a view \n\nto his edification.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["For even Christ pleased not--lived not to please \n\nhimself; but, as it is written-- (Psa 69:9). \n\nThe reproaches, &c.--see Mar 10:42-45.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning--\"instruction\" \n\nthrough, &c.--\"through the comfort and the patience of the Scriptures\" \n\nmight have hope--that is, \"Think not that because such portions of Scripture relate immediately to Christ, they are inapplicable to you; for though Christ's sufferings, as a Saviour, were exclusively His own, the motives that prompted them, the spirit in which they were endured, and the general principle involved in His whole work--self-sacrifice for the good of others--furnish our most perfect and beautiful model; and so all Scripture relating to these is for our instruction; and since the duty of forbearance, the strong with the weak, requires 'patience,' and this again needs 'comfort,' all those Scriptures which tell of patience and consolation, particularly of the patience of Christ, and of the consolation which sustained Him under it, are our appointed and appropriate nutriment, ministering to us 'hope' of that blessed day when these shall no more be needed.\" See on Rom 4:7, Note 7. (For the same connection between \"patience and hope\" see on Rom 12:12, and Th1 1:3).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Now the God of patience and consolation--Such beautiful names of God are taken from the graces which He inspires: as \"the God of hope\" (Rom 15:13), \"the God of peace\" (Rom 15:33). \n\ngrant you to be likeminded--\"of the same mind\" \n\naccording to Christ Jesus--It is not mere unanimity which the apostle seeks for them; for unanimity in evil is to be deprecated. But it is \"according to Christ Jesus\"--after the sublimest model of Him whose all-absorbing desire was to do, \"not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him\" (Joh 6:38).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["That, &c.--rather, \"that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ\"; the mind and the mouth of all giving harmonious glory to His name. What a prayer! And shall this never be realized on earth?\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Wherefore--returning to the point \n\nreceive ye one another . . . to the glory of God--If Christ received us, and bears with all our weaknesses, well may we receive and compassionate one with another, and by so doing God will be glorified.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Now--\"For\" is the true reading: the apostle is merely assigning an additional motive to Christian forbearance. \n\nI say that Jesus Christ was--\"hath become\" \n\na minister of the circumcision--a remarkable expression, meaning \"the Father's Servant for the salvation of the circumcision (or, of Israel).\" \n\nfor the truth of God--to make good the veracity of God towards His ancient people. \n\nto confirm the--Messianic \n\npromises made unto the fathers--To cheer the Jewish believers, whom he might seem to have been disparaging, and to keep down Gentile pride, the apostle holds up Israel's salvation as the primary end of Christ's mission. But next after this, Christ was sent.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy--A number of quotations from the Old Testament here follow, to show that God's plan of mercy embraced, from the first, the Gentiles along with the Jews. \n\nas it is written-- (Psa 18:49). \n\nI will confess to--that is, glorify \n\nthee among the Gentiles.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["And again-- (Deu 32:43, though there is some difficulty in the Hebrew). \n\nRejoice, ye Gentiles--along \n\nwith his people--Israel.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["And again-- (Psa 117:1). \n\nPraise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people--\"peoples\"--the various nations outside the pale of Judaism.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["And again, Esaias saith-- (Isa 11:10). \n\nThere shall be a--\"the\" \n\nroot of Jesse--meaning, not \"He from whom Jesse sprang,\" but \"He that is sprung from Jesse\" (that is, Jesse's son David)--see Rev 22:16. \n\nand he that shall rise, &c.--So the Septuagint in substantial, though not verbal, agreement with the original.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Now, &c.--This seems a concluding prayer, suggested by the whole preceding subject matter of the epistle. \n\nthe God of hope--(See on Rom 15:5). \n\nfill you with all joy and peace in believing--the native truth of that faith which is the great theme of this epistle (compare Gal 5:22). \n\nthat ye may abound in hope--\"of the glory of God.\" (See on Rom 5:1). \n\nthrough the power of the Holy Ghost--to whom, in the economy of redemption, it belongs to inspire believers with all gracious affections.\n\nOn the foregoing portion, Note, (1) No Christian is at liberty to regard himself as an isolated disciple of the Lord Jesus, having to decide questions of duty and liberty solely with reference to himself. As Christians are one body in Christ, so the great law of love binds them to act in all things with tenderness and consideration for their brethren in \"the common salvation\" (Rom 15:1-2). (2) Of this unselfishness CHRIST is the perfect model of all Christians (Rom 15:3). (3) Holy Scripture is the divine storehouse of all furniture for the Christian life, even in its most trying and delicate features (Rom 15:4). (4) The harmonious glorification of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by the whole body of the redeemed, as it is the most exalted fruit of the scheme of redemption, so it is the last end of God in it (Rom 15:5-7).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["CONCLUSION: IN WHICH THE APOSTLE APOLOGIZES FOR THUS WRITING TO THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS, EXPLAINS WHY HE HAD NOT YET VISITED THEM, ANNOUNCES HIS FUTURE PLANS, AND ASKS THEIR PRAYERS FOR THE COMPLETION OF THEM. (Rom. 15:14-33)\n\nAnd, &c.--rather, \"Now I am persuaded, my brethren, even I myself, concerning you\" \n\nthat ye also yourselves are full of goodness--of inclination to all I have been enjoining on you \n\nfilled with all knowledge--of the truth expounded \n\nand able--without my intervention. \n\nto admonish one another.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Nevertheless, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort--\"measure\" \n\nas putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God--as an apostle of Jesus Christ.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["that I should be the--rather, \"a\" \n\nminister--The word here used is commonly employed to express the office of the priesthood, from which accordingly the figurative language of the rest of the verse is taken. \n\nof Jesus Christ--\"Christ Jesus,\" according to the true reading. \n\nto the Gentiles--a further proof that the Epistle was addressed to a Gentile church. (See on Rom 1:13). \n\nministering the gospel of God--As the word here is a still more priestly one, it should be rendered, \"ministering as a priest in the Gospel of God.\" \n\nthat the offering up of the Gentiles--as an oblation to God, in their converted character. \n\nmight be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost--the end to which the ancient offerings typically looked.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["I have therefore whereof I may glory--or (adding the article, as the reading seems to be), \"I have my glorying.\" \n\nthrough--\"in\" \n\nChrist Jesus in those things which pertain to God--the things of the ministry committed to me of God.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["For I will not dare to speak of any--\"to speak aught\" \n\nof those things which Christ hath not wrought by me--a modest, though somewhat obscure form of expression, meaning, \"I will not dare to go beyond what Christ hath wrought by me\"--in which form accordingly the rest of the passage is expressed. Observe here how Paul ascribes all the success of his labors to the activity of the living Redeemer, working in and by him. \n\nby word and deed--by preaching and working; which latter he explains in the next clause.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Through mighty--literally, \"in the power of\" \n\nsigns and wonders--that is, glorious miracles. \n\nby the power of the Spirit of God--\"the Holy Ghost,\" as the true reading seems to be. This seems intended to explain the efficacy of the word preached, as well as the working of the miracles which attested it. \n\nso that from Jerusalem, and round about unto--\"as far as\" \n\nIllyricum--to the extreme northwestern boundary of Greece. It corresponds to the modern Croatia and Dalmatia (Ti2 4:10). See Act 20:1-2. \n\nI have fully preached the gospel of Christ.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["Yea, &c.--rather, \"Yet making it my study (compare Co2 5:9; Th1 4:11, Greek) so to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was [already] named, that I might not build upon another man's foundation: but (might act) as it is written, To whom no tidings of Him came, they shall see,\" &c.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["For which cause--\"Being so long occupied with this missionary work, I have been much (or, 'for the most part') hindered,\" &c. (See on Rom 1:9-11.)\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["But now having no more place--\"no longer having place\"--that is, unbroken ground, where Christ has not been preached. \n\nand having a great desire--\"a longing\" \n\nthese many years to come unto you--(as before, see on Rom 1:9-11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["whensoever I take my journey into Spain--Whether this purpose was ever accomplished has been much disputed, as no record of it nor allusion to it anywhere occurs. Those who think our apostle was never at large after his first imprisonment at Rome will of course hold that it never was; while those who are persuaded, as we are, that he underwent a second imprisonment, prior to which he was at large for a considerable time after his first, incline naturally to the other opinion. \n\nI will come to you--If these words were not originally in the text, and there is weighty evidence against them, they must at least be inserted as a necessary supplement. \n\nin my journey, &c.--\"as I pass through by you, to be set forward on my journey thither, if first I be somewhat filled with your company\": that is, \"I should indeed like to stay longer with you than I can hope to do, but I must, to some extent at least, have my fill of your company.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["But now I go to Jerusalem to minister--\"ministering\" \n\nto the saints--in the sense immediately to be explained.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["For, &c.--better, \"For Macedonia and Achaia have thought good to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints which are at Jerusalem.\" (See Act 24:17). \"They have thought it good; and their debtors verily they are\"; that is, \"And well they may, considering what the Gentile believers owe to their Jewish brethren.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also--\"they owe it also\" \n\nto minister unto them in carnal things--(Compare Co1 9:11; Gal 6:6; and see Luk 7:4; Act 10:2).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["When therefore I have . . . sealed--that is, delivered over safely \n\nto them this fruit--of the faith and love of the Gentile converts \n\nI will come--\"come back,\" or \"return\" \n\nby you into Spain--(See on Rom 15:24).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":29,"content":["And I am sure--\"I know\" \n\nthat . . . I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ--Such, beyond all doubts, is the true reading, the words \"of the gospel\" being in hardly any manuscripts of antiquity and authority. Nor was the apostle mistaken in this confidence, though his visit to Rome was in very different circumstances from what he expected. See Acts 28:16-31.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":30,"content":["Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit--or, \"by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit\"--not the love which the Spirit bears to us, but that love which He kindles in the hearts of believers towards each other; that is \"By that Saviour whose name is alike dear to all of us and whose unsearchable riches I live only to proclaim, and by that love one to another which the blessed Spirit diffuses through all the brotherhood, making the labors of Christ's servants a matter of common interest to all--I beseech you.\" \n\nthat ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me--implying that he had his grounds for anxious fear in this matter.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["That I may be delivered from them that do not believe--\"that do not obey,\" that is, the truth, by believing it; as in Rom 2:8. \n\nin Judea--He saw the storm that was gathering over him in Judea, which, if at all, would certainly burst upon his head when he reached the capital; and the event too clearly showed the correctness of these apprehensions. \n\nand that my service which I have for Jerusalem--(See on Rom 15:25-28). \n\nmay be accepted of--\"prove acceptable to\" \n\nthe saints--Nor was he without apprehension lest the opposition he had made to the narrow jealousy of the Jewish converts against the free reception of their Gentile brethren, should make this gift of theirs to the poor saints at Jerusalem less welcome than it ought to be. He would have the Romans therefore to join him in wrestling with God that this gift might be gratefully received, and prove a cement between the two parties. But further.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":32,"content":["That I may come unto you with--\"in\" \n\njoy by the will of God-- (Act 18:21; Co1 4:19; Co1 16:7; Heb 6:3; Jam 4:15) \n\nand may with you be refreshed--rather, \"with you refresh myself,\" after all his labors and anxieties, and so be refitted for future service.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen--The peace here sought is to be taken in its widest sense: the peace of reconciliation to God, first, \"through the blood of the everlasting covenant\" (Heb 13:20; Th1 5:23; Th2 3:16; Phi 4:9); then the peace which that reconciliation diffuses among all the partakers of it (Co1 14:33; Co2 13:11; and see on Rom 16:20); more widely still, that peace which the children of God, in beautiful imitation of their Father in Heaven, are called and privileged to diffuse far and wide through this sin-distracted and divided world (Rom 12:18; Mat 5:9; Heb 12:14; Jam 3:18).\n\nNote, (1) Did \"the chiefest of the apostles\" apologize for writing to a Christian church which he had never seen, and a church that he was persuaded was above the need of it, save to \"stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance\" (Pe2 1:13; Pe2 3:1); and did he put even this upon the sole plea of apostolic responsibility (Rom 15:14-16)? What a contrast is thus presented to hierarchical pride, and in particular to the affected humility of the bishop of this very Rome! How close the bond which the one spirit draws between ministers and people--how wide the separation produced by the other! (2) There is in the Christian Church no real priesthood, and none but figurative sacrifices. Had it been otherwise, it is inconceivable that Rom 15:16 should have been expressed as it is. Paul's only priesthood and sacrificial offerings lay, first, in ministering to them as \"the apostle of the Gentiles,\" not the sacrament with the \"real presence\" of Christ in it, or the sacrifice of the mass, but \"the Gospel of God,\" and then, when gathered under the wing of Christ, presenting them to God as a grateful offering, \"being sanctified [not by sacrificial gifts, but] by the Holy Ghost.\" (See Heb 13:9-16). (3) Though the debt we owe to those by whom we have been brought to Christ can never be discharged, we should feel it a privilege when we render them any lower benefit in return (Rom 15:26-27). (4) Formidable designs against the truth and the servants of Christ should, above all other ways of counteracting them, be met by combined prayer to Him who rules all hearts and controls all events; and the darker the cloud, the more resolutely should all to whom Christ's cause is dear \"strive together in their prayers to God\" for the removal of it (Rom 15:30-31). (5) Christian fellowship is so precious that the most eminent servants of Christ, amid the toils and trials of their work, find it refreshing and invigorating; and it is no good sign of any ecclesiastic, that he deems it beneath him to seek and enjoy it even amongst the humblest saints in the Church of Christ (Rom 15:24, Rom 15:32).\n\n\n\n\nNext: Romans Chapter 16\n\n"]}],"introduction":"SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED AND CONCLUDED. (Rom 15:1-13)\n\nWe then that are strong--on such points as have been discussed, the abolition of the Jewish distinction of meats and days under the Gospel. See on Rom 14:14; Rom 14:20. \n\nought . . . not to please ourselves--ought to think less of what we may lawfully do than of how our conduct will affect others.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ROM/15.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ROM","chapter":15},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ROM/16.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ROM","chapter":16},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ROM/14.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ROM","chapter":14},"numberOfVerses":31}