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19 bearest not the root, but the root thee.

Thou wilt say, then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou 21 standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear for if God

spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare 22 not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise, thou also shalt 23 be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olivetree; how much more shall these, which be the natural 25 branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest

19-21. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, etc. The Gentiles, still willing to indulge the spirit of glorying over the fallen Jews, might reply to the apostle's suggestion in verse 18, The natural branches were broken off, that we might be set in their place. Very well, says the apostle in rejoinder; it is even so. But remember, the Jews were broken off for lack of faith; and you stand by faith, not by any natural right, not by any claim to your blessed position, but by the grace of God through confiding in his promises and his merciful arrangements; you occupy your position, not by deeds of your own, but by faith in Christ. Indulge not, then, a haughty and arrogant spirit; but rather cherish a salutary dread lest you, too, forfeit the favor of God; for if he spared not the natural branches, you certainly have ground for fearing a similar doom.

22. Severity; not an undue and vengeful severity, but a strict adherence to threatenings proceeding from justice; a just severity, as distinguished from that goodness which overlooks ill desert and bestows unmerited benefits. On them which fell; on those who have fallen from his goodness, or from confiding in his

mercy; that is, the unbelieving Jews. If thou continue, etc.; if thou continue trusting in his goodness, and acknowledging its claims on thee.

23. And they also, etc. The Jews, too, though now objects of God's strict justice, will again experience his goodness, as soon as they abandon their unbelief (compare 2 Cor. 3: 16); they shall be restored to their position of favor with God, for he is able, consistently with all his declarations, to restore them, and thus in their case, as well as in that of the Gentiles, to manifest his goodness.

24. For if thou - how much more shall these, etc. Indeed, it is much more to be expected that the people with whom God originally entered into a covenant should, on abandoning their unbelief, be restored to his favor, than that those, who had not previously been thus favored, should receive blessings which had been promised to his people. From the goodness of God to you Gentiles, then, we may fully believe that goodness is in store for the Jews who are now in a fallen and forlorn state.

25. For I would not, brethren, etc. Having cautioned the Gentile believers and given grounds to expect a

ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be 26 come in and so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall 27 turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

restoration of the Jews to the divine favor, the apostle now takes the attitude of a prophet disclosing the hitherto concealed purpose of God respecting the Jewish people. || Mystery. This word is applied, in the scriptures, to things which have been kept secret but which, when disclosed, are perfectly intelligible, as well as to those truths which are, even when revealed, inexplicable to the human mind. Compare Eph. 3: 3-6. || Lest ye should be wise, etc.; lest ye should think too highly of yourselves. || Blindness in part, etc.; hardness, insensibility to their obligations and to the blessings of the gospel. Compare verse 7. This insensibility may have resulted from God's withholding any positive check to the downward tendencies of the nation, or from their being placed, in consequence of their perverseness, in circumstances which directly deepened their spiritual blindness, so that they became, more and more, fit objects for rejection. In either case, the result, according to the scriptural representations, might be traced to God as manifesting his displeasure and commencing a righteous retribution, and at the same time to themselves as abusing their privileges and giving a more free indulgence to their sinful inclinations. Compare Matt. 23: 33-38. 27: 22-25.

Until the fulness, etc. As the word fulness in verse 12 is the contrast of diminishing, that is, a diminished number, and consequently indicates an increased number, a number indefinitely large, so the expression, fulness of the Gentiles, probably means here a very large number of the Gentiles, not the complete number who are to

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embrace the gospel.-The insensibility of the Jews to the privileges of the gospel is to have a limit: after the gospel has had free course among the Gentiles, and Gentiles in very large numbers have been admitted to its blessings, blindness will pass away from the Jews, they will see that the gospel is truly from God and will zealously receive Jesus as the Messiah.

26, 27. And so all Israel shall be saved. When the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come into the possession of the Messiah's blessings, the surviving Jews generally and their descendants will become believers in Christ; and thus the collective body of the nation will be saved, though so many will have perished through rejection of the Messiah. It is not implied, in this collective mode of speaking, that every Israelite will be saved; for then, as now, salvation will result from believing in Christ, and only those who in heart become his disciples will enjoy the full benefits of the gospel. It would seem, however, from the apostle's language, that the Jews generally will at length become genuine Christians and be saved. || As it is written; in Is. 59: 20, 21. The passage as here quoted has some verbal discrepances from the passage in the Old Testament; and a few words are added, by a natural association of thought, as indicating the spiritual character of the deliverance which the prophet foretold. Strict verbal accuracy was not important; since the apostle's mind was occupied with the general idea of the Deliverer, or Redeemer, becoming acknowledged among the

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As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' 29 sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repent30 ance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet 31 have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy 32 they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Jews, and bestowing blessings on them. Through this Deliverer, the Jews were to be turned away from sin and again to be brought within the terms of a covenant that should

never cease.

28. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies, etc. It was the plan of God, that the sinfulness of the Jews in rejecting the gospel and their consequent rejection by him should be overruled to the advantage of the Gentiles, as the occasion of introducing among them the gospel. Thus for the sake of the Gentiles, the Jews were treated as enemies to God, and the gospel was taken from them. Compare Matt. 21: 43. But as touching the election, they are beloved, etc.; but, with reference to God's election of them to be his favored people and to be a medium of blessings to the world, they are still beloved, they are still regarded with a design of mercy, for the sake of the patriarchs to whom the promises were made. God's remembrance of the patriarchs and of the promises made to them, still secures this kind regard for the nation; because God is unchangeable, as the following verse affirms.

29. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Repentance is indicative of regret and of a change of mind and conduct on the part of the person concerning whom it is affirmed, and concerning things which he has said or done. Now God does not repent of his bestowal of gifts of grace, and of the calling, or invitation, which he has given in regard to the blessings of his kingdom: he changes

not in regard to his gifts and calling; he will not revoke his gracious declarations, but will abide faithful and steadfast in his purpose. The unchangeableness of God, thus confirming the declaration in the 28th verse, that the Jews will continue beloved for the fathers' sakes, forms also the ground of the assurance in vs. 31 and 32.

30, 31. For as ye in times past, etc. God still adheres to his original purpose of mercy, and will accomplish it even through the disobedience of those who were his people. As you, Gentiles, were formerly disobedient to God and destitute of his favor, but have now obtained mercy by occasion of the Jews' disobedience, so the plan of God, as to his ultimately bestowing mercy on the Jews, will be accomplished through the mercy bestowed on you: the Jews having become disobedient and having failed of the favor of God, in order that, through the mercy bestowed on you, they might in turn receive mercy. Through your mercy; through mercy shown to you.

32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, etc. The word them ought not to have been admitted into the translation; as the original does not contain here a word corresponding to it, and the word all in the original, as is manifest from the connection, relates not to Jews exclusively, but to all men, Jews and Gentiles. The apostle's idea is, that God has shut up all, both Jews and Gentiles, in a state of disobedience, regarded them all as alike chargeable with dis

33 O THE depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his 34 ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of 35 the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him 36 again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever! Amen.

obedience, that he might be merciful to all, both Jews and Gentiles, saving all, of every nation, who comply with the terms of mercy and saving none, of whatever people, on the ground of their own righteousness. - -The word unbelief in vs. 30-32 does not so correctly express the original word, as disobedience; unbelief being properly the translation of a different word. That he might have mercy upon all; that all, having been brought to a consciousness of sin, might feel their dependence on mercy and be prepared to receive the grace, or the gratuitous salvation, of the gospel, and that all who comply with the terms of mercy might actually receive mercy. That such is the idea of the apostle, appears from the pervading doctrine of the epistle; it being wholly inconsistent with the leading views of the epistle to suppose that every human being, whether conscious of sinfulness or not, and whether accepting the divine method of mercy or not, shall actually be an object of God's saving mercy.

33-36. The thought of the mercy of God, in his so amply providing for the redemption of men, of his eternal purposes, of his carrying his designs into effect in ways wholly unexpected and beyond anticipation, so that in the fulness of time they are accomplished notwithstanding, and even by occasion of, the perversity of men,

stirs the apostle's mind with adoring sentiments.-O the depth of the riches, etc. Some prefer to render this clause, O the depth of the riches, that is, of the rich mercy, 10: 12, and wisdom and knowledge of God! His mercy is rich, indeed superabundant, since it has made not only adequate, but most ample, provision for the bestowal of blessings which no merits of men could, by any possibility, secure. || His judgments; his judgments, or determinations, as to what he will accomplish; that is, his purposes. His ways; his methods of accomplishing his purposes.

34. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, etc. Who knew the mind, the intention, of the Lord? Who was his counsellor? Obviously, none. He has all wisdom and knowledge in himself; his own infinite mind proposes its objects and provides for their attainment. Compare Is. 40: 13.

35, 36. him, etc.

Or who hath first given to Who has ever laid an obligation on God, so as to claim from him a recompense? Such a pretence would be the height of absurdity and profaneness: for all things originate from him (compare 1 Chron. 29: 10-14); all things are done through him; and all things find their ultimate aim in him. To him, then, be glory forever. Amen.

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CHAPTER XII.

Exhortation to Christian conduct in general, 1-21.

I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accepta2 ble unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the re

CHAPTERS XII-XV: 1-13.

These chapters comprise the hortatory division of the epistle, in which the apostle enjoins the cultivation of the Christian temper generally, obedience to magistrates, and mutual accommodation on the part of Gentile and of Jewish believers, in respect to ceremonial observances which originated in the Mosaic law.

CHAPTER XII.

1. I beseech you therefore, etc. The word therefore connects the hortatory part of the epistle with the preceding doctrinal part, as containing the practical lessons appropriate to all believers in Christ, and to the Roman Christians in particular. The apostle's mind had been occupied with views of the mercy of God in providing for men's salvation, and in preserving a remnant of the Jews from the destruction which the mass of the nation were bringing on themselves. In view of this mercy, he beseeches the Roman brethren to offer up themselves to God as a sacrifice, to be wholly his in their temper and conduct. That ye present your bodies; that ye offer up your persons, yourselves. The idea of a sacrifice offered to God being in the apostle's mind, his language was shaped by that image. As the bodies of slain animals were offered, he naturally em

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ployed the word bodies as signifying the whole person. Compare 6: 13. || A living sacrifice, etc. Slaughtered victims were the sacrifices of the Jewish ritual: in distinction from these, believers in Christ should be living sacrifices, devoted to God in the use of their living, active powers. As the animals for sacrifice under the Mosaic law were required to be ceremonially clean, without blemish, so the Christian sacrifice was to be holy, morally pure. Which is your reasonable service; rather, your spiritual service, the service of your mind and heart. - As sacrifices formed a part of the Jewish worship, the word is here employed, in the original, which particularly signifies service in worship; and Christians, in offering up themselves to God for the cultivation of such tempers of mind, and for such conduct in all the relations and circumstances of life, as are acceptable to God, are considered as rendering him a spiritual worship. The entire life of a Christian, so far as it is devoted to God and spent in conformity to his will, is a kind of living, or constant, worship, since the whole spirit and body are occupied in doing his pleasure and glorifying him.

2. Be not conformed to this world; to this present evil world, Gal. 1: 4; to the spirit and maxims of the men of this world, Luke 16: 8. 1 Cor. 2: 6, 8. The present world is char acterized by its being unspiritual, sin

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