Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 2 · Chapter 12 · Section 3 · Subsection 26 – Subsection 27
Quest. 23. How we should reioyce with them that reioyce, and weepe with them that weepe, v. 15.
1. Because one may forbeare from cursing his enemies, and may in words wish him well, and yet not doe it of louelove: the Apostle proceedeth to the verie roote of louelove, which is in the affection of the heart, Chrysost.
2. And whereas the former precept onelyonly concerned our enemies, this may be practised both toward our friends and our enemies, Tolet.
3. But Origen obserueth well, that we must vnderstand this precept of the Apostle, not of euerie kind of ioy and griefe, but in honest and lawfull things, as if any man reioyce in his honour, wealth, or such like, we are not to reioyce with such: our Sauiour would not hauehave his Apostles to reioyce, because they had cast out deuils, Luk. 10. but if we see ab aliquo aliquod tale opus geri, quod in coelo scribi dignum sit, &c. any such worke to be done by one, which is worthie to be written in heauen, as any worke of iustice, merciemercy, or that one is conuerted from the error of his life, with such an one must we reioyce: likewise we must not weepe with those which lament their dead, & flent damna temporalia, and weepe for the losse of temporall things: but if any man weepe and lament for his sinnes, or such like, lachrymae tungenda sunt cum talibus, we must ioyne with such in teares, &c. to the same purpose also Haymo, following Origens steppes.
4. But they must be vnderstood to speake comparatiuely: that they which reioyce or mourne for temporall things onelyonly, or excessiuely: they must rather be reprooued, then by our ioyning with them in like affection, be fed still in their humor: for this precept bindeth vsus, to reioyce in the outward prosperitie of the brethren, and mourne for their temporall losses also, but not so much as for spirituall: so here we must distinguish of ioy and griefe: dolor ordinatus, a moderate sorrowe, as when one mourneth for the losse of a friend, as a mother for the death of her children: thus Christ wept in compassion with Marie weeping for Lazarus: there is dolor inordinatus, an inordinate sorrowe for temporall things, when men lament too much for the losse of them; and in this sense, we must correct their error, and yet comfort: them what we can, Pareus.
5. Chrysostome noteth further: that the Apostle in the first place saith, reioyce with them that reioyce: because this is the harder precept: for nature teacheth many to shewe compassion in the miserie of their brethren, who yet doe envie their prosperitie: and againe he obserueth, that the Apostle saith not, solve proximi calamitatem, take away thy neighbours calamitie, for that alwaies is not in our power, but weepe with him, this eueryevery one may doe.
6. Now we ought thus mutually to be affected toward our brethren, 1. because we are members of one mysticall bodie. 2. nihil it a dilectionem conciliat, nothing doth so much beget louelove as to communicate with our brother in his ioy and griefe, Chrysostome. 3. sic tristitiam alleuas, thus you lighten his griefe: livore teipsum liberas, and free your selfe from envie, Chrysost. 4. and it is euerie case to shewe compassion, considering if thou thy selfe be tempted, Galat. 6.1. an other shall lend thee his teares in thine afflicton, Martyr.
7. Three sorts of men fayle in this precept. 1. they which hauehave no feeling at all of other mens myseries, as the rich man neglected Lazarus. 2. they which goe yet further, and reioyce in other mens afflictions, for the which the Babylonians are reprooued, for insulting against the people of God, in their ruine, Isay. 47.3. they are yet worst of all, that adde affliction to affliction, and do pray vponupon those, which are in miserie, as the Amalekites laid wait for the Israelites in the wildernesse, Gualter.
Quest. 24. What it is to be like affectioned one toward an other.
v. 16. Be like affectioned one toward an other: First there is some difference in the translating of the words: secondly, in the coherence and sense: of the first sort, 1. some doe translate the word foreign, sentientes, thinking the same thing, vulg. Latine: and some doe referre it to the vnderstanding, as Anselme doth expound it by that place, 1. Cor. 1.10. that ye be of the same minde and iudgement: but there is an other word vsed foreign, which indeede properly signifieth the intelligent part of the minde. 2. Chrysostome applyeth it to the opinion, that one should hauehave of an other, as if a poore man came in, fac vt affectus te illi acromodes, see that thou apply thy selfe in affection vntounto him, not thinking thy selfe to be greater, because thou art rich: magnum te putas? doest thou thinke thy selfe to be great? thinke him to be so too: doest thou take him to be meane and base? so also take thy selfe to be, and there shall be no inequalitie: thus Chrysostome, and Erasmus to the like purpose: but this rather is insinuated in the next words, be not high minded: to this purpose also translateth the Syrian intepreter, that which ye thinke of your selues, thinke of your brethren. 4. some doe better thus reade, eodem animo affecti, &c. be like affected one toward another, Beza, Vatablus, Mart. and these doe vnderstand it rather of the will and affection, then of the minde and vnderstanding: so Origen also, ita velimus proximo, ficut & nobis, let vsus wish vntounto our neighbour as to our selues: Tolet also followeth this sense: But M. Beza will not hauehave foreign, translated alij in alios, one toward an other, but inter vos mutuo, mutually among your selues: and to be the same with foreign, among your selues, c. 15.5. but this phrase is before vsed, v. 10. in this verie sense, one toward an other, and therefore it is most like to retaine the same sense here.
Secondly, touching the coherence. 1. Lyranus hath reference vntounto the former sentence reioyce with them, &c. that is, they should not onelyonly seeme to reioyce, and mourns, but they should doe it from the heart without dissimulation: so also Calvin thinketh this precept cō prehendeth both the other, and vnderstandeth it of the mutuall sympathie, which should be among Christians, as fellow-feeling members: Tolet also and Gorrhan doe so vnderstand it with Lyranus. 2. But it is better to make the sentence more generall, that we should wish vntounto others, as to our selues: as Origen expoundeth it by these words of our blessed Sauiour, Matth. 7. What you would that men should doe vntounto you, the same things doe vntounto them: this sense followeth Gryneus: and Olevian doth parallel it with that place, Phillip. 2.4. looke not euerie man on his owne things, but euerie man on the things of others: so here the Apostle generally exhorteth vntounto concord, whether in the consent of the mind, or the knitting of the affections together, in all their counsels and actions, Pareus: as the Apostle vsing this verie phrase, Phillip. 2.2. doth subdiuide it into the coniunction of their louelove and affection, and of minde and iudgement: Be like minded, hauing the same louelove, of one minde and iudgement, &c.