Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 1 · Chapter 8 · Section 3 · Subsection 53 – Subsection 60
Quest. 53. How Christ is said to make request for vsus.
1. Chrysostome vnderstandeth this interpellation and making of request, of the louelove of Christ toward vsus, and the care of his Church which he still hath, and otherwise he thinketh he maketh not intercession: so also Theophylact, the Apostle hereby sheweth nothing els quàm summam eius in nos charitatem, then his exceeding great louelove toward vsus.
2. Theodoret and Oecumenius interpret it of the representation of Christs humanitie, and the exhibiting of his glorious bodie in the sight of his father: so also gloss. interlin. he maketh intercession, representatione humana, by the representing of his humane nature: the sight whereof is a continuall postulation or request for vsus.
3. Rupertus lib. 9. de dinin. offic. c. 3. referreth this intercession to the sacrifice of Christ vponupon the crosse, the efficacie and vertue whereof still remaineth and cryeth vntounto God for merciemercy for vsus: to this purpose also Haymo: Lyranus addeth further, yet speaking therein without any good warrant, that Christ doth make request for vsus, ostendendo latus & vulnera, by shewing his side and wounds; Calvin saith, that Christ is not to be imagined to be … a suppliant petitioner for vsus, but he appeareth by the vertue of his death and resurrection, quae vivae orationis efficaciam habent, which hauehave the efficacie of a liuely prayer.
4. Ambrose thinketh that Christ doth still preces fundere, powre out prayers vntounto God as he is man, euen in the proper signification of the word: so also Gregor. Nazian, …rat. 4. Theolog. and Origen he thinketh further, that Christ still offereth prayers, cum luctu & lachryma, with wayling and teares, hom. 7. in Lev. which are not seemely for that place of glorie: And that Christ still offereth vp vocall prayers, Tolet is of opinion annot. 35. whose reason is, because euen the Saints beeing in glorie doe now offer vp prayers: Pet. Martyr also thinketh that Christ doth now fundere preces, powre out his prayers for vsus, because he still is our high Priest for euer.
5. Cyril, cited by Oecumenius, taketh this making of request for vsus to be that vehement and earnest prayer, which our Blessed Sauiour made in the daies of his flesh, the force, effect, and efficacie whereof remaineth still.
6. Now then out of all these, to take somewhat: this interpellation or request, which our Sauiour maketh, is performed, 1. both by appearing now in the sight of God for vsus, Heb. 9.24. 2. by the euer enduring force and efficacie of his blessed sacrifice once offred vponupon the crosse, Heb. 10.19, with one offring hath he consecrated for euer, them that are sanctified. 3. by his will and desire, that the elect should be alwayes acceptable to his father in him, Heb. 10.10. by which will we are sanctified. 4. by the vnchangeable louelove of God toward Christ beeing well pleased alwayes in his Sonne, and assenting vntounto his holy will and desire, This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased, Matth. 3.17. Pareus.
7. But that it is not necessarie, that Christ should make any vocall or formall prayers, it may be thus shewed. 1. Chrysostome thus reasoneth, si cadem cum patre potestate, &c. if he by one and the same power with the father, doth raise and quicken the dead, and doe all other things, quomodo precatione opus habet, &c. how hath he neede of praying to helpe vsus 2. an other reason he taketh from the greater to the lesse, that seeing Christ hath propri… potestate, &c. by his owne power deliuered vsus from condemnation, made vsus the Sonnes of God, and performed all other necessarie things for our redemption, naturam que nostram i… regali throne constitutam ostentat, &c. and now sheweth in heauen our nature placed in a Princely throne, ad facilia illa & minuta, hath he now neede of prayer to finish those small things which are behind? 3. As the Sonne is said to make request for vsus, so God is said to …create and beseech vsus, 2. Cor. 5.10. and the holy Spirit also maketh request for the Saints, Rom. 8.27. yet neither God the Father, nor the holy Spirit do these things otherwise then by their instruments and effects: we must not imagine any formall prayers to be made, we must not conceiue any thing to be done, quod maiestate illa sit indignum, which is vnmeete and not beseeming the diuine maiestie: so Christ is said to make request, by the merit and efficacie of his death, and the continuall demostration of his louelove: to this purpose Chrysostome: though it must be confessed, that Christ beeing God and man otherwise maketh intercession for vsus, then either God the father, or the holy spirit, which tooke not our …ure vponupon them. 4. that Christ vseth no formall or interstinct prayers it is euident by that place, Ioh. 11.41. Howbeit thou hearest me alwayes, but because of the people that stood by I said it, that they may beleeue that thou hast sent me: hence two reasons may be gathered, that if Christ pray, he alwayes prayeth, he alwaies is heard: his intercession then is his continuall will and desire which is heard: Christ spake in his prayer, that others hearing might beleeue, but now there is no such cause in heauen, therefore nowe no such occasion is of formall and distinct prayers. 5. Tolets argument is nothing, for the Saints now make no formall prayers in heauen, but by their voices and desires; Reuel. 6.9. the soules vnderunder the altar crie vntounto God: and Christ is a Priest for euer after the order of Milchisedech, in that the fruits of his passion and mediation continue for euer, though such distinct and and formall prayers be … powred out.
Quest. 54. Whether Christs intercession and interpellation for vsus, do extenuate the merit of his death.
1. Obiect. This doubt may be mooued, because that seemeth not to be of sufficient merit, which needeth a further supply: now if Christs mediation for vsus, be a supply vntounto his death and passion, then was not that alone sufficient.
Answ. 1. The intercession of Christ is not to merit our redemption, which is purchased by his death, but to apply vntounto vsus, ratifie, and confirme our saluation merited by Christs death: so that the worke of our redemption is perfited by Christs death, and in respect of the worke it selfe nothing can be added: but on our part, because we are weake and doe often fall into sinne, our saluation had neede continually to be confirmed and applyed vntounto vsus, to which ende Christs mediation helpeth. 2. like as other meanes, as the hearing of the word, prayer, the receiuing of the Sacraments doe not argue any imperfection and insufficiencie in the worke of our redemption, but in vsus that hauehave neede of such helpes and supplyes, whereby Christs death is applyed. 3. And whereas Christs mediation is grounded vponupon the merit of his death and passion, it is so farre from detracting to the merit thereof, that it rather amplyfieth and setteth forth the dignitie of it.
Quest. 55. What charitie the Apostle speaketh of, from which nothing can separate vsus.
1. Chrysostome, Oecumen. Theophyl. Origen, and most of the Greeke and Latine exposition, as Augustine, A…b. do vnderstand this of the actiue louelove which we beare toward God: but it is better referred vntounto the passiue louelove, wherewith we are beloued of God: for 1. this is more agreeable to the Apostles scope, who hitherto hath vrged the louelove and merciemercy of God toward vsus, in our predestination, vocation, iustification, in giuing his owne Sonne for vsus, Mat. 2. the Apostle so expoundeth himselfe, v. 39. the louelove of God which is in Christ Iesus, Gryn. so also is it taken c. 5.5. the louelove of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, …. 3. and our louelove toward God, sepenumero fluctuas, doth oftentimes waver and sadeth in it, as in Dauid, 2. Sam. 11.4. and so it were a verie vnstable foundation for vsus to stay vponupon, …. The Apostles meaning then is, that no kind of trouble or affliction which the world taketh to be signes of Gods anger, can yet separate vsus from the louelove of God, and make vsus lesse beloued of him.
2. Then the Apostle rehearseth sixe seuerall kinds of affliction, which are incident to the children of God: the vulgar Latine numbreth seuen, adding one more, namely persecution, which is not in the originall: Lyranus sorteth them into this order: these passions and sufferings of the Saints, are either death it selfe, signified by the sword: or dispositions to death, either nearer, or more remote, and further off: the nearer, are either in respect of the thing, … danger, or in the apprehension thereof, anguish: the more remote, are either in substractione necessarij, in the subtracting of necessarie things, as of food in famine, of rayment in nakednesse: or in illatione nocumenti, in the offring and bringing in of some hurt; as in tribulation: But the sorting out of these into their seuerall places doth invert the order wherein the Apostle hath placed them, which it is safest to followe.
3. The Syrian translator readeth, for vsus, who shall separate me: which reading Beza seemeth to approoue, because thereby the Apostle sheweth how euerie one should make particular application of his faith to himselfe, and the Apostle was not so secure of other mens faith, as so to pronounce of them: But the Greeke text is more authenticall, which readeth, vsus: and Osiander verie well obserueth thereupon, that the Apostle speaketh not of his owne person alone, but of all the faithfull in generall, to shewe this certaintie of saluation, to belong vntounto all that beleeue.
Quest. 56. Of these words, v. 36. For thy sake are we killed all the day long.
1. Calvin observeth, and P. Martyr noteth the same, that the 44. Psalme from whence this testimonie is alleadged, describeth rather the persecution of the Church of God vnderunder Antiochus, then vnderunder the Chaldeans: for they were carried into captiuitie, and afflicted by the Chaldeans for their idolatrie: but vnderunder Antiochus they suffred for giuing testimonie to the lawe: and therefore it is said, for thy sake are we killed, &c.
2. For thy sake: Simply to be killed or put to death is not commendable, but it is the cause, which maketh the suffrings of the Martyrs glorious and honourable: and there are three things requisite in true Martyrdome: first the cause, they must suffer for Christs sake, Matth. 5.11. then their person, that they be righteous and innocent, men of integritie, not offenders and euill liuers, for then they cannot suffer for righteousnesse sake, Matth. 5.10. lastly the ende must be considered, that they doe it not for vaine glorie, but in louelove to God, and his Church: as the Apostle saith, If I giuegive my bodie to be burned, and hauehave no louelove, it profiteth me nothing, Martyr.
3. All the day: 1. Chrysostome referreth it to the minde which is alwayes readie and prepared to suffer for Christ. 2. Origen, omni vitae tempore, all the time of the life: so also Haymo: iugiter, continually, Pellican: sine intermissione, without intermission, Pareus. 3. Pet. Martyr vnderstandeth it of the continuall expectation of death in the time of persecution, so also M. Calvin. 4. Osiander applyeth it to the number of those which are persecuted to death: the tyrants are not content with the death of some few, sed grassantur in quam plurimos, they rage against many. 5. Gryneus vnderstandeth, by all the day, all the time of the world, since the persecution of Abel: but the second sense before seemeth to be the fittest.
57. Quest. Wherein the faithfull are compared vntounto sheepe: We are counted as sheepe for the slaughter, v. 36.
1. Gorrhan here obserueth eight seuerall points, wherein they are resembled vntounto sheepe. 1. for their innocencie. 2. their patience. 3. their immolation and offering vp in sacrifice. 4. their doctrine is as the milke. 5. their godly conuersation as the fleece. 6. the tyrants and persecutors are toward them as wolues. 7. they are fruitfull, in bringing forth many children vntounto God, as sheepe that bring out twinnes. 8. they are obedient to Christ our chiefe shepheard, as the sheepe heare the voice of the shepheard.
2. But these resemblances are somewhat farre fetched, and concerne not the scope of the Apostle here: herein therefore this similitude consisteth. 1. as Chrysostome, Theophylast, Haymo, quia occiduntur sine reluctatione, they are slaine without any resistance. 2. sunt simplices, they are simple as beseemeth the flocke of Christ. Martyr. 3. like as butchers draw out the sheepe to be killed at their pleasure, so tyrants vponupon eueryevery occasion make slaughter of Gods seruants, euen as butchers slay their sheepe: as it happened in France in the great massaker, at Paris, Lyons, Orleans, and other places. Gryneus. 4. like as sheepe are killed for their flesh and fleece, so tyranni bona martyrum rapiebant, did ceaze vponupon the goods of the Martyrs. 5. herein appeareth the conformitie betweene Christ and his members, who was as a sheepe lead to the slaughter, Isa. 53.7. Bucer. 6. adde hereunto, they are counted sicut …ves morbidae, as specked and diseased sheepe, and so killed. Gorrhan.
58. Quest. How the faithfull are said to be more then conquerours.
1. The vulgar Latine readeth onelyonly superamus, we ouercome, so also Haymo, and the Syrian translator so interpreteth; but the word in the originall is foreign, we doe more then ouercome.
2. Which is diuersly expounded. 1. Basil in Psal. 114. giueth this sense, he ouercommeth which giueth not place to those troubles which are necessarily inflicted vponupon him, he doth more then ouercome, qui vltro accersit molesti… &c. which willingly doth offer himselfe … endure more, then is laid vponupon him: as Origen giueth instance in Iob, who beside the plagues which were laid vponupon him by the malice of Sathan, did of himself … vntounto his sor…es, as in renting his garments, and scraping his sore wounds with a posthead, &c. but this obseruation seemeth somewhat curious. 2. Chrysostome and Theophyl… … referre it, both vntounto the afflictions which they suffer, the persons which doe suffer, and the persecutors which procure their suffrings: in the first, which are te…tations to trie them, they are more then conquerors, triumphyng in those things, in quibus infidias patimur, wherein we are sought to be supplanted: and concerning the persons of the sufferers, they ouercome with great facilitie, sine sudore & labore, without sweat or labour: and concerning the persecutors, flagellati flagellatores vicimus, we beeing whipped ouercame the whippers: the patience of the Saints, which is invincible, vanquisheth and wearieth the tormentors. 3. But the fittest sense is, that we are more then conquerours, because the Saints are nor only not broken and terrified with their manifold suffrings, but doe also glorie and reioyce in their tribulation: Beza: and are brought vntounto an heauenly kingdome, wherein the excellencie of the victorie appeareth, Osiand.
Quest. 59. Of the diuerse interpretations in generall of the 38.39. vers. I am perswaded that neither life nor death, &c.
1. Hugo Card. here obserueth that the Apostle rehearseth an eleuen seuerall impediments, which might hinder the certaintie of our saluation, which is numerus transgressione, the number of transgression, because it exceedeth the number of the commandements by one: and so hereby he thinketh whatsoeuer to be meant, whereby a man may be seduced or induced to transgresse: but this obseruation; beside that it is curious, is builded vponupon a false ground, for there are but onelyonly tenne particulars named by the Apostle, the eleuenth ut que fortitudo, nor strength, is inserted by the Latine translator, not beeing in the originall: and Augustine omitteth it, in citing of this text lib. de grat. & liber. arb. c. 17. though it be found in the allegation of Hierome, epist. ad Algas. qu. 9. yet seeing neither the Greeke originall, nor the auncient Syriake translation hath it, it is better omitted.
2. Gorrhan setteth out this enumeration of the Apostle in diuerse heads: as all kind of actions doe either tend ad esse, or bene esse, to the beeing of man, or his well beeing: the being of man is either preserued, and that is by life, or destroyed by death: that which tendeth vntounto mans well beeing, is either by the spirituall creature onelyonly, or by the corporall onelyonly, or from the creature partly spirituall, partly corporall, which is man: the spirituall creature is expressed by 3. names, Angels, principalities, powers: the corporall is distinguished in respect of things present or to come: the creature both spirituall and temporall, is set forth with three diuerse actions, as of violence, signified by fortitude or strength: of craft and subti…ie, called depth, or of prosperitie, called here height: But this curious diuision agreeth not with the simple and plaine enumeration, which the Apostle vseth, and beside he groundeth this conceit vponupon the Latine text, which addeth one word fortitude, more then is in the originall, he fayleth also in the particular explication, of things present, things to come, bright, depth, as shall be seene afterward.
3. Origen observeth well that as the Apostle had rehearsed before omnes humanas tentationes, all humane tentations, v. 35. as famine, nakednesse, the sword, and such like, nowe be reckoneth vp tentations, maiores humanis, greater then humane tentations: as he speaketh of Angels, principalities, powers: But that other note of his is not so good: that whereas before the Apostle spake, confidenter, confidently, saying, in all these we are more then conquerours: yet here valde tenuiter aij…, he saith somewhat slenderly or faintely, not that we are more then conquerours, as before, but nothing can separate vsus, &c. whereas in truth, the Apostle saying, I am perswaded, speaketh no lesse confidently then before.
Quest. 60. Of the diuerse interpretations in particular.
1. Death nor life. 1. Origen vnderstandeth by death, the death of the soule, which is a separation from God, and by life, the life of sinne. 2. Chrysostome applyeth it to euerlasting death, and an other immortall life: that though they could promise vntounto vsus an other immortall life, to separate vsus from Christ, we ought not to giuegive consent. 3. Osiander interpreteth mors horrenda, vita aerum…sa, an horrible death, and a miserable life. 4. Lyranus vnderstandeth, amor vitae, the louelove of this life, and the feare of death, the one threatened by persecutors, the other promised. 5. But it may be more generally taken, for omnia discri…i…, all perills which put the life in danger: Mort. omnia extrema, secunda & adversa, and …ll exceeding great prosperitie or adversitie.
2. Angels, principalities, powers. 1. Origen vnderstandeth onelyonly the euill Angels, and adversarie powers, so Osiander also. 2. Chrysostome onelyonly the good Angels, and Hierome, so also Lyranus, and they vnderstand it by way of supposition, that if the good Angels should seeke to withdraw vsus from Christ, which is impossible, yet we should not giuegive … vntounto them: so the Apostle hath the like supposition of the good Angels, Galat. 1.8. Calv. 3. But we may better vnderstand the Angels good and bad, Mart. Gryn. Pareus, who by principalities and powers vnderstandeth the kingdomes and commanders of the world: but they are titles rather giuen to the Angels, as Ephes. 1.21. Gryneus following Chrysostome.
3. Things present, nor things to come. 1. Not in this world and the next, as Origen … hath a speculation of the passage of the soule out of the bodie, which in that instant is many times seduced and deceiued by the euill spirits. 2. But he meaneth the dangers of this life present, or to come, Mart. Par. 3. he maketh no mention of the things past, for they are ouercome alreadie, Lyran. and as for our sinnes past, they are forgiuen vsus in Christ, Gryn.
4. Neither height nor depth. 1. Origen vnderstandeth it of the spirits in the ayre, and in the deepe. 2. Lyranus of the depth and profunditie of Sathan. 3. Gorrhan of the height and depth of humane wisedome: so also Mart. 4. Osiander of the diuerse kinds of death, as by hanging aloft, and beeing drowned in the deepe. 5. Chrysostome and Theophylact better vnderstand things in heauen and earth: the elements aboue and belowe, Pareus: ret s… premas & infernas, things aboue and beneath, Bulling. 6. Theodoret vnderstandeth heauen and hell. 7. Oecumenius, prosperitie and adversitie.
5. Or any other creature. 1. not beside those which are visible, Origen: for he had spoken of invisible things before. 2. nor a newe creature beside those which God made, as Ambrose, as equus hipes, an horse with two legges, and such like, gloss. ordinar. Hugo. Gorrhan. 3. But the Apostle, absolvit inductionem, doth make an ende of his induction: because it had beene infinite to reckon vp all the creatures, Martyr: so Chrysostome, if there be any other creature of what manner soeuer, how great soeuer.