Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 1 · Chapter 1 · Section 3 · Subsection 51
51. Quest. What inuisible things of God the Apostle speaketh of, and how they are made knowne vntounto vsus.
v. 20. The invisible things of him, &c. 1. Origens conceit here hath no probabilitie, who by these inuisible things, vnderstandeth the Angels: for 1. the Apostle saith, the inuisible things of him, that is of God, as he said before, v. 19. that, which may be knowne of God. 2. and he doth distinguish here manifestly betweene the inuisible things of God, and the works of God: seeing then the Angels are comprehended in the workes of God, they are not these inuisible things. Tolet. 3. Theodoret by these inuisible things, vnderstandeth the creation of the world, the diuine prouidence, his iustice, and gouernment of the world. 4. Lyranus by these inuisible things, interpreteth the essentiall attributes of God: and so he maketh it a distinct thing from the eternall power and Godhead, which afterward the Apostle mentioneth: whereas the Apostle interpreteth himselfe, the inuisible things of God, that is, his eternall power and Godhead. 5. Gorrham the inuisible things of God interpreteth, inuisibilis Deus, the inuisible God: but there is great difference betweene God, and the things of God. 6. Therefore the Apostle doth best shew his owne meaning: the inuisible things of God, that is, his eternall power, and deitie: wherein notwithstanding all his other attributes, his wisdome, iustice, goodnes, are vnderstood: Pareus: for as Calvin noteth, his deitie nisi cum singulis Dei virtutibus nequit consistere, can not stand but with the singular vertues of God. But Tolet obiecteth, that the word quo que , also, is here a note, non declarationis, sed adiectionis, not of declaration, but of addition. Contra. Though the vulgar Latine so translate quoque, also; yet in the originall the word is foreign, which is as much as nempe, or videlicet, that is to say, as Vatablus, and the Syrian interpreter read: so likewise Beza.
2. foreign, from the world created. These words are diuersly expounded: for whereas foreign signifieth both the very act of creating of the world, and the creature it selfe that was made, as Erasmus noteth, hereupon these diuers interpretations are giuen. 1. Some read, by the creation of the world, Beza, Genevens. and Aretius thus distinguisheth, that foreign, is tota mundi fabrica, the whole frame of the world taken together: but foreign, the workes afterward mentioned, are the speciall workes, as the starres, the elements, and such like. But if by the creation, the workes themselues created should be vnderstood, then the Apostle should seeme superfluously afterward, to make mention, of the workes are vnderstood by the workes: Perer. Tolet. and beside, foreign is put in the genitiue, and foreign in the datiue, and therefore they can not be ioyned appositiuely together by way of declaration. Pareus. 2. The Latine translatour readeth, à creatura, of the creature, which Anselme and the ordinarie glosse following, vnderstand of man: in which sense it is taken, Mark. 16.15. preach the Gospel to eueryevery creature. And man is so called the creature by a certaine excellencie, because he hath some agreement with eueryevery creature: he is in a place, as other bodies, he hath sense, as beasts, and vnderstanding as Angels: But as Tolet well noteth, the other word, which is ioyned with creature, of the world, excludeth this particular sense and application vntounto man. 3. Therefore foreign is here better taken for the world created: and is referred vntounto the time, à mundo condito, since the world was created, Pareus: à fundamentis mundi, from the foundation of the world, as the Syrian interpreter: for so the preposition foreign, from, is taken, as Matth. 13.35. foreign, from the foundation of the world, Tolet: so that foreign here signifieth, not the act of the creation: for it is taken for the world created afterward in this epistle, Rom. 8.20. nor yet for the creatures simply: but for the state of the world, when it was created: from the world created, à constitutione mundi, from the constitution of the world, as Chrysostome is translated.
3. Beeing vnderstood by his workes. Non corporea, vel imaginaria visione, sed intellectuali, not by a corporeal or imaginarie vision, are they seene, but by an intellectual: gloss. interlin. as the cause is vnderstood by the effect: Lyran. like as by an image representing one that is absent, we are brought to the knowledge and remembrance of him, so God is seene in his workes. Perer.
4. To wit, his eternall power and Godhead. 1. Some by the inuisible things of God, vnderstand the person of God the father, by the vertue or power, the person of the Sonne, by the deitie the holy Ghost: which interpretation Theophylact mentioneth here onelyonly: Gorrham seemeth to follow it: But this reason maketh against it, that the mysterie of the Trinitie is to high a matter to be searched out by the light of nature: that knowledge commeth onelyonly by reuelation. Perer. 2. These three things then are here vnderstood, the eternitie, power, and diuine maiestie of God, the knowledge whereof man is lead vntounto in part by his naturall instinct. Perer. 3. And vnderunder the deitie or Godhead, are vnderstood the rest of his attributes, his wisdom, goodnes, iustice, which are seene in the administration of the world, whereby his Godhead, which is in it selfe incomprehensible, is knowne, as by the effects: Pareus.