Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 1 · Chapter 2 · Section 3 · Subsection 34 – Subsection 36
34. Qu. Of the testimonie of the conscience, and the accusing or excusing of the thoughts.
v. 16. Their conscience also bearing witnes, and their thoughts, &c. 1. Faius thinketh th… three effects of the conscience are here expressed, the first to testifie, that is, to propose the things done vntounto the minde, then to accuse, and thereby to defend or excuse. But rather the… first is the generall, to testifie and beare witnesse, which is expressed afterward in these two particulars, that according as the things committed are good or euill, so the conscience… beareth witnesse by accusing, or defending: Gorrhan. Pareus. 2. Their thoughts are said … accuse one an other, 1. non cogitationibus inter se digladiantibus, not as though the thought… did at the same time striue together about the same fact, that some thoughts accused, a… other excused. 2. not yet is it meant of diuers men, as that the thoughts accused the vnbeleeuers, and excused the beleeuers, gloss. interlin. Gorrh. or the accusing thoughts conceiued puniendos, such as were to be punished, the excusing servandos, such as were to be saued Graeca caten. 3. but in one and the same man, as his facts were euill, his conscience accused and as they were wel done, his conscience excused him: Par. Tol. 4. Some think that whe… in eueryevery iudgement there must be three, actor, retis, index, …he actuarie, the guiltie person, and the iudge: that in diuers respects the conscience is all these: the conscience accusing is th… actor, the conscience accused, is the guiltie partie, and the iudge also is the conscience, Faius: But the partie accused, is rather the man himselfe, whome his conscience accuseth or excuseth, and the conscience is the witnes: the iudge supreame is God sitting in the conscience: and the subalternate iudge is the light of nature imprinted in the heart: which Lyranus calleth naturale indicatorium hominis, the naturall iudgement place of man: All these are here expressed by the Apostle, he saith, the effect of the law is written in their heart: the iudgement seate is the heart, the iudge, the naturall law their written, then the partie accused or defended are themselues: and the witnesse and giuer of euidence is the conscience. 5. Photius ex Oecumen. here noteth, that the conscience is not said to iustifie or condemne, but onelyonly to accuse or excuse: sententiam iudex ipse fert, the sentence the iudge himselfe giueth, &c. which is now for the present the euidence of naturall light in the soule: but the superiour iudge is God himselfe in the day of iudgement. 6. Here Origen disputeth very curiously, what this conscience should be: and he resolueth that the spirit of the conscience, is an other thing beside the soule, beeing ioyned vntounto it as an inseparable companion in the bodie: but if the soule of man be not ruled by it, it shall be separated from the soule afterward, and the spirit shall returne to God, and the soule shall goe to torment: to this purpose he expoundeth these words of the vnfaithfull seruant, Matth. 24.51. He will separate him, and giuegive him his portion with hypocrites: as though the soule and the spirit should be separated a sunder. Contr. True it is, that there are two faculties in the soule; there is in the minde the notion and apprehension of the naturall principles, which are graft in vsus by nature, and then the conscience in the heart, Pareus: but that these should be diuers in substance, and that one may be separated from the other, is a strange conceit: for the very spirits and soules of the wicked shall be tormented in hell, not their soules onelyonly: as S. Peter speaketh of the spirits in prison which were disobedient in the daies of Noah, 1. Pet. 3.19. & by separating in that place our Sauiour meaneth, the cutting such off, and separating of them from the liuing.
35. Qu. Why the Apostle maketh mention of the day of iudgement, v. 16.
1. Some ioyne this verse with the 13. Not the hearers of the law, but the doers shall be iustified, in the day &c. and all the rest comming between they enclose in a parenthesis: so Beza, Pareus, and the Greeke catena: Beza giueth this reason, because if it should be referred to the next words before, their thoughts accusing one an other, or excusing, which is spoken onelyonly of the Gentiles, this generall iudgement should be supposed to be onelyonly for the Gentiles: But the same inconuenience will follow, if it be ioyned to the 13. v. which is specially meant of the Iewes, that the day of iudgement would be thought onelyonly to concerne them: it is therefore no good consequent, because the Gentiles are mentioned before, that this iudgement should be onelyonly for them: for how followeth it? the conscience of the Gentiles shall in that day accuse or excuse them, therefore no mans conscience els.
2. Wherefore this verse is better annexed to the next words before, then to the other words so farre off: to the which they can not well be ioyned without great divulsion of the sentence, and suspending of the sense: the meaning then is this, not that the conscience accuseth not, or excuseth none, till that generall day of iudgement: but 1. it is felt now, sed tum maxime omnium sentietur, but then it shall be felt most of all, Osiand. so also Lyran. 2. And now many men beeing carried away with the delights of this life present, cogitationes accusatrices non audiunt, doe not heare or regard their thoughts accusing them: but in that day they shall be brought to light, eueryevery mans conscience shall touch him. Mart. 3. Hactenus occultus est testis, hetherto the conscience is but a secret witnes, onelyonly knowne to him that hath it; but then omnibus apparebunt, they shall be made manifest and apparant to all. Tolet. 4. and by this the Apostle sheweth, ne morte cas extingui, that such accusing or excusing thoughts are not extinguished, no not by death: And Origen here well noteth, that the thoughts shall accuse or excuse them in the day of iudgement: not which they shall hauehave then, but which they hauehave now: for cogitationum malarū quaedam notae, certaine marks of euill thoughts doe remaine in the soule, which shall be manifested then: Origen. ficut stile en cera nota imprimitur, as a seale leaueth a print in the waxe. Haymo.
36. Qu. Why it is called the day, and of the application of other words, v. 16.
1. At the day. Gorrhan is here somewhat curious: it is called the day, propter occultarum manifestationem, for the manifesting of things secret: and the night, propter improvisionem, for the suddennes of his comming: as Matth. 25.6. At midnight there was a crie made: it is called the euen, Matth. 20.8. propter terminum temporis, for the ending of time: and the morning, propter initium aeternitatis, for the beginning of eternitie: Zeph. 3.5. In the morning doth he bring his iudgement: But here day is vnderstood generally for time, as it is taken in other places of Scripture. Faius.
2. Shall iudge. In this world the Lord sheweth sometime speciall iudgements, as he did vponupon the old world, vponupon Sodom and Gomorrha: but this shall be a day of generall iudgement, Faius: and he shall iudge the secrets of men, non daemonum, not of deuills, they hauehave their iudgement alreadie. Gorrhan.
3. According to my Gospel. S. Paul calleth it his Gospel, in respect of his ministerie: it was the Gospel of Christ, tanquā authoris, as the author, and Apostoli, vt praediratoris, the Apostles, as the preacher, Lyr. my gospel, quod annuntio, which I preach, Haym. so Ioh. 17.20, our Sauiour calleth his word, their word, that is the Apostles, because they were preachers of it.
4. According. 1. which some vnderstand of the manner of iudgement: that Christ shall giuegive sentence according to the doctrine of the Gospel: as he that beleeueth in the Sonne of God hath eternall life, he that beleeueth not is damned: Pareus: Gryneus referreth it to th…t doctrine of the Apostle, Gal. 5.20. They that doe such things, &c. as idolatrie, witchcraft, and the like, shall not inherit the kingdome of God: so he shall iudge beleeuers, both according to the Gospel of faith, and the wicked according to their works. Pareus, dub. 15. 2. some giuegive this sense, according to my Gospel: because the day of iudgement calleth men to repentance, and so belongeth to the Gospel, Mart. 3. but it is better applied to the certentie of the day of iudgement, that it shall certenly come, as Paul had preached, and that the world shall be iudged by Iesus Christ: for this is portio Evangelij, a portion of the Gospel, to beleeue that the world shall be iudged by Iesus Christ: Calvin. see more afterward of other things belonging to the day of iudgement among the places of doctrine.