Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 1 · Chapter 2 · Section 3 · Subsection 44 – Subsection 45
Quest. 44. Of the explanation of certaine termes here vsed by the Apostle: and of the letter and the spirit.
1. v. 26. Where the Apostle saith, if vncircumcision keepe the lawe, by a Metonimie he vnderstandeth the vncircumcised: the signe is taken for the thing signified: but afterward it is taken for the signe it selfe.
2. His vncircumcision shall be counted for circumcision: that is, it shall be as no circumcision: Chrysostome readeth, it shall be turned into circumcision: it shall be all one as if he were circumcised.
3. By the ordinances of the lawe, foreign, some vnderstand the ceremonies and rites of the law: But rather the morall duties of the lawe are thereby signified, which the Gentiles performed, hauing not the written lawe: otherwise the rites and ceremonies of the lawe they could not obserue without the knowledge of the written lawe.
4. Shall iudge thee: To iudge is taken three wayes. 1. Personally, as it is said, the Saints shall iudge the world, 1. Cor. 6. shall personally stand against them in iudgement. 2. actually, as to iudge may be taken to accuse, or testifie against: as it is said v. 15. their thoughts accusing them. 3. or by example, as it is said the Ninevites and the Queene of the South, shall iudge the Israelites: so is it taken here: the Gentiles going beyond the Iewes in example of life, shall condemne them, that is, shewe them to be worthie of iudgement, for their euill life, Mart. Calvin, Pareus.
5. What is meant by the letter and spirit, there are diuerse expositions. 1. Sometime Augustine, by the letter vnderstandeth the litterall sense of the lawe, by the spirit, the spirituall sense, exposit. in epist. ad Roman. so also Origen, he transgresseth the lawe, qui spiritualem eius non tenet sensum, who keepeth not the spirituall sense: but euen the spirituall sense of the lawe, if it were apprehended onelyonly, and the heart not thereby circumcised and reformed, was in the Apostles sense but literall. 2. some by the letter vnderstand legem scriptam, the lawe written, as separate from the grace of Christ: as the Syrian interpreter readeth, scripturam, the Scripture: which is so called because it was written in tables of stone, gloss. interlin. 3. But it is better here more specially applyed to circumcision: so that the letter and circumcision, are here taken pro literali circumcisione, for litterall circumcision, Calvin. Pareus. that is, the externall signe and ceremonie of circumcision onelyonly according to the letter of the lawe, which was made literalibus cultris, with literall, that is, externall knifes, Gorrhan. and by the spirit is not vnderstood the soule, as Tolet, following Chrysostome: but the efficacie of grace wrought in the soule by the spirit of God: and so Augustine taketh it els where, thus describing the circumcision of the heart, quam facit non litera legis docent & minans, sed spiritus Dei sanans & adiuvans: which not the letter of the law teaching and threatning, but the spirit of God worketh healing and helping, lib. de spirit. & liter. c. 8. so then there is no difference, quoad rem, in respect of the thing which is propounded, betweene the spirit and the letter, sed quoad animi affectum, but in respect of the affection of the mind, and the inward operation of the spirit, Mart. for euen he that heareth the Gospell, but beleeueth it not, may be said to be a Gospeller according to the letter, not after the spirit.
6. By transgressing the lawe is meant the voluntarie breaking thereof, not the fayling therein, thorough ignorance or infirmitie, Mart. as Origen noteth Paul himselfe did not alwaies keepe the lawe: non tamen fuit praevaricator legis, yet he was not a prevaricator or transgressor of the lawe.
7. v. 28. He is not a Iewe, which is a Iewe outward: here must be vnderstood the word onelyonly, he was not a Iewe indeed, that was onelyonly so outwardly. And in this sense the Apostle saith els where, he was not sent to baptize, that is, onelyonly, Martyr.
Quest. 45. Of two kinds of Iewes, and two kinds of circumcision, v. 28.
v. 28. He is not a Iewe, which is one outwardly, &c. 1. The Apostle here maketh a double comparison: both of the persons, setting a circumcised Iewe not keeping the lawe, against an vncircumcised Gentile keeping of the lawe: and of the things betweene inward circumcision of the heart, and outward in the flesh onelyonly, Mart.
2. And here there is a fowrefold antithesis or exposition. 1. From the formes, the one is within, the other without in outward appearance onelyonly. 2. from the subiect, one is in the heart, the other in the flesh. 3. from the efficient, one is wrought by the spirit, the other is in the letter, it consisteth in literall and ceremoniall observations. 4. from the ende, the one hath praise of God, the other is commended onelyonly of men, Gryneus.
3. Hence the Apostle prooueth by three arguments, that the spirituall circumcision is better then the carnall: 1. That is best, which is in secret and in truth, then that which is openly and in shewe onelyonly: 2. and that which is wrought by the spirit, is more excellent then that which is in the letter. 3. and that hath the preheminence, whose praise is of God.
4. This distinction of spirituall and morall circumcision, S. Paul hath out of Moses, Deut. 10.16. Circumcise the foreskinne of your heart, Deut. 30.6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart: which the Apostle further describeth thus, Coloss. 2.11. In whom yee are also circumcised with circumcision made without hands, by putting off the sinfull bodie of the flesh, thorough the circumcision of Christ. And as there are two kinds of circumcision, so there is also a twofold vncircumcision, as Burgens. noteth, addition 1. out of the Prophet Ieremie, c. 9.26. All the nations are vncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are vncircumcised in the heart: there is then an vncircumcision of the heart, and an other of the flesh.
5. Yet this must not be so vnderstood, as though there were two kinds of circumcisions, rather then two parts of one and the same circumcision: which are sometime ioyned together, both the inward and outward, as they were in Abraham: sometime separate one from the other: and this separation is of two sorts: it is either salutaris, healthfull, or not: for when the inward circumcision is without the outward, it is profitable, as in Noah: but when the outward is, and not the inward, it is vnprofitable, as in Iudas Iscariot.
6. Origens obseruation seemeth here to be somewhat curious, thus distinguishing the circumcision of the flesh: that because there is some part of the flesh cut off and lost, some part remaineth still: the lost and cut off part (saith he) hath a resemblance of that flesh, whereof it is said, all flesh is grasse: the other part which remaineth is a figure of that flesh, whereof the Scripture speaketh, all flesh shall see the saluation of God: But thus Origen confoundeth the circumcision of the flesh and the spirit, making them all one: Further, to shewe these two circumcisions of the heart and spirit, he alleadgeth how the Israelites were circumcised againe by Iosuah, (who was a type of Christ that circumciseth the heart,) who were circumcised before by Moses in the desert: wherein Origen is greatly deceiued: for it is euident by the text, Iosuah, 5.5. that they which were circumcised by Iosuah, had not beene circumcised before.