Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 2 · Chapter 12 · Section 3 · Subsection 22 – Subsection 24
21. Quest. How our enemies are to be blessed, Blesse them that persecute you, v. 14.
1. Lyranus maketh this the connexion of this precept with the former, that as before he shewed how charitie should be expressed in affectu, in the affection, v. 10. be affectioned: then …fectu, in the effect, in giuing honour, &c. and in distributing, and such like: now he declareth how charitie must appeare and shew it selfe, in signo, in the externall signes, as first in words: but I rather approoue Chrysostomes connexion: the Apostle hauing prescribed the duties that must be exercised toward our domesticalls, now teacheth how we should behaue our selues towards them without: for he that first practiseth all duties toward his friends, shall be better prepared how to vse his enemies.
2. The Greeke word is foreign, benedicite, blesse ye: which word is taken three waies in Scripture; as either God is said to blesse man, as he blessed the house of Obed Edom, 2. Sam. 6. where the Atke was, and then to blesse, is aliquid muneris conferre, to conferre some gift, as Origen noteth: God blesseth, when he maketh one to prosper, and bestoweth some spirituall, or temporall gift: or man is saide to blesse God, that is, to praise his name, and giuegive him thanks: or one man is said to blesse an other: which is either to speake well of him, or in wishing well vntounto him, as Iacob is said to hauehave blessed Ephraim and Manasses the sonnes of Ioseph, that is, to hauehave praied for their prosperitie: and so it is taken here: Pererius addeth a fourth signification, when to blesse by the contrarie, signifieth to curse, as when Iobs wife …d him blesse God, that is, curse him: but that ironicall vse of the word is impertinent here.
3. Further, it may be obserued, that the Apostle choseth rather to say, benedicitie, blesse ye, then benefacite, doe ye well, or bene precamini, wish well: for this last is not sufficient, vnlesse we expresse our charitie by some outward signe: and the first is not alwaies in our power: though we must doe well also to our enemies, when we may: but to blesse and vse good words, at all times may be done, Tolet: and the Apostle in expressing the same thing by the negatiue, blesse and curse not, sheweth how hard a thing this is to doe, and therefore he doth inculcate it againe, and thereby he admonisheth, that we should be constant, still to blesse, although they cease not to persecute vsus: and not to blesse in part, and curse in part, Tolet.
4. Neither doth this precept onelyonly admonish vsus, vt bene loquerentur, to speake well of our enemies, as Erasmus readeth: but in the repetition, so much is insinuated, that we should not onelyonly abstaine from cursing or euill speaking, but wish vntounto them well, in praying for their conuersation, Martyr, Beza.
5. Bucer denieth, that here we are commanded to praise our enemies, non iubet, vt laudemus, &c. he biddeth not that the persecutor should be praised, but that we should pray for them, and admonish them with mild and gentle words: but Pet. Martyr here sheweth, our enemie may be praised also: we must distinguish betweene the euill that is in them, and the good gifts of God, which they hauehave, which we are not to obscure and extenuate, howsoeuer they are euill affected toward vsus: as Paul did commend in Agrippa, his knowledge of the Prophets, Act. 26.27. and Aeschines, though Demosthenes were his enemie, yet commended vntounto the Rhodians his eloquence in that bitter oration, which Demosthenes made against him. This also is true, but it is not within the compasse of the Apostles precept here: which admonisheth vsus, both with good words, and good desires, to qualifie the hatred of our enemies.
6. This lesson, which Paul teacheth others, he practised himselfe, 2. Cor. 4.13. we are euill spoken of, and yet we blesse: and he himselfe had learned it first of his and our Master our blessed Sauiour, Matth. 5.34. Blesse them that curse you, pray for them that persecute you: wherein we see the perfection of Christian precepts beyond the counsell of the wise heathen: Vespasianus thus resolued, that it was not lawfull to reuile a Senator; but if he rayled first, then one might reuile him againe, for by his rayling he had depriued himselfe of his Senators dignitie. Now if it be not lawfull to curse our enemie, much lesse should men teuile any others, Martyr.
7. Here might be noted the opinion of Thomas Aquinas, who denieth that this is a precept, to pray in particular for our enemies, but a counsell onelyonly of perfection: and that this bindeth no further as a precept, then that we exclude not our enemies generally from our prayers, and to helpe them in the extreame case of necessitie: but this shall be handled among the Controversies.
22. Quest. Of the reasons which should mooue vsus to louelove our enemies.
Chrysostome produceth these reasons. 1. praemi…rum procuratores sunt, &c. they are procurers of our reward, which persecute vsus: for they are pronounced blessed, that suffer for righteousnes. 2. mul…um erga Christum amorem ostendit, &c. it sheweth great louelove toward Christ, when we are content to endure reproches for his name: whereas it is a signe of small louelove, when men are impatient against their persecutors. 3. adversaries stupifacies, &c. thou shalt astonish the enemie, when he seeth thy patience, and thereby he will know, that thou seekest an other life, contemning all the troubles of this: & sic à persecutione abstinebit, and so he will abstaine from persecuting of thee. 3. sunt materia pulcherrimarum virtutum &c. they are the matter and occasion of most goodly vertues: for as the Apostle saith, tribulation bringeth forth patience, Rom. 5.3. 4. S. Iames saith, c. 1. Let patience hauehave her perfect worke: so that vnlesse we by patience hold out to the end, all is nothing, our faith is imperfect, our hope imperfect: whatsoeuer we doe is imperfect, Martyr. 5. an other reason is, because God hath euen among our persecutors, aliquos electos, some elect, which shall at the last be conuerted vntounto him, Osiander. 6. Adde hereunto, that we must acknowledge iust…m imperium Dei, the right and soueraigntie, which God hath ouer vsus, so to dispose, that our enemies should persecute vsus, which made the Prophet Dauid patiently to beare Shemei his reprochfull words: it may be (saith he) that God hath bidde him curse Dauid: we should then herein submit our selues to the will of God, Gryneus. 7. and further, conscientia propriae infirmitatis, the conscience of our owne infirmitie should moone vsus to patience, as the Preacher saith, Eccles. 7.22.23. GiueGive not thy heart to all the words that men speake, &c. for oftentimes thine heart knoweth that thou also hast cursed others, Gryneus. 8. the excellencie of this vertue should mooue vsus: that whereas it is an ordinarie thing to louelove our friends, hoc Philosophici viri est, euen the Philosophers could doe that: it is a rare thing for one to louelove his enemies: istud angeli est, such a man is an angell, Chrysost. nay, which is more, herein we are not onelyonly like to Angles, but vntounto Christ himselfe, who prayed for those that did persecute him. 9. to conclude, the inheritance of blessing is ours if we blesse, but if we curse, ad nos non pertinebit benedictionis inberitas, the inheritance of blessing shall not appertaine vntounto vsus: See 1. Pet. 3.9. Pellican.
Quest. 23. Whether it be not lawfull vponupon any occasion to pray against our enemies.
It is euident, that both the Prophets sometime cursed their enemies, as Elisha did the children that railed on him, 2. King. 2. and Dauid saith in the Psalmes, as he is alleadged by S. Paul, c. 11.10. Let their eyes be darkened, and bowe downe their backe alwayes: as likewise the Apostles, as S. Peter cursed Simon Magus, thy money perish with thee: Act. 8. and S. Paul Elymas the sorcerer, Act. 13.10. O full of all subtiltie and mischiefe, the child of the deuill, &c. wherefore all imprecations are not Iawfull, wherein these cautions must be obserued.
1. Here the men of God, when they vse imprecations and curses, non respiciunt suam causam, aut suas iniurias, doe not looke vntounto their owne cause, nor their priuate iniuries, but they consider how the glorie of God is hindered by the wicked: and in that regard, they pray against them, as Dauid did against Achitophel, yet he was most patient in his owne particular, when Shemei reuiled him: so first the cause must be considered, it must not be priuate, but publike, Mart.
2. It must be considered, with what spirit they are mooued, which vse imprecations: for the Prophets which vsed cursing, did it ex speciali vocatione, & spiritus sancti ins…iu, by a speciall vocation, and the instinct of the spirit, Osiand. and such curses, as Augustine saith, non sunt de malo voto imprecantis, sed de praescio spiritu denuntiantis, proceede not of the euill desire of the curser, but of the foreseeing spirit of the denouncer, lib. 16. contra Faustum, cap. 22.
3. They must be considered who are accursed: then the Prophets vsed to curse, quando aliquos incurabiles, & deploratos esse vident, when they sawe any to be incurable and past all hope, Gualter: they cursed onelyonly those which were professed enemies of God, and godlinesse.
4. Adde hereunto the ende, which one propoundeth to himselfe in his cursing, it must not bee done, livore vindictae, with desire of reuenge, but zelo iustitiae, with zeale of iustice, Gorrhan: for like as iusta impiorum vltio, &c. the iust reuenge of the wicked agreeth vntounto God, who is charitie it selfe, so in the zeale of iustice one may pray for the punishment of the wicked, and not therein offend, not beeing pricked forward with a revengefull minde in himselfe, but looking to Gods iustice: as our Blessed Sauiour by himselfe weepeth ouer Ierusalem, because they knewe not the time of their visitation, at idem cum agit cum partre: but when he hath to deale with his father, then he thanketh him, that he had revealed those things to babes, and hid them from the wise and prudent, Matth. 11.25. Olevian. So we of our owne priuate inclination should be readie to extend our louelove vntounto our enemies, but God must be loued aboue all; and when we set before vsus his glorie and iustice, we may safely pray for the remoouing of all impediments: These cautions obserued, all imprecations are not simply to be condemned: See this question handled before also, c. 11. quest. 12.