Commentary on Romans, Biblical exegesis 2 · Chapter 15 · Section 3 · Subsection 16
Quest. 16. Of the places of Scripture, produced by the Apostle to prooue the calling of the Gentiles. v. 9.10.11.12.
v. 9. I will confesse thee among the Gentiles: 1. This cannot be vnderstood of the person of Dauid, for he made this song a little before his death, as appeareth 2. Sam. 22. when God had deliuered him from all his enemies; he could not then in his owne person set forth the praise of God among the Gentiles in his graue. 2. Iunius in his parallels, thinketh that Dauid speaketh this of himselfe, but vnderunder the person of Christ, that he in him, which should come of his seed, as one of his faithfull members, should set forth the praises of God among the Gentiles: as Levi is said Heb. 7. to hauehave beene tithed in Abraham. 3. Pet. Mar. vnderstandeth the bodie of Christ, the Church of God, in whose person Dauid speaketh: 4. rather Dauid speaketh here in the person of Christ, who in his members doth continually set forth the praises of God among the Gentiles: filius Dei laudat patrem per ora & opera Gentium, the Sonne praiseth the Father by the mouthes and workes of the Gentiles: Haymo: and because facit confiteri, he maketh them confesse vntounto the praise of God. 5. so first here the consequent is prooued by the antecedent: because God cannot be praised, nisi in caetu sidelium, but in the congregation of the faithfull, Calvin: the Gentiles cannot please God, vnlesse they first should become the people of God: and then the force of the argument lieth in this prediction and promise made by Dauid, which must be fulfilled: but Dauid promiseth that the Gentiles, when they are called, shall praise God, therefore they shall be called.
v. 10. Reioyce yee Gentiles with his people: 1. some thinke this place to be taken out of Psalem 67.5. Let the people praise thee O God, &c. Calvin, Gualter: but there the other words, with thy people, are not found: Thomas, as Erasmus obserueth well, will hauehave it cited out of the 25. of Isay: but it is euident to be found Deuter. 32.43. Yee nations praise his people, or reioyce with his people. 2. But the Iewes will obiect, that the Apostle doth not cite that place aright: for the words in the Hebrew are, praise yee nations his people, not with his people, or, and his people. Answ. This place must either be read thus, praise ye Gentiles his people, or ye Gentiles his people praise him, or ye Gentiles with his people, &c. the first is not so fit, for Moses in that song doth reprooue the people of Israel, and threatneth, that for their disobedience they shall be cast off, v. 21. I will mooue them to iealousie with those, which are no people: and therefore it is not like, that Moses would bid the Gentiles praise the people, whome he had dispraised himselfe, Iun. and yet this reading beeing admitted, the Gentiles could not praise the people of God, but they must praise their God also, and God could they not praise and honour, vnlesse they were first called to the knowledge of his name: the second reading doth manifestly make the Gentiles the people of God, as it were excluding the Iewes: therefore the third is fittest, ioyning both Gentiles and Iewes together in the praising of God: the Apostle addeth the word foreign, with, for better explanation, following the Septuagint. 3. Againe, whereas the Iewes obiect, that the people of God in the Scriptures, are sometime expressed by the name of goi, a nation, as Isa. 1.4. a sinnefull nation, a people laden with iniquitie: We answer, that so it can not be here, because the nations are called to reioyce with the people of God, where the nations are manifestly distinguished from the people of God: and though the word goi, in the singular, a nation, doe sometime signifie the Iewes, yet in the plurall, goijm, nations, it signifieth the Gentiles. 4. And herein lieth the force of this argument. 1. the consequent is prooued by the antecedent; by their ioy, is inferred their partaking of the grace and knowledge of God, for the which they ioy, Par. 2. and further hereby is signified, that they shall be associate to the people of God, and be ioyned with them in the seruice of God, Faius. 3. nay by their zeale of Gods glorie, and earnest reioycing, they shall prouoke the Iewes to emulation, Martyr. 4. and beside, hereby is insinuated the merciemercy, which the Gentiles shall receiue: for the more free the benefit is, the greater cause there is of reioycing: Tolet.
v. 11. Praise the Lord all ye Gentiles, and magnifie him all ye people, Psal. 127.1. 1. Haymo in the first place vnderstandeth the nations, in the second the people of Gods that they should reioyce de salute fratrum, for the saluation of their brethren: quia aux… Deus numerum plebis, because God hath encreased the number of his people, by adding to the Gentiles: glosse interlin. and Gorrhan yeeldeth this reason, because a people is defined to be rationabilis hominum caetus iuris consensu, & vtilitatis communione sociaetus, a reasonable companie of men consociate together by the consent of a law, and communitie of profit, and such were the Iewes, &c. But such also were the Gentiles, that had their lawes and common societies: therefore it is not necessarie to make here this distinction. 2. It sufficeth that this note of vniuersalitie all, comprehendeth both Iewes and Gentiles, that they should praise God for his merciemercy and truth, in extending his louing kindnes to the Gentiles, and in performing his promises made vntounto the Fathers: Calvin: 3. and herein consisteth the force of the argument, the Gentiles are willed by the Prophet to praise God, which they could not doe without the knowledge of God: at non frustra iubentur, but they are not willed or commanded to praise God in vaine: therefore they should praise God, and consequently should obtaine merciemercy, for the which God is to be praised. 4. Chrysostome giueth two reasons, why the Apostle here alleadgeth so many testimonies to prooue the vocation of the Gentiles, and to suppresse the insolencie of the Iewes, not to dispise the Gentiles, videns ab omnibus illos Prophetis vocari, seeing they were called and named by all the Prophets: the other, to teach the Gentiles modestie and humilitie, seeing they were called onelyonly of grace and merciemercy.
v. 12. There shall be a roote of Iesse, &c. this testimonie is cited out of the Prophecie of Isai. c. 11.10. but somewhat diuersly from the originall, for both as Origen obserueth some things are omitted, which the Prophet hath, as in the beginning of the verse, these words, in that day, and in the end, his rest shall be glorious, which words were not necessarie to the Apostles purpose: and beside in the rest, he followeth the translation of the Septuagint, as he doth vsually, as Origin noteth, but when either minus necessaria videbuntur, the things interpreted by the Septuagint, seeme to be not greatly necessarie, or when sensibus Scripturae vti vult magis, quàm verbis interpretum, he followeth the sense of the Scripture, rather then the words of the interpreters: so in these two cases the Apostle leaueth the Septuagint, when either they adde any thing superfluously, not in the originall, or doe leaue the sense of the Scripture. 2. But in this place S. Paul refuseth not the interpretation of the Septuagint, because they retaine the sense, though they read not the words: whereas the originall readeth, he shall stand vp, as a signe to the people, the Septuagint render, he shall rise vp to raigne ouer the Gentiles: in the same sense, quia sub vexillo principis agat populus, because the people doe gather vnderunder the ensigne of the Prince, Beza, Erasmus: and whereas in the Hebrew text it is said, they shall seeke vntounto him, the Septuagint read, they shall must in him: sperant qui concurrunt ad aliquem, for they hope, which runne vntounto any to aske, Eras. and no man seeketh that, de cuius inventione desperet, of the finding whereof he doubteth. 3. A roote of Iesse. 1. Origen interpreteth this name to signifie, est mihi, he is vntounto me, which he maketh to be the name of Christ, and to signifie his eternitie, as the Lord saide to Moses, I am hath sent thee, Exod. 3. but in the originall the proper name is Ishai, which signifieth, vir meus, my man or husband, which the Greekes turne into the name Iesse. 2. Haymo giueth this for one sense, that Christ is this roote of Iesse, that he which in respect of his humanitie came of the stocke of Iesse, he was in respect of his diuinitie, creator & radix Iesse, the creator and roote of Iesse himselfe: this sense followeth Gualter, that this roote of Iesse was Christ himselfe, the roote, foundation, and cause of all the fauours, which God bestowed vponupon that familie: but Iesse rather is the roote and stocke himselfe, and Christ as a graffe should grow out of his roote, as the Prophet himselfe sheweth, c. 11.1. or to speake more directly, Iesse was as the roote, Dauid as the tree out of that roote, Marie as a branch of that tree, and Christ as a budde of that branch, Haymo. 4. and it is called a roote, because then that familie was obscure, when Christ sprang vp out of it, as the roote of the tree lieth hid in the earth: and Iesse is named rather then Dauid, because the kingdome of Dauid was then ceased, onelyonly the familie of Iesse still remained.