E-Book, Englisch, Band 6, 400 Seiten
Hodge / McGrath Romans
1. Auflage 1994
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1695-5
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
E-Book, Englisch, Band 6, 400 Seiten
Reihe: Crossway Classic Commentaries
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1695-5
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
CHARLES HODGE (1797-1878) was a professor of biblical literature and theology at Princeton for over fifty years. Hodge also edited the Princeton Review for forty-six years, in which he particularly championed divine sovereignty in salvation and the infallibility of the Bible. He is especially well-known for his commentaries on Romans, Ephesians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians.
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Romans
Chapter 1
Verses 1–17
1. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle. In keeping with the ancient way of starting a letter, the apostle begins by stating his name and office. It was his office that gave him the right to address the believers at Rome, and elsewhere, with that authoritative tone which pervades all his letters. Speaking as Christ’s messenger, he spoke as Christ spoke, as one who had authority, and not as an ordinary teacher.
The apostle’s original name was Saul, and he was ?rst called Paul in Acts 13:9. Since this change of name is mentioned in the paragraph about the conversion of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, some have supposed that Paul took his name to compliment this distinguished convert. This supposition does not seem to be in accord with Paul’s character and is, on other grounds, less probable than either of the following two suggestions.
First, it was not unusual for a Jew to change his name as a result of some remarkable event, as in the case of Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 17:5, and 32:28), or when appointed to a new position (Genesis 41:45; Daniel 1:6-7). Thus a new name is sometimes equivalent to a new appointment (Revelation 2:17). So it may be that the apostle received the name Paul when he was called to the office of apostle. This supposition is supported by the argument that he received his name soon after he started to exercise his apostleship in public; also by the fact that Simon was called Cephas when he was called to be an apostle (John 1:42), and James and John were called Boanerges (Mark 3:17). Hence Theophylact says that Saul was called Paul in order that, even in this matter, he should not fall behind the most important of the apostles.
Second, it was very common for Jews who had frequent dealings with the heathen to have two names, one Jewish and the other Greek or Roman. Sometimes these names were quite different from each other, like Hillel and Pollio, and sometimes they were closely related, like Silas and Silvanus. It is most likely that this was the case with the apostle. He was called Saul among the Jews, and Paul among the Gentiles; and as he was the apostle to the Gentiles the latter name became his common designation. As this change was, however, made or announced at a decisive moment in the apostle’s life (see Acts 13:9), the two explanations may be joined together. “The only supposition,” says Dr. J. A. Alexander in his comment on Acts 13:9, “which is free from all these difficulties, and affords a satisfactory solution of the facts in question, is that this was the time fixed by divine authority for Paul’s manifestation as the apostle of the Gentiles, and that this manifestation was made more conspicuous by its coincidence with his triumph over a representative of unbelieving and apostate Judaism, and the conversion of an official representative of Rome, whose name was identical with his own apostolic title.”
In calling himself a servant (bondsman) of Christ Jesus, he may have intended either to declare himself the dependent and worshiper of Christ, as all Christians are slaves of Christ (Ephesians 6:6), or to express his official relationship to the church as Christ’s minister. The latter is the more probable explanation since in the Old Testament the term “servant of the Lord” is a common official designation of anyone who is in God’s service (Joshua 1:1 and 24:19; Jeremiah 29:19; Isaiah 42:1). Moreover, in the New Testament we ?nd the same use of the word, not only in the beginning of several of the letters (Philippians 1:1, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus”; James 1:1, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”; 2 Peter 1:1, “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ”), but also, in some instances, the word “servant” is interchangeable with the word “minister” (see Colossians 1:7; 4:7, 12). It is, therefore, a general official designation of which, in the present case, apostle is the speci?c explanation.
It has also been correctly pointed out that as the expression servant of Christ implies implicit obedience and subjection, it assumes the Redeemer’s divine authority. So we ?nd the apostle denying that he was the servant of men and rejecting all human authority concerning matters of faith and duty, and yet affirming absolute subjection of conscience and reason to the authority of Jesus Christ.
1. Called to be an apostle. Paul was not only a servant of Christ, but by divine appointment an apostle. This idea is included in the word called, which also means “chosen, appointed”; and the calling, or vocation, of believers to grace and salvation, as well as of the apostles to their office, is uniformly ascribed to God or Christ (see Galatians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; Titus 1:1; Galatians 1:15). As the personal call of Christ was one of the essential quali?cations of an apostle, Paul asserts in the use of the word called that he was neither self-appointed nor chosen by men to that sacred office.
The word “apostle” occurs in its original sense of “messenger” several times in the New Testament (see John 13:16; Philippians 2:25 and 4:18). In 2 Corinthians 8:23, Paul, speaking of the brethren who were with him, calls them “representatives of the churches”; the translators of the King James Version are correct in rendering this phrase, “messengers of the churches.”
As a strict official designation, the word “apostle” is con?ned to those men selected and commissioned by Christ himself to deliver in his name the message of salvation. It appears from Luke 6:13 that the Saviour himself gave them this title: “When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.” If it is asked why this name was chosen, it is perhaps enough to say that it was especially appropriate. It is given to those who were sent by Christ to perform a particular service, who were therefore correctly called “messengers.” It is not necessary to resort for an explanation of the term to the fact that the Hebrew word for “messenger” was applied sometimes to the teachers and ministers of the synagogue and sometimes to plenipotentiaries sent by the Sanhedrin to execute some ecclesiastical commission.
The apostles, then, were Christ’s direct messengers, appointed to bear testimony to what they had seen and heard. “And you also must testify,” said Christ, speaking to the twelve, “for you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27). This was their special office; hence when Judas fell, Peter said, “It is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. . . . For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection” (Acts 1:21-22). To be an apostle, therefore, it was necessary to have seen Christ after his resurrection (1 Corinthians 9:1) and to have had knowledge about his life and teachings from Christ himself. Without this no man could be a witness; he would only report what he had heard from others and could bear no independent testimony to what he himself had seen and heard. Christ, therefore, says to his disciples after his resurrection, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8), and the apostles accordingly constantly presented themselves in this way (Acts 2:32; 3:15; 13:31). “We are witnesses,” said Peter, speaking of himself and his fellow-apostles, “of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem” (Acts 10:39).
When Paul was called to be an apostle, the Saviour said to him, “I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you” (Acts 26:16). Therefore we ?nd that whenever Paul was called upon to defend his apostleship, he strenuously asserted that he was not appointed by man, but by Jesus Christ, and that his doctrines were neither received from man, nor was he taught them, but they came “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12).
Since the testimony which the apostles were to bear related to all that Jesus had taught them, it was through preaching the Gospel that they discharged their duty as witnesses. Hence Paul says, “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17). To the elders of Ephesus Paul said, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may ?nish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).
To give authority to this testimony the apostles were inspired, and as religious teachers were infallible (John 14:26 and 16:13). To con?rm their mission, they had the power of working miracles (Matthew 10:8). They could communicate this power to others through the laying on of their hands (Acts 9:15, 17, 18; 19:6). This is what is meant by giving the Holy Spirit, for the apostles never claimed the power of communicating the sanctifying in?uence of the Spirit. Nor was the power to give the Spirit limited only to the apostles, for we read that Ananias, a disciple, was sent to Paul that Paul might receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17).
The apostles seem also to have had the gift of “distinguishing between spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:10) and of forgiving sins (John 20:23)....
