Romans 10

Since Paul wants to liberate the Jews from the law, which is a veil over their faces, but does not want to appear to desire this out of any hatred for Judaism, he shows his love for them and says many good things about the law. But he teaches that the time for obeying the law has come to an end and by doing this bears witness that he is concerned for them, if only they will listen to him and not assume that he is their enemy.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

He is now going again to rebuke them more vehemently than before. Wherefore he again does away with every suspicion of hatred, and makes a great effort beforehand to correct misapprehension. Do not then, he says, mind words or accusations, but observe that it is not in any hostile spirit that I say this. For it is not likely that the same person should desire their salvation, and not desire it only, but even pray for it, and yet should also hate them, and feel aversion to them. For here he calls his exceeding desire, and the prayer which he makes, "heart's desire." For it is not the being freed from punishment only, but that they may also be saved, that he makes so great a point of, and prays for. Nor is it from this only, but also from the sequel that he shows the goodwill that he hath towards them. For from what is open to him, as far as he can, he forces his way, and is contentious to find out some shadow at least of an excuse for them. And he hath not the power, being overcome by the nature of the facts.

Homily on Romans 17

Here Paul shows that he prays for his enemies not only with the tongue but also with the heart.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Here Paul begins to speak of his hope for the Jews, lest the Gentiles in their turn become condescending toward them. For just as the pride of the Jews had to be countered because they gloried in their works, so also with the Gentiles, lest they become proud at having been preferred over the Jews.

On Romans 66

Having intended to strike a blow against the Jews, he prefaces it with a brief word, lest they think that his subsequent speech proceeds from hostility toward them, and he speaks of the "desire of the heart," that is, of his own wish, of his strong desire, even of his prayer for the Jews, that they might not only be freed from punishment, but also be saved. How then, he says, can I be hostile toward you, when I pray to God for your salvation?

Commentary on Romans

After showing how the gentiles have been called to faith by the election of God's grace and also some of the Jews, i.e., a minority who did not stumble and fall, the Apostle now discusses in more detail the fall of the Jews.

In regard to this he does three things.

First, he explains the cause of their fall, over which he laments; from which he shows the cause of their fall to be miserable;

second, he shows that their fall is not universal, at I say then (Rom 11:1);

third, that it is neither unprofitable nor irreparable, at I say then (Rom 11:1).

In regard to the first he does two things:

first, he shows that their fall is lamentable, considering its cause;

second, that it is not wholly inexcusable, at but I say: have they not heard? (Rom 10:18).

In regard to the first he does two things:

first, he shows that he feels pity for the Jews;

second, the cause of his pity, at for I bear them witness.

First, therefore, he says: I have said that the Jews have not attained the law of justice, because they stumbled over the stumbling block. But I am not indignant against them; rather, I feel compassion. And, therefore, I say to you, brethren, whether you be converts from the gentiles or from the Jews: you are all brethren (Matt 23:8), the will of my heart is for their salvation, namely, that they be saved, as I have been saved: I wish that all were as I myself am (1 Cor 7:7); would to God that all who hear me this day might become such as I am (Acts 26:29). In this he was conformed to God, who desires all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4).

Not only his will but his prayer is directed to their salvation, but even the affection of his will, hence, he adds: and my prayer to God is for them unto salvation: far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you (1 Sam 12:23); pray for one another that you may be saved (Jas 5:16).

This makes it clear that we should pray for unbelievers that they may be saved, because faith is a gift from God: by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8).

Commentary on Romans

2–3

And the same apostle owns that he bears witness to the Jews, "that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." For they did not know and do the will of the law; but what they supposed, that they thought the law wished. And they did not believe the law as prophesying, but the bare word; and they followed through fear, not through disposition and faith. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," who was prophesied by the law to every one that believeth.

The Stromata Book 2

For," says he, "being ignorant of (the righteousness of) God, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God; for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Hereupon we shall be confronted with an argument of the heretic, that the Jews were ignorant of the superior God, since, in opposition to him, they set up their own righteousness-that is, the righteousness of their law-not receiving Christ, the end (or finisher) of the law.

Against Marcion Book 5

If someone has a love for God but does not know that love must be patient, kind, not envious, not acting wrongly, not puffed up, not ambitious, not seeking its own and so on; if he does not have these things in his love but only loves God in his emotions, then it may rightly be said of him that he has a love for God but not according to knowledge.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

I know that you [Emperor Theodosius I] are God-fearing, merciful, gentle and calm, that you have the faith and fear of God in your heart, but often some things escape our notice. Some people have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Care must be taken … lest this condition steal upon pious souls.

Letter 40.5

"For I bear them record," says he, "that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Ought not this then to be a ground for pardoning and not for accusing them? For if it is not of man that they are separated, but through zeal, they deserved to be pitied rather than punished. But observe how adroitly he favors them in the word, and yet shows their unseasonable obstinacy.

Homily on Romans 17

The Jews are zealous in pursuing the law, but they do not understand that Christ came according to the law and that they cannot be justified by the law. Indeed, it is risky to do something without knowledge, because it often turns out contrary to what was expected.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Paul adds criticism to his praise, just as food sometimes contains a hook, so that they might derive some benefit from what he had to say.

Interpretation of the Letter to the Romans

Having once been one of them himself, Paul understood and bore witness that the Jews fought against the gospel out of zeal for God, yet it was a zeal uninformed by true knowledge.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

At first, he seems to favor and please the Jews, for having said of them: "they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge," he shows that they are worthy more of mercy than of punishment. They are zealous, he says, for the law given to them by God, yet they are zealous not according to understanding, not wishing to recognize that the law has ceased and been abolished.

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, for I bear them witness, he discloses the cause of his compassion, namely, because they sinned from ignorance, not from set malice.

In regard to this he does three things.

First, he cites their ignorance;

second, he shows the area of their ignorance, at for they, being ignorant of the justice;

third, he proves the truth of those matters about which they were ignorant, at for Moses wrote.

First, therefore, he says: I desire and pray for their salvation and I grieve for them, because I bear them witness that they have a zeal of God, i.e., out of zeal for God they persecute Christ and his members: the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God (John 16:2). He is a good witness to this, because he himself had once been in a similar state of mind: as to zeal a persecutor of the Church (Phil 3:6), but not according to knowledge, namely, because their zeal was not guided by correct knowledge as long as they were ignorant of the truth: therefore, my people go into exile for want of knowledge (Isa 5:13); if anyone does not recognize this, he will not be recognized (1 Cor 14:38).

Commentary on Romans

He does not call the law given by Moses commandments of men, but the traditions of the elders themselves which they had invented, and in upholding which they made the law of God of none effect, and were on this account also not subject to His Word. For this is what Paul says concerning these men: "For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." And how is Christ the end of the law, if He be not also the final Cause of it? For He who has brought in the end has Himself also wrought the beginning; and it is He who does Himself say to Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have come down to deliver them;" it being customary from the beginning with the Word of God to ascend and descend for the purpose of saving those who were in affliction.

Against Heresies Book 4

Paul says that the Jews did not accept Christ because they were mistaken, not because there was any malice on their part.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

"For they being ignorant," he says, "of God's righteousness." Again the word would lead to pardon. But the sequel to stronger accusation, and such as does away with defence of any kind. "And going about," he says, "to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." And these things he says to show, that it was from a petulancy and love of power that they erred, rather than from ignorance, and that not even this righteousness from the deeds of the Law did they establish. For saying "going about to establish" is what one would do to show this. And in plain words indeed he has not stated this (for he has not said, that they fell short of both righteousnesses), but he has given a hint of it in a very judicious manner, and with the wisdom so befitting him. For if they are still "going about" to establish that, it is very plain that they have not yet established it. If they have not submitted themselves to this, they have fallen short of this also. But he calls it their "own righteousness," either because the Law was no longer of force, or because it was one of trouble and toil. But this he calls God's righteousness, that from faith, because it comes entirely from the grace from above, and because men are justified in this case, not by labors, but by the gift of God. But they that evermore resisted the Holy Ghost, and vexatiously tried to be justified by the Law, came not over to the faith. But as they did not come over to the faith, nor receive the righteousness thereupon ensuing, and were not able to be justified by the Law either, they were thrown out of all resources.

Homily on Romans 17

Because the Jews did not know that God justifies by faith alone and because they thought they were righteous by the works of a law they did not keep, they refused to submit themselves to the forgiveness of sins, to prevent the appearance of having been sinners, as it is written: “But the Pharisees, rejecting God’s purpose for themselves, refused to be baptized with John’s baptism.”

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Paul said this about the Jews who because of their self-confidence rejected grace and as a result did not believe in Christ. The Jews, he says, seek to establish a righteousness of their own that comes from the law, not that the law was established by them but rather that they had placed their righteousness in the law which comes from God by supposing that they were able to fulfill this law by themselves. For they were ignorant of the righteousness of God, not that righteousness whereby God is righteous but the one which comes to man from God.

Grace and Free Will 12.24

When Paul talks about the Jews’ own righteousness he means their inappropriate way of keeping the law. For they were trying to keep something which was already out of date.

Interpretation of the Letter to the Romans

But further he shows their passion for disputes and love of authority. They strove to establish their own righteousness, that is, the righteousness from the law, composed of their own deeds and labors, which, having already fallen, cannot stand, and thus they neither established their own righteousness nor submitted to the righteousness of God. This is indeed a sign of self-praise and love of authority, even of foolishness—to strive to establish that which cannot stand, and to spend all one's time in this. The righteousness of God here refers to that which is from faith, which does not depend on our labors, but is entirely a gift of God.

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, for they, being ignorant, he shows wherein they were ignorant.

First, he makes his statement;

second, he explains it, at for the end of the law is Christ.

First, therefore, he says: I am right in saying that it was not according to knowledge; for being ignorant of the justice of God, i.e., by which God justifies them through faith: the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and seeking to establish their own justice (Rom 3:22), which consists in the works of the law, which in their opinion awaited nothing from God but depended solely on the decision of the performer.

Consequently, he describes their justice as human and not divine, as he says above: if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about before men, but not before God (Rom 4:2).

For they . . . have not submitted themselves to the justice of God, i.e., they refused to be subject to Christ through faith in whom men are made just by God: only in God is my soul at rest (Ps 63:1); that the whole world may be subject to God (Rom 3:19); how long do you refuse to submit to me? (Exod 10:3).

Commentary on Romans

How is Christ the end of the law if he is not also the cause of it? For he who has brought in the end also created the beginning.

Against Heresies 4.12.3

And they did not believe the law as prophesying, but the bare word; and they followed through fear, not through disposition and faith. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness". For so he, who was after the law, Moses, foretold that it was necessary to hear in order that we might, according to the apostle, receive Christ, the fulness of the law.

The Stromata Book 2

The Jews did not understand the intention of the law and so failed to practice it. They made up their own version and thought that that was what the law intended. They had no faith in the prophetic power of the law. They followed the bare letter, not the inner meaning—fear, not faith.

The Stromata Book 2

And what saith the Lord to him? "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." "Suffer it to be so now," John; thou art not wiser than I. Thou seest as man; I foreknow as God. It becomes me to do this first, and thus to teach. I engage in nothing unbecoming, for I am invested with honour. Dost thou marvel, O John, that I am not come in my dignity? The purple robe of kings suits not one in private station, but military splendour suits a king: am I come to a prince, and not to a friend? "Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness: "I am the Fulfiller of the law; I seek to leave nothing wanting to its whole fulfilment, that so after me Paul may exclaim, "Christ is the fulfilling of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Baptize me, John, in order that no one may despise baptism. I am baptized by thee, the servant, that no one among kings or dignitaries may scorn to be baptized by the hand of a poor priest. Suffer me to go down into the Jordan, in order that they may hear my Father's testimony, and recognise the power of the Son. "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Then at length John suffers Him. "And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and the heavens were opened unto Him; and, lo, the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and rested upon Him. And a voice (came) from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Dogmatical and Historical Fragments

Christ is the end of the law, but only for those who believe. Those who do not believe and who do not have Christ do not have the end of the law and therefore cannot come to justification.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

There was indeed a time long ago when attention was to be paid to these shadows and figures prescribing abstinence from foods pronounced good in their creation but forbidden by the law. When Christ, “the end of the law,” came, he cleared up all the ambiguities of the law and all those things which antiquity had shrouded in mystery.

Jewish Foods 5.1-2

Christ furnishes believers with holy righteousness, because he is “the end of the law,” and the law prepared the way for Christ by showing that he was the fulfillment of it, the salvation of mankind.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

"For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth." See the judgment of Paul. For as he had spoken of a righteousness, and a righteousness, lest they of the Jews which believed should seem to have the one but be excluded from the other, and to be accused of lawlessness (for even these there was no less cause to fear about as being still newly come in), and lest Jews should again expect to achieve it, and should say, Though we have not at present fulfilled it, yet we certainly will fulfil it, see what ground he takes. He shows that there is but one righteousness, and that has its full issue in this, and that he that hath taken to himself this, the one by faith, hath fulfilled that also. But he that rejects this, falls short as well of that also. For if Christ be "the end of the Law," he that hath not Christ, even if he seem to have that righteousness, hath it not. But he that hath Christ, even though he have not fulfilled the Law aright, hath received the whole. For the end of the physician's art is health. As then he that can make whole, even though he hath not the physician's art, hath everything; but he that knows not how to heal, though he seem to be a follower of the art, comes short of everything: so is it in the case of the Law and of faith. He that hath this hath the end of that likewise, but he that is without this is an alien from both. For what was the object of the Law? To make man righteous. But it had not the power, for no one fulfilled it. This then was the end of the Law and to this it looked throughout, and for this all its parts were made, its feasts, and commandments, and sacrifices, and all besides, that man might be justified. But this end Christ gave a fuller accomplishment of through faith. Be not then afraid, he says, as if transgressing the Law in having come over to the faith. For then dost thou transgress it, when for it thou dost not believe Christ. If thou believest in Him, then thou hast fulfilled it also, and much more then it commanded. For thou hast received a much greater righteousness.

Homily on Romans 17

On the day that one believes in Christ it is as if one has fulfilled the whole law.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

This does not mean that Christ is a part of the law but rather that he is the beginning of a new life. The law has come to an end; it has ceased.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

Christ fulfilled the law’s purpose by granting the righteousness which comes by faith in him to all those who accepted him.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

Since he truly called the righteousness that is from the law a righteousness, then lest, on the one hand, those who believed from among the Jews should say: so then we became transgressors when we abandoned this righteousness, and on the other hand, lest those who did not believe could say that although they have not now fulfilled the righteousness according to the law, they can perfectly fulfill it afterward, the apostle, removing both thoughts, says: "Christ is the end of the law." What the law desired and did not accomplish, Christ accomplished, that is, the justification of man. Therefore do not say, O believer from among the Jews, that you became a transgressor of the law; on the contrary, you have come to know the will of the law, which was fulfilled through faith in Christ. On the other hand, you too, O Jew who has not yet believed, do not hope to fulfill the righteousness of the law by yourself: its fulfiller is Christ. Therefore, if you wish to obtain righteousness, receive Christ by faith and you will have everything.

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, for the end of the law is Christ, he explains what he had said, namely, that they are ignorant of God's justice and refuse to submit to him, while they seek to establish their own justice based on the law.

In regard to this it should be noted that, even as the philosophers say, the intention of any lawgiver is to make men virtuous: much more, then, the old law given by God to men was directed toward making men virtuous.

But the law was unable to do this of itself, because the law made no one perfect (Heb 7:19); rather, it ordained men to Christ whom it promised and prefigured: the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith (Gal 3:24). And that is what he says, namely, that the end of the law is Christ, to whom the whole law is ordained: I have seen the end of all perfection (Ps 119:96); the end that through Christ men may attain the justice the law intended: for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (Rom 8:3). And this to everyone who believes, because he justified his own by faith: to all who believed in his name he gave power to become children of God (John 1:12).

Commentary on Romans

Moses did not say that the man who practices the righteousness of the law will live forever but only that he will live by it in this life. For Christ is the end of the law, as the apostle says, and without Christ it is impossible to fulfill the righteousness of the law.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

Paul says this because the righteousness of the law of Moses did not make people guilty as long as they kept it.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

Paul says that the man who fulfilled the law would enjoy the good things promised by it, that is to say, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

"For Moses," he says, "describeth the righteousness which is of the Law." What he means is this. Moses showeth us the righteousness ensuing from the Law, what sort it is of, and whence. What sort is it then of, and what does it consist in? In fulfilling the commandments. "He (the man), that doeth these things," He says, "shall live by (or in), them." And there is no other way of becoming righteous in the Law save by fulfilling the whole of it. But this has not been possible for any one, and therefore this righteousness has failed them. But tell us, Paul, of the other righteousness also, that which is of grace. What is that then, and of what does it consist? Hear the words in which he gives a clear sketch of it. For after he had refuted the other, he next goes on to this.

Homily on Romans 17

Moses distinguished between two kinds of righteousness, the righteousness of faith and the righteousness of works. The latter justifies the suppliant by deeds, but the former justifies by belief alone.… In this age no one keeps the law perfectly without Christ. Believing in him is also implied in the law. On account of this passage some think that the Jews have earned only this present life by the works of the law, but the words of the Lord show that this is not true. When he was asked about eternal life the Lord stipulated the commandments of the law: “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” From this we understand that one who kept the law at that time had everlasting life.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Scripture says not that he will find life through the law, in the sense that through it he will live in heaven but that he will find life through it to the extent that what he will reap what he deserves in this world.

Sermons on the Gospel of Mark 76

Comparing the law with the glory of grace, Paul says that even Moses could not have been justified by the law unless he fulfilled all the commandments of the law.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

He confirms what was said: what the law did not accomplish, Christ accomplished, and says: Moses reasons about the justification of man by means of works. But since there was not a single person who fulfilled the works, justification by the law is impossible.

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, for Moses wrote, he proves the truth of those things about which the Jews were ignorant, namely, that God's justice is more perfect than that of the law; and this he shows on the authority of Moses, the lawgiver of the old law.

First, therefore, he shows by his words the condition of legal justice;

second, he shows the condition of the justice of faith, at but the justice which is of faith.

First, therefore, he says: I have correctly distinguished human justice from God's justice, for Moses wrote that the man who practices the justice which is based on the law shall live by it, where my text has: keep my laws and judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them and: they cast away my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them (Ezek 20:13), namely because by observing the law a man obtained the advantage of not being killed as a transgressor of the law: a man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy (Heb 10:28); everyone who curses his father or his mother shall be put to death (Lev 20:9), and so on for the other commandments.

We can also say that by observing the law a man was regulated in the present life, for the law promised temporal goods and commanded things which were bodily regulations imposed until a time of reformation (Heb 9:10).

But all this seems contrary to what the Lord answered the person asking him: what good deed must I do to have eternal life? (Matt 19:16ff.); for he answered: if you would enter life, keep the commandments (Matt 19:17). Hence, a Gloss on Romans 5:20: law entered in, says that justice based on the law conferred not only temporal benefits but also eternal life.

But Christ's words must be understood according to the spiritual sense of the law, a sense which refers to faith in him. But Paul's words refer to the inward sense of the law according to which the law makes no mention of eternal life.

Commentary on Romans

For as it was not possible that the man who had once for all been conquered, and who had been destroyed through disobedience, could reform himself, and obtain the prize of victory; and as it was also impossible that he could attain to salvation who had fallen under the power of sin,-the Son effected both these things, being the Word of God, descending from the Father, becoming incarnate, stooping low, even to death, and consummating the arranged plan of our salvation, upon whom [Paul], exhorting us unhesitatingly to believe, again says, "Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring down Christ; or who shall descend into the deep? that is, to liberate Christ again from the dead." Then he continues, "If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved." And he renders the reason why the Son of God did these things, saying, "For to this end Christ both lived, and died, and revived, that He might rule over the living and the dead."

Against Heresies Book 3

6–9

"But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven (that is, to bring Christ down from above): or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved."

To prevent the Jews then from saying, How came they who had not found the lesser righteousness to find the greater? he gives a reason there was no answering, that this way was easier than that. For that requires the fulfilment of all things (for when thou doest all, then thou shall live); but the righteousness which is of faith doth not say this, but what? "If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Then again that we may not seem to be making it contemptible by showing it to be easy and cheap, observe how he expands his account of it. For he does not come immediately to the words just given, but what does he say? "But the righteousness which is of faith saith on this wise; Say not in thine heart, Who shall go up into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down); or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)" For as to the virtue manifested in works there is opposed a listlessness, which relaxeth our labors, and it requireth a very wakeful soul not to yield to it: thus, when one is required to believe, there are reasonings which confuse and make havoc of the minds of most men, and it wants a soul of some vigor to shake them thoroughly off. And this is just why he brings the same before one. And as he did in Abraham's case, so he does here also. For having there shown that he was justified by faith, lest he should seem to have gotten so great a crown by a mere chance, as if it were a thing of no account, to extol the nature of faith, he says, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations. And being not weak in faith, he considered his own body now dead, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform": so he showed that there is need of vigor, and a lofty soul, that takes in things beyond expectation, and stumbles not at appearances. This then he does here also, and shows that it requires a wise mind, and a spirit heavenly and great. And he does not say merely, "Say not," but, "Say not in thine heart," that is, do not so much as think of doubting and saying with thyself, And how can this be? You see that this is a chief characteristic of faith, to leave all the consequences of this lower world, and so to seek for that which is above nature, and to cast out the feebleness of calculation, and so to accept everything from the Power of God.

Homily on Romans 17

These are the words not of Moses but of the God of all things, who was using Moses as his mouthpiece.

Interpretation of the Letter to the Romans

6–9

Having learned that the works of the law cannot justify a person, learn how effortlessly and easily we are justified in Christ: for this requires faith from the heart and confession from the lips. But it is necessary to explain more fully what was said: "Who will ascend into heaven? Or who will descend into the abyss?" The Apostle borrowed this from Moses (Deut. 30:11–14), but in the sense that he understood according to his lofty wisdom. Moses in the literal sense speaks thus: the commandment of God lies, O Jew, before your eyes, so that you have no need either to ascend into heaven to find it, or to descend into the abyss, or to cross the sea to take it from there: it is near you, in your mouth and in your mind: God has shown you everything through the law. Thus, it seems, Moses speaks literally; but the Apostle applied this to Christ. Do not doubt, he says, and do not ask in your mind: how did Christ come down from heaven and become incarnate? Or how, having died, did He rise from the abyss, that is, from the nethermost places? But believe that He came down and became incarnate, and that, having been buried, He rose through the resurrection; for God raised Him. Therefore, considering also the dignity of the One who raised Him, it is easy to believe. What is easier than this, when you have salvation in your mouth? And lest anyone, by reason of this very ease, should consider the matter of faith worthy of contempt, he shows that the thoughts of unbelief are contrary to faith itself and that they must be firmly repelled. Do not say, he urges, this or that in your heart, that is, admit no doubts whatsoever in your thoughts.

Commentary on Romans

6–7

Then when he says, but the justice which is of faith, he quotes Moses on justice based on faith.

First, Moses shows the certitude of faith which ought to be in man's heart;

second, the effect of faith, at but what says the Scripture?

First, therefore, he says: Moses speaks not only of the justice based on the law, but also of that based on faith. But the justice which is of faith speaks thus, i.e., speaks in a man's heart, do not say in your heart, i.e., by doubting, who will ascend into heaven? Reflecting on this as though it were impossible, as in Proverbs, he protests: who ascends into heaven and descends? (Prov 30:4). Who will ascend into heaven? For to hold that this is impossible is to bring Christ down from heaven, i.e., to assert that Christ is not in heaven, which is against what it says in John: no one has ascended into heaven but the Son of man who descended from heaven (John 3:13). He who descended is the same also who ascended above all the heavens (Eph 4:10).

Or again do not say . . . who will descend into the abyss? i.e., into hell, as though considering this impossible; for to deny this is to bring Christ up from the dead, i.e., to deny that Christ died. For after dying he descended into the abyss: I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth (Sir 24:41).

This explanation prevents any doubt about two articles of Christian faith, namely Christ's ascension and his death and descent into hell, the first of which pertains to his supreme exaltation and the second to his lowest humiliations.

But it can be explained in another way as giving us certainty about two other articles: first, the Incarnation, in which he descended from heaven to earth. Then the sense is: do not say in your heart: who will ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down? As if to say: who ascends into heaven in order to bring Christ down to us? That this indeed was not necessary, because he came down of his own power.

Second, of the resurrection, when he continues: or do not say: who will descend into the abyss? That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead? As if to say: he descended there, so that he might call Christ thence, as is said in the person of the fool: no man has been known to return from hell (Wis 2:1).

This explanation accords with the words of Moses in Deuteronomy: this commandment that I command you this day is not above you, nor far off from you. Nor is it in heaven, that you should say: which of us can go up to heaven to bring it to us? (Deut 30:11).

Nor is it unseemly, if the Apostle attributes to Christ what Moses said of the commandments of the law; because Christ is the Word of God in which are all God's commandments.

Therefore, one must interpret what he is saying, namely, who will ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down? As if he were saying: who can ascend into heaven to bring God's word to us? And the same must be said in the other which follows.

Commentary on Romans

We are not to think that Christ is in heaven in such a way as to be absent from the depths.… Furthermore, if someone should go down into the depths in his mind and thought, thinking that Christ is contained there and that he can somehow be called back from the dead … let him realize that he ought to think of Christ as he thinks of the Word, the truth and the righteousness of God. These things are not limited to a particular place but are present everywhere, nor can they be called up from the lower depths, but they can be grasped only by the mind and the intellect.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

The quotation is from Deuteronomy [30:12], but the last phrase is the apostle’s own addition. He says that someone who does not doubt about the hope which is in Christ has the righteousness of faith.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

The Word of God leaves believers in no doubt either about the descent of the Lord from heaven for our sake or about the resurrection from the dead and the ascent into heaven.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste," he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated; and "the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience "the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." For this is the affinity of the apostolical teaching and the most holy "faith delivered unto us," which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not "giving heed to endless genealogies," but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one's self and to follow Christ; and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher's will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken.

Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus

Here we have to bear in mind the important distinction between what is possible in theory and what is realized in practice.… Christ, who is the Word of God, is potentially near us and near everyone, but this is only realized in practice when I confess with my mouth that Christ is Lord and when I believe in my heart that God has raised him from the dead.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

By this Paul indicates that Christ is in the heart of all men by virtue of his being the Word or reason [logos] embedded in all things by sharing in which all men are rational.

On First Principles 1.3.6

For the word which we believe is near us, in our mouth, and in our heart; which they, being put in remembrance of, will learn to confess with their mouths that Jesus is the Christ; believing in their heart that God hath raised him from the dead, and being as those who hear, that "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

This is said in Deuteronomy [30:14] in order to show that belief [in Christ] is not all that foreign to our mind or to our nature. Even though we cannot see him with our eyes, what we believe is not out of harmony with the nature of our minds and our way of speaking.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

Historically speaking, Moses said this about the law, but the apostle applies it to Christ, because the law was neither in heaven nor in the abyss. Or it may mean that Paul is ordering them to meditate constantly on the law so that they may find Christ in it. The “word of faith which we preach” is the New Testament.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, but says the Scripture, he shows the fruit of faith on the same authority.

First, he quotes the authority;

second, he explains, at this is the word of faith;

third, he proves that the explanation is fitting, at believe in your heart.

First, therefore he says: but says the Scripture? It says this: the word is near you, even on your mouth and in your heart. For this is what follows after the aforementioned words in Deuteronomy: the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart (Deut 30:14).

As if to say: do not suppose that you are lacking the word of justifying faith, just because Christ is in heaven according to his divine nature and descended into hell after the death of his human nature. For in descending from heaven and rising from the dead, he impressed the word of faith on your lips and in your heart.

Hence the statement that the word is near you can be referred to the fact that we have obtained God's word through Christ's birth and resurrection: it was declared at first by the Lord (Heb 2:3); behold, I have given my words in your mouth (Jer 1:9).

Or, according to the Gloss, the word near should be understood with reference to usefulness, as we say something is near us when it is expedient or useful to us. For our heart is cleansed by the word of God: now you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you (John 15:3).

Or it can be referred to the fact that the words of faith, even though they are above reason—many things are shown to you above the understanding of men (Sir 3:25)—are nevertheless not contrary to reason, because truth cannot be contrary to truth. Your decrees are very sure (Ps 93:5).

Commentary on Romans

For as it was not possible that the man who had once for all been conquered, and who had been destroyed through disobedience, could reform himself, and obtain the prize of victory; and as it was also impossible that he could attain to salvation who had fallen under the power of sin,-the Son effected both these things, being the Word of God, descending from the Father, becoming incarnate, stooping low, even to death, and consummating the arranged plan of our salvation, upon whom [Paul], exhorting us unhesitatingly to believe, again says, "Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring down Christ; or who shall descend into the deep? that is, to liberate Christ again from the dead." Then he continues, "If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved." And he renders the reason why the Son of God did these things, saying, "For to this end Christ both lived, and died, and revived, that He might rule over the living and the dead."

Against Heresies Book 3

The testimony of the heart is the confession of the mouth. “You will be saved” from past transgressions, not from future ones.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

The creed builds up in you what you ought to believe and confess in order to be saved.

Sermons for the Recent Converts, Homily 214.1

Then when he says, this is the word, he explains the above words.

First, he shows what that word is about which Moses speaks, saying, this is the word of faith which we preach. Preach the word (2 Tim 4:2); he that has my word, let him speak my word with truth (Jer 23:28).

Second, he explains how this word is on the lips by confession and in the heart by faith. And this is what he says for if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, i.e., recognize him as Lord by submitting your will to him, as it is said: and no man can say 'the Lord Jesus,' but by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3). And believe in your heart with complete faith which works through love (Gal 5:6), that God has raised him up from the dead, but you, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again (Ps 40:11), because as it is said: he rose by the power of God (2 Cor 13:4), which is common to him and to the Father, you shall be saved, i.e., by eternal salvation, about which it is said: Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation (Isa 45:17).

When he says, the Lord Jesus, he is referring to the mystery of the Incarnation; when he says, Christ, the reference is to the resurrection. He had mentioned these two articles above.

Commentary on Romans

It is better for a man to be silent and be a Christian than to talk and not be one.… Men believe with the heart and confess with the mouth, the one unto righteousness, the other unto salvation. It is good to teach, if the teacher also does what he says.

Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians

But it is God that makes proclamation to us, and He must be believed. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Wherefore the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shah not be put to shame."

The Stromata Book 4

"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Wherefore the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed; that is, the word of faith which we preach: for if thou confess the word with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." There is clearly described the perfect righteousness, fulfilled both in practice and contemplation.

The Stromata Book 4

For, when one reads of God as being "the searcher and witness of the heart; " when His prophet is reproved by His discovering to him the secrets of the heart; when God Himself anticipates in His people the thoughts of their heart, "Why think ye evil in your hearts? " when David prays "Create in me a clean heart, O God," and Paul declares, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness," and John says, "By his own heart is each man condemned; " when, lastly, "he who looketh on a woman so as to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart," -then both points are cleared fully up, that there is a directing faculty of the soul, with which the purpose of God may agree; in other words, a supreme principle of intelligence and vitality (for where there is intelligence, there must be vitality), and that it resides in that most precious part of our body to which God especially looks: so that you must not suppose, with Heraclitus, that this sovereign faculty of which we are treating is moved by some external force; nor with Moschion, that it floats about through the whole body; nor with Plato, that it is enclosed in the head; nor with Zenophanes, that it culminates in the crown of the head; nor that it reposes in the brain, according to the opinion of Hippocrates; nor around the basis of the brain, as Herophilus thought; nor in the membranes thereof, as Strato and Erasistratus said; nor in the space between the eyebrows, as Strato the physician held; nor within the enclosure of the breast, according to Epicurus: but rather, as the Egyptians have always taught, especially such of them as were accounted the expounders of sacred truths; in accordance, too, with that verse of Orpheus or Empedocles:

A Treatise on the Soul

And we know the quality of the hortatory addresses of carnal conveniences, how easy it is to say, "I must believe with my whole heart; I must love God, and my neighbour as myself: for `on these two precepts the whole Law hangeth, and the prophets, 'not on the emptiness of my lungs and intestines.

On Fasting

What Paul previously spoke about he now makes clear. The rule of faith is to believe that Jesus is Lord and not to be ashamed to confess that God raised him from the dead and has taken him up to heaven with his body, whence he will come again.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

With these twin trumpets of heart and mouth we arrive at that holy land, viz., the grace of resurrection. So let them always sound together in harmony for us, that we may always hear the voice of God. Let the utterances of the angels and prophets arouse us and move us to hasten to higher things.

On the Death of Satyrus 2.112

The understanding must be strongly fixed in pious faith, and the tongue must herald forth by its confession the solid resolution of the mind.

Baptismal Instructions 1.19

And what meaneth the phrase, "The Word is nigh thee?" That is, It is easy. For in thy mind and in thy tongue is thy salvation. There is no long journey to go, no seas to sail over, no mountains to pass, to get saved. But if you be not minded to cross so much as the threshold, you may even while you sit at home be saved. For "in thy mouth and in thy heart" is the source of salvation. And then on another score also he makes the word of faith easy, and says, that "God raised Him from the dead." For just reflect upon the worthiness of the Worker, and you will no longer see any difficulty in the thing.

Homily on Romans 17

If faith avails for righteousness and confession for salvation, there is no distinction between the Jew who believes and the Gentile who believes.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

The innumerable and multiple rites by which the Jewish people had been oppressed have been taken away, so that in the mercy of God we might attain salvation by the simplicity of a confession of faith.

On Romans 67

Did not almost all those who disowned Christ in the presence of their persecutors keep in their hearts what they believed about him? Yet, for not making with their mouth profession of faith unto salvation they perished, except those who repented and lived again.

Against Lying 6.13

This condition is fulfilled at the time of baptism, when faith and profession of faith are all that is demanded for one to be baptized.

The Christian Life 13

This profession of faith is the creed which you will be going over in your thoughts and repeating from memory.

A Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 1

We who expect to reign in everlasting righteousness can only be saved from this wicked world if while for our neighbor’s salvation we profess with our lips the faith which we carry about in our heart, we exercise a pious and careful vigilance to see that this faith in us is not sullied in any point of belief by the deceitful snares of heretics.

On Faith and the Creed 1.1

The heart has need of the mouth. For what profit is it to believe in the soul and not confess before men? Although faith justifies in the mind, perfect salvation depends on confession; for then faith shines forth and benefits many. But the mouth also has need of the heart. Many confess Christ hypocritically, while their heart stands far from Him.

Commentary on Romans

After explaining that confession on the lips and faith in the heart work salvation, the Apostle proves what he had said, setting out an example of this in two points which Moses seems to mention, here he proves what he had said in the universal.

And concerning this he does three things.

First, he shows that by faith and confession of faith man obtains salvation;

second, he lays down the order of salvation, at how then shall they call on him;

third, he draws the conclusion, at faith therefore comes by hearing.

In regard to the first he does three things. First, he presents his proposition, saying: I am correct in saying that if you confess with your lips and believe in your heart, you will be saved; for, with the heart, man believes unto justice, i.e., he believes in order that he may obtain justice through faith: since we are justified through faith (Rom 5:1).

Notice that he says man believes with the heart, i.e., his will, because man cannot believe, unless he wills. For the intellect of the believer, unlike that of the philosopher, does not assent to the truth as though compelled by force of reason; rather, he is moved to assent by the will; therefore, knowing does not pertain to man's justice, which is in the will, but believing: Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as justice (Gen 15:6).

But after he has been justified by faith, it is required that his faith work through love, in order to achieve salvation. Hence, he adds, but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation, i.e., to reach eternal salvation. But my salvation shall be forever (Isa 51:8).

Three kinds of confession are necessary for salvation.

First, the confession of one's own iniquity: I said: I will confess my transgressions to the Lord (Ps 32:5), which is the confession of the repentant. The second is that by which a man confesses the goodness of God mercifully bestowing his benefits: sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things (Ps 98:11), and this is the confession of one giving thanks. The third is the confession of divine truth: everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven (Matt 10:32), and this is the confession of the believer, about which the Apostle is now speaking.

This confession is necessary for salvation, depending on circumstances of place and time, namely when one's faith is demanded, namely, by a persecutor of the faith, as when the faith is endangered by an alien belief. Prelates especially ought to preach the faith to their subjects. Therefore, the baptized are anointed on the forehead with chrism in the form of a cross, so that they will not be ashamed to confess Christ crucified: I am not ashamed of the Gospel (Rom 1:16). What is said about confessing the faith applies to all virtuous acts necessary for salvation according to circumstances of time and place, for the precepts commanding the performance of these acts oblige us always but not for every moment of the day.

Commentary on Romans

If no one who believes in him will be put to shame, it is clear that those who sin will be, just as Adam sinned and was ashamed and hid himself. So whoever incurs the shame of sin obviously does not believe.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

On the day of judgment, when everything will be examined and all false opinions and teachings will be overthrown, then those who believe in Christ will rejoice, seeing it revealed to all that what they believed is true and what was thought to be foolish was wise. For they will look at others and see that they alone are glorified and wise, when they had been considered contemptible and crazy. This will be the real test, when rewards and condemnation are decreed.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

11–13

"For the Scripture saith," he proceeds, "Whosoever believeth on Him, shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved."

You see how he produces witnesses, whether to the faith, or to the confession of it. For the words, "Every one that believeth," point out the faith. But the words, "Whosoever shall call upon," set forth confession. Then again to proclaim the universality of the grace, and to lay their boasting low, what he had before demonstrated at length, he here briefly recalls to their memory, showing again that there is no difference between the Jew and the uncircumcised. "For there is," he says, "no difference between the Jew and the Greek." And what he had said about the Father, when he was arguing this point, that he says here about the Son. For as before he said in asserting this, "Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God":-So he says here also, "For the same Lord over all is rich unto all (and upon all)." You see how he sets Him forth as exceedingly desiring our salvation, since He even reckons this to be riches to Himself; so that they are not even now to despair, or fancy that, provided they would repent, they were unpardonable. For He who considereth it as riches to Himself to save us, will not cease to be rich. Since even this is riches, the fact of the gift being shed forth unto all.

Homily on Romans 17

This applies not only to the Jews but to everyone. Do not put believers to shame, therefore, on account of their former actions, since the Scripture says that they cannot be put to shame.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Israel ought not to suppose that salvation by faith is a blessing peculiar to it. For Scripture says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, whether Jew or Gentile, whether slave or free. The universal God saves everyone without distinction, because all things belong to him. Thus we say that all things are recapitulated in Christ.

Explanation of the Letter to the Romans

11–13

Having said that with the heart one believes, and with the mouth one confesses, he brings from Scripture testimonies concerning faith and confession or invocation. When he says, "everyone who believes," he points to faith, justified by which one will not be put to shame; and when he says, "everyone who calls upon," he points to confession, which brings about salvation. So now everyone, whether Jew or Gentile, can be accepted by God. "One Lord over all, rich toward all who call upon Him," in other words: this is a king, rich in gold and silver. Therefore, if His wealth consists of the very believers themselves, do not despair, thinking that you have sinned so greatly that you cannot be forgiven. He will accept you, so as to make you too a partaker of His wealth.

Commentary on Romans

Second, he proves his proposition with an authority when he says: for the Scripture, namely Isaiah, says: whosoever believes in him with living faith shall not be confounded (Isa 28:16), i.e., as lacking salvation: you who fears the Lord, believe him, and your reward shall not be made void (Sir 2:8).

But our text has: he who believes will not be in haste, as was said above.

Commentary on Romans

Paul says that in general everyone is lumped together because of unbelief or else exalted together because of their belief, because apart from Christ there is no salvation in God’s presence, only punishment or death. For neither the privileges of their ancestors nor the law can do the Jews any good if they do not accept the merit and promise made to them. Neither do the Gentiles have anything to boast about in the flesh, if they do not believe in Christ.…Paul says that God bestows his riches not on those who believe but on those who call upon him, so that after believing the mind will not cease to ask God for what it has been taught to ask the Lord for.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

Christ finds his wealth in the salvation of our souls.

Baptismal Instructions 11.26

There is one Lord of all, who abounds in mercy and possesses salvation, with which he is generous to all.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Third, when he says, there is no distinction, he shows that this applies to all men, when Isaiah asserts this indefinitely.

First, he asserts what he intends, saying: it is the same to say all who believe, and there is no distinction, at least of the Jew and the Greek: here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised (Col 3:11).

Second, he proves this with two reasons. The first is based on the fact that the same is Lord of all. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the gentiles? (Rom 3:29). For God is the king of all the earth (Ps 46:8). Consequently, he provides for the salvation of all. The second is based on the fact that he is rich unto all that call upon him. For if his riches were not sufficient to supply for all, one might suppose that he could not provide for all believers. However, the riches of his goodness and mercy are inexhaustible. Or do you presume upon the riches of his goodness? (Rom 2:4); God, who is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4).

Commentary on Romans

God himself, when he was seen by Moses, said to him: “My name is the Lord.” This is the Son of God, who is said to be both a messenger and God. The Son is not to be confused with the Father from whom all things come, but is to be acknowledged as the One through whom all things come and to whom all things belong. He is called God because the Father and the Son are one. He is also called an angel, because he was sent by the Father to announce the promised salvation.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

By faith in Jesus Christ is granted to us both possession of the little beginning of salvation and its perfecting, which we await in hope.

The Spirit and the Letter 51

Third, he proves the same thing on the authority of Joel: everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32). This is done by calling on him through love and devout worship: when he calls on me, I will answer him (Ps 91:15).

Commentary on Romans

14–17

"Lord, who hath believed our report?" Isaiah says. For "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," saith the apostle. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those that publish glad tidings of good things!" You see how he brings faith by hearing, and the preaching of the apostles, up to the word of the Lord, and to the Son of God. We do not yet understand the word of the Lord to be demonstration.

The Stromata Book 2

For "a people," he says, "whom I knew not hath served me; in obedience of the ear it hath obeyed me." Prophets made the announcement.

An Answer to the Jews

Paul says that salvation by the calling of the Lord is common to all but that the above mentioned rejection of this universal grace hardened the Jews, making them unable to receive the common good. As a result the mission and the message did not go to them but to the Gentiles, along with the hearing, the faith and the calling. For just as the light is by nature common to all but becomes something else to those who are blinded, so that the blind cannot see the sun, nor can the deaf hear the message when it is proclaimed, so those who have been sent to preach to the Jews have had little effect. They cannot hear the message because they have become deaf to God’s calling.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

As I said above, you have to believe first if you are going to have the faith to ask for anything. It is obvious that Christ cannot be believed in if he is not obeyed. It is likewise clear that whoever rejects a preacher does not accept the one who sent him either.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

14–15

"How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written."

Here again he takes from them all excuse. For since he had said, "I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge," and that "being ignorant of God's righteousness, they submitted not themselves" to it: he next shows, that for this ignorance itself they were punishable before God. This he does not say indeed so, but he makes it good by carrying on his discourse in the way of question, and so convicting them more clearly, by framing the whole passage out of objections and answers. But look further back. The Prophet, saith he, said, "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." Now somebody might say perhaps, "But how could they call upon Him Whom they had not believed? Then there is a question from him after the objection; And why did they not believe? Then an objection again. A person certainly may say, And how could they believe, since they had not heard? Yet hear they did, he implies. Then another objection again. "And how could they hear without a preacher?" Then an answer again. Yet preach they did, and there were many sent forth for this very purpose. And whence does it appear that these are those persons sent? Then he brings the prophet in next, who says, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" You see how by the kind of preaching he points out the preachers. For there was nothing else that these men went about telling everywhere, but those unspeakable good things, and the peace made by God with men. And so by disbelieving, it is not we, he implies, whom you disbelieve, but Isaiah the prophet, who spake many years ago, that we were to be sent, and to preach, and to say what we do say. If the being saved, then, came of calling upon Him, and calling upon Him from believing, and believing from hearing, and hearing from preaching, and preaching from being sent, and if they were sent, and did preach, and the prophet went round with them to point them out, and proclaim them, and say that these were they whom they showed of so many ages ago, whose feet even they praised because of the matter of their preaching; then it is quite clear that the not believing was their own fault only. And that because God's part had been fulfilled completely.

Homily on Romans 18

Here we have an objection raised by the Jews concerning the Gentiles, viz., that they could not call upon God.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

The preaching of predestination should not hinder the preaching of perseverance and progress in faith, so that those to whom it has been given to obey should hear what they ought to hear. For how will they hear without a preacher?

Gift of Perseverance 14.36

Those who believe rightly believe that they may call on him in whom they have believed and may be strong to do what they have learned in the precepts of the law, since faith obtains what the law commands.

Letter 157

God sends his angels and gathers together his elect from the four winds, that is, from the whole world. Therefore, the church must necessarily be found among the nations where it does not yet exist, but it does not necessarily follow that all who live there will believe. The promise was to all nations but not to all men of all nations, for not all have faith.

Letter 199.48

This is why you first learned the creed. Here is a rule of your faith which is both short and long—short in the number of words, long because of the weight of the thoughts.

Sermon 147.1

He said above that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now he reproaches the Jews for not having called on the name of the Lord. Why then did they not call? Because they did not believe. And why did they not believe? Was it because they had not heard? No, they heard. Then the objection: how could they hear without a preacher?

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, how then shall they call on him, he presents the order in which one is called to salvation, which is from faith.

In regard to this he does two things:

first, he shows that the later steps in this order cannot occur without the earlier;

second, he shows that after the earlier steps have been taken, the later do not necessarily follow, at but all do not obey the Gospel.

In regard to the first he does two things:

first, he presents the order of things required for salvation;

second, he supports what he had supposed, at as it is written.

First, therefore, he presents five things in order, beginning with the step which calls upon God, according to the authority of the prophet.

Therefore, he says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? As if to say: it is certainly true that unless faith is present, one cannot call on God to save him. This calling upon God pertains to confession with the lips, which proceeds from faith in the heart. I have believed, therefore have I spoken (Ps 115:10). We believed, and so we spoke (1 Cor 4:13).

Commentary on Romans

With regard to those (the Marcionites) who allege that Paul alone knew the truth, and that to him the mystery was manifested by revelation, let Paul himself convict them, when he says, that one and the same God wrought in Peter for the apostolate of the circumcision, and in himself for the Gentiles. Peter, therefore, was an apostle of that very God whose was also Paul; and Him whom Peter preached as God among those of the circumcision, and likewise the Son of God, did Paul [declare] also among the Gentiles. For our Lord never came to save Paul alone, nor is God so limited in means, that He should have but one apostle who knew the dispensation of His Son. And again, when Paul says, "How beautiful are the feet of those bringing glad tidings of good things, and preaching the Gospel of peace," he shows clearly that it was not merely one, but there were many who used to preach the truth.

Against Heresies Book 3

You have the work of the apostles also predicted: "How beautiful are the feet of them which preach the gospel of peace, which bring good tidings of good," not of war nor evil tidings.

Against Marcion Book 3

It seems to me that there is some difficulty with this [verse]. For if we understand it to mean that nobody preaches because nobody is sent … then it would appear that the reason they are not saved is ultimately the fault of Christ for not having sent them.But it is better for us to understand this as follows. It is as if the apostle were saying: “We, the heralds and preachers of Christ, would not be able to preach, nor would we have any power to proclaim, if he who sent us were not also present with us. So if you do not want to listen to us when we preach, that is your problem, if hearing you do not believe, and not believing, you do not call on him, and not calling on him, you are not saved.” The beauty of the preacher’s feet must be understood in a spiritual, not in a physical sense. For it would make a mockery of the apostle’s meaning to suppose that the feet of the evangelists, which can be seen with the physical eye, should be regarded as beautiful in themselves.… Only those feet which walk in the way of life can make this claim. Given that Christ said that he is the way, you should understand that it is the feet of those evangelists who walk according to that way which deserve to be called beautiful.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

It is clear even from the prophets that it is impossible to believe if nobody preaches the gospel.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

Nobody can be a true apostle unless he is sent by Christ, nor will he be able to preach without a mandate to do so, for his testimony will not reflect his signs of power.Paul quotes the prophet Nahum. By talking about feet he means the coming of the apostles who went round the world preaching the coming of the kingdom of God. For their appearance enlightened mankind by showing them the way toward peace with God, which John the Baptist had come to prepare. This is the peace to which those who believe in Christ are hastening. Then St. Simeon, seeing the discord in the world, rejoiced at the coming of the Savior, saying: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace,” because the kingdom of God is peace, and all discord is taken away when everyone bows the knee to the one God.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

If the heralds of these things are deemed worthy of such great admiration, how essential and how advantageous a thing the teaching of the apostles must be.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

The answer follows again: no, there were preachers, many such were sent to them. From what is it evident that these who were sent were preachers? In response to this he cites the words of the prophet: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, who preach good things" (Isa. 52:7). The apostles, going throughout the world, proclaimed nothing other than the ineffable blessings and the peace of God with mankind. Therefore unbelief is the personal fault of those who did not accept the preachers.

Commentary on Romans

Second, he moves from faith to hearing when he adds: or how shall they believe him of whom they have not heard? For one is said to believe things which are said to him by others and which he does not see: it is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world (John 4:42).

But hearing is twofold: one is internal, by which one hears from God revealing: let me hear what God the Lord will speak (Ps 85:8); the other is that by which someone hears another man speaking in his presence: while Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word (Acts 10:44).

The first kind of hearing does not pertain to all in common, but pertains properly to the grace of prophecy, which is a grace freely given to certain definite persons, but not to all: there are varieties of gifts (1 Cor 12:4).

But because he is now speaking of something that can pertain to all without distinction, as was said above, at for there is no distinction, it is the second kind of hearing that he has in mind. That is why he adds, and how shall they hear without a preacher? For outward hearing in the listener cannot occur without an action of the speaker. This is why the Lord commanded the disciples: go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Matt 28:19).

But preachers do not possess the truths of faith of themselves but from God: what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you (Isa 21:10); for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you (1 Cor 11:23). Therefore, he adds, and how shall they preach unless they be sent? As if to say: not worthily: I did not send the prophets, yet they ran (Jer 23:21).

But some are sent by the Lord in two ways.

In one way, immediately by God himself through internal inspiration: and now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit (Jer 48:16). Sometimes the sign of this sending is the authority of Holy Scripture; hence, when John the Baptist was asked who he was, he invoked the authority of a prophet: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said (John 1:23). Sometimes it is the truth of what is announced. Hence, in contrast to this it is said: when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken (Deut 18:22). Sometimes the sign of this sending is the working of a miracle. Hence it says in Exodus that when Moses said to the Lord: they will not believe me or listen to my voice (Exod 4:1), the Lord gave him power to perform signs.

Nevertheless, the last two are not sufficient proof of a divine mission, especially when someone says something contrary to the faith. For it says in Deuteronomy: if a prophet arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder comes to pass, and if he says, 'let us go after other gods,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet (Deut 13:1ff.).

Second, some are sent by God mediately on the authority of prelates, who take God's place: with him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the Gospel (2 Cor 8:18).

Then when he says, as it is written, he quotes an authority to prove what he had said about the need for preachers to be sent. He says, as it is written, namely, in Isaiah: how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them preaching good things (Isa 52:7). Here our text has: how beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who preach and announce peace, announcing good. And something similar is found in Nahum: behold on the mountains the feet of those who evangelize and announce peace (Nah 1:15).

In these words, first, the procedure of the preachers is commended when he says, how beautiful are the feet. This can be interpreted in two ways: in one way, so that by feet is understood their procedure, namely, because they proceed according to due order, not usurping the office of preachers: how graceful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden (Song 7:1).

In another way, by feet are understood their affections which are right, as long as they announce God's word not with the intention of praise or gain but for the salvation of men and the glory of God: their feet were straight (Ezek 1:7).

Second, he touches on the preacher's subject matter, which is twofold.

For they preach things useful for the present life. These he designates when he says, the gospel of peace, which is of three kinds. First, they announce the peace which Christ made between men and God: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, entrusting to us the word of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19); let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1). Second, he announces peace to be had with all men: if possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all (Rom 12:18). Third, they announce the way a man can have peace within himself: much peace to them that love your law (Ps 119:165). Under these three are contained everything useful in this life for salvation with respect to God, to one's neighbor, and to one's self.

They also preach the things we hope to have in the other life. In regard to these he says, preaching good things: he will set him over all his goods (Luke 12:44).

Commentary on Romans

It came on the world with a wind and rush of running messengers proclaiming that apocalyptic portent; and it is not unduly fanciful to say they are running still. What puzzles the world, and its wise philosophers and fanciful pagan poets, about the priests and people of the Catholic Church is that they still behave as if they were messengers. A messenger does not dream about what his message might be, or argue about what it probably would be; he delivers it as it is. It is not a theory or a fancy but a fact. It is not relevant to this intentionally rudimentary outline to prove in detail that it is a fact; but merely to point out that these messengers do deal with it as men deal with a fact. All that is condemned in Catholic tradition, authority, and dogmatism and the refusal to retract and modify, are but the natural human attributes of a man with a message relating to a fact. I desire to avoid in this last summary all the controversial complexities that may once more cloud the simple lines of that strange story; which I have already called, in words that are much too weak, the strangest story in the world. I desire merely to mark those main lines and specially to mark where the great line is really to be drawn. The religion of the world, in its right proportions, is not divided into fine shades of mysticism or more or less rational forms of mythology. It is divided by the line between the men who are bringing that message and the men who have not yet heard it, or cannot yet believe it.

The Everlasting Man, Conclusion: The Summary of This Book (1925)

Not all the Gentiles have believed the gospel nor have all the Jews, but many have, and many more Gentiles have believed than Jews. In this passage, “who has believed really means few have believed.” … Isaiah here is speaking prophetically in the person of the apostles, to whom the work of preaching was entrusted. It was they, when they saw how few believers there were in Israel, who exclaimed: “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

16–17

"But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Since they pressed him with another objection again to this effect, that if these were the persons sent upon the mission by God, all ought to have hearkened to them: observe Paul's judgment, and see how he shows that this very thing which made the confusion, did in fact do away with confusion and embarrassment. What offends you, O Jew, he would say, after so great and abundant evidence, and demonstration of the points? that all did not submit to the Gospel? Why this very thing, when taken along with the others, is of force to certify thee of the truth of my statements, even in that some do not believe. For this too the prophet foretold. Notice his unspeakable wisdom too; how he shows more than they were looking for, or expected him to have to say in reply. For what is it that you say? he means. Is it that all have not believed the Gospel? Well! Isaiah foretold this too from of old. Or rather, not this only, but even much more than this. For the complaint you make is Why did not all believe? But Isaiah goes further than this. For what is it he says? "Lord, who hath believed our report?" Then since he had rid himself of this embarrassment by making the Prophet a bulwark against them, he again keeps to the line he was before upon. For as he had said that they must call upon Him, but that they who call must believe, and they who believe must hear first, but they who are to hear must have preachers, and the preachers be sent, and as he had shown that they were sent, and had preached; as he is going to bring in another objection again, taking occasion first of another quotation from the Prophet, by which he had met the objection a little back, he thus interweaves it, and connects it with what went before. For since he had produced the Prophet as saying, "Lord, who hath believed our report"? he happily seizes on the quotation, as proving what he says, "So then faith cometh by hearing." And this he makes not a mere naked statement. But as the Jews were forever seeking a sign, and the sight of the Resurrection, and were gaping after the thing much; he says, Yet the Prophet promised no such thing, but that it was by hearing that we were to believe. Hence he makes this good first, and says, "so then faith cometh by hearing." And then since this seemed a mean thing to say, see how he elevates it. For he says, I was not speaking of mere hearing, nor of the need of hearing men's words and believing them, but I mean a great sort of hearing. For the hearing is "by the word of God." They were not speaking their own, but they were telling what they learnt from God. And this is a higher thing than miracles. For we are equally bound to believe and to obey God, whether speaking or working miracles. Since both works and miracles come of His words. For both the heaven and everything else was established in this way.

Homily on Romans 18

The prophets were never sent to the Gentiles. If not all those to whom the prophets were sent obeyed, how much less those to whom no one was sent!

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

The first part of this [verse] ought to be read as a question to which the second part is the apostle’s answer.… There is nothing surprising about this, for Isaiah also testifies to the small number of believers.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

Above, when He saith, "The hour is coming, and now is," I beseech you give earnest heed. Above, then, when He said, "The hour is coming," and added, "and now is," what did He subjoin? "When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." He did not say, "All the dead shall hear, and they that hear shall live;" for He meant the unrighteous to be understood. And is it so, that all the unrighteous obey the gospel? The apostle says openly, "But not all obey the gospel." But they that hear shall live, because all that obey the gospel shall pass to eternal life by faith: yet all do not obey; and this is now. But certainly, in the end, "All that are in the graves," both the just and the unjust, "shall hear His voice, and come forth."

Tractates on John 19

The Apostle said that the prophets testify that God sent these evangelists. Therefore, lest anyone object: if they were from God, then it follows that all should have heeded them, he affirms that, indeed, not all heeded the good news, but this does no harm to the truth. Isaiah spoke of this many years before: "Who has believed our report?" (Isa. 53:1). The word "who" is used here in place of "few" believed our report.

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, but all do not obey the Gospel, he shows that the later steps do not always follow.

For although one cannot believe, unless he hears the word of the preacher, nevertheless, not everyone who hears believes; and this is what he says: but all do not obey the Gospel: not all have faith (2 Thess 3:2).

He says this to show that the outwardly spoken word of the preacher is not sufficient to cause faith, unless a man's heart is attracted inwardly by the power of God speaking: everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me (John 6:45). Consequently, if men believe, it should not be attributed to the industry of the preacher.

It also shows that not all unbelievers are excused from sin, but those who do not hear: if I had not come and spoken to them they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin (John 15:22).

And this is more consonant with what the Apostle will say further on.

Second, he cites his authority for this, when he says, for Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed our report? As if to say: a few; you are among unbelievers and destroyers (Ezek 2:6); for I have become as one who gleans in autumn the grapes of the vintage (Mic 7:1). Isaiah said this because he foresaw the future unbelief of the Jews: with a great spirit he saw the last things (Sir 48:27).

And he says, our report, referring either to what they heard from God: we have heard a heard thing from the Lord, and sent messengers to the nations (Obad 5:1); or referring to what men heard from the apostles: they heard your words, and they did not do them (Ezek 33:32).

Commentary on Romans

Because all the nations that dwell under heaven were called by hearing and believing upon the name of the Son of God. Having, therefore, received the seal, they had one understanding and one mind; and their faith became one, and their love one.

Hermas, Similitude 9

For where had been their sin, if they only maintained the righteousness of their own God against one of whom they were ignorant? But he exclaims: "O the depth of the riches and the wisdom of God; how unsearchable also are His ways!" Whence this outburst of feeling? Surely from the recollection of the Scriptures, which he had been previously turning over, as well as from his contemplation of the mysteries which he had been setting forth above, in relation to the faith of Christ coming from the law. If Marcion had an object in his erasures, why does his apostle utter such an exclamation, because his god has no riches for him to contemplate? So poor and indigent was he, that he created nothing, predicted nothing-in short, possessed nothing; for it was into the world of another God that he descended.

Against Marcion Book 5

It is obvious that unless something is said, it can neither be heard nor believed.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

From here on we have the apostle’s reply to the above questions.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

It is perfectly clear to us, says Paul, following the voice of the prophet and what we have said, that there can be no faith without teaching, and the teaching of godliness is impossible unless it shows the truth about God.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

Faith comes by hearing, because when we hear the holy Scriptures we believe in the teaching of the Holy Spirit. This faith is made perfect by all the things which Christ has ordained; it believes truly, it is devout and it keeps the commandments of him who has renewed us. For he who does not believe in accordance with the traditions of the catholic church or who through untoward works holds communion with the devil is without faith.

Orthodox Faith 4.10

These words are connected with what precedes and represent, as it were, a conclusion from something said before. But with them the apostle also expresses something else. The Jews incessantly sought miracles, and even desired to see the resurrection. Therefore he says that faith comes from hearing, and one should not demand anything more than this hearing; for this hearing is not simple, not of ordinary speeches, but of the words of God. Therefore, if you seek miracles, which come from God, then believe also the words that are spoken from God.

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, faith therefore comes by hearing, he draws his conclusion from the foregoing, saying: therefore, since they do not believe unless they hear: faith comes from hearing: as soon as they heard of me they obeyed me (Ps 18:44).

But if faith comes from hearing, how can it be a divinely infused virtue? For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him (Phil 1:29).

The answer is that two things are required for faith: one is the inclining of the heart to believe; and this does not come from hearing, but from the gift of grace; the other is a decision about what to believe, and this comes from hearing. Thus, Cornelius, whose heart was inclined toward belief, needed Peter to be sent to him to point out what he should believe.

From that which he said—how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent?—he concludes: that which is heard, namely by believers, is through the word of the preachers, which is the word of Christ, either because it is about Christ: we preach Christ (1 Cor 1:23), or because the preachers have been sent by Christ: for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you (1 Cor 11:23).

Commentary on Romans

There first I became an effective believer. As far as I know, the instrument was the church to which we were taken twice every Sunday. This was high "Anglo-Catholic". On the conscious level I reacted strongly against its peculiarities--was I not an Ulster Protestant, and were not these unfamiliar rituals an essential part of the hated English atmosphere? Unconsciously, I suspect, the candles and incense, the vestments and the hymns sung on our knees, may have had a considerable, and opposite, effect on me. But I do not think they were the important thing. What really mattered was that I here heard the doctrines of Christianity (as distinct from general "uplift") taught by men who obviously believed them. As I had no scepticism, the effect was to bring to life what I would already have said that I believed.

Surprised by Joy, Ch. 2

Believing things on authority only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine per cent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I have not seen it myself. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so. The ordinary man believes in the Solar System, atoms, evolution, and the circulation of the blood on authority—because the scientists say so. Every historical statement in the world is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Armada. None of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics. We believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in other things as some people do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life.

Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 5: The Practical Conclusion

This may be a symbol of the Lord's teaching, and of His suffering. For the feet anointed with fragrant ointment mean divine instruction travelling with renown to the ends of the earth. "For their sound hath gone forth to the ends of the earth." And if I seem not to insist too much, the feet of the Lord which were anointed are the apostles, having, according to prophecy, received the fragrant unction of the Holy Ghost. Those, therefore, who travelled over the world and preached the Gospel, are figuratively called the feet of the Lord, of whom also the Holy Spirit foretells in the psalm, "Let us adore at the place where His feet stood," that is, where the apostles, His feet, arrived; since, preached by them, He came to the ends of the earth.

The Instructor Book 2

Who else have the nations of the world believed in but Christ, who has already come?

An Answer to the Jews 7

Again, in the Pslams, David says: "Bring to God, ye countries of the nations"-undoubtedly because "unto every land" the preaching of the apostles had to "go out" -"bring to God fame and honour; bring to God the sacrifices of His name: take up victims and enter into His courts.

An Answer to the Jews

For whose right hand does God the Father hold but Christ's, His Son?-whom all nations have heard, that is, whom all nations have believed,-whose preachers, withal, the apostles, are pointed to in the Psalms of David: "Into the universal earth," says he, "is gone out their sound, and unto the ends of the earth their words." For upon whom else have the universal nations believed, but upon the Christ who is already come? For whom have the nations believed,-Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and they who inhabit Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and they who dwell in Pontus, and Asia, and Pamphylia, tarriers in Egypt, and inhabiters of the region of Africa which is beyond Cyrene, Romans and sojourners, yes, and in Jerusalem Jews, and all other nations; as, for instance, by this time, the varied races of the Gµtulians, and manifold confines of the Moors, all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons-inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ, and of the Sarmatians, and Dacians, and Germans, and Scythians, and of many remote nations, and of provinces and islands many, to us unknown, and which we can scarce enumerate? In all which places the name of the Christ who is already come reigns, as of Him before whom the gates of all cities have been opened, and to whom none are closed, before whom iron bars have been crumbled, and brazen gates opened.

An Answer to the Jews

This is the Christ who, he says, in all that have been generated, is the portrayed Son of Man from the unportrayable Logos. This, he says, is the great and unspeakable mystery of the Eleusinian rites, Hye, Cye. And he affirms that all things have been subjected unto him, and this is that which has been spoken, "Their sound is gone forth unto all the earth," just as it agrees with the expressions, "Mercury waving his wand, guides the souls, but they twittering follow." I mean the disembodied spirits follow continuously in such a way as the poet by his imagery delineates, using these words:-

"And as when in the magic cave's recess

Bats humming fly, and when one drops

From ridge of rock, and each to other closely clings."

Refutation of All Heresies Book 5

This passage, taken from Psalm 19[: 4], must refer to the Gentiles.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

They heard but they did not want to believe. For there are some who, in spite of the fact that they hear, do not believe. For they hear but do not understand, because their heart is blinded by wickedness. … If the sound of the gospel has gone out to the entire world, it is not possible that the Jews have not heard it, and so none of them can be pardoned from the sin of unbelief.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

"But I say, Have they not heard?"

What, he means, if the preachers were sent, and did preach what they were bid, and these did not hear? Then comes a most perfect reply to the objection.

"Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."

What do you say? he means. They have not heard? Why the whole world, and the ends of the earth, have heard. And have you, amongst whom the heralds abode such a long time, and of whose land they were, not heard? Now can this ever be? Sure if the ends of the world heard, much more must you.

Homily on Romans 18

Paul wants this passage to be understood allegorically to refer to the cries of the prophets.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

It is clear that Paul did not put this here as a kind of prophecy but rather as a statement of what was actually going on at the time.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

Someone might ask: what does it matter to the Jews if the evangelists were sent, but the Jews did not hear? The Apostle answers: the whole world heard; how then did those not hear, among whom the apostles spent so much time and from whom they originated? Is such a thing possible?

Commentary on Romans

After showing that the fall of the Jews is pitiable, because they sinned from ignorance, here the Apostle shows that their fall is not entirely excusable; because their ignorance was not invincible or rooted in necessity, but somehow voluntary.

He shows this in two ways.

First, because they heard the teaching of the apostles;

second, from what they knew from the teachings of the law and of the prophets, at but I say: has not Israel known?

In regard to the first he does two things.

First, he asks a question, saying: we have said that faith comes from hearing and that men cannot believe a person whom they have not heard. But I say, have they not heard? so as to be totally excused for their unbelief, according to what is said in John: if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin (John 15:22).

Second, he answers the question by interjecting the authority of the Psalm: their sound has gone forth into all the earth (Ps 19:4); i.e., the voice of the apostles whose fame has reached every land, both of Jews and of gentiles: destruction and death have said: with our ears we have heard the fame thereof (Job 28:22), namely, the wisdom preached by the apostles. For the Lord had commanded them: go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Matt 28:19). And their words, i.e., their distinctive message, has gone out unto the ends of the whole world: from the ends of the earth we have heard praises (Isa 24:16); I have given you to be the light of the gentiles, to be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth (Isa 49:6).

It should be noted that, according to Augustine, these words had not yet been fulfilled when the Apostle spoke them, but he foresaw that they would be fulfilled. So he uses the past for the future, because divine pre-ordination is certain of fulfillment; for David, whose words he employed, also used the past for the future. Augustine said this because even in his own day there were certain parts of Africa where the faith of Christ had not been preached.

Chrysostom, on the other hand, says that what is said here had been fulfilled in the time of the apostles. He draws this from Matthew: and this Gospel must be preached in the whole world, and then will come the consummation (Matt 24:14), i.e., the destruction of Jerusalem.

Each is correct in his own way. For in the days of the apostles, some report that their preaching had reached all nations, even to the ends of the world, at least through their disciples and even through the apostles themselves. For Matthew preached in Ethiopia, Thomas in India, Peter and Paul in the west. And this is what Chrysostom means. However, during the times of the apostles it had not been fulfilled in such a way that the Church had been built up in all nations, but it would be fulfilled before the end of the world, as Augustine says.

Yet Chrysostom's explanation is more in keeping with the Apostle's intention than is Augustine's. For the basic excuse of their unbelief is not undercut by the fact that these unbelievers would hear something in the future. However, this does not imply that a report of the apostles' preaching had reached every individual, although it had reached all nations.

Does this mean that those it has not reached, for example if they were raised in the jungle, have an excuse for their sin of unbelief?

The answer is that according to the Lord's statement (John 15:22) those who have not heard the Lord speaking either in person or through his disciples are excused from the sin of unbelief. However, they will not obtain God's blessing, namely, removal of original sin or any sin added by leading an evil life; for these, they are deservedly condemned. But if any of them did what was in his power, the Lord would provide for him according to his mercy by sending a preacher of the faith as he sent Peter to Cornelius (Acts 10:5ff.) and Paul into Macedonia (Acts 16:9ff.). Nevertheless, the fact that they do what is in their power, namely, by turning to God, proceeds from God's moving their hearts to the good: turn us to you, O Lord, that we may be turned (Lam 5:19).

Commentary on Romans

And the same apostle owns that he bears witness to the Jews, "that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." For they did not know and do the will of the law; but what they supposed, that they thought the law wished. And they did not believe the law as prophesying, but the bare word; and they followed through fear, not through disposition and faith. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," who was prophesied by the law to every one that believeth. Whence it was said to them by Moses, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are not a people; and I will anger you by a foolish nation, that is, by one that has become disposed to obedience." And by Isaiah it is said, "I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest to them that inquired not after Me," -manifestly previous to the coming of the Lord; after which to Israel, the things prophesied, are now appropriately spoken: "I have stretched out My hands all the day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Do you see the cause of the calling from among the nations, clearly declared, by the prophet, to be the disobedience and gainsaying of the people?

The Stromata Book 2

Having just spoken of the Gentiles Paul goes on, as is his custom, to talk about Israel as well. His intention is to demonstrate by suitable quotations that Israel has no excuse for its rejection of Christ.In this passage it is true that Moses the friend of God wanted to attach blame to the people of God, but he also foresaw in the Spirit that if someone wants to be wise in this world he must become foolish, in order to be wise in the sight of God.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

Paul means here that of course Israel knew.… They all heard but they did not all believe.The jealousy of the Jews arose from their envy at seeing a people which earlier had been without God and barbarous claim the Jewish God as their own and receive the promise which had originally been made to the Jews.… Nothing destroys a man so much as jealousy, which is why God made it the avenger of unbelief, because that is a great sin.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

"But I say, Did not Israel know?"

For what if they heard, he means, but did not know what was said, nor understand that these were the persons sent? Are they not to be forgiven for their ignorance? By no means. For Isaiah had described their character in the words, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace." And before him the Lawgiver himself. Hence he proceeds.

"First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you."

And so they ought even from him to have been able to distinguish the preachers, not from the fact of these disbelieving only, not from the fact of their preaching peace, not from the fact of their bringing the glad tidings of those good things, not from the word being sown in every part of the world, but from the very fact of their seeing their inferiors, those of the Gentiles, in greater honor. For what they had never heard, nor their forefathers, that wisdom did these on a sudden embrace. And this was a mark of such intense honor, as should gall them, and lead them to jealousy, and to recollection of the prophecy of Moses, which said, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people." For it was not the greatness of the honor alone that was enough to throw them upon jealousy, but the fact too that a nation had come to enjoy these things which was of so little account that it could hardly be considered a nation at all. "For I will provoke you to jealousy, by them which are no nation, and by a foolish nation will I anger you." For what more foolish than the Greeks (Heathen)? or what of less account? See how by every means God had given from of old indications and clear signs of these times, in order to remove their blindness. For it was not any little corner in which the thing was done, but in land, and in sea, and in every quarter of the globe.

Homily on Romans 18

Israel did not understand that the Gentiles were to be called to faith. Moses is first because the prophets after him spoke of the salvation of the Gentiles. Before they believed in God, they were not God’s people. Therefore it is as if he says: “I shall call those who are not my people, and they will believe in me in order to provoke you, so that although you should have been better than they are, you will be glad to be their equals.” It is just as if someone has a disobedient son and in order to reform him gives half his inheritance to his slave, so that when he finally repents he may be glad if he deserves to receive even that much.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

By calling a people “foolish” Paul explained what he meant by “those who are not a people,” viz., a foolish people ought not to be called a people at all. But he says that the Jewish people will be angered by the Gentiles’ faith, because they have received what the Jews have rejected.… Even though entire peoples were foolish idol worshipers, they nevertheless put away their paganism by believing. Thus Paul said: “If a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?” Thus he means: “I will make you jealous of those who once were not a people but were made a people,” because although they were once a foolish idol-worshiping people, they put aside their paganism through their faith in Christ.

On Romans 68

I raise again a new objection: if the apostles preached, but the Jews did not understand, do they not deserve to be excused? He resolves this objection as well. They, he says, should have understood that Christ was being preached, if not from anything else, then at least from the honor that the Gentiles were deemed worthy of. They saw that idolaters were suddenly deemed worthy of such blessings, and therefore should have been moved to emulation and concluded that this is the very people of whom Moses spoke. Not only was the greatness of the honor sufficient to move the Jews to emulation, but also the fact that a people so lowly as to not even deserve to be considered a people was deemed worthy of honor. "I will provoke you to jealousy," it is said, "by a foolish nation." For what is more senseless than the Gentiles, who worshiped wood and stone?

Commentary on Romans

Then when he says, but I say: has not Israel known, he shows that they were inexcusable, because of the knowledge they had from the law and the prophets.

First, he raises the question, saying: but I say: has not Israel, i.e., the Jewish people, known the things which pertain to the mystery of Christ and to the calling of the gentiles and the fall of the Jews? They knew fully: instructed by the law (Rom 2:18); he has not dealt thus with another nation (Ps 147:20); we are happy, O Israel, because the things that are pleasing to God are made known to us (Bar 4:4).

Second, he says, first Moses says, he answers the question and shows that they did know: first, through the teaching of the law, saying, first, Moses, who is the lawgiver. By the fact that he says, first, it must not be understood as though there were two Moses, of whom he spoke of the first; but because Moses was the first, i.e., the chief teacher of the Jews: there has not risen a prophet since in Israel like Moses (Deut 34:12) or because he was the first among others to say this.

I will provoke you to jealousy by that which is not a nation: by a foolish nation I will anger you. Here our text has this: I will provoke them by that which is not a people and by a foolish nation I will anger them (Deut 32:21).

Two differences should be noted here.

The first in regard to gentiles, since he says, not a nation, as though unworthy to be called a nation, because the gentiles were not united in the worship of one god: there are two nations which my soul abhors, and the third is no nation, which I hate (Sir 50:27). But he called the same nation a foolish nation. If in some sense it could be called a nation, inasmuch as it is united and governed by human law, it is, nevertheless, called foolish, as though lacking true wisdom, which consists in the knowledge and worship of God: you must no longer live as the gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their minds, alienated from the life of God (Eph 4:17). And in this way it refers to the gentiles, namely in their state before conversion.

These two things can also be applied to the gentiles after conversion. They are called not a nation, i.e., not living in a gentile manner, as the Apostle says in the same place: that henceforward you walk not as also the gentiles walk (Eph 4:17). And converted gentiles are also called foolish by those who do not believe: if anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become foolish that he may be wise (1 Cor 3:18).

The second difference consists in the fact that he first mentions the jealousy, i.e., the envy with which the Jews envied the converted gentiles: they make much of you, but for no good purpose (Gal 4:17); second, he mentions the anger with which they were irked against them: the wicked man makes plots against the just man, and gnashes his teeth at him (Ps 37:12).

These two are fittingly joined, because from envy springs anger: anger kills the foolish, and envy slays the little one (Job 5:2).

But God is said to produce jealousy and stir to anger, not by causing the malice in them but by withdrawing grace, or rather by effecting the conversion of the gentiles from which the Jews take occasion for jealousy and anger.

Commentary on Romans

From the context, it is obvious that this must refer to the Gentiles.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

Having made us aware of the words of Moses to talk about the rejection of the Jews, Paul here adds the testimony of the prophet Isaiah in order to make his point clearer still.… Isaiah here is speaking in the role of Christ.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

"But Esaias is very bold, and saith."

Now what he means is something of this kind. He put a violence on himself, and was ambitious to speak, not something veiled over, but to set things even naked before your eyes, and choosing rather to run into dangers from being plain spoken, than by looking to his own safety, to leave you any shelter for your impenetrableness; although it was not the manner of prophecy to say this so clearly; but still to stop your mouths most completely, he tells the whole beforehand clearly and distinctly. The whole! what whole? Why your being cast out, and also their being brought in; speaking as follows, "I was found of them that sought Me not, I was made manifest of them that asked not after Me." Who then are they that sought not? who they that asked not after Him? Clearly not the Jews, but they of the Gentiles, who hitherto had not known Him. As then Moses gave their characteristic mark in the words, "no people" and "a foolish nation," so here also he takes the same ground to point them out from, viz. their extreme ignorance. And this was a very great blame to attach to the Jews, that they who sought Him not found Him, and they who sought Him lost Him.

Homily on Romans 18

The Gentiles did not enquire after God in the law but after idols in ignorance. They asked not of God but of demons through the augurs, astrologers and haruspices of the idols.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

Having said that Moses speaks first, he mentions also another prophet, who says the same thing more clearly and openly. Isaiah, he says, "is very bold," that is, he strove to express the truth in all its nakedness and preferred to expose himself to danger rather than remain silent. "I was found," it says in him, "by those who did not seek Me" and who did not ask for Me (Isa. 65:1). Those whom Moses called a foolish nation, Isaiah named as those who neither sought nor asked, that is, ignorant people and enemies of knowledge. So from all this the Jews should have understood that some were rejected and others were accepted.

Commentary on Romans

Second, he shows that they knew through the teaching of the prophets, and first he quotes Isaiah as foretelling the conversion of the gentiles, saying, but Isaiah is bold and says, i.e., Isaiah boldly declares the truth, although this would put him in danger of death: he goes forth boldly to meet armed men (Job 39:21). And says: I was found by those who did not seek me; I appeared openly to those who did not ask for me; here our text has: they have sought me who before asked not for me, they have found me who sought me not (Isa 65:1).

He mentions first the conversion of the gentiles, saying, I was found by those who did not seek me. This shows that the conversion of the gentiles was beyond their merits and intention: Christ became a servant in order that the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy (Rom 15:9). About this finding Matthew says: the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure in a field, which a man found (Matt 13:44).

Second, he shows the cause and manner of their conversion.

The cause, indeed, because it was not by chance that they found what they were not seeking but by the grace of him who willed to appear to them. This is indicated, when he says: I appeared; the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men (Titus 2:11).

The manner was that Christ did not appear to the gentiles in the enigmas and figures of the law but in plain truth; hence he says: I appeared openly. Behold, now you speak plainly and do not speak a proverb (John 16:29). I appeared openly to those, i.e., the gentiles, who did not ask after me, i.e., who did not ask for my doctrine: they keep on praying to a god that cannot save (Isa 45:20).

Commentary on Romans

And Isaiah likewise mentions concerning Him the manner in which He would die, thus: "I have spread out My hands unto a people disobedient, and gainsaying, that walk in a way which is not good."

Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter XCVII

Whence, again, it is manifest that "the city must simultaneously be exterminated" at the time when its "Leader" had to suffer in it, (as foretold) through the Scriptures of the prophets, who say: "I have outstretched my hands the whole day unto a People contumacious and gainsaying Me, who walketh in a way not good, but after their own sins." And in the Psalms, David says: "They exterminated my hands and feet: they counted all my bones; they themselves, moreover, contemplated and saw me, and in my thirst slaked me with vinegar.

An Answer to the Jews

The Hebrew text does not contain the words and contrary, but here the apostle has followed the Septuagint and quoted the passage as they understood it.

Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

Here Israel refers to the Israel of the flesh, those who are children of Abraham but not according to faith. For the true Israel is spiritual and sees God by believing in him. “All day long” means “always.”This passage may also refer to the Savior, who held out his hands on the cross to plead forgiveness for those who were killing him.

Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

It appears from the holding out of his hands that God is calling the people to himself. It is also a sign pointing toward the form of the cross.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

"But unto Israel He saith, All the day long have I stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."

Observe now that difficulty, which so many make a subject of question, is discovered laid up from of old in the words of the Prophet, and with a clear solution to it too. And what is this? You heard Paul say before. "What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained unto righteousness. But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness." This Esaias also says here. For to say, "I was found of them that sought me not, I was made manifest unto them which asked not after me," is the same with saying, "that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained unto righteousness." Then to show that what was happening was not of God's grace only, but also of the temper of those who came to Him, as also the casting off of the others came of the disputatiousness of those who disobeyed, hear what he proceeds with. "But to Israel He saith, All the day long have I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people;" here meaning by the day the whole period of the former dispensation. But the stretching out of the hands, means calling and drawing them to Him, and inviting them. Then to show that the fault was all their own, he says "to a disobedient and gainsaying people." You see what a great charge this is against them! For they did not obey Him even when He invited them, but they gainsaid Him, and that when they saw Him doing so, not once or twice or thrice, but the whole period. But others who had never known Him, had the power to draw Him to them. Not that he says they themselves had the power to do it, but to take away lofty imaginings even from those of the Gentiles, and to show that it was His grace that wrought the whole, He says, I was made manifest, and I was found. It may be said, Were they then void of everything? By no means, for the taking of the things found, and the getting a knowledge of what was manifested to them, was what they contributed themselves.

Homily on Romans 18

The same prophet who made promises of this sort to the Gentiles issues similar warnings here to the Jews, so that you may know that both were foretold. The holding out of the hands means, allegorically, the cross.

Pelagius’s Commentary on Romans

The hands of the Lord lifted up to heaven were not begging for help but were sheltering us, his miserable creatures.

Homilies on the Psalms 68

Lest the Jews should have the right to say to God: You were found by the Gentiles, but You did not wish to deal with us, the prophet adds: I "all day long," that is, at all times, "stretched out My hands," that is, I drew you to Myself, but you proved to be a disobedient and obstinate people. Therefore, you are to blame, not I. I stretched out My hands to you and called you, but you did not listen. From this it is evident that the Israelites both heard and knew, but did not wish to submit.

Commentary on Romans

Then he shows that Isaiah foretold the unbelief of the Jews, saying: but to Israel, i.e., against Israel, he says: all the day long have I spread my hands to a people that does not believe and contradicts me. Here our text has this: I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good after their own thoughts. A people that continually provoke me to anger (Isa 65:2).

That he says, I have spread my hands, can be understood of Christ's hands held out on the cross, which are said to have been held out all the day long, i.e., the principal part of a whole day, namely, from the sixth hour until evening (Matt 27:45). And although during that time the sun was darkened, the rocks rent, and the graves opened, the Jews persisted in their unbelief, blaspheming him, as it says in Matthew (Matt 28:39). Hence he adds, a people that does not believe and contradicts me: consider him who endured such contradiction against himself from sinners (Heb 12:3).

In another way, it can be taken as referring to God stretching out his hands to do miracles: when you stretch out your hand to cures and signs and prodigies to be worked through the holy name of your Son Jesus (Acts 4:30). The meaning then would be: all the day, i.e., through the whole time of my preaching, I have spread my hands, by working miracles, to a people that does not believe, even when they see miracles: if I had not done the works which no other man has done, they would not have sin (John 15:24); and contradicts me, i.e., slanders my miracles: by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he casts out demons (Matt 12:24); your people are like those who contradict a priest (Hos 4:4).

Third, it can be understood of God stretching out his hands to give benefits to his people, in accord with Proverbs: I stretched out my hands, and there was none who paid attention (Prov 1:24). The meaning would then be: all the day, i.e., through the whole time of the law and the prophets, I spread my hands to give benefits to a people that does not believe and contradicts me: always you have been rebellious against the Lord (Deut 31:27).

Commentary on Romans