would 'publish that very fact to the whole world. Listen to it with the most profound attention. — V. g.] — ^pos^riyysiXaro, promised afore ) formerly, often, and solemnly. The truth of the promise, and the truth of its fulfilment, mutually confirm each other. — did ruv vpocprjrcov avrov , by His prophets) That which the pro- phets of God have spoken, God has spoken, Luke i. 70 ; Acts iii. 24. — ypapaig, in the Scriptures) ch. xvi. 26. The prophets made use of the voice, as well as of writing, in the publication of their message ; and the voice was likely to have greater weight in the case of a single people [the Jews], than among the countries of the whole globe : therefore, the greater weight in delivering the message, would give an advantage to the voice over writing : notwithstanding, as much respect is paid to writing , with a view to posterity, as if there had been no voice. To such an extent does Scripture prevail over tradition. [ The believing Homans were , in part , originally Jews , and, in part , originally Gentiles ( exjudaei , Ex-Gentiles), and Paul parti- cularly has regard to the latter, ver. 13. — Y. g.]
3. n spi, concerning) The sum and substance of the Gospel is, concerning the Son of God , Jesus Christ our Lord. An ex- planation is introduced in this passage, as to what this appella- tion, the Son of God , denotes, ver. 3, 4.1 — rou ysvoju'svou), who was [made Engl. Vers.] born. So Gal. iv. 4. — xard, according to) The determinative particle, ver. 4 ; ix. 5.
4. Too opiddevroc v/ou ©sou, who was definitively marked as [de- clared to be, Engl. Vers.] the Son of God) He uses rou again, not xal or ds. When the article is repeated, it forms an
1 Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This is the foundation of all rightful; access, on the part of Jesus Christ, to His Father and His God ; and, in like manner, of our approach by Him, as our Lord, to His Father and our Father, to His God and our God, who has delivered us to Him as His pecu- liar property. Even before His humiliation, He was indeed the Son of God ; but this Sonship was in occultation by His humiliation, and was at length fully disclosed to us after His resurrection. His justification depends on these facts, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; 1 John ii 1 ; and that is the foundation of our justification, Rom. iv. 25. Hence, in His passion, He placed all His confi- dence in the Father, not on account of His works (for not even did the Son give first to the Father any thing, which the Father was bound to pay back to Him), but for this reason, because He was the Son ; and thus He went be- fore us in the way, as the leader and finisher of our faith. Heb. xii. 2. — V. g.