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worden seyn , den Paulus vielmehr bestreitet und abgescliaffet oder aufgehoben zu seyn versichert.” 1 We answer : The privilege of the Israelite (although he who is called holy , is as highly blessed, as he who is the beloved of God ) is as appropriate to be mentioned in Paul’s introduction, as the npurov, ch. i. 16 [to the Jew first], is appropriate in the Statement of his subject2 there ; which [the statement of the priority of the Jew, at ver. 16] Baumgarten de- fends enough and more than enough. — xapis? grace , etc. This form of expression is the customary one in the writings of Paul. See the beginnings of his epistles, and also Eph. vi. 23. — v/nTv, to you ) Supply, may there fall to your lot. — aipqvvi, peace) Dw, peace : a form of salutation in common use among the Hebrews, before which is placed grace , a term altogether consonant
to the New Testament, and to the preaching of the apostles. Grace comes from God ; then, in consequence, man is in a state of peace , ch. V. 2, note. — thro ©sou <7rarpbg ij/xuv / Ku^>/ou Irjffoo Xpicrov, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ) The solemn form of appellation used by the apostles, God and the Father , God our Father ; and, when they speak to one another, they do not often say K upfog, Lord , inasmuch as by it the proper name of God with four letters [mrp were the four letters, tetra- grammaton] is intended ; but, in the Old Testament, they had said, Jehovah our God. The reason of the difference is : in the Old Testament they were, so to speak, slaves ; in the New Testa- ment they are sons ; but sons so know their father, as to render it unnecessary to call him often by his proper name. Comp. Heb. viii. 11. Farther, when Polytheism was rooted out, it was not so necessary, that the true God should be distinguished from false gods, by His proper name. Kup/ou is construed, not with YitAojv ; for God is declared to be the Father of Jesus Christ , and our Father , not, our Father , and the Father of Jesus Christ ; but [Kup/ou is construed] with «<ro, as is evident from 2 Tim. i. 2. There is one and the same grace, one and the same peace, from
1 Here lay the difference in divine services among believers, and the ima- ginary superiority of the Israelites would have been too strongly confirmed, which Paul, to make quite sure of it, would much rather have disputed and cancelled or abolished.
2 * Proposition! ’ in the Latin : Cic. Inv. ii. 18, defines it as “ per quern locus is breviter exponitur, ex quo vis omnis oportet emanet ratiocinationis.”
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