d at ure, Jesus Christ , and Christ Jesus , ought not to be con- sidered as promiscuously used. Jesus is the name, Christ the surname. The former was first made known to the Jews, the latter to the Gentiles. Therefore he is called Jesus Christ ac- cording to the natural and common order of the words ; but when He is called Christ Jesus , by inverting the order of the words, peculiar reference is made to the office of Christ, with somewhat of a more solemn design. And this is especially suit- able to the present passage. Sometimes in one place, both arrangements of the words prevail, ver. 5, 6 ; Gal. ii. 16, note; 1 Tim. i. 15, 16, vi. 13, 14 ; 2 Tim. i. 9, 10. See also 1 Cor. iii. U; with which comp. 1 Tim. ii. 5. — didxovov , a minister) a suitable appellation ; comp. ver. 3 ; Matt. xx. 28. [ Remarkable
humiliation ! Here indeed there was need of patience, ver. 4, 5. — V. g.] — Moreover, Jesus Christ became the minister of the Father for the salvation of the circumcision. Christ was sub- servient to the will of the Father : the Father devoted Him for the salvation of many, whence the Genitive, of circumcision , has the same meaning as in Gal. ii. 7, 8. Presently after, reign- ing is ascribed to this minister, ver. 12. But this appellation ( minister ) is not repeated in the next verse, for the calling of the Gentiles coheres with His state of exaltation ; — it is accordingly said there, that they might glorify , for greater thanksgiving is rendered by the Gentiles,1 than by the circumcision. — <Fep/ro/u.r}cy of the circumcision) that is, of Israel. — crurepuv, of the fathers) The Genitive here contains the emphasis of the sentence, Matt, xv. 26.
9. Aid — — '\}/a?iw) Ps. xviil. 50, LXX., hid — £0i/g<J7, K vpis — •vj/aXw. — s£>ofAo\G'yrj(fo/Aai) I will confess) Paul says that the Gentiles do that, which Christ declares in the Psalm, that He will do ; in fact, Christ is doing this among [or rather, in the person of] the Gentiles, Heb. ii. 12, where Paul quotes Ps. xxii., as here Ps. xviii. is quoted. In Ps. xxii. Christ announces the name of the Lord to His brethren ; in Ps. xviii. He confesses to the Lord among [or in the person of] the Gentiles, and the Gentiles con- fess to Him in [the person of] Christ. Afterwards in Ps. cxvii.
1 Naturally so : Because they have received grace extraordinarily, they being but as the wild olive graffed in on the elect stock, Israel. — Ed.