καὶ ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν. 14. “EAAnol τε καὶ βαρβάροις, σοφοῖς
3 απ eee τε καὶ ἀνοήτοις ὀφειλέτης εἰμί: 15. " οὕτω τὸ KaT ἐμὲ πρόθυµον καὶ 2 Rev.iii.16
ὑμῖν τοῖς ἐν Ῥώμῃ } εὐαγγελίσασθαι. 16. OF γὰρ ἐπαισχύνομαι τὸ
οἱ Cor. Ἱ.
A ~ ‘ - , εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστού 3: ° δύναμις γὰρ Θεοῦ ἐστιν eis σωτηρίαν παντὶ 3334,
1 τοις εν Ρωμῃ om. G; see on ver. 7.
Στον Χριστου om. NABCD, etc. πρωτον is omitted here in BG g and Tert. It is inserted in §ACDKL. Thecombination of B with ‘‘ Western” authorities lessens its weight in Paul’s epp., where B itself has an infusion of Western readings to which this omission may belong; possibly it may be due to Marcion, who is known to have omitted both πρωτον and the quotation in νετ. 17. Weiss retains it; W. and
H. bracket.
Ver. 14 f. These verses are natur- ally taken as an expansion of the thought contained in the preceding. Paul’s desire to win fruit at Rome, as among the rest of the Gentiles, arises out of the obligation (for so he feels it) to preach the Gospel to all men without distinction of language or culture. If it depended only on him, he would be exercising his ministry at Rome. The Romans are evidently conceived as Gentiles, but Paul does not indicate where they would stand in the broad classification of ver. 14. It is gratuitous, and probably mistaken, to argue with Weiss that he meant to describe them as βάρβαροι, when we know that the early Roman Church was Greek speaking. In τὸ Kat’ ἐμὲ πρόθυµον, the simplest con- struction is to make τὸ Kar’ ἐμὲ subject and πρόθυµον predicate, supplying ἐστι: all that depends on me is eager, 1.6., for my part, I am all readiness. But it is possible to take τὸ κατ ἐμὲ πρόθυµον together, απάἁ ‘to translate: the readi- ness, so far as I am concerned, (is) to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Rome. The contrast implied is that between willing (which Paul for his part is equal to) and carrying out the will (which depends on God (ver. 10)). With this Paul introduces the great subject of the epistle, and, in a sense, of the Gospel—that which he here designates δικαιοσύνη θεοῦὈ. The con- nection is peculiar. He has professed his readiness to preach the Gospel, even at Rome. Anywhere, no doubt, one might have misgivings about identifying himself with a message which had for its subject a person who had been put to death as acriminal; anywhere, the Cross was to Jews a stumbling block and to Greeks foolishness. But at Rome, of all places, where the whole effective force of humanity seemed to be gathered up, one might be ashamed to stand forth
as the representative of an apparently impotent and ineffective thing. But this the Gospel is not; it is the very reverse of this, and therefore the Apostle is proud to identify himself with it. ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel; for it is a power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. It is such because there is revealed in it δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ--- the very thing men need to ensure salva- tion; and that in such a manner—from faith to faith—as to make it accessible to all. And this, again, only answers to what stands in the O.T.—It is written. the righteous shall live by faith.’’
Ver. 16 f. Suvapis yap θεοῦ ἐστιν: for it is a power of God. It does no injustice to render ‘“‘a Divine power”. The con- ception of the Gospel as a force per- vades the epistles to the Corinthians; its proof, so to speak, is dynamical, not logical. It is demonstrated, not by argument, but by what it does; and, looking to what it can do, Paul is proud to preach it anywhere. els σωτηρίαν: σωτηρία is one of a class of words (to which ζωὴ, δόξα, κληρονομία belong) used by Paul to denote the last result οί the acceptance of the Gospel. It is the most negative of them all, and conceives of the Gospel as a means for rescuing men from the ἀπώλεια which awaits sinners at the last judgment. In παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι ᾿Ιουδαίῳ τε πρῶτον καὶ Ἕλληνι another of the main interests of the writer in this epistle is brought forward; the Gospel is for all, the same Gospel and on the same terms, but without prejudice to the historical pre- rogative of the Jew. Ver. 17 shows, how the Gospel is a Divine saving power. It is such because there is revealed in it δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ. Plainly, δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ is something without which a sinful man cannot be saved; but what is it? The expression itself is of the utmost generality, and the various definite