Ver. 31. τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν πρὸς ταῦτα; the idea underlying all that precedes is that of the suffering to be endured by those who would share Christ’s glory (ver. 17). The Apostle has disparaged the suffering in comparison with the glory (ver. 18); he has interpreted it (vers. 19-27) as in a manner prophetic of the glory; he has in these last verses asserted the presence through all the Christian’s life of an eternal victorious purpose of love: all this is included in ταῦτα. For ὑπὲρ and κατὰ, cf. 2 Cor. xiii. 8.
Ver. 32. The Christian’s faith in pro- vidence is an inference from redemption. The same God who did not spare His own Son will freely give us all things.
29—34.
653
ἡμῶν, tis καθ᾽ ἡμῶν; 32. ὃς ye τοῦ iBlou υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλ᾽
ε 9 ς Αρ 2.6 A + A | 7 ‘ Fe 1 9 ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρέδωκεν αὐτόν, πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ TA
πάντα ἡμῖν ᾿ χαρίσεται; 33. τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ ; νι Cor. ii.
ς
Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν΄ 34. τίς 6
κατακρίνων; Χριστὸς] ὁ ἀποθανών,
12; Gal. ili. 18.
μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐγερθείςο, ὃς καὶ ἔστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ
1 Χριστος alone BDEK, most cursives, and Treg. Χριστος Ίησους ΝΜΑΟΕΙ, 17,
vulg., etc.
Weiss puts X. |. in text, thinking the omission in B, etc., accidental ; W. and H., and Lachm. bracket Ίησους.
The και before εγερθεις is wanting in
SABC. The και before εστιν is wanting in SAC but is found in ΜΒΡΕΚΙ,. It is omitted by W. and H., and Tischdf., bracketed by Lachm., but retained by Weiss. After εγερθεις Ν ΑΟ insert ex vexpwv; W. and H. bracket this, but all other crit. edd.
omit, with §?BDFGKL, etc.
οὐκ ἐφείσατο, cf. Gen. xxii. 12, οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι ἐμέ. It vivifies the impression of God’s love through the sense of the sacrifice it made. ὑπὲρ πάντων ἡμῶν: none were worthy of such a sacrifice (Weiss). παρέδωκεν sc. to death: iv. 25. πῶς οὐχὶ καί: the argument of selfishness is that he who has done so much need do no more; that of love, that he who has done so much is certain to do more. σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα: τὰ πάντα has a collective force. It is usually taken to mean the whole of what furthers the Christian’s life, the whole of what contributes to the perfecting of his salvation; all this will be freely given to him by God. But why should it not mean ‘‘all things” without any such qualification? When God gives us His Son He gives us the world; there is nothing which does not work together for our good; all things are ours. Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 22 f.
Ver. 33 f. The pusfctuation here is a very difficult problem: see the text and margin of R.V. The reminiscence of Is. 1. 8 f. in verse 33 makes it more difficult; for it suggests that the normal structure is that of an affirmation fol- lowed by a question, whereas Paul begins with a question to which the affirmation (with at least a trace of Isaiah’s language in it) is an answer. It is even possible to read every clause interrogatively, though that is less effec- tive. τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ; who shall bring a charge against persons who are God’s chosen? The absence of the article (cf. ὑπὲρ ἁγίων, ver. 27) brings out the character in which the persons in question figure, not their individual per- sonality. For the word see Col. iii. 12; 2 Tim. ii. το; Tit. i.1; for the thing cf. 1 Thess. i. 4; Eph. i. 4; John xv. 16. It describes Christians as persons who owe their standing as such to the act of
God’s grace. All Christians are con- scious that this is the truth about their position: they belong to God, because He has taken them for His own. To say that the word designates ‘not those who are destined for final salvation, but those who are ‘ summoned’ or ‘selected’ for the privilege of serving God and carrying out His will” (S. and H.), is to leave the rails of the Apostle’s thought altogether. There is nothing here (vers. 28-30) about the privilege of serving God and carrying out His will; the one thing Paul is concerned with is the security given by the eternal love of God that the work of salvation will be carried through, in spite of all impediments, ffom fore- knowledge to final glory. The ἐκλεκτοὶ θεοῦ are those who ought to have such security: they should have a faith and an assurance proportioned to the love of God. Paul is one of them, and because he is, he is sure, not that he is called to serve God, but that nothing can ever separate him from God’s love in Christ. The question τίς ἐγκαλέσει is best an- swered by taking both the following clauses together: “Τε is God that justi- fieth: who is he that shall condemn?” (cf. Is. 1. 8 6). But many make τίς 6 κατακρινῶν a new question, and find the answer in verse 34: Χριστὸς [Inoots] 6 ἀποθανών = the only person who can condemn is the Judge, viz., Christ, but He is so far from condemning that He has done everything to deliver us from condemnation. What Christian, Paul seems to ask, can speak of κατάκριµα with his eye on Christ, who died for our sins? μᾶλλον δὲ ἐγερθεὶς [ἐκ νεκρῶν]: cf. Gal. iv. 9: and chap. iv. 25. The correction in μᾶλλον is formal (Weiss): Paul does not mean that the resurrection is more important than the cross; he improves upon an expression which has not conveyed all that was in his mind.