THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OP GLOUCESTER;
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
WITH
INTRODUCTIONS BY THE
VERY REV. F. W. FARR.AR, D.D., F.R.S., DE.AN OF CA.i'fTERB"CRY. RIGHT REV. H. COTTBRILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. TULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G. RAWLINSON, M.A. REV. A. PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORE; 1907 PRI!li"TED SY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LDUTRO, LONDON AND BECCLES.
(Tie rirlet, o/ lraazlalltm allll t1/ .-,t,,,tN111el,"" ,.,., r11-d.) THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAR 011' GLOUCEIITEB;
AND BY THB
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
ROMANS. exposition ' BY REV. J. BARMBY, ~.D., TIOAB 011' l'l'l"l'llilGTOll.
~omilttlcs BY REV. PROFESSOR J. RADFORD THOMSON, M.A.
'fl1omflfts b~ Fatious r.ilutf)otS. BEV. c. H. mwm, M.A. REV. S. R. ALDRIDGE, B.A., LL.D. BEV. T. F. LOCKYER, D.A. REV. B. M. EDG..c\..B, M.A.
NEW EDITION.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY ~ ", l. ; , "' LONDON AND NEW YOl'}j ~:;:' ~ ~~ ~ -' \". . :,. ....
1907 r, ~-.. - . ..- ...... i-; -.- THE EPISTLE OF
PAUL TO THE ROMANS.
INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. AUTHENTICITY, Tm: authenticity of this Epistle is indisputable, and acknowledged; except that Baur has qnestioned that of the two concluding chapters. The relation of these two chapters to the body of the Epistle, and the evidence of their having been written as well as the rest by St. Paul, will be considered in loco. The internal evidence of the Epistle 11,1 a whole is in itself convincing. In tone of thought, method of argument, and style, it has all the peculiar characteristics of St. Paul. It may be safely said that no one could possibly have written it but himself. The external evidence is no less complete, including the testimony of such early Fathers as Clement of Rome, Polycarp (' Ad Philip.'), Justin Martyr, Ignatius, and Irenieus,
§ 2. Tn.rn AND PLACE. Equally certain is our knowledge of the time and place of writing-, derived from intimations in the Epistle itself, in conjunction with what is found in other Epistles and in the .Acts of the Apostles. It was writt€n from Corinth, in the spring of A.D. 58 (according to the received chronology of the .Acts), when St. Paul was about to leave that place to take the alms he had collected to Jerusalem for tl;te relief of the poor Christians there, as related in Acts xx. 8. The proofs of this conclusion are briefly these: It appears from the Acts of the Apostles that St. Paul, after staying for more than two years at Ephesus, "purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia aud .Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I havti been there, I must o.lso see Rome" (Acts :i.:ix. 21). He sent Timotheus 1\0111,\NS. b
525 ii INTRODUCTION '1'0
and Erast-us before him into Maoedoni&, intending to follow them before long. His departure seems to have been ha.stened by the tumult raised by Demetrius the silversmith, after whioh he proceeded at onoe to Macedoni", a.•d t,hence to Greece (i.e. Acha.ia), remaining three months e.t Corinth. His int.ention at first was to sail thence direct to Syria., so 811 to reach Jerusalem without unnecessary delay; but, in order to elude the Jews who la.id wa.it for him, he changed his plan e.t the last moment, and returned to Ma.oedonia, whenoe he hastened towards J erue&lem, hoping to ree.oh it before Pentecost (Acts n. 1-6, 13-16). Hie purpose in going there wes, e.s just stated, to carry the alms from various Gentile Churches whioh he had long been soliciting from them for the poor Jewish Christiane in Palestine; and his previous tour through Macedonia. and Acha.i& had been for re- ceiving these alms. He declared this to have been the purpose of his visit to Jerusalem, in his defence before Felix (Acts xxiv. 17); and in both his Epistles to the Corinthians his design is distinctly spoken of. In the first, written probably during his stay a.t Ephesus, he alludes to "the collection for the saints " as something already going on, and already urged upon the Corinthians; he directs them to offer for the purpose every Lord's day, so as to have the money ready for him when he comes for it, a.e he hopes to do before long, after first passing through Macedonia. (1 Cor. xvi. 1-8). In the Second Epistle, written probably from Macedonia, after he had left Ephesus and was on his way to Acha.ia, he refere to the subject at length, saying how liberal the Macedonia.ns had been, and how he had incited them by boasting to them of the Corinthians having been ready a year a.go; r.nd he implores the latter not to Jet his boasting be in vain in this behalf, having sent certain bret.hren to them to get the contributions ready in preparation for his own arrival (2 Cor. viii., ix.). Now, inasmuch a.e in eh. xv. 25, seg_., of this epistle he speaks of being on the point of going unto Jerusa.lem to minister unto the saints, and of both the Maoedoniane and Acbaians having already made their contribution for the purpoee,:it is evident that he wrote his letter to the Romans after he had been in Achaia, but before going to Jerusalem. And, further, he must have sent it before leaving Corinth, or its port Cenohrea; for he commends to them Phmbe of Cenchrea, who wBB on the point of going thence to Rome, and who was probably the bearer of the letter (eh. xvi. 1, 2); he sends salutations from Erastue the chamberlain of the city (which, aft.er mention of Cenohrea, must be con- cluded w be Corinth) ; and from GaillS, then hie host, who was probably the GaillS mentioned in 1 Cor. i. 14 as having been one of the two ba.ptized at Corinth by himself (eh. xvi. 23). Further, the time of year may be gathered from the narrative in Acts. The let~ was sent, as we ha.ve seen, on the eve of his depa.rtnre for Jerusalem; naviga.tiQn after the winter season had then begun ; for he had first intended to go by sea to Syria (Acts XL 3) : after hie jonrney, in consequence of his change of intention, to :Macedonia, he spent Easter a.t Philippi (Acts xx. 6) ; and he hoped to reach Jerusalem b1 Pentecost (Acts u. 16). Thus the, time mulit bo,ve THE EPISTLE OJl' PAUL TO THE ROMANS. iii