The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 268

,.., ~~ .. ipovµ£P. And indignl\ntly rejcctl'<l hy ti<~n ?f Phl\1"11.0h, wne duo to tho dotor- ,u~ -ylPOl'N>, followed by reasons agginst the DllDf\tion of God thnt it should be eo in mferenoo. ROO?rdn.nce with his own rightooue purp~eo, which oannot b.e c1tlled in question by mlln. ,ers. U-16.-What shllll we say then 1 The partiouln.r decln.rn.tion of Exod. ix. 16 U~~teousness wi~ God! ("Is there" rnp- nppears to be selected for quotation be- plied in the Authorized Version somewhat Cl\u_se ~f ~ts _relevnnoy to the oe.so in ho.nd, wM~t>llll the force of the expression.) God wb1ch 1t ~s mtended to illustrate; viz. the forbid 1 l'or to J[oses he 8&ith, I will have pM1ent reJeotion of the mn.jority of tho Jews mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will from gospel privileges. How this is will have oompusion on whom I will have com- appear belo~. Now, this whole passage he.s passion. 8o then it is not of him that willeth, been used ID support of Cnlvinistio viewe nor of him that rnnneth, but of God that o~ ~he orig!,nal absolute reprobation of in- Bhoweth meroy. The e.rgnruent (thus in- d1v1d_uals_ irrespectively of their deserts. troduced by -yil.p) requires two understood Calvm himself draws this conclusion from premieses-that God cannot possibly be it_. ve~y d~cided!y, ~hus: "Neque enim prm- unrighteous, and that what be himself said vider1 ru1Dam 1mp1orum a Domino Paulus to Moees mnst be trne. These premisses tradit, sed ejus consilio et voluntate ordinari; assumed. the apostle reasons thus : "What quemadmodum et Solomon docet (Prov. xvi. I have said of God's way of dealing with ~) n~n modo prmcognitum fuisso impiorum men does not imply unrighteousness in mter1tnm, sed impios ipsos fuisse destinato him; for it agrees with what he said or creatos, ut perirent " (' In Epist. Pauli ad himself to Moses." The quotation is from Rom.,' on eh;, ix. 18). It is, therefore, impor- Exod. miiL 19. Moses had besought the ta.nt to consider oarefully both the original LoRD to show him hie glory, a.s a t.oken that meaning of the verse, quoted from Exodus b_e and the people had found grace in hie and the apostle's application of it. First' sight (vers. 16, IS). The LoRD, in answer with reference to Pharaoh himself, whe.t i~ t.o hie prayer, makes " all his goodness pass meant by "I raised thee up Uf(ryeipa.)"? before him," in token tha.t such grace had Not" cree.ted thee;" nor (e.s in the Vulgate been found ; but declares, in the words and as Augustine, Calvin, and some other~ qnot.ed, tha.t all sncb grace accorded was interpret) euita'IJi te, i.e. "stirred thee up" not due t.o any claim on the pa.rt of me.n, to resist my will, that I might exhibit my bni t.o his own good pleasure. power in confounding thee. Whether or not St. Paul's lt~'Ye,pa. would bear this In the verses that follow (17, 18) it ie sense, it ie qnite inadmissible in the LXX. (from which, in this expression, he varies) further ehmrn, by the same kind of argu- and also in the Hebrew, of which the prope; ment, that, as God declares himself to accept rendering is, " I made thee to sto.nd." The whom he will, eo he also declares himself LXX. has ,11etce11 .,-ot'rrou 8,e.,-71pfi671s, meanina- to reject wbom he will ; and hence, as hie that Phare.oh had been kept alive instead power ie absolute, so ie his justice unim- of being at once cut off, that God's power might be displayed in him. (The idee. thus peachable, in himself determining the expressed, it may be observed, accords closely objects of hie reprobation no less than the with that of ver. 22 below, where the co.se objects of hie mercy. Thi.a appears from of Phare.oh is still in view: "endured with what he is recorded (Exod. ix. 16) to have mnch long-sn:ffering,'' eto. Thue, though aid through Moses to Pharaoh. the rendering 81e-r11p-l,611s may be incorrect, and varied by St. Paul, yet he still seems to Vel'I!. 17, 18.-For the Soriptnre saith unto recognize the idea which it expresses.) St. Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose (rather, Panl's rendering, which ie closer to the for thu "ef1I purpo,e) did I ra.ise th8'3 up, Hebrew than the LXX., seems to mean, that I might 1how in thee my power, and "raised thee to thy present position of that my llame might be declared throughout power and greatness" (or possibly, as Meyer all tu earth. The conclusion follows : So explains, "caused thee to emerge," i.e. in then he hath mnr,y on whom he will have history: "Thy whole historical appearance mercy, 11.Ild whom he will he hardeneth. ha.e been brought about by me, in order The passage quoted in ver. 17, taken (as it the.t," etc.). Thus the expression cannot Ii; iniended to be) in eonjnnction with the mean. either that God had brought Phare.oh whole hiator7 as given in Exodus - and originally into exist.once for the sole purpose especially with the pB.l!llages in which God of destroying him, or that he had from the himself is said to have hardened Pharooh's first irresistibly incit.ed him to obduracy in heart, so that he would not let the children order to condemn him, and so destroy him. of lmlel go-shows that not only the 'l'he Lord says in effect to him, "Thou nrt deliv1:rance of IBrael, but al.so the obdum- now great and powerful; but it is I that on. rx, 1-88.J THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE RO~ANS, 267