Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Romans
Book: Romans
Chapter: 1
Overview:
The
Apostle's commission.
(1-7) Prays for the saints at
Rome,
and expresses his desire to see them.
(8-15) The
Gospel way of
Justification By Faith, for Jews and
Gentiles.
(16,17) The sins
of the
Gentiles set forth.
(18-32)
1-7 The doctrine of which the
Apostle Paul wrote, set forth the
fulfilment of the promises
By the prophets. It spoke of the Son
of
God, even
Jesus the
Saviour, the promised
Messiah, who came
from
David as to his human nature, but was also declared to be
the
Son of God,
By the Divine power which raised him from the
dead. The
Christian profession does not consist in a notional
knowledge or a bare assent, much less in perverse disputings,
but in obedience. And all those, and those only, are brought to
obedience of the
Faith, who are effectually called of
Jesus
Christ. Here is, 1. The privilege of Christians; they are
beloved of
God, and are members of that body which is beloved.
2. The duty of Christians; to be holy, hereunto are they called,
called to be saints. These the
Apostle saluted,
By wishing them
Grace to sanctify their souls, and peace to comfort their
hearts, as springing from the free
Mercy of
God, the reconciled
Father of all believers, and coming to them through the
Lord
Jesus Christ.
8-15 We must show
Love for our friends, not only
By praying for
them, but
By praising
God for them. As in our purposes,
So in
our desires, we must remember to say, If the
Lord will, Jas
4:15. Our journeys are made prosperous or otherwise, according
to the will of
God. We should readily impart to others what
God
has trusted to us, rejoicing to make others joyful, especially
taking pleasure in communing with those who believe the same
things with us. If redeemed
By the
Blood, and converted
By the
Grace of the
Lord Jesus, we are altogether his; and for his sake
we are debtors to all men, to do all the good we can. Such
services are our duty.
16,17 In these verses the
Apostle opens the design of the whole
epistle, in which he brings forward a charge of sinfulness
against all
Flesh; declares the only method of deliverance from
condemnation,
By Faith in the
Mercy of
God, through
Jesus
Christ; and then builds upon it purity of
Heart, grateful
obedience, and
Earnest desires to improve in all those
Christian
graces and tempers, which nothing but a lively
Faith in
Christ
can bring forth.
God is a just and holy
God, and we are guilty
sinners. It is necessary that we have a
Righteousness to appear
in before him: there is such a
Righteousness brought in
By the
Messiah, and made known in the
Gospel; a gracious method of
acceptance, notwithstanding the guilt of our sins. It is the
Righteousness of
Christ, who is
God, coming from a satisfaction
of infinite value.
Faith is all in all, both in the beginning
and progress of
Christian Life. It is not from
Faith to
Works,
as if
Faith Put us into a justified state, and then
Works kept
us in it; but it is all along from
Faith to
Faith; it is
Faith
pressing forward, and gaining the victory over unbelief.
18-25 The
Apostle begins to show that all mankind need the
Salvation of the
Gospel, because none could obtain the favour of
God, or escape his wrath
By their own
Works. For
No Man can
plead that he has fulfilled all his obligations to
God and to
his neighbour; nor can any truly say that he has fully acted up
to the
Light afforded him. The sinfulness of
Man is described as
ungodliness against the laws of the first table, and
unrighteousness against those of the second. The cause of that
sinfulness is holding the
Truth in unrighteousness. All, more or
less, do what they know to be wrong, and omit what they know to
be right,
So that the plea of ignorance cannot be allowed from
any. Our Creator's invisible power and
Godhead are
So clearly
shown in the
Works he has made, that even idolaters and wicked
Gentiles are left without excuse. They foolishly followed
Idolatry; and rational creatures changed the
Worship of the
glorious Creator, for that of brutes, reptiles, and senseless
images. They wandered from
God, till all traces of true religion
must have been lost, had not the
Revelation of the
Gospel
prevented it. For whatever may be pretended, as to the
sufficiency of
Man's reason to discover Divine
Truth and moral
obligation, or to govern the practice aright, facts cannot be
denied. And these plainly show that men have dishonoured
God By
the most absurd idolatries and superstitions; and have degraded
themselves
By the vilest affections and most abominable deeds.
26-32 In the horrid depravity of the
Heathen, the
Truth of our
Lord's words was shown: "
Light was come into the world, but men
loved
Darkness rather than
Light, because their deeds were evil;
for he that doeth evil hateth the
Light." The
Truth was not to
their taste. And we all know how soon a
Man will contrive,
against the strongest evidence, to reason himself out of the
belief of what he dislikes. But a
Man cannot be brought to
greater slavery than to be given up to his own lusts. As the
Gentiles did not like to keep
God in their knowledge, they
committed crimes wholly against reason and their own welfare.
The nature of
Man, whether pagan or
Christian, is still the
same; and the charges of the
Apostle apply more or less to the
state and character of men at all times, till they are brought
to full submission to the
Faith of
Christ, and renewed
By Divine
power. There never yet was a
Man, who had not reason to lament
his strong corruptions, and his secret dislike to the will of
God. Therefore this
Chapter is a
Call to self-examination, the
End of which should be, a
Deep conviction of
Sin, and of the
necessity of deliverance from a state of condemnation.