Section III The Fruits of God’s Righteousness

¹Exceptions are I and II Corinthians and Philippians.

²Cf. Galatians (5:1) and Colossians (3:5), and, less markedly, I and II Thessalonians.

³Dodd, op. cit., p. 189. Brunner cautions against our saying “after the ‘dogmatics’, the ‘ethics’. … But as the fruit grows from the sap of the tree, so this instruction for the true Christian life grows out of what has been previously told us about God’s merciful dealings with us” (op. cit., pp. 101-2).

⁴IB, IX, 579.

⁵Op. cit., pp. 424-25 (italics mine).

⁶In 9:15, I will have compassion (oiktireso) is parallel to I will have mercy (eleeso); cf. 11:32 also.

⁷By exhorting them, i.e. by strengthening them in faith, Paul comforts the Christians in their lives in time and in the world. And by comforting them he exhorts them” (Barth, A Shorter Commentary on Romans, p. 149). Parakalo is the root of parakletos (cf. John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).

⁸Beet, op. cit., p. 332. Cf. v. 8; 15:30; 16:17.

⁹Erdman, op. cit., p. 131.

¹⁰ICC, “Romans,” p. 352. “The victim to be offered is the body of the victim” (Godet, op. cit., p. 425).

¹¹Op. cit., p. 687.

¹²Dodd, op. cit., p. 190. To present the body, says Beet, “is practically the same as presenting ourselves to God: for only through our body does the world act upon us and we upon the world” (loc. cit.). “By ‘body’ Paul means the whole human person” (Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 231). “To present their bodies—the whole person” (Barth, A Shorter Commentary on Romans, pp. 149-50). “The organ of action, the body, must now become an organ and instrument of God” (Brunner, op. cit., p. 102). “Your bodies—that is, yourselves; a part is put for the whole; the rather, as in the ancient sacrifices of beasts, the body was the whole” (Wesley Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, p. 568).

¹³Quoted by Alford, op. cit., p. 949.

¹⁴Overcome Evil with Good (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1967), p. 17.

¹⁵Dodd, op. cit., pp. 190-91.

¹⁶Godet, op. cit., p. 426.

¹⁷Discourses, I, xvi. 20 f.; quoted by Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 231.

¹⁸Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, p. 226.

¹⁹A Shorter Commentary on Romans, p. 150. Knox thinks the word “spiritual” is better than “rational.” He suggests it means, “ ‘This worship is appropriate to your new spiritual life’; or it may be, ‘This worship is really God’s Spirit offering your worship for you’(cf. 8:26-27)” (IB, IX, 581). But in I Pet. 2:5, where we read of “spiritual sacrifices,” the adjective is pneumatikas.

²⁰Knox, IB, IX, 528. The age to come is not mentioned by name, but it is glimpsed in the expression the renewing (anakainosis) of your mind; for the new man has a new mind, the mind of Christ (I Cor. 2:16), which corresponds to the new age (Nygren, op. cit., p. 419).

²¹Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 232.

²²ICC, “Romans,” p. 353. On the distinction between schema and morphe see Lightfoot, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians (London: Macmillan & Company, 1913), p. 110. Chrysostom comments, “He says not change of fashion, because virtue’s not a fashion, but a kind of real form, with a natural beauty of its own, not needing the trickeries and fashions of outward things, which no sooner appear than they go to naught. For all these things, even before they come to light, are dissolving. If then thou throw-est the fashion aside, thou wilt speedily come to the form” (ICC, loc. cit.).

²³Loc. cit.

²⁴Beet, loc. cit.

²⁵Op. cit., p. 688.

²⁶J. H. Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (New York: American Book Co., n.d.), p. 318.

²⁷Dodd, op. cit., p. 192.

²⁸Beet, loc. cit.

²⁹Cf. Knox, loc. cit.

³⁰ICC, “Romans,” p. 354.

³¹The same adjective used in v. 1; in all nine cases of the adjective and three of the verb eurastein which are found in the NT the thought is that of being “well-pleasing” to God.

³²Op. cit., p. 193.

³³Gifford; quoted by Denney, loc. cit.

³⁴Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 235.

³⁵Dodd, op. cit., p. 194.

³⁶Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 237.

³⁷Wesley, however, translates analogian tes pisteos “the analogy of faith.” “ ‘According to the analogy of faith’ means ‘according to “the oracles of God”’: according to the general tenor of them; according to that grand scheme of doctrine which is delivered therein, touching original sin, justification by faith, and present, inward salvation” (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, pp. 569-70).

³⁸The Epistle to the Romans, p. 238.

³⁹Ibid., p. 239.

⁴⁰Ibid.

⁴¹ICC, “Romans,” p. 361.

⁴²Denney, op. cit., p. 691.

⁴³Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 240.

⁴⁴Quoted in ICC, “Romans,” p, 363.

⁴⁵Quoted by Denney, op. cit., p. 693.

⁴⁶This implies that there is a certain moral standard common to all men and recognized as universally praiseworthy. See comments on 2:14-15 for a discussion of natural ethics.

⁴⁷For te orge as used absolutely of God’s wrath, cf. 5:9 and I Thess. 2:16.

⁴⁸ICC, “Romans,” p. 365.

⁴⁹0p. cit., p. 201.

⁵⁰see Introduction, p. 23. There seems to be evidence that the Jews in Rome were “notoriously bad subjects,” and it may be that this spirit of anarchy carried over into the Roman church. See Denney, op. cit., p. 695.

⁵¹Leenhardt, op. cit., p. 322.

⁵²Knox, IB, IX, 602.

⁵³Nygren, op. cit., p. 428.

⁵⁴Leenhardt, op. cit., p. 330.

⁵⁵Denney, op. cit., p. 697.

⁵⁶Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, p. 572.

⁵⁷Op. cit., p. 183.

⁵⁸The apostle would certainly agree that the Christian conscience might move him to say with Peter and John, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29; cf. Acts 4:18-21). Even so, the conscientious objector must be prepared to suffer the punishment which the state dictates, for as a Christian he believes that even an evil state is better than anarchy.

⁵⁹Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 247.

⁶⁰Knox, IB, IX, 604.

⁶¹ICC, “Romans,” p. 368.

⁶²IB, IX, 605.

⁶³Ibid.

⁶⁴The Epistle to the Romans, p. 250.

⁶⁵lbid.

⁶⁶Ibid.; see Matt. 5:46-47.

⁶⁷“A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” The Works of John Wesley, XI, 394.

⁶⁸Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, p. 573.

⁶⁹IB, IX, 612-13.

⁷⁰See Introduction, “Place and Date of Writing.”

⁷¹IB, IX, 614-15.

⁷²Ibid., p. 615. See ICC, “Romans,” pp. 399-403 for a full discussion of this issue.

⁷³Denney, op. cit., p. 701.

⁷⁴Op. cit., p. 454.

⁷⁵ICC, “Romans,” p. 384.

⁷⁶lbid., p. 385.

⁷⁷Denney, op. cit., p. 702.

⁷⁸Although the negative side of the statement is not found in the best MSS, the thought is certainly implied, as the second half of the verse suggests.

⁷⁹The Church has from the beginning observed the first day of the week as “the Lord’s day” in commemoration of Christ’s resurrection (John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10). Both the existence of the Church as the body of Christ and the Lord’s day as the Church’s day of worship are living memorials of the Resurrection.

⁸⁰ICC, “Romans,” p. 389. In the best MSS, v. 10 reads: “We must all appear before the judgmeat seat of God [theou].” In vv. 7-9, however, it is the Lord to whom we are answerable.

⁸¹Denney, op. cit., p. 705.

⁸²Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 264.

⁸³Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, p. 252.

⁸⁴ICC, “Romans,” p. 392.

⁸⁵Denney, op. cit., p. 706.

⁸⁶The balance of the sentence is not in the best MSS. Though it should be regarded as a scribal gloss, the meaning is in harmony with the preceding authentic phrase.

⁸⁷ICC, “Romans,” p. 393.

⁸⁸Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 266.

⁸⁹James K. Stifler, The Epistle to the Romans (Chicago: Moody Press, 1960), p. 230.

⁹⁰Denney, op. cit., p. 707.

⁹¹See Introduction.

⁹²Stifler, op. cit., p. 233.

⁹³John 2:17 (Ps. 69:9); John 15:25 (Ps. 69:4); Matt. 27:34 (Ps. 69:21); Acts 1:20 (Ps. 69:25).

⁹⁴Stifler, op. cit., 234.

⁹⁵IB, IX, 637-38.

⁹⁶Godet, op. cit., p. 4/1.

⁹⁷This interpretation seems to argue that the division existing at Rome was simply between Jew and Gentile; but we have seen how this oversimplifies the problem. Paul is rather arguing from the greater to the lesser—if God can unite these two, He can unite anyone. Or possibly v. 6 concludes his argument and vv. 7-13 are added as a summary which looks back to cc. 9—11 as well as to c. 14 (Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, pp. 272-73).