gospel might be rendered a complete form of religion: that the 'Gentile converts, who knew their freedom from the law of Mofes, defpifed their Judaizing brethren as fuperftitious bigots, while the others regarded them as profane, for neglecting inftitutions which they esteemed facred: that those who poffeffed fpiritual gifts, had occafioned great disturbance in the church, each extolling his own gifts, and striving to exercise them in the public affemblies, without giving place to others: Laftly, that fome, both of the Jewish and Gentile believers, reckoning it difgraceful to obey constitutions made by idolaters, had, in several inftances, contemned the wholesome laws of the state, and were in danger of being punished as evil doers, to the great scandal of the Chriftian name.

As the apostle had not been in Rome, when he wrote this epiftle, fome perfons, well acquainted with the affairs of the church there, must have made him acquainted with all the particulars above mentioned. For his letter to the Romans was evidently framed with a view to these things. If so, who more likely to give the information, than Aquila and Prifcilla, with whom the apostle lodged fo long? And though the Roman brethren were then difperfed, consequently the apoftle had no opportunity of writing to them as a church; yet the disorders which prevailed among them, having made a deep impreffion on his spirit, we may suppose he refolved to embrace the firft opportunity of remedying them. Accordingly, during his fecond vifit to the Corinthians, having heard that the church was reestablished at Rome, St. Paul wrote to the Romans this excellent and learned letter, which bears their name; wherein, at great length, he difcourfed of the juftification of finners; anfwered the objections made to the gospel doctrine of justification; proved from Mofes and the prophets the calling of the Gentiles, the rejection of the Jews, and their future restoration; and gave the Roman brethren many precepts and exhortations, fuited to their character and circumstances.

From the pains which the apoftle took in this letter, to prove that no Gentile can be juftified by the law of nature, nor Jew by the law of Mofes, and from his explaining in it all the divine dispensations refpecting religion, as well as from what he says, chap. i. 7. 13, 14, 15. it is reasonable to think it was defigned

for

for the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles at Rome, as well as for the brethren; who therefore would fhew the copies which they took of it to their unbelieving acquaintance. And inasmuch as the apoftle profeffed to derive his views of the matters contained in this letter, from the former revelations, and from inspiration, it certainly merited the attention of every unbeliever to whom it was fhown, whether he were a Jewish fcribe, or a heathen philofopher, or a Roman magiftrate, or one of the people; some of whom, I make no doubt, read it. And though, by reading it, they may not have been perfuaded to embrace the gospel immediately, the candid and intelligent, by feriously weighing the things written in it, must have received fuch inftruction in the principles and duties of natural religion, as could hardly fail to lead them to fee the abfurdity of the commonly received idolatry; which was one good step towards their converfion.-To conclude: As in this learned letter, the principal objections, by which Jews and Deifts have all along impugned the gospel, are introduced and answered, it is a writing which the adverfaries of revelation, who pretend to oppofe it on rational principles, ought to perufe with attention and candour.

The commentators observe, that although the apostle, in the infcription of this letter, hath afferted his apoftolical authority, to make the Romans fenfible, that the things written in it were dictated to him by the Spirit; yet, as he was perfonally unknown to the greatest part of them, he does not teach, exhort, and rebuke them with that authority which he uses in his letters to the churches of his own planting, but he writes to them in a mild and condescending manner, in order to gain their affection.

Sect. IV. Of the Time and Place of writing the Epiftle to the

Romans.

I

The first time Paul vifited Corinth, he found Aquila and Prifcilla, lately come from Italy, in confequence of Claudius's cdict, (Acts xviii. 2.) which was published in the eleventh year of his reign, answering to A. D. 51. (See Pref. 1 Cor. fect. 1.) Probably the apoftle arrived at Corinth in the fummer of that year. And as he abode there more than eighteen months, before he fet out for Syria, (Acts xviii. 18.) he must have left Co

rinth in the spring of A. D. 53.-In his voyage to Syria, the apostle touched at Ephefus, then failed ftraight to Cesarea. From Cefarea he went to Jerufalem, and after that to Antioch. And having spent fome time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, ftrengthening the difciples, Acts xviii. 21, 22, 23. Then paffing through the upper coafts, he came to Ephefus, A&s xix. 1. His voyage from Corinth to Cefarea, and his journey through the countries juft now mentioned, may have been performed in a year and ten months. Wherefore, if he failed from Corinth in February 53, he may have come to Ephefus in the end of the year 54. And seeing he abode at Ephefus about three years, (Acts xx. 31.) before he went into Macedonia, his arrival in Macedonia (Acts xx. 1.) must have happened in the year 57. At this time the apofile went over all these parts, and gave them much exhortation, before he went into Greece, Aas xx. 2. Probably this was the time he preached the gospel in the borders of Illyricum, Rom. xv. 19. And as these transactions would take up the fummer of the year 57, we cannot suppose he came into Greece fooner than in the autumn of that year. The purpofe of his journey into Greece, was to receive the collections which the churches of Achaia had made for the faints in Judea, 2 Cor. ix. 3.-5. Having therefore abode three months in Greece, (Acts xx. 3.) he departed with the collections early in the year 58.-The time of the apostle's departure from Greece with the collections, being thus fixed, there can be no doubt concerning the date of his epiftle to the Romans; for he told them he was going to Jerufalem, when he wrote it, Rom. xv. 25. But now I go to Jerufalem, miniftring to the faints. Wherefore the epiftle to the Romans was written at Corinth, as we fhall fee immediately, in the end of A. D. 57, or in the beginning of A. D. 58, full feven years after the Jews and Chriftians were banished from Rome by Claudius, and about three years after their return. For Claudius dying in the year 54, his edict terminated with his life; and not being renewed by his fucceffor, the Jews and Chriftians came back to Rome in fuch numbers, that, in the third year of the emperor Nero, when the apoftle wrote this letter, the Roman church had acquired its former celebrity. To conclude: The circumstances, by which the date of the epiftle to the Romans is fixed, are so

well

well afcertained, that learned men are nearly agreed in their opinion upon the point: fome, with Pearson, dating it at Corinth, in the year 57; others, with Lardner, in the beginning of 58; and others, with Mill, in 58, without determining the time of the year.

The falutations from Gaius or Caius, the apostle's hoft, and from Eraftus, the chamberlain of the city, Rom. xvi. 23. are additional proofs, that this epiftle was written at Corinth. For that Gaius lived there, feems plain from 1 Cor. i. 14. as did Eraftus likewife, 2 Tim. ii. 14. Befides, Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, the eastern part of Corinth, having been the bearer of this letter, Corinth, by that circumftance alfo, is so plainly pointed out as the place where it was written, that there was no occasion for the apostle to be more particular.

RO.

ROMAN S.

CHAP. I.

View and Illuftration of the Matters contained in this Chapter.

THE unbelieving to the uncircumcifed Gentiles, HE unbelieving Jews having violently oppofed the gospel, and becaufe Jefus, whom the Chriftians called the Chrift, was not fuch an one as they expected, the apoftle, in the infcription of this epiftle, affirmed that the gospel was preached to the Gentiles, in fulfilment of God's promise made by the prophets in the fcriptures, ver. 1, 2.—And that Jefus, whom the apostles called the Chrift, was, as to his flesh, sprung of the feed of David, ver. 3. -But as to his divine nature, he was, with the greatest power of evidence, declared to be the Son of God, by his resurrection, ver. 4.-And because Paul was perfonally unknown to most of the Christians in Rome, he affured them that he was made an apoftle by Chrift himself, for the purpose of preaching the gofpel to the Gentiles, ver. 5.:-of which class of men, most of the inhabitants of Rome were, ver. 6.-He was therefore authorised to write this letter to the whole inhabitants of Rome. So many particulars crowded into the infcription, hath made it uncommonly long. But they are placed with great judgment, in the very entrance, because they are the foundations, on which the whole scheme of doctrine contained in the epistle, is built.

Because it might feem ftrange, that Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, had not hitherto visited Rome, the most noted Gentile city in the world, he affured the Romans he had often purposed to come to them, but had hitherto been hindered, ver. 13, 14. However, he was ftill willing to preach the gospel in Rome, ver. 15. ;-being neither afraid, nor afhamed, to preach it in that great and learned city; because it reveals the powerful method which God hath devised for beftowing falvation on every one who believeth; on the Jew first, to whom it was to be first preached, and also on the Greek, ver. 16. In this account of the

gofpel,