For more notes by Piconio and others on Romans see here.
1. Brethren, the will of my heart, and my prayer to God is for them, to salvation,
2. For I bear them witness that they have the zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3. For ignoring the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not been subject to the justice of God.
4. For the end of the law is Christ, to justice to every believer.
Ch. 10. In this chapter the Apostle again urges and enforces the doctrine already stated, that’ salvation is attainable by all the human race, and can only be attained, by the sincere acceptance, and the public profession, of the
faith of Jesus Christ. This imposes upon Christians the duty of making the Gospel known to all nations, but this should be done in submission to the authority of the Church.
1. For them, to salvation. The Greek text reads for Israel to salvation. The whole of this chapter has special reference to the peculiar circumstances of the Jewish people, but the principle stated is equally applicable to all
nations. The word will is in the Greek good will. He has said sad things already, and has something sadder yet to say; and to remove all suspicion of any enmity or dislike (towards the Jews) he speaks with elaborate caution
and kindness in this exordium. Saint Chrysostom. Saint Paul cannot have considered the Jews as reprobate and incapable of salvation, or he would not have prayed for their salvation. He refers, as in the last chapter, to their fall from justice, which is not irrecoverable.
2. They have the zeal of God. Zeal for the law of God, but not knowledge. Ill-directed zeal is a frequent cause of mischief. The impulse of the heart alone is not a safe guide, because the judgment is fallible, and knowledge
limited; but we are safe in acting according to the teaching of the Church.
3. Ignoring the justice of God. The ignorance of the Jews is not admitted as an excuse by the Apostle. For they must have known, since they diligently studied the Scriptures, that Christ is the end of the law, and that through faith in Christ;they must obtain the remission of sins for which the law confessedly contains no provision. This remission of sins through Christ is the justice of God. They sought, instead of seeking this, to prove their own, which by the terms of the law itself they knew to be impossible. Their ignorance being wilful, zeal is no compensation for it.
5. For Moses wrote, that the justice, which is of the law, the man that does shall live in it.
6. But the justice which is of faith, speaks thus: Who shall ascend to heaven? that is, to bring down Christ.
7. Or who shall descend into the abyss? that is, to bring up Christ from the dead.
8. But what saith the Scripture? The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart: this is the word of faith which we proclaim.
9. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and in thy heart believe that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10. For with the heart is belief to justice: but with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
5. Moses wrote Lev 18:5, keep my laws and judgments, which the man who does shall live in them. The lawyer said to Christ, Luke 10:27, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. This was the summary of the law. Christ answered, Thou hast answered right: do this and thou shall live. He acknowledged that he was convicted from his own mouth : for who has ever done this? Perfect obedience to the law of God, such as will obtain justice in God’s sight, is unattainable by human nature. All stand in need of the remission of sin, the justice which is of faith. And this is not laborious or difficult. It is not necessary to ascend to heaven, or go down to hell (cross the seas) in search of it, Deut 30:12. Christ will come down from heaven, re-ascend from hell. What we have to do to obtain the justice which comes from faith, is to believe. This is the word faith which we proclaim; near thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart (Deut 30:14). With thy mouth confess the Lord Jesus Christ, with thy heart
believe his incarnation, passion, resurrection—all which
briefly are summed up in the belief that God has raised
him from the dead—and thou shall be saved.
10. Confession is made unto salvation. Who shall confess me before men, him will I confess. Matt 10:32.
The facility of faith, and its reasonableness, are stated by Tertullian in the words: Credible, because incredible; not to be ashamed of, because shameful. That is, if the mysteries of God are far above our intelligence, this is what we should expect, and a reason for accepting them. And if they are ridiculed by a wicked and thoughtless world, this a reason to honour and reverence them. Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, Luke 9:26. Who is ashamed of Christ as unworthy to serve him, much less reign with him.
11. For the Scripture saith: Every one who beheveth in him, shall not be confounded.
12. For there is no distinction of Jew or Greek: for the same Lord of all, is rich to all who invoke him.
13. For every one, whosoever shall have called upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
11. The Scripture saith: Is 28:16. Vulgate, who believes need not make haste. He who believes in Christ and perseveres in faith is sure of salvation, and need not be in solicitude and anxiety, for his hope will not be disappointed or confounded, as in ch. 5:5, Hope does not confound. The statement of the ancient Prophet is universal and comprehensive. He makes no limitations or distinctions. Every one who believes, Jew or Greek. God
is the Creator of all men, of all nations, and therefore is abundant in kindness and mercy to all the race of man, if they believe him, trust him, and invoke his mercy. God is rich as he is just; not only in himself, but in the communication to man of the true justice and the true riches.
13. Every one whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. The words are quoted from Joel 2:32. Ask and you shall receive. It is, however, to be understood that the invocation of the name of God must
be accompanied with real faith, hope, contrition, and charity. Turks, heretics, ungodly Christians, often call on the name of God, yet they are not thereby saved, because they have not these indispensable conditions.
Prayer includes faith, hope, charity, and all religion. Faith prays, says Saint Augustine.
14. How, therefore, shall they invoke him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe in him, whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
15. But how shall they preach unless they are sent? as it is written: how beautiful are the feet of them that evangelize peace, that evangelize good things!
16. But not all obey the Gospel. For Isaias says: Lord, who has believed our report?
14. How, therefore, shall they invoke him? This appears to be an objection urged in excuse of the incredulity of the Jews, to whom the whole of this chapter is intended especially to apply. If the invocation of Christ is the
means God has appointed for salvation, how shall the Jews, now scattered over all the regions of the world, benefit by this means, if they have not beheved in Christ, nor heard his teaching, which was confined to Judea and
Galilee, and no one has been sent to instruct them? For it would seem that it was then only recently that the Apostles, who mostly remained together at Jerusalem for fifteen years after the Ascension of Christ, separated to
carry the Gospel to distant lands. The Apostle replies to this in verse 18, but he first observes that the fault is in great measure with the Jews themselves. The message was one they ought to have received with joy. Remission of sins, reconciliation with God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, eternal glory, were offered them by Christ and the Apostles, in accordance with the prediction of Isaias 52:7. How beautiful are the feet of them that evangelize peace, that announce good tidings! Yet the Jews in Christ’s own land did not all obey the Gospel, though he announced it himself, and still less those who heard it from the mouth of the Apostles. Is. 52:1. Lord, who hath believed our report? literally our hearing; our report of the things we have heard from the lips of Christ.
17. Therefore faith is of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18. But I say: Have they not heard? And indeed their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
19. But I say: Did Israel not know? First Moses says: I will send you for emulation among not a nation, into a foolish nation I will send you in wrath.
20. And Isaias is bold, and says: I have been found by those who sought me not: I appeared openly to those who interrogated me not.
21. But to Israel he says: All day I have held out my hands to a people unbelieving and contradicting.
17. Faith is of hearing. Occasionaliter. Faith is a gift of God; but is ordinarily communicated, at least to adults, by hearing the word of Christ explained and taught. The Greek text has the Word of God, and so has the Syriac version. No doubt it is true, that to believe, the Jews must hear. But, have they not heard? What does the Prophet David say, Ps 18:5. Their sound went forth, like the thunder, over all the land, their words to the end of
the earth. This magnificent prophecy has since been fulfilled on a larger scale, and with grander results; but even in the days of Saint Paul, when this Epistle was written, it was so far true that during the twenty years, or more, that had elapsed since the Ascension of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, the Jews at least, in all accessible parts of the world, must have heard the teaching of the Apostles, and learned the coming of Christ.
Saint Thomas, referring to this prophecy of David, considers the question what opinion we ought to hold of those who have never heard the Gospel of Christ? His answer is, that they are excusable up to a certain point from the charge of infidelity; but that they are damned on account of original sin and the other sins which they have added. But he proceeds to say that if they had done what was within their power and knowledge, God would, in his mercy, have provided for them by sending them a preacher, as he sent Saint Peter to Cornelius, Saint Paul to the Macedonians. At the same time the grace to do what was already in their power itself, proceeded from God, who moved their hearts.
10. But I say: Did not Israel know? Certainly they knew, from the very fact that they saw the Gentiles all around them accepting the faith of Christ, from which in their obstinacy they excluded themselves. Moses and Isaias both foretold this long ago. Moses first Deut 32:21, as in the text. I will urge you to jealousy by that which was no nation; I will provoke you to wrath by a
foolish people: the Gentiles, namely, whom the Jews regarded as foolish, and who were not of the race of Abraham. Isaias exhibited great courage when he faced the prejudices of his own nation, in very difficult times, and boldly predicted the conversion of the Gentiles. He speaks in the person of Christ: I was found by them that sought me not, I appeared to them who did not interrogate me, but consulted instead their own augurs, oracles, and
false divinities. But if the Gentiles, or multitudes among them, joyfully accepted salvation in Christ, the Jews remained incredulous, obstinate, cavilling. Is 65:2. Allday long—all the time of my mortal life—I stretched forth my hands, in earnest persuasion. All the day, one day, I stretched them out on the cross: but they contradicted and blasphemed.
Doctrinal Corollary:
Saint John Chrysostom observes at the conclusion of this chapter that Saint Paul has given a perfectly clear solution of the objections proposed to him, or which he foresaw might probably be offered to his argument, and
proved that the infidelity of the Jews was the consequence of their obstinacy alone, and that no valid excuse can be offered for them. A father will sometimes call his child, and the child will not come;-but if another listens to the call, emulation will effect what obedience wonld not, and he will then run to his father’s presence. Thus God, having in vain called upon the Jews, with outstretched arms, all day, provoked them at length to emulation by calling the Gentiles, whom they despised and looked down upon, and brought these into his Holy Catholic Church. Alas! this failed too. The Jews still remained obstinate. What excuse can they find?
The cause of the rejection of the Jews, as assigned by the Apostle, is solely and entirely their own obstinacy and malice; not any reprobating decree of God: to which he makes no allusion, and which, if it existed, would render
his argument irrelevant.
The Gentiles, called by God, and sought, came and were found. I appeared; the grace of prevention and vocation. I was found: the co-operation of the Gentiles with the grace of faith.
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