Who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification.

“The apostle also knows what kind of God he has ascribed to us, when he writes: "If God spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us, how did He not with Him also give us all things? " You see how divine Wisdom has murdered even her own proper, first-born and only Son, who is certainly about to live, nay, to bring back the others also into life. I can say with the Wisdom of God; It is Christ who gave Himself up for our offences. Already has Wisdom butchered herself also.”

“See how after mentioning the cause of His death, he makes the same cause likewise a demonstration of the resurrection. For why, he means, was He crucified? Not for any sin of His own. And this is plain from the Resurrection. For if He were a sinner, how should He have risen? But if He rose, it is quite plain that He was not a sinner. But if He was not a sinner, how came He to be crucified?-For others,-and if for others, then surely he rose again. Now to prevent your saying, How, when liable for so great sins, came we to be justified? he points out One that blotteth out all sins, that both from Abraham's faith, whereby he was justified, and from the Saviour's Passion, whereby we were freed from our sins, he might confirm what he had said. And after mentioning His Death, he speaks also of His Resurrection. For the purpose of His dying was not that He might hold us liable to punishment and in condemnation, but that He might do good unto us. For for this cause He both died and rose again, that He might make us righteous.”

“Having shown that the promise made to Abraham and his seed was not to be fulfilled through the law, here he shows that it is to be fulfilled through faith. And concerning this he does three things. First he shows by what means this promise is to be fulfilled; second he shows in whom it is to be fulfilled, at the words "to all the seed," etc.; third, by whom it is to be fulfilled, at the words "who gives life to the dead," and so on. First, then, he concludes his proposition as it were from a division. For it seems necessary that the promise be fulfilled either through faith or through the law; but not through the law, because the promise would be made void. Hence he concludes "therefore is it of faith," namely that we obtain the promise, that we may be heirs of the world. John 5:4: "this is the victory that overcomes the world," and so on. And this he confirms by the contrary means to that which he had assumed above. For it was said that if righteousness were from the law, the promise would be made void; but if it is from faith, the promise remains firm on account of the power of divine grace justifying man through faith. And this is what he says, that the promise of God may be firm — not indeed through the operations of men, which can fail, but according to grace, which is infallible. 2 Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for you," and so on. 2 Corinthians 1:20: "however many are the promises, in him," namely Christ, "they are," that is, they have their truth. Then, when he says "to all the seed," etc., he shows in whom the aforesaid promise is fulfilled. And first he sets forth what he intends, and says that the aforesaid promise, to be thus fulfilled through faith, is made firm through grace. "To all the seed," that is, to every man who is in any manner whatsoever the seed of Abraham. Ecclesiasticus 44:11f: "with their seed good things remain, a holy inheritance are their grandchildren." Second, at the words "not to that only," etc., he explains what he had said, "to all the seed." For there is a certain carnal seed, according to John 8:33: "we are the seed of Abraham." There is another, spiritual seed, according to Matthew 3:9: "God is able out of these stones," that is, out of the Gentiles, "to raise up children to Abraham"; but only the carnal seed of Abraham kept the law, whereas the spiritual seed also imitates his faith. And thus, if the promise were through the law alone, it would not be fulfilled in all the seed, but only in the carnal; but because it is fulfilled through faith, which is common to all, it is plain that it is fulfilled in all the seed. Third, at the words "who is the father," etc., he proves what he had supposed, namely that the seed of Abraham is not only that which is from the law but also that which is from faith, by the authority of Scripture; of which he first sets forth the sense, saying, "who," namely Abraham, "is the father of us all," that is, of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles. Above, in the same place: "that he might be the father of all believers." Isaiah 51:2: "look unto Abraham your father." Second, he adduces the authority, saying, "as it is written," Genesis 17:4, "because I have made you the father of many nations." Another text has "I have appointed you," which does not change the sense. Ecclesiasticus 44:20: "Abraham, the great father of a multitude of nations." Third, at the words "before God," etc., he explains what he had said. For "I have made you" was said as though already fulfilled what was to be fulfilled long afterward; but things which are future in themselves are present in the providence of God, according to Ecclesiasticus 23:29: "to the Lord our God, before they were created, all things are known; so also after they are perfected he beholds all things." And therefore the Apostle says that what was said, "I have made you," must be understood "before God," that is, in his presence, "in whom you believed." For Abraham had believed God foretelling future things, as if he saw them present, because, as it is said in Hebrews 11:1: "faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things not appearing." Then, when he says "who gives life to the dead," etc., he shows by whom this promise is to be fulfilled, saying: "who," namely God, "gives life to the dead," that is, to the Jews, who were dead in sins, acting against the law — he gives life through faith and grace, that they may obtain the promise of Abraham. John 5:21: "as the Father raises up the dead and gives life," and so on. And "he calls the things that are not," that is, he calls the Gentiles, namely to grace, "as the things that are," that is, as the Jews. Below, chapter 9:25: "I will call that which was not my people," and so on. Now he signifies the Gentiles by "the things that are not," because they were utterly estranged from God. As it is said in 1 Corinthians 13:2: "if I have not charity, I am nothing." And thus by this calling the promise of Abraham will be fulfilled even in the Gentiles. Or what he says, "and he calls the things that are not," is not understood of temporal calling, but of the calling of eternal predestination, because even those who are not, are called and chosen as if they were. Ephesians 1:4: "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." And of this calling it is said below, 9:12: "not from works, but from him who calls, it was said, that the elder shall serve the younger." Or, he here calls "calling" the simple knowledge or cognition of God, by which he knows future things, which are not yet in act, as though present. And in this way "calling" is taken in Psalm 147:4, where it is said: "who numbers the multitude of the stars," and so on. And according to this sense, what is said here is introduced on account of what was said above, "before God, in whom you believed." For two things seemed to stand against what was said, "I have made you the father of many nations." Of these, one was that Abraham himself was as it were dead on account of old age, as will be said below. And against this he says "who gives life to the dead." The other is that those many nations did not yet exist. And against this he adds, "and calls the things that are not as the things that are." Then, when he says "who against hope," he commends the faith of Abraham. And first he shows the greatness of his faith; second, its efficacy or fruit, at the words "therefore it was also reckoned," and so on. Concerning the first he does two things. First he shows the greatness of Abraham's faith with regard to the promise of the seed to be multiplied; second, with regard to the further promise of the seed to be exalted, at the words "in the further promise," and so on. Concerning the first he does two things. First he shows his faith to have been great; second he shows it to have been firm, at the words "and he was not weak in faith," and so on. Concerning the first he does two things. First he sets forth the greatness of Abraham's faith, saying: "who," namely Abraham, "believed in this hope," that he might become the father of many nations, but against another hope. Concerning which it must be considered that hope imports a certain expectation of a future good; and this certainty is sometimes from a human or natural cause, according to 1 Corinthians 9:10: "he who plows ought to plow in hope." But sometimes the certainty of the one expecting is from a divine cause, according to Psalm 30:2: "in you, Lord, have I hoped," and so on. This good, then, that Abraham should become the father of many nations, had its certainty on the part of God who promised, but the contrary appeared from a natural or human cause. Therefore he says, "who against hope," namely of natural or human cause, "believed in hope," namely of the divine promise. This he sets forth secondly, saying, "according to what was said to him," namely Genesis 22:17: "so shall your seed be, as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea." Now both of these are adduced on account of the likeness of an innumerable multitude. For, as to the stars, it is said in Deuteronomy 1:10: "the Lord your God has multiplied you, and today you are as the stars of heaven." As to the sand, it is said in 3 Kings 4:20: "Judah and Israel are innumerable as the sand of the sea." Yet some difference can be observed between the two, so that the just, who were of the seed of Abraham, are compared to the stars, Daniel 12:3: "those who instruct many unto righteousness, as the stars for everlasting eternity." But sinners are compared to the sand, because they are oppressed by the waves of the world as by a kind of sea, Jeremiah 5:22: "I have set the sand as the bound of the sea." Then, when he says "and he was not weak," he shows the firmness of Abraham, which he first sets forth, saying, "and he was not weak." For just as temperance is shown not to be weak when it is not overcome by great desirable things, so faith is shown not to be weak, but strong, when it is not overcome by great difficulties. 1 Peter 5:9: "whom resist, strong in faith." Second, at the words "nor did he consider," etc., he sets forth the difficulties from which it is shown that his faith was not weak. And first indeed on the part of Abraham himself, when he says "he did not consider," namely so as to call the promise into question, "his own body now dead," namely because the generative power in him was already mortified on account of old age, whence he says "when he was now about a hundred years old." For it was to Abraham when he was a hundred years old that Isaac was born, as is found in Genesis 21:5. Now a year before, a son had been promised to him, according to Genesis 18:10: "returning I will come to you at this time, and Sarah shall have a son." But it seems that his body was not dead as regards the generative power, since even after the death of Sarah he took Keturah as wife, who bore him sons, as it is said in Genesis 25:1. Some therefore say that the generative power was dead in him as regards this, that he could generate from an old woman, but not as regards this, that he could generate a son from a young woman. For old men are wont to beget offspring from young women, but not from old women, who are less apt for conceiving. But it seems better to say that the power of generating was miraculously restored to Abraham, both with respect to Sarah and with respect to all women. Second, he sets forth the difficulty on the part of his wife, when he says "and the deadened womb of Sarah," namely he did not consider it so as to disbelieve. Now he says "deadened" with regard to the act of generating, both on account of barrenness and on account of old age. For the manner of women had already ceased to be with her, as it is said in Genesis 18:11. And therefore in Isaiah 51:2, where it is said: "look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah who bore you," in order to show the deadness and coldness of both, he prefaced it saying: "look unto the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were cut." Then, when he says "in the further promise also of God," etc., he commends the faith of Abraham with regard to the repeated promise concerning the exaltation of the seed. And first he sets forth the firmness of his faith; second, the cause of that firmness, at the words "giving glory to God." He says therefore first, "in the further promise also of God," that is, in his repeated promise, either concerning the multitude of the seed which he promised, first indeed in Genesis 15:5, saying: "look up to heaven and number the stars if you can," and below, in chapter 17:4: "you shall be the father of many nations," and again below, 22:17: "I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven." Or it is to be understood "in the further promise of God," that is, in the repeated promise concerning the exaltation of his seed, because when he had said, "I will multiply your seed," he immediately adds: "your seed shall possess the gates of your enemies, and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." In this promise of God indeed he did not waver, that is, he did not doubt through distrust, namely so as to distrust the truth of the divine further-promise. James 1:6: "he who wavers is like a wave of the sea," and so on. But "he was strengthened in faith," that is, he clung to faith mightily. 1 Peter, last chapter: "whom resist, strong in faith." Accordingly, when he says "giving glory to God," he assigns the reason for the firmness of his faith, saying: he was strengthened, I say, in faith, "giving glory to God," inasmuch as he considered, namely, his omnipotence. Psalm 146:5: "great is his power," and so on. Whence here too it is added, "being most fully persuaded that whatsoever God has promised, he is able also to perform." Wisdom 12:18: "for power is present with you when you will." From this it is clear that whoever is not firm in the faith of God, derogates, as far as is in himself, from the divine glory, either as regards his truth, or as regards his power. Then, when he says "and it was reckoned to him," he commends the faith of Abraham with regard to its effect. And first he sets forth the effect which it had in him, saying: "therefore," namely because Abraham believed this very thing so perfectly, "it was reckoned to him unto righteousness." Maccabees 2:52: "and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness." Second he shows the effect which his faith has also in others. And concerning this he does three things. First he sets forth the likeness of the effect, saying: "now it is not written for him alone, that it was reckoned to him unto righteousness," as though we should reckon that faith was reckoned unto righteousness to Abraham alone, "but it was written for us also," to whom it "shall be reckoned," namely faith, "unto righteousness." Below, 15:4: "whatsoever things were written, were written for our instruction." So then it was written on his account, that it might be for us an example, and on our account, that it might be for us a hope of justification. Second, at the words "to us who believe in him," he shows the likeness of the faith. For the faith of Abraham was reckoned unto righteousness when he believed that his own dead body, and the deadened womb of Sarah, could be given life for the procreation of children. It shall be reckoned also to us, who believe in him who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead: and in God the Father, to whom he himself says in Psalm 40:11: "but you, Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up." And because the power of the Father and the Son is the same, he himself also rose by his own power. Now that this faith justifies is found below, 10:9: "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." Third, at the words "who was delivered up," etc., he assigns the cause why faith in the resurrection of Christ justifies, saying: "who," namely Christ, "was delivered up," namely unto death, by God the Father — below, 8:31: "God did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all"; and by himself, Ephesians 5:25: "he delivered himself up for us"; and by Judas, John 19:11: "he who delivered me to you has the greater sin"; and by the Jews, Matthew 20:19: "they will deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked." "And he rose again for our justification," that is, that by rising he might justify us. Below, 6:4: "as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life." And that he was delivered up unto death for our offenses seems manifest from this, that by his death he merited for us the blotting out of sins, but by rising he did not merit, because in the state of the resurrection he was not a wayfarer, but a possessor. And therefore it must be said that the death of Christ was salutary for us, not only by way of merit but also by way of a certain efficient causality. For since the humanity of Christ was in a certain way the instrument of his divinity, as Damascene says, all the passions and actions of Christ's humanity were salvific for us, inasmuch as they proceeded from the power of the divinity. But because an effect bears some likeness to its cause, he says that the death of Christ, by which mortal life was extinguished in him, is the cause of the extinguishing of our sins; but his resurrection, by which he returns to a new life of glory, he says is the cause of our justification, through which we return to newness of righteousness.”

“Who was delivered for our offenses - Who was delivered up to death as a sacrifice for our sins; for in what other way, or for what other purpose could He, who is innocence itself, be delivered for our offenses? And was raised again for our justification - He was raised that we might have the fullest assurance that the death of Christ had accomplished the end for which it took place; viz. our reconciliation to God, and giving us a title to that eternal life, into which he has entered, and taken with him our human nature, as the first-fruits of the resurrection of mankind. 1. From a careful examination of the Divine oracles it appears that the death of Christ was an atonement or expiation for the sin of the world: For him hath God set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in His Blood, Rom 3:25. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ Died For the Ungodly, Rom 5:6. And when we were Enemies, we were Reconciled to God by the Death of his Son, Rom 5:10. In whom we have Redemption Through His Blood, the Forgiveness of Sins, Eph 1:7. Christ hath loved us, and Given Himself for Us, an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour, Eph 5:2. In whom we have Redemption Through His Blood, the Forgiveness of Sins, Col 1:14. And having made Peace Through the Blood of his Cross, in the Body of His Flesh, through Death, Col 1:20, Col 1:22. Who Gave Himself a Ransom for all, Ti1 2:6. Who Gave Himself for Us, that he might Redeem us from all iniquity, Tit 2:14. By which will we are sanctified, through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ, Heb 10:10. So Christ was once Offered to Bear the Sins of many, Heb 9:28. See also Eph 2:13, Eph 2:16; Pe1 1:18, Pe1 1:19; Rev 5:9. But it would be transcribing a very considerable part of the New Testament to set down all the texts that refer to this most important and glorious truth. 2. And as his death was an atonement for our sins, so his resurrection was the proof and pledge of our eternal life. See Co1 15:17; Pe1 1:3; Eph 1:13, Eph 1:14, etc.,etc. 3. The doctrine of justification by faith, which is so nobly proved in the preceding chapter, is one of the grandest displays of the mercy of God to mankind. It is so very plain that all may comprehend it; and so free that all may attain it. What more simple than this? Thou art a sinner, in consequence condemned to perdition, and utterly unable to save thy own soul. All are in the same state with thyself, and no man can give a ransom for the soul of his neighbor. God, in his mercy, has provided a Savior for thee. As thy life was forfeited to death because of thy transgressions, Jesus Christ has redeemed thy life by giving up his own; he died in thy stead, and has made an atonement to God for thy transgressions; and offers thee the pardon he has thus purchased, on the simple condition, that thou believe that his death is a sufficient sacrifice, ransom, and oblation for thy sin; and that thou bring it as such, by confident faith, to the throne of God, and plead it in thy own behalf there. When thou dost so, thy faith in that sacrifice shall be imputed to thee for righteousness; i.e. it shall be the means of receiving that salvation which Christ has bought by his blood. 4. The doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ, as held by many, will not be readily found in this chapter, where it has been supposed to exist in all its proofs. It is repeatedly said that Faith is imputed for righteousness; but in no place here, that Christ's obedience to the moral law is imputed to any man. The truth is, the moral law was broken, and did not now require obedience; it required this before it was broken; but, after it was broken, it required death. Either the sinner must die, or some one in his stead: but there was none whose death could have been an equivalent for the transgressions of the world but Jesus Christ. Jesus therefore died for man; and it is through his blood, the merit of his passion and death, that we have redemption; and not by his obedience to the moral law in our stead. Our salvation was obtained at a much higher price. Jesus could not but be righteous and obedient; this is consequent on the immaculate purity of his nature: but his death was not a necessary consequent. As the law of God can claim only the death of a transgressor - for such only forfeit their right to life - it is the greatest miracle of all that Christ could die, whose life was never forfeited. Here we see the indescribable demerit of sin, that it required such a death; and here we see the stupendous mercy of God, in providing the sacrifice required. It is therefore by Jesus Christ's death, or obedience unto death, that we are saved, and not by his fulfilling any moral law. That he fulfilled the moral law we know; without which he could not have been qualified to be our mediator; but we must take heed lest we attribute that to obedience (which was the necessary consequence of his immaculate nature) which belongs to his passion and death. These were free-will offerings of eternal goodness, and not even a necessary consequence of his incarnation. 5. This doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ is capable of great abuse. To say that Christ's personal righteousness is imputed to every true believer, is not Scriptural: to say that he has fulfilled all righteousness for us, or in our stead, if by this is meant his fulfillment of all moral duties, is neither Scriptural nor true: that he has died in our stead, is a great, glorious, and Scriptural truth: that there is no redemption but through his blood is asserted beyond all contradiction; in the oracles of God. But there are a multitude of duties which the moral law requires which Christ never fulfilled in our stead, and never could. We have various duties of a domestic kind which belong solely to ourselves, in the relation of parents, husbands, wives, servants, etc., in which relations Christ never stood. He has fulfilled none of these duties for us, but he furnishes grace to every true believer to fulfill them to God's glory, the edification of his neighbor, and his own eternal profit. The salvation which we receive from God's free mercy, through Christ, binds us to live in a strict conformity to the moral law; that law which prescribes our manners, and the spirit by which they should be regulated, and in which they should be performed. He who lives not in the due performance of every Christian duty, whatever faith he may profess, is either a vile hypocrite, or a scandalous Antinomian.”

“The eternal Father delivered his Son to death, to expiate our offences; he raised him from the dead for our justification. His death is our redemption; his resurrection is the principal object of our faith. Our faith in the resurrection, is imputed unto justice, as was the faith of Abraham in the promises of God. The apostle here seems to refer our faith and justification only to the resurrection, not to the exclusion of other mysteries of religion, which are all, and every one of them, the objects of our faith. But the resurrection is, as it were, the zeal and consummation of the rest; it eminently includes in itself all the others. (Calmet)”

“Who was delivered for--"on account of." our offences--that is, in order to expiate them by His blood. and raised again for--"on account of," that is, in order to. our justification--As His resurrection was the divine assurance that He had "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," and the crowning of His whole work, our justification is fitly connected with that glorious act. Note, (1) The doctrine of justification by works, as it generates self-exaltation, is contrary to the first principles of all true religion (Rom 4:2; and see on Rom 3:21-26, Note 1). (2) The way of a sinner's justification has been the same in all time, and the testimony of the Old Testament on this subject is one with that of the New (Rom 4:3, &c., and see on Rom 3:27-31, Note 1). (3) Faith and works, in the matter of justification, are opposite and irreconcilable, even as grace and debt (Rom 4:4-5; and see on Rom 11:6). If God "justifies the ungodly," works cannot be, in any sense or to any degree, the ground of justification. For the same reason, the first requisite, in order to justification, must be (under the conviction that we are "ungodly") to despair of it by works; and the next, to "believe in Him that justifieth the ungodly"--that hath a justifying righteousness to bestow, and is ready to bestow it upon those who deserve none, and to embrace it accordingly. (4) The sacraments of the Church were never intended, and are not adapted, to confer grace, or the blessings of salvation, upon men. Their proper use is to set a divine seal upon a state already existing, and so, they presuppose, and do not create it (Rom 4:8-12). As circumcision merely "sealed" Abraham's already existing acceptance with God, so with the sacraments of the New Testament. (5) As Abraham is "the heir of the world," all nations being blessed in him, through his Seed Christ Jesus, and justified solely according to the pattern of his faith, so the transmission of the true religion and all the salvation which the world will ever experience shall yet be traced back with wonder, gratitude, and joy, to that morning dawn when "the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran," Act 7:2 (Rom 4:13). (6) Nothing gives more glory to God than simple faith in His word, especially when all things seem to render the fulfilment of it hopeless (Rom 4:18-21). (7) All the Scripture examples of faith were recorded on purpose to beget and encourage the like faith in every succeeding age (Rom 4:23-24; and compare Rom 15:4). (8) Justification, in this argument, cannot be taken--as Romanists and other errorists insist--to mean a change upon men's character; for besides that this is to confound it with Sanctification, which has its appropriate place in this Epistle, the whole argument of the present chapter--and nearly all its more important clauses, expressions, and words--would in that case be unsuitable, and fitted only to mislead. Beyond all doubt it means exclusively a change upon men's state or relation to God; or, in scientific language, it is an objective, not a subjective change--a change from guilt and condemnation to acquittal and acceptance. And the best evidence that this is the key to the whole argument is, that it opens all the wards of the many-chambered lock with which the apostle has enriched us in this Epistle. Next: Romans Chapter 5”