to allow us to shun afflictions; for what is more desirable than to be reconciled to God, so that our
miseries may no longer be tokens of a curse, nor lead us to ruin?
He then immediately adds, that those who are now pressed down by the cross shall be glorified;
so that their sorrows and reproaches shall bring them no loss. Though glorification is not yet
exhibited except in our Head, yet as we in a manner behold in him our inheritance of eternal life,
his glory brings to us such assurance respecting our own glory, that our hope may be justly compared
to a present possession.
We may add, that Paul, imitating the style of the Hebrew language, adopts in these verbs the
past instead of the present tense.^270 A continued act is no doubt what is meant, according to this
import, “Those whom God now, consistently with his purpose, exercises under the cross, are called
and justified, that they may have a hope of salvation, so that nothing of their glory decays during
their humiliation; for though their present miseries deform it before the world, yet before God and
angels it always shines forth as perfect.” What Paul then means by this gradation is, That the
afflictions of the faithful, by which they are now humbled, are intended for this end — that the
faithful, having obtained the glory of the celestial kingdom, may reach the glory of Christ’s
resurrection, with whom they are now crucified.
Romans 8:31-34
- Quid ergo dicemus ad hæc?^271 Si Deus
pro nobis, quis contra nos? - What shall we then say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? - Qui propno Filio non pepercit, sed pro
nobis omnibus tradidit, quomodo non etiam cum
eo donaret nobis omnia? - He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? - Quis intentabit crimina^272 adversus
electos Dei? Deus est qui justificat. - Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. - Quis ille qui condemnet? Christus est qui
mortuus est, quin potius etiam suscitatus, qui et
in dextera Patris est, qui et intercedit pro nobis. - Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ
that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us.
(^270) Turrettin gives somewhat a different reason: “Paul speaks of these things as past, because they are as already done in God’s
decree, and in order to show the certainty of their accomplishment.”
(^271) “Ad hæc,” — Wolfius says, that it should be “de his — of these things;” and Hebrews 4:13, is quoted as an instance,
“ μ — of whom we speak.” — Ed.
(^272) “Quis intentabit crimina — who shall chapter crimes — who shall implead, or bring a charge against
the elect of God.?” See Acts 19:38
Many, such as Augustine, Grotius, Locke, Doddridge, and Griesbach, have made the next clause also a question; and also
the clauses in the next verse. There is not much difference in the sense, but the passage will thus appear more striking, —
- Who will lay a charge against God’s elect? God the justifier?
- Who is he who condemns? Christ who died, or rather who rose again, who is also at God’s right hand, and who intercedes
for us?
What favors this construction is, that the Apostle proceeds in the same strain. — Ed.