himself of the opportunity of using this metaphor. Let then the preachers of the gospel have this
end in view while discharging their office, even to offer up to God souls purified by faith.
What Erasmus afterwards puts down as being more correct, “sacrificing the gospel,” is not only
improper but obscures also the meaning; for the gospel is, on the contrary, like a sword, by which
the minister sacrifices men as victims to God.^453
He adds that such sacrifices are acceptable to God; which is not only a commendation of the
ministry, but also a singular consolation to those who surrender themselves to be thus consecrated.
Now as the ancient victims were dedicated to God, having been externally sanctified and washed,
so these victims are consecrated to the Lord by the Spirit of holiness, through whose power, inwardly
working in them, they are separated from this world. For though the purity of the soul proceeds
from faith in the word, yet as the voice of man is in itself inefficacious and lifeless, the work of
cleansing really and properly belongs to the Spirit.
Romans 15:17-21
- Habeo igitur quod glorier per Iesum
Christum in iis quae ad Deum pertinent. - I have therefore whereof I may glory
through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain
to God. - Non enim ausim loqui quicquam de iis
quae non effecit Christus per me, in obedientiam
Gentium, sermone et opere; - For I will not dare to speak of any of
those things which Christ hath not wrought by
me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and
deed, - In potentia signorum et prodigiorum, in
potentia Spiritus Dei, ut ab Ierusalem et in - Through mighty signs and wonders, by
the power of the Spirit of God; so that from
circuitu usque in Illyricum impleverim
evangelium Christi:
Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have
fully preached the gospel of Christ.- Ira annitens praedicare evangelium, non
ubi nominatus erat Christus, ne super alienum
fundamentum aedificarem; - Yea, so have I strived to preach the
gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should
build upon another man’s foundation: - Sed quemadmodum scripture est, Ii
quibus non annuntiatum est de eo, videbunt, et
qui non audierunt, intelligent. - But as it is written, To whom he was not
spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not
heard shall understand.
(^453) “Consecrans evangelium,” so Augustine; , “operans evangelio — being employed in the gospel,” Beza and
Pareus; “docens sacrum evangelium — teaching the holy gospel,” Vatablus. The verb means to “perform sacred rites,” or to
officiate in holy things. It has no connection, as some think, with a sacrificing priest; indeed itself, that is a priest, is a holy
person, who did sacrifice no doubt among other things, but the word does not import a sacrificer any more than in Hebrew.
The word here does not mean to consecrate, or to sanctify, or to sacrifice, but to discharge a holy function. Perhaps the most
literal rendering would be “performing a holy office as to the gospel,” but dispensing, administering, or preaching the gospel
would be the best version. The Apostle had previously called himself , a public functionary, a public minister of Jesus
Christ; he now designates his work as such, being a sacred administrator of the gospel, and then he states the object, that the
offering of the Gentiles, that is, that the Gentiles being offered, might be an acceptable sacrifice to God, sanctified by the Spirit.
See Romans 12:1. — Ed.