ACC ~ Romans 1 v16

ALSO TO THE GREEK. ORIGEN: Many attacks were made on the gospel when it was first preached, but Paul learned patience from the prophets who said: “Fear not the reproach of men, and be not dismayed at their revilings.” He knew that he should preach the gospel, “not in plausible words of human wisdom but in the power of the Spirit.” Therefore, defining what the gospel is, he proclaims: “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” When he says the power of God for salvation he implies that there is another power of God which is not for salvation but for damnation. It may be that it is because of these different powers that right and left are distinguished in God, so that the power for salvation would be identified with the right, and the power by which he condemns would be identified with the left. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

THE POWER OF GOD. AMBROSIASTER: For power backed up the teaching of the apostles, so that if what they preached seemed incredible, signs and wonders performed by the apostles were a testimony that they should not be ashamed of what was said to them, because there was so much power in it. For there is no doubt that words must give way before power. Insofar as the Romans’ preaching was not backed up by signs, it was without the power of God. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel of God, but the implication is that some whom he is addressing may be ashamed of it. Perhaps what had been handed on to them had come into disrepute, because it had never been confirmed by any testimony and hence had become loosened from apostolic teaching. It is the power of God which calls persons to faith and which gives salvation to all who believe, because it remits sins and justifies, so that one who has been marked with the mystery of the cross cannot be bound by the second death. For the preaching of the cross of Christ is a sign that death has been expelled, as the apostle John says: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Thus no believer is bound by death, since he has a sign that death has been conquered.

“To the Jew first and also to the Greek.” This means to him who is of the race of Abraham and to him who is from the Gentiles. By Greek Paul means Gentile, and by Jew he means a descendant of Abraham. For these began to be called Jews only in the time of Judas Maccabaeus, who in a time of destruction resisted the sacrileges of the Gentiles and by trusting in God rallied the nation and defended his people. He was of the sons of Aaron. Therefore, although Paul puts the Jews first because of their ancestors, nevertheless he says that they must also accept the gift of the gospel in the same way as the Gentiles. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

UNASHAMED OF THE CROSS. APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: Paul says that even if, in the very largest of cities, the preacher of the cross of Christ will be mocked by the ignorant, he is not to be ashamed. For if the Son of God bore the shame of the cross on our behalf, how could it not be out of place for us to be ashamed at the Lord’s suffering for us? PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

GLORYING IN THE CROSS. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul says that he is “not ashamed,” which is not what we usually say of things as glorious as the gospel. Why does he speak like this, when he exults over the gospel even more than he does over heaven? In writing to the Galatians he said: “God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How is it then that in this instance he does not even get as far as glory but says only that he is not ashamed? The Romans were most anxious about the things of the world, because of their riches, their empire, their victories, and they thought that their emperors were equal to the gods. … While they were so puffed up, Paul was going to preach Jesus, the carpenter’s son who was brought up in Judea, in the house of a lower-class woman, who had no bodyguards, who was not surrounded by wealth, but who died as a criminal among thieves and endured many other inglorious afflictions. Since it was likely that the Romans were pretending that they did not know any of these unspeakable things, Paul understates that he is not ashamed, in order to teach them not to be ashamed of Christ either. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 2.

CENSURING THE PAGANS. PELAGIUS: This is subtly intended to censure the pagans who, although they do not hesitate to believe that their god Jupiter turned himself into irrational animals and inanimate gold all for the sake of his monstrous lust, think that we Christians should be ashamed to believe that our Lord was crucified in the flesh he assumed, in order to save his image. … At the same time Paul is also bearing in mind those heretics who think that the crucifixion is something unworthy of God, not realizing that nothing is more fitting for the Creator than to care for the salvation of his creatures, particularly as he could not suffer any loss to his own nature, which is not subject to corruption. There is no power greater than the one which overcame death and restored to man the life he had lost, even if this seems like weakness to an unbeliever. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

NOT ASHAMED. GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: Those who objected to the Christian gospel ridiculed it, mocking it because of its absurdity. For there is nothing more ridiculous than the word of someone who preaches that the Son of God was born and brought up by Jews, who rejects neither the cross nor death, who says moreover not only that Christ rose from the dead but that he ascended to heaven as Lord of all, that he will raise everyone else from the dead, and other things the apostles preached. The pagans mocked these things and ridiculed them, thinking that they would make the apostles shut up. Therefore St. Paul, feeling obliged to reply to this opinion of the apostles, began his teaching thus: “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

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