ACC ~ Romans 10 v14

ACCEPTING OR REJECTING. AMBROSIASTER: As I said above, you have to believe first if you are going to have the faith to ask for anything. It is obvious that Christ cannot be believed in if he is not obeyed. It is likewise clear that whoever rejects a preacher does not accept the one who sent him either. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

REJECTION OF UNIVERSAL GRACE. APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: Paul says that salvation by the calling of the Lord is common to all but that the above mentioned rejection of this universal grace hardened the Jews, making them unable to receive the common good. As a result the mission and the message did not go to them but to the Gentiles, along with the hearing, the faith and the calling. For just as the light is by nature common to all but becomes something else to those who are blinded, so that the blind cannot see the sun, nor can the deaf hear the message when it is proclaimed, so those who have been sent to preach to the Jews have had little effect. They cannot hear the message because they have become deaf to God’s calling. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

WITHOUT A PREACHER. AUGUSTINE: The preaching of predestination should not hinder the preaching of perseverance and progress in faith, so that those to whom it has been given to obey should hear what they ought to hear. For how will they hear without a preacher? GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE 14.36.

WHO CAN CALL UPON GOD? AUGUSTINE: Those who believe rightly believe that they may call on him in whom they have believed and may be strong to do what they have learned in the precepts of the law, since faith obtains what the law commands. LETTER 157.

PROMISE TO ALL NATIONS, NOT ALL PERSONS. AUGUSTINE: God sends his angels and gathers together his elect from the four winds, that is, from the whole world. Therefore, the church must necessarily be found among the nations where it does not yet exist, but it does not necessarily follow that all who live there will believe. The promise was to all nations but not to all men of all nations, for not all have faith. LETTER 199.48.

PELAGIUS: Here we have an objection raised by the Jews concerning the Gentiles, viz. , that they could not call upon God. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THE CREED’S PURPOSE. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: This is why you first learned the creed. Here is a rule of your faith which is both short and long—short in the number of words, long because of the weight of the thoughts. SERMON 147.1.

Rom