Notwithstanding that this Epistle was written after some of the rest, it has been placed first in order among them on account of its excellence, and the abundance and sublimity of its contents.
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.
This Epistle, like the greater part of those written by Paul, is divided into two general parts, — the first of which contains the doctrine, and extends to the beginning of the twelfth chapter; and the second, which relates to practice, goes on to the conclusion. The first is to instruct the spirit, and the other to direct the heart; the one teaches what we are to believe, the other what we are to practice.
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.
In the first five chapters, the great doctrine of justification by faith, of which they exclusively treat, is more fully discussed than in any other part of Scripture.
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.
These five chapters disclose a consistent scheme in the Divine conduct, and exhibit a plan of reconciling sinners to God, that never could have been discovered by the human understanding. It is the perfection of wisdom, yet in all its features it is opposed to the wisdom of this world.
As the doctrine of the justification of sinners by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, without regard to their works, which manifests, in all their extent, the guilt, the depravity, and the helplessness of man, in order to magnify grace in his pardon, might be charged with leading to licentiousness, Paul does not fail to state this objection; and solidly to refute it. This he does in the sixth and seventh chapters, in which he proves that, so far from setting aside the necessity of obedience to God, the doctrine of justification stands indissoluby connected with the very foundation of holiness and obedience.
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.
Paul states that objection, and obviates it, in the ninth chapter, — showing that, on the one hand, the promises of spiritual blessings regarded only believers, who are the real Israelites, the true seed of Abraham; and, on the other, that faith itself being an effect of grace, God bestows it according to His sovereign will, so that the difference between believers and unbelievers is a consequence of His free election, of which the sole cause is His good pleasure, which He exercises both in regard to the Jews and the Gentiles.
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.
In the end of the ninth chapter, the Apostle is led to the consideration of the fatal error of the great body of the Jews, who sought justification by works and not by faith. Mistaking the intent and the end of their law, they stumbled at this doctrine, which is the common stumbling-stone to unregenerate men.
In the tenth chapter, Paul resumes the same subject, and by new proofs, drawn from the Old Testament, shows that the righteousness of God, which the Jews, going about to establish their own righteousness for their justification, rejected, is received solely by faith in Jesus Christ, and that the Gospel regards the Gentiles as well as the Jews; and if rejected by the Jews, it is not surprising, since this had been predicted by the prophets.
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.
In the eleventh chapter, the Apostle finishes his argument, and in a manner concludes his subject. He here resumes the doctrine of the personal election of a remnant of Israel, of which he had spoken in the ninth chapter, and affirms, in the most express terms, that it is wholly of grace, which consequently excludes as its cause every idea of work, or of merit, on the part of man
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.
But Paul, writing without any of the aids of human wisdom, draws his precepts from the fountain of heavenly truth, and inculcates on the disciples of Jesus a code of duties, which, if habitually practiced by mankind, would change the world from what it is a scene of strife, jealousy, and division — and make it what it was before the entrance of sin, a paradise fit for the Lord to visit, and for man to dwell in.
Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “INTRODUCTION”.