Pro Regno

Reformasie 500

Kom ons lees Romeine saam met Luther en Calvyn

Romeine 2:1-16

1 Daarom is jy, o mens wat oordeel, wie jy ook mag wees, sonder verontskuldiging; want waarin jy ‘n ander oordeel, veroordeel jy jouself; want jy wat oordeel, doen dieselfde dinge. 
2 En ons weet dat die oordeel van God na waarheid is oor die wat sulke dinge doen. 
3 En meen jy, o mens wat hulle oordeel wat sulke dinge doen, en dit self doen, dat jy die oordeel van God sal ontvlug? 
4 Of verag jy die rykdom van sy goedertierenheid en verdraagsaamheid en lankmoedigheid, omdat jy nie besef dat die goedertierenheid van God jou tot bekering wil lei nie? 
5 Maar ooreenkomstig jou verhardheid en onbekeerlike hart vergader jy vir jou toorn as ‘n skat in die dag van die toorn en die openbaring van die regverdige oordeel van God 
6 wat elkeen sal vergeld na sy werke: 
7 aan die wat deur volharding in goeie werke heerlikheid, eer en onverganklikheid soek die ewige lewe; 
8 maar aan die wat eiesinnig en aan die waarheid ongehoorsaam, maar aan die ongeregtigheid gehoorsaam is grimmigheid en toorn; 
9 verdrukking en benoudheid oor die siel van elke mens wat kwaad doen, oor die Jood eerste en ook oor die Griek; 
10 maar heerlikheid en eer en vrede vir elkeen wat goed doen, vir die Jood eerste en ook vir die Griek. 
11 Want daar is geen aanneming van die persoon by God nie. 
12 Want almal wat sonder wet gesondig het, sal ook sonder wet verlore gaan; en almal wat onder die wet gesondig het, sal deur die wet geoordeel word; 
13 omdat nie die hoorders van die wet by God regverdig is nie, maar die daders van die wet geregverdig sal word. 
14 Want wanneer die heidene, wat geen wet het nie, van nature die dinge van die wet doen, is hulle vir hulleself ‘n wet, al het hulle geen wet nie; 
15 omdat hulle toon dat die werk van die wet in hulle harte geskrywe staan, terwyl hulle gewete saam getuienis gee en die gedagtes mekaar onderling beskuldig of ook verontskuldig, 
16 in die dag wanneer God die verborge dinge van die mense deur Jesus Christus sal oordeel, volgens my evangelie. 

Notas:

1 Sien die inleiding op die leesreeks hier, en die res van die reeks hier.

2 Die doel van die reeks is nie om ‘n eie verklaring te gee van die boek Romeine nie, of om vir u die leeswerk en verklaarwerk te doen nie. Die doel is soos dit sê, om ‘saam’ met Luther en Calvyn Romeine deur te lees, deur hul kommentare/lesings daarop te raadpleeg, om te sien hoe hul met hierdie boek omgegaan het wat wesentlik sentraal gestaan het in die Protestantse Reformasie van die 16/17de eeu.

3. Ek gee wel hier en daar ‘n raamwerk of opmerkings, en gee ‘n paar aanhalings uit Luther en Calvyn se kommentare, maar net hier en daar wat my opval en wat ek met julle wil deel. So die vertrekpunt is altyd: ad fontes! = terug na die bronne, d.w.s. lees die Skrif (Romeine) en Luther en Calvyn se kommentare self.  Ek gaan ook nie Calvyn weer aanhaal of laat herhaal wat Luther reeds vermeld het nie, maar slegs dan byvoeg as hy verdere insigte gee.

4. Enige opmerkings oor ons Romeine lees saam Luther en Calvyn (RLC), kan hier onder of by die facebook inskrywing geplaas word.

5. Hier is Luther en Calvyn se kommentare gratis aanlyn:

Luther

Calvyn 

LUTHER OOR ROMEINE 2:1-16

1 Paulus wil daarop wys dat almal skuldig is, Jode ook deur hul denke en/of dade, en dus nie net nie-Jode (Romeine), asook mense wat een sonde veroordeel, maar nie ‘n ander een in hulself nie, hy spreek dus hipokriete ook aan, v.1-3

“… the text has those in mind who judge others privately in their thoughts and also by word of mouth when they scold them, and yet are like them in all respects. We cannot but call it impudent when a conceited man criticizes another who is also conceited, when a squanderer blames another for wastefulness, and when a miser cuts someone else down for avarice. Although this impudence is so obvious that even fools consider it ridiculous and stupid, a great many are so deluded that they have become afflicted with this disease: more or less conceited people criticize each other for being proud; great and small misers jump upon other misers, and so forth. To such people our text certainly applies: “Do you reckon this, O man, who judge’ etc. For they should judge themselves instead of condemning others who are exactly as they are. Therefore they convict themselves. * Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt. 7:1), i.e., that you do not bring judgment upon yourselves while you put it upon others. However, we are blind toward our own failings but have sharp eyes for the faults of others.”

2 In die laaste dag sal hulle geoordeel word wat hul heeltyd verhard het en nooit wou bekeer nie, v.5

“The Last Day is called the day of wrath and the day of mercy; the day of tribulation and peace; the day of confusion and glory. For then the godless will be punished and confounded, but the God-fearing will be rewarded and glorified. Just so one calls also that spiritual day which prevails through the light of faith in the heart of believers a day of wrath and grace, a day of salvation and perdition. See Ps. 110:5: “The Lord at thy right hand has broken kings in the day of his wrath’ i.e., in the day and time of grace which is now; and Zeph. 1:14 ft.: “The voice of the Day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man” (i.e., the powerful and proud man) “will there meet with tribulation. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and whirlwinds, a day of the trumpet and alarm’ etc.”

3 Gelowiges moet geduldig wees as ons goeie werke vervolg word in hierdie lewe, die genade beloning volg in die lewe hierna, v.7

“But when persecution quickly follows our work, let us rejoice and be confident that it is pleasing to God and even believe that it comes from him. For all that comes from God must be crucified in the world (and so long as it is not led to the cross, i.e., the readiness to endure shame, it cannot be recognized as coming from God). Even his only-begotten Son was not exempted from this but was placed before us as an example for this. “Blessed, therefore, are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” (Matt. 5:10.) “Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward.’ etc. (Matt. 5:12.)”

4 Volgens die ‘natuurlike reg/wet’ is alle mense verantwoordelik en skuldig voor God, al het hul nie die geopenbaarde wet deur Moses ontvang nie, v.12

“They shall perish without law” means then: It is not the law that was handed down and received that condemns them, and they will therefore perish without this sort of law, but not without any law at all, but by one which is the same though it was not handed down to them in writing and contained and represented therein.

Here the question may be raised whether Gentiles who, though living outside Christ, nevertheless fulfill the law according to their conscience in a natural way, can be saved, in view of the fact that original sin is not taken away without Christ and no law fulfilled without grace (even though one may substantially have fulfilled it and that salvation is by Christ alone. To be sure, the apostle seems here to assert that some have done or do the things of the law by their natural ability. But it is suspicious that he does not say that they fulfill the law but that they observe some and certain parts of the law. For he says “the things of the law,” i.e., part of the law and not the whole law, and so they all are still under the sway of sin because of all that they have not done, as he says later on in the third chapter of this letter.

If one understands the apostle to say that they do fulfill all the things of the law, the question must, it seems, be answered in the affirmative. And if someone objects to this answer by reference to Christ, original sin, and grace, one must reply to him with the statement that whosoever fulfills the law is in Christ and obtains grace by virtue of the fact that he has prepared himself for it to the limit of his ability. For God could forgive them original sin (even if they did not know or confess it) on account of some humble action directed toward God and the highest being they knew. Moreover, neither they nor the Jews were in any way bound to the gospel and the Christ who was specifically made known by it.”

5) Die daders van die wet wys dat hul geregverdig is, die dade regverdig hul nie, maar openbaar dat jy regverdig is, v.13

“In the twenty-sixth chapter of On the Spirit and the Letter, Augustine explains this passage in two ways: First, “the doers of the law shall be justified” in the sense that by justification they become or are made to be what they had not been prior to justification, namely, doers. Secondly, (and this is better): “They will be justified” in the sense that they will be considered and declared righteous, as it has been stated in the Gloss. This is plainly the sense of the context. “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God,” and if you ask: Who else can be righteous before God except the hearers? you must be given the answer: Only the doers will be righteous, i.e., justified and regarded as righteous. In this sense it is written in Ps. 143:2: “For in thy sight no man living is righteous,” and below in this letter, ch. 3:20: “By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight,” and in Luke 10:29: “And he desired to justify himself” (i.e., to declare, to establish that he was righteous, and to put all sin away from himself as if he did not know who was his neighbor whom he was commanded to love), and in many other places in a similar way.”

6) Die onderskeid tussen die “werke van die wet” wat op die hart van alle mense geskryf is en die “wet self wat op die harte geskryf word”, v.14,15

“They did the things of the law” (i.e., some of them) “by nature.” Then the text is quite plain and the second interpretation of Blessed Augustine is most adequate. In that case the apostle refers to these Gentiles for the reason that they observed the law as little as the Jews did. Even though they have done some of the good works of the law, hoping that because of this they will not have to suffer a heavy punishment on the Day of Judgment, they nevertheless are still found to be in need of the grace and mercy of Christ, just as it was of no advantage to the Jews that they had observed the law externally. Both, therefore, are under the sway of sin, regardless of the good they have done: the Jews with respect to the inner man, (on account of their observance only of the letter of the law) and the Gentiles with respect to something twofold, namely, that they fulfilled the law only in part and then not wholeheartedly.

I gladly accept this interpretation in view of the fact that the whole argument of this chapter (as the apostle himself says farther on in ch. 3:9 of the letter before us: “We have charged both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin”) is nothing else than the demonstration that all, and this means both Jews and Gentiles, are sinners in need of the grace of God.

How can one combine with this interpretation a proper understanding of the saying of the apostle that the work of the law is written in their hearts (Rom. 2:15), especially in view of the fact that even the prophet says that it would be given at a future time only to a believing people, that God would write his law not on tables of stone but on their hearts? Now it seems to me (without wanting to prejudice a better opinion) that it is one thing to say “that the work of the law is written in their hearts” and another that “the law is written in their hearts.” For the apostle did not intend to say here (even if he could have done so on the basis of knowledge) that they had the law written in their hearts, but he wanted to say only “the work of the law.”

I believe, therefore, that “the law is written in their hearts” means the same as “love is shed abroad in their hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5). This love is the law of Christ and the fulfillment of the law of Moses or, rather, it is a law without law, without measure, without end, without limit, but extended above and beyond everything the law prescribes or can prescribe. But “the work of the law is written in their hearts” means that the knowledge of the law is written in them, i.e., the law written in letters concerning what must be done but not grace which enables one to do this. Hence, those who have had only the work of the law written in their hearts must necessarily have remained confined until now in the letter that kills.”

7) Alleen Christus red ons van die veroordeling van ons gewetens, v.15,16

“Where from, then, shall we take the thoughts that excuse us? Only from Christ and in Christ. For when his own heart reproaches a Christian and accuses him by testifying against him that he has done evil, he presently turns away from it and turns to Christ and says: He made satisfaction, he is righteous, he is my defense, he died for me, he made righteousness to be mine, and made my sin his own. And if he made my sin his own, then I have it no longer, and I am free.

And if he made his righteousness mine, then I am righteous in the same righteousness as he. But my sin cannot swallow him up but it is swallowed up in the infinite abyss of his righteousness, for he is God himself to whom be praise forever and ever. Thus, “God is greater than our heart.” (I John 3:20.) As our defender he is greater than our accuser, and infinitely so. God is our defender, the heart our accuser! Is this the proportion? Yes, yes, indeed, so it is! “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” No one! Why? Because “it is God that justifies.” “Who is he that condemns?” No one! Why? Because “it is Jesus Christ” (who is also God) “that died, yea, rather, that was raised from the dead,” etc. “If God is for us, then who can be against us?”

CALVYN OOR ROMEINE 2:1-16

1 Mense wat in skynheiligheid leef moenie dink dat uiterlike sukses ‘n teken is van die Here se goedkeuring van hul lewe nie, dit moet hul juis beskaam dat hul sy goedheid misbruik, v.4

“Where then the fear of God does not rule, confidence, on account of prosperity, is a contempt and a mockery of his great goodness. It hence follows, that a heavier punishment will be inflicted on those whom God has in this life favored; because, in addition to their other wickedness, they have rejected the fatherly invitation of God. And though all the gifts of God are so many evidences of his paternal goodness, yet as he often has a different object in view, the ungodly absurdly congratulate themselves on their prosperity, as though they were dear to him, while he kindly and bountifully supports them.

Not knowing that the goodness of God, etc. For the Lord by his kindness shows to us, that it is he to whom we ought turn, if we desire to secure our wellbeing, and at the same time he strengthens our confidence in expecting mercy. If we use not God’s bounty for this end, we abuse it. But yet it is not to be viewed always in the same light; for when the Lord deals favorably with his servants and gives them earthly blessings, he makes known to them by symbols of this kind his own benevolence, and trains them up at the same time to seek the sum and substance of all good things in himself alone: when he treats the transgressors of his law with the same indulgence, his object is to soften by his kindness their perverseness; he yet does not testify that he is already propitious to them, but, on the contrary, invites them to repentance. But if any one brings this objection — that the Lord sings to the deaf as long as he does not touch inwardly their hearts; we must answer — that no fault can be found in this case except with our own depravity. But I prefer rendering the word which Paul here uses, leads, rather than invites, for it is more significant; I do not, however, take it in the sense of driving, but of leading as it were by the hand.

2 Langmoedigheid/geduld is noodsaaklik vir die gelowige se lewe, nie net om aan te hou goed doen nie, maar ook om ons deur vervolging te dra, v.7 

“To them indeed, who by perseverance, etc.; literally, patience; by which word something more is expressed. For it is perseverance, when one is not wearied in constantly doing good; but patience also is required in the saints, by which they may continue firm, though oppressed with various trials. For Satan suffers them not by a free course to come to the Lord; but he strives by numberless hinderances to impede them, and to turn them aside from the right way. And when he says, that the faithful, by continuing in good works, seek glory and honour, he does not mean that they aspire after any thing else but the favor of God, or that they strive to attain any thing higher, or more excellent: but they can not seek him, without striving, at the same time, for the blessedness of his kingdom, the description of which is contained in the paraphrase given in these words. The meaning then is, — that the Lord will give eternal life to those who, by attention to good works, strive to attain immortality.”

3 Die “daders van die wet word geregverdig” het gewys daarop dat die wet volkome vervul moes word, wat geen mens kon doen nie, en daarom leer vers 13 nie ‘regverdiging deur werke nie’ maar dat ons juis ‘n ‘ander/vreemde geregtigheid’ buite onsself moet soek (nl. Christus se geregtigheid), v.13 

“For the hearers of the law, etc. This anticipates an objection which the Jews might have adduced. As they had heard that the law was the rule of righteousness, (Deuteronomy 4:1,) they gloried in the mere knowledge of it: to obviate this mistake, he declares that the hearing of the law or any knowledge of it is of no such consequence, that any one should on that account lay claim to righteousness, but that works must be produced, according to this saying, “He who will do these shall live in them.” The import then of this verse is the following, — “That if righteousness be sought from the law, the law must be fulfilled; for the righteousness of the law consists in the perfection of works.”

They who pervert this passage for the purpose of building up justification by works, deserve most fully to be laughed at even by children. It is therefore improper and beyond what is needful, to introduce here a long discussion on the subject, with the view of exposing so futile a sophistry: for the Apostle only urges here on the Jews what he had mentioned, the decision of the law, — That by the law they could not be justified, except they fulfilled the law, that if they transgressed it, a curse was instantly pronounced on them. Now we do not deny but that perfect righteousness is prescribed in the law: but as all are convicted of transgression, we say that another righteousness must be sought. Still more, we can prove from this passage that no one is justified by works; for if they alone are justified by the law who fulfill the law, it follows that no one is justified; for no one can be found who can boast of having fulfilled the law.”

4 Paulus leer dat die werke/getuie van die wet in alle mense se harte geskryf is, maar nie die krag om dit volkome na te kom nie, v.15 

“Without reason then is the power of the will deduced from this passage, as though Paul had said, that the keeping of the law is within our power; for he speaks not of the power to fulfill the law, but of the knowledge of it. Nor is the word heart to be taken for the seat of the affections, but only for the understanding, as it is found in Deuteronomy 29:4, “The Lord hath not given thee a heart to understand;” and in Luke 24:25, “O foolish men, and slow in heart to believe.”

Nor can we conclude from this passage, that there is in men a full knowledge of the law, but that there are only some seeds of what is right implanted in their nature, evidenced by such acts as these — All the Gentiles alike instituted religious rites, they made laws to punish adultery, and theft, and murder, they commended good faith in bargains and contracts. They have thus indeed proved, that God ought to be worshipped, that adultery, and theft, and murder are evils, that honesty is commendable. It is not to our purpose to inquire what sort of God they imagined him to be, or how many gods they devised; it is enough to know, that they thought that there is a God, and that honor and worship are due to him. It matters not whether they permitted the coveting of another man’s wife, or of his possessions, or of any thing which was his, — whether they connived at wrath and hatred; inasmuch as it was not right for them to covet what they knew to be evil when done.

5 Die Evangelie is tot die opstanding van sommige en die veroordeling van andere, v.16 

“He adds, according to my gospel, intimating, that he announced a doctrine, to which the judgments of men, naturally implanted in them, gave a response: and he calls it his gospel, on account of the ministry; for the authority for setting forth the gospel resides in the true God alone; and it was only the dispensing of it that was committed to the Apostles. It is indeed no matter of surprise, that the gospel is in part called the messenger and the announcer of future judgment: for if the fulfillment and completion of what it promises be deferred to the full revelation of the heavenly kingdom, it must necessarily be connected with the last judgment: and further, Christ cannot be preached without being a resurrection to some, and a destruction to others; and both these things have a reference to the day of judgment.

The words, through Jesus Christ, I apply to the day of judgment, though they are regarded otherwise by some; and the meaning is, — that the Lord will execute judgment by Christ, for he is appointed by the Father to be the Judge of the living and of the dead, — which the Apostles always mention among the main articles of the gospel. Thus the sentence will be full and complete, which would otherwise be defective.”

_______________________________

Die hele reeks is hier beskikbaar: Reformasie 500: LRLC

Reformasie 500

Kom ons lees Romeine saam met Luther en Calvyn

Romeine 1:26-32

26 Daarom het God hulle oorgegee aan skandelike hartstogte, want hulle vroue het die natuurlike verkeer verander in dié wat teen die natuur is; 
27 en net so het ook die manne die natuurlike verkeer met die vrou laat vaar en in hulle wellus teenoor mekaar ontbrand: manne het met manne skandelikheid bedrywe en in hulleself die noodwendige vergelding van hulle dwaling ontvang. 
28 En omdat hulle dit nie die moeite werd geag het om God in erkentenis te hou nie, het God hulle oorgegee aan ‘n slegte gesindheid, om te doen wat nie betaam nie: 
29 hulle is vervul met allerhande ongeregtigheid, hoerery, boosheid, hebsug, ondeug; vol nydigheid, moord, twis, bedrog, kwaadaardigheid; 
30 nuusdraers, kwaadsprekers, haters van God, geweldenaars, trotsaards, grootpraters, uitvinders van slegte dinge, ongehoorsaam aan die ouers; 
31 onverstandig, ontrou, sonder natuurlike liefde, onversoenlik, onbarmhartig, 
32 mense wat al ken hulle die verordening van God goed, dat die wat sulke dinge doen, die dood verdien dié dinge nie alleen self doen nie, maar ook hulle goedkeuring skenk aan die wat dit doen.

Notas:

1 Sien die inleiding op die leesreeks hier, en die res van die reeks hier.

2 Die doel van die reeks is nie om ‘n eie verklaring te gee van die boek Romeine nie, of om vir u die leeswerk en verklaarwerk te doen nie. Die doel is soos dit sê, om ‘saam’ met Luther en Calvyn Romeine deur te lees, deur hul kommentare/lesings daarop te raadpleeg, om te sien hoe hul met hierdie boek omgegaan het wat wesentlik sentraal gestaan het in die Protestantse Reformasie van die 16/17de eeu.

3. Ek gee wel hier en daar ‘n raamwerk of opmerkings, en gee ‘n paar aanhalings uit Luther en Calvyn se kommentare, maar net hier en daar wat my opval en wat ek met julle wil deel. So die vertrekpunt is altyd: ad fontes! = terug na die bronne, d.w.s. lees die Skrif (Romeine) en Luther en Calvyn se kommentare self.

4. Enige opmerkings oor ons Romeine lees saam Luther en Calvyn (RLC), kan hier onder of by die facebook inskrywing geplaas word.

5. Hier is Luther en Calvyn se kommentare gratis aanlyn:

Luther

Calvyn 

LUTHER OOR ROMEINE 1:26-32

1 ) Omdat sondaars die Here nie erken vir wie Hy is nie, gee Hy hulle oor aan sonde, v.28.

On account of this guilt they are given up to various vices, i.e., there are various and many vices to which or to some of which God has given them up and, if not to all of them, then to some of them. For not all of them are implicated in murder or in all the other vices. And God does not punish and give them all up in the same way, although they all have sinned somehow in the same way. If you ask why this is so, we answer: God wants it so according to his hidden judgment and because he wants all presumptuous talk to be stopped in view of the fact that one man, though a sinner, does at the same time something good, while another does nothing of the kind or, in case he does, does less of it.

Nobody has the right to define the rule by which God punishes sins or rewards the good. Accordingly, therefore, when he lets men fall into sin, he nevertheless has mercy on the one and forgives him, while he hardens another and condemns him. Similarly, he lets people live a good life and yet he reproves and rejects the one and accepts and crowns another.

2) Luther verduidelik by vers 29 die verskil/onderskeid tussen verskillende sondes.

“Being filled with unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:29); for so reads the Greek text, and not “with iniquity.”

In the Holy Scriptures the following distinction is made between unrighteousness and impurity (if one compares the translation with the Hebrew text): unrighteousness is the sin of unbelief or the absence of that righteousness which comes from faith, for, as we read in Rom.1:17; Mark 16: 16, and in many other passages, righteous is he who believes and unrighteous he who does not believe. A man who does not believe is disobedient, and a man who does not obey is unrighteous. For the very character of disobedience is unrighteousness and sin, according to a word of Ambrose, who says: “Sin is disobedience of the divine commandments.”

“Iniquity,” however, is the name for the sin of self-righteousness, which men choose for themselves out of a foolish zeal for piety. Thus it is said in Matt. 7:23: “Depart from me, all you that work iniquity,” precisely with reference to the mighty works they claim to have done in the name of Christ. We can therefore make the following simple definition: iniquity consists in this, that you fail to live up to what you are bound to do, and do instead what seems right to you, while uprightness, by contrast, consists in this, that you do what you ought to do, regardless of what seems right to you. Lawyers, of course, define the same terms differently. Iniquity is then to be taken as a relative or comparative term, specifically in comparison with true righteousness, on the one hand, and self-righteousness, on the other.

Malice (Rom. 1:29) is that perverse tendency in man to do evil despite the good he has received, indeed, the tendency to use for evil purposes all the goods he has received from God or man. Goodness, by contrast, is the tendency in man to do the good even though his effort is hindered and checked by some wrong done to him; it makes evil serve for good. Yet, in contrast to worldly goodness, a man is not good in the spiritual sense of goodness if he does the good only as long as he prospers and no one opposes him. In German, the accurate meaning of bonus is fromm and of malus, hose. This is the sense also of the saying of Matt. 7:18: “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit/’ This is said against the foolish people who shift their own guilt upon others and say: “It would not be difficult for me to be good if I could live among good people or could get rid of the bad ones that trouble me.”

In similar contrast stand the terms: benignity and malignity. Benignity is a friendly readiness to live together with others; it is kindness, i.e., the tendency of mind to do good to others and to be indulgent toward them. It is of two kinds: there is the perfect, or Christian, benignity, which remains the same in the face of gratitude or ingratitude; and there is human, or worldly, imperfect benignity, which remains constant only as long as it finds a response but ceases when it encounters ingratitude or some evil. “You shall be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect” (Matt.5:48), and “You shall be the sons of the Most High, for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil” (Luke 6:35).

Malignity, by contrast, is the perverse and harsh tendency to do ill to others and to be vindictive toward them. It, too, is of two kinds: there is that malignity which is the opposite of that heroic and catholic or Christian kindness: from a perverseness of the heart it inflicts injury upon the grateful and the good, not only upon the evil (and it does not make a halt even before benefactors). This is brutal unkindness. The other sort of malignity is the opposite of human and imperfect benignity: it seeks to harm others and to do them ill but it makes a halt before benefactors. In this light we can
understand the saying of the apostle in Gal. 5:22: “The fruit of the spirit is goodness and kindness.”

Wickedness (Rom. 1:29) is that mental perverseness which causes one to avoid intentionally an opportunity to help his fellow man and to protect him from evil. In this sense Blessed Augustine seems to interpret it in his book On Order,68 for he states there that the word “nequitia” (which translated means “wickedness”) is derived from nequire (to be unable), so that one (who has nequitia) is unable to do good, namely, from maliciousness. Others behave in this way out of envy or from sheer insolence.

Dissolute (Rom. 1:31) are those who are coarse in their speech, action, and dress, live in dissolute license, and do as they please.

A whisperer (Rom. 1:29) differs from a detractor (Rom. 1:30) in this, that a detractor tries to undermine another’s reputation, while the whisperer sows discord by secretly suggesting this to the one and that to the other. Every whisperer is double-tongued, but a detractor is not (Ecclus. 28:15).

CALVYN OOR ROMEINE 1:26-32

1) Homoseksualisme is ‘n verskriklike misdaad van onnatuurlike dierlike wellus, v.26

After having introduced as it were an intervening clause, he returns to what he had before stated respecting the judgment of God: and he brings, as the first example, the dreadful crime of unnatural lust; and it hence appears that they not only abandoned themselves to beastly lusts, but became degraded beyond the beasts, since they reversed the whole order of nature.

2) Paulus se sondelys is sondes waaraan die mensdom oor die algemeen skuldig is.

It is not to the purpose to say, that every one was not laden with so great a mass of vices; for in arraigning the common baseness of men, it is proof enough if all to a man are constrained to acknowledge some faults. So then we must consider, that Paul here records those abominations which had been common in all ages, and were at that time especially prevalent everywhere; for it is marvelous how common then was that filthiness which even brute beasts abhor; and some of these vices were even popular. And he recites a catalogue of vices, in some of which the whole race of man were involved; for though all were not murderers, or thieves, or adulterers, yet there were none who were not found polluted by some vice or another. He calls those disgraceful passions, which are shameful even in the estimation of men, and redound to the dishonoring of God.

3) Die oordeel oor sondaars is weens hul besluit om God nie erkenning te gee en Hom te volg nie, v.28

28. And as they chose not, etc. There is an evident comparison to be observed in these words, by which is strikingly set forth the just relation between sin and punishment. As they chose not to continue in the knowledge of God, which alone guides our minds to true wisdom, the Lord gave them a perverted mind, which can choose nothing that is right. [53] And by saying, that they chose not, (non probasse – approved not,) it is the same as though he had said, that they pursued not after the knowledge of God with the attention they ought to have done, but, on the contrary, turned away their thoughts resignedly from God. He then intimates, that they, making a depraved choice, preferred their own vanities to the true God; and thus the error, by which they were deceived, was voluntary.

4) Calvyn verduidelik in vers 30 die verskillende soorte sondes.

30. The word theostugeis, means, no doubt, haters of God; for there is no reason to take it in a passive sense, (hated of God,) since Paul here proves men to be guilty by manifest vices. Those, then, are designated, who hate God, whose justice they seem to resist by doing wrong. Whisperers (susurrones) and slanderers (obtrectatores) [58] are to be thus distinguished; the former, by secret accusations, break off the friendships of good men, inflame their minds with anger, defame the innocent, and sow discords; and the latter through an innate malignity, spare the reputation of no one, and, as though they were instigated by the fury of evilspeaking, they revile the deserving as well as the undeserving We have translated hubristas, villanous, (maleficos;) for the Latin authors are wont to call notable injuries villanies, such as plunders, thefts, burnings, and sorceries; and these where the vices which Paul meant to point out here. [59]

I have rendered the word huperephanous, used by Paul, insolent, (contumeliosos;) for this is the meaning of the Greek word: and the reason for the word is this, — because such being raised, as it were, on high, look down on those who are, as it were, below them with contempt, and they cannot bear to look on their equals. Haughty are they who swell with the empty wind of overweeningness. Unsociable [60] are those who, by their iniquities, unloose the bands of society, or those in whom there is no sincerity or constancy of faith, who may be called truce-breakers.

5) Die toppunt van volharding in sonde, as jy geen meer skaamte het nie, dus nie erken dat jy gesondig het nie, v.32

For it is the summit of all evils, when the sinner is so void of shame, that he is pleased with his own vices, and will not bear them to be reproved, and also cherishes them in others by his consent and approbation. This desperate wickedness is thus described in Scripture:

“They boast when they do evil,” (Proverbs 2:14.)

“She has spread out her feet,
and gloried in her wickedness,” (Ezekiel 16:25.)

For he who is ashamed is as yet healable; but when such an impudence is contracted through a sinful habit, that vices, and not virtues, please us, and are approved, there is no more any hope of reformation. Such, then, is the interpretation I give; for I see that the Apostle meant here to condemn something more grievous and more wicked than the very doing of vices: what that is I know not, except we refer to that which is the summit of all wickedness, — that is, when wretched men, having cast away all shame, undertake the patronage of vices in opposition to the righteousness of God.

_______________________________

Die hele reeks is hier beskikbaar: Reformasie 500: LRLC

Reformasie 500

Kom ons lees Romeine saam met Luther en Calvyn

Romeine 1:18-25

18 Want die toorn van God word van die hemel af geopenbaar oor al die goddeloosheid en ongeregtigheid van die mense wat in ongeregtigheid die waarheid onderdruk, 
19 omdat wat van God geken kan word, in hulle openbaar is, want God het dit aan hulle geopenbaar. 
20 Want sy onsigbare dinge kan van die skepping van die wêreld af in sy werke verstaan en duidelik gesien word, naamlik sy ewige krag en goddelikheid, sodat hulle geen verontskuldiging het nie; 
21 omdat hulle, alhoewel hulle God geken het, Hom nie as God verheerlik of gedank het nie; maar hulle het dwaas geword in hul oorlegginge, en hul onverstandige hart is verduister. 
22 Terwyl hulle voorgee dat hulle wys is, het hulle dwaas geword 
23 en die heerlikheid van die onverganklike God verander in die gelykvormigheid van die beeld van ‘n verganklike mens en van voëls en viervoetige en kruipende diere. 
24 Daarom het God hulle ook in die begeerlikhede van hulle harte oorgegee aan onreinheid, om hulle liggame onder mekaar te onteer 
25 hulle wat die waarheid van God verruil het vir die leuen en die skepsel vereer en gedien het bo die Skepper wat geprys moet word tot in ewigheid. Amen. 

Notas:

1 Sien die inleiding op die leesreeks hier, en die res van die reeks hier.

2 Die doel van die reeks is nie om ‘n eie verklaring te gee van die boek Romeine nie, of om vir u die leeswerk en verklaarwerk te doen nie. Die doel is soos dit sê, om ‘saam’ met Luther en Calvyn Romeine deur te lees, deur hul kommentare/lesings daarop te raadpleeg, om te sien hoe hul met hierdie boek omgegaan het wat wesentlik sentraal gestaan het in die Protestantse Reformasie van die 16/17de eeu.

3. Ek gee wel hier en daar ‘n raamwerk of opmerkings, en gee ‘n paar aanhalings uit Luther en Calvyn se kommentare, maar net hier en daar wat my opval en wat ek met julle wil deel. So die vertrekpunt is altyd: ad fontes! = terug na die bronne, d.w.s. lees die Skrif (Romeine) en Luther en Calvyn se kommentare self.

4. Enige opmerkings oor ons Romeine lees saam Luther en Calvyn (RLC), kan hier onder of by die facebook inskrywing geplaas word.

5. Hier is Luther en Calvyn se kommentare gratis aanlyn:

Luther

Calvyn 

LUTHER OOR ROMEINE 1:18-25

1) Dit is veral die filosowe en magtiges van die wêreld wat die kruis verwerp, wat die waarheid van die evangelie onderdruk.

Moreover, in his opinion it was they who most strongly opposed the gospel and the word and the life of the cross and incited others to opposition against it. Therefore, he imputes guilt and sin seemingly to these alone and proclaims the wrath of God upon them. For to no one the preaching of the cross appears so foolish as to the philosophers and the men of power, because it goes contrary to all they are and feel.

2) Paulus spreek hierdie woorde nie net tot die Romeine nie, maar tot alle mense, omdat alle mense kollektiefs skuldig is aan die sonde.

For the sake of a clearer understanding we must note that the apostle rebukes in these words not the Romans only, as many believe. He addresses himself, not to certain persons, but to all people, including the Romans. This can be seen clearly in the words of the apostle below in ch. 3:9 of this letter: “We laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.”

He therefore excepts none, because he says “all.” One must imagine that, while speaking, the apostle has the entire world before his eyes as if it were one whole body. The members of this body are different; individually they have therefore not done all the apostle charges them with, but altogether they have done all of it (some by committing one fault, and others by committing another), so that he can attribute all these faults to the whole body and not to the head alone. For there can be no doubt that neither all Romans nor all Gentiles were guilty of all of this. But because as nonChristians they were members of this body, they are rebuked one with another. Such is the usage of the Scripture according to the second and fourth rule of Scriptural interpretation, i.e., it passes from a part to the whole and, conversely, from the species to the genus.

3) Predikers moet eerstens prominente leiers aanspreek waar hul in stryd met die evangelie optree en lewe.

The lesson he teaches here is that the preachers of the gospel must first of all rebuke the prominent leaders among the people, not, to be sure, in their own words produced from their own sick and perturbed minds, but in the words of the Gospel; i.e., they must show how and when they act and live counter to the gospel. …

So the letter of Paul is (as all preaching of the word of God must be) like a river that springs from Paradise and like the Nile that inundates all of Egypt. Yet such an inundation must start somewhere. So also the flood which the Lord releases through the apostle Paul covers the whole world and all peoples, but it makes its entry from the heads and leaders of this world and gradually overflows all others. This must be carefully noted. Otherwise, if we follow Lyra and those who agree with him, it will be very difficult to understand the letter, as there will then be no connection between what follows and what precedes, in view of the fact that he sees in the first chapter only the Romans criticized (which opinion also his Prologue supports) and yet what follows must be understood with respect to all nations, indeed the whole mass of the lost human race.

For it is the purpose of the apostle to demonstrate Christ as the savior of all men and not only of the Romans or of the Jews at Rome, though, to be sure, he shows him primarily to them—but then together with them also to others.

4) Die hele skepping getuig van die kennis van God, selfs die afgodedienaars bevestig dit deur die afgode wat hul maak in die plek van God.

That, as we read here, the knowledge of God was open to all men, and especially to idolaters, so that they are without excuses when it is proved to them that they had known the invisible things of God, namely, his very divinity and eternity and power, can plainly be demonstrated by the fact that all who made idols for themselves worshiped them and called them gods or God, believing that God was immortal (i.e., eternal) and also capable and able to help, thereby giving clear evidence that they had the knowledge of God in their hearts. …

And without a doubt, they have it because God gave it to them, as our text says. Their error was that in their worship they did not take the Godhead for what it is in itself, but changed it by fitting it to their own needs and desires. Everyone wanted the Godhead to be in him whom he happened to like, and thus they turned the truth of God into a lie.

5) Die afgodedienaars aanbid nie die ware God nie, maar ‘n verdigsel van hul verstand wat hulself geskep het.

If they did not “glorify him as God” (“ut Deum”) or as if he were God (sicut Deum), did they then glorify something else than God? He obviously seems to indicate this, and what follows has the same meaning: and changed the glory, etc. (Rom. 1:23), i.e., they did not worship him as God but as if he were the likeness of an image, and thus they did not worship God but a figment of their own making. This interpretation I readily accept. The Children of Israel, too, were rebuked for having worshiped Baal and calves, and yet they obviously intended to worship the true God in these symbols and idols, and this they were forbidden to do.

6) Die stappe van verderf is as volg wat lei tot afgodery: ondankbaarheid, nietige denke, duistere hart, dwalinge 

Now, take note of the order of the stages of perdition. The first is ingratitude or the failure to be grateful. Thus, Lucifer before the Fall was ungrateful to his Creator. It is the result of self-complacency: forgetting the giver, one delights in accepting gifts as if one had not received them.

The second is vanity: one feeds on one’s own self and all that is created and enjoys that which lets itself be used, and so one becomes necessarily vain “in his own thoughts,” i.e., in all one’s plans, efforts, and undertakings. For whatever one looks for and seeks is altogether vain, because one seeks only himself, i.e., his own glory, delight, and advantage.

The third is deluded blindness: deprived of the truth and immersed in vanity, one necessarily becomes blind in one’s whole feeling and thinking because one is blocked in upon himself. Thus confined to darkness, what else can one undertake but what one who blindly wanders about looks for in his ignorance? For a blind man easily falls into error; indeed, in a way, he is always in error.

Therefore the fourth is to be in error toward God, and this is the worst because it leads to idolatry. To have come this far means to have come to the abyss. For to one who has lost God, nothing is left but to be exposed to every kind of turpitude that the devil invents. The result is that deluge of evils and bloodshed of which the apostle speaks below.

7) Subtiele geestelike afgodery is wanneer ons God aanbid nie soos Hy is nie, maar wat ons uitdink en begeer Hy moet wees.

By the same stages, people even today come to commit spiritual idolatry of a more subtle kind, and it is quite frequent: they worship God not as he is but as they imagine and desire him to be.

Ingratitude, namely, and the love of vanity (i.e., the sense of selfimportance
and of self-righteousness or, as one says, of “good intentions”) delude people terribly, so that they become incorrigible, unable to believe anything else but that they behave splendidly and are pleasing to God. Thus, they make themselves a gracious God, though this does not correspond to reality. And so they worship the product of their own imagination more truly than the true God himself, who they believe resembles this product of their fancy.

Here now “they change him into the likeness of their own imagination” (Rom. 1:23), which exists only in their corruptible minds that know only carnal desires. See, then, how great an evil ingratitude is: it produces a love of vanity, and this results in blindness, and blindness in idolatry, and idolatry brings about a whole whirlpool of vices.

Gratitude, however, keeps the love for God and thus holds the heart directed toward him. Because it is thereby also illumined, it worships, once it is illumined, only the true God, and to this worship there soon attaches itself the whole chorus of virtues.

8) Die ‘oorgee aan hulself’ is ‘n opdrag, ‘n bevel van God. Die Here gebruik die duiwel en bose geeste om sy oordele uit te voer oor hulle wat Hom verwerp. 

This “giving up” is not so much a permission as a commission, a command, of God. This is plainly shown in the last chapter of the first book of Kings (I Kings 22:2,2, f.), where the Lord says to the lying spirit that he should entice Ahab, the King of Israel: “Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also; go forth and do so.” Then follows the word of the prophet addressed to the same king: “Now, therefore, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all thy prophets.” So also David said of him who cursed him (II Sam. 16:10): “Because the Lord has said unto him, Curse David, … let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord has bidden him.” In the same way the Lord orders also the devil or the flesh to tempt and overwhelm a man who deserves before God that this should happen to him because of his impiety. …

9) Die Here beveel nie die mens om boosheid te doen nie, of dat sonde sy wil is nie.

For it is not correct to say that God orders man to do evil—no, one must rather say that he deserts him so that he cannot resist the devil, who now goes into action by the command and will of God. We may twist and turn the matter as much as we want: we must assert that it is God’s will that a man be overwhelmed by sin; moreover, he wills this by his good pleasure in so far as he lets him be overcome by that which he [God] hates most, causing him to become enslaved to that which He intends to punish most. For this is the greatest severity: to deliver someone into the hands of him whom he hates most.

It does not follow from this that God wills sin, even though it is done by his will; but what follows is that he does not will it at all and that he hates it. For he lets it be done by his will in order that a man be subjected to what he hates most so that this man may know what a terrible judgment hangs over him; and so God by his will lets that become a fact which he hates most only for the purpose of punishing him, for there is nothing more base than sin. Therefore, in order to let a man who is already covered with shame become subject to sin, He lets that be done which he consistently forbids. Therefore, God lets sin be done, not for sin’s sake, but for the sake of penalty and punishment. Just as a man who sins does not will to sin for the sake of sinning (for he would rather that there were no sin) but for the sake of a good which he pursues, so also God wills sin, not for the sake of sin (for he, too, would rather that it were not and he hates all that is sin), but for the sake of punishment and the ill that is contained in it so that he may have regard for the punishment rather than the sin.

This, to be sure, God alone may will. For he is not bound not to will that there be sin, although by his nature he necessarily can neither will nor love it, but he can will and love it, not in so far as it is sin, but in so far as it is punishment. Just so, a father hates to see his son dirtied and stained, yet when the son commits a grave offense, he elects to stain him not in order thereby to please himself but in order to soil the son. Those, therefore, who want to infer from this that God loves and wills evil think in much too simple terms, but still more simple-minded are those who deny that God wills evil only in order that they be not forced to the conclusion that he allows sins to happen.

Therefore, God measures justly when he elects what is evil in sin for the purpose of punishing man, for thereby he elects what is good in sin. For punishment consists (not, as Lyra thinks, in sinning itself per accidens, but) in the vileness of sin. For it is something painful to be or have been subject to a vile sin. The apostle clearly indicates this when he says: “Wherefore God gave them up to sin, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves” (Rom. 1:24). For no other punishment is so ignominious as that which one receives when one is cast into sin. For it is more shameful to be cast into a vile sin than to bear any kind of penalty.

Hence, it is not correct to say, as Lyra does, that because God withholds his grace and thus makes sin possible, sin is per accidens also the penalty for sin. No, no! Sin, or rather the shame which is connected with sin, is in itself the penalty. The fact that grace is withheld is not the punishment. God intends it to be so; he despises sin, to be sure, yet because he cannot bring about shame except in connection with sin, he wills that a man commit sin in order that this shame should overwhelm him. If it were at all possible that such ignominy could become a fact without sin, God would bring this about and he would prohibit sin. But this cannot be.

10) Luther se beskrywing van onreinheid en om die liggaam te onteer. ‘n Lewe van gebed hou ons rein, na gees en liggaam.

The apostle identifies this kind of dishonor as uncleanness and effeminacy. In I Cor. 6:9 f., he says: “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, etc., shall inherit the Kingdom of God.” And in Eph. 5:3: “All uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as becomes saints.” And in II Cor. 12:21: “They have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they committed.” He calls it also a contumely and a disgrace. For as the glory of the body (at least in this connection) lies in chastity, continence, and, at least, its proper use, so its disgrace consists in its unnatural abuse. Just as a golden vessel is ennobled when it is used as a container of a noble wine, and disgraced when it is used as a container of excrement and filth, so our body (in this respect) is ordained to an honorable marriage and to chastity which is still more honorable. But it is most disgraced and humiliated, not by adultery and unchastity, but by being polluted by an even worse turpitude.

Now “uncleanness,” or effeminacy, is every intentional and individual
pollution that can be effected in various ways, as by the passionate incitement of lascivious thoughts or by the rubbing of the hands or by the petting of another’s body, especially that of a woman, or by obscene movements, etc. I call this kind of uncleanness “intentional” in order to except that pollution which may happen during the night, or even the day, and during waking hours but, as many experience it, is involuntary because it is not brought about intentionally. I call it “individual” because when it happens in sexual intercourse with a person of the same or the other sex it is called by a different name.

Rule: I hardly believe that a young person is chaste if he has no spark of devotion to God in his heart but goes about freely without a concern for God. As he must live either by the flesh or the spirit, either his flesh or his spirit must become inflamed. And there is no better victory over the ardor of the body than the flight and aversion from it by means of devout prayer. For when the spirit is filled with fervor, the body soon cools off and becomes cold, and conversely.

11) Sonder die Gees kan niemand reg dink oor God nie (dus ware teo-logie beoefen nie).

In their presumptuousness they dare assert that God’s nature, his righteousness, and his mercy are what they think they ought to be, as if they were filled and, indeed, drunk with the spirit that searches the deep things of God, which in fact they completely lack. Of this sort are the heretics, the Jews, the folk of spiritual pride, and all who are outside God’s grace. For no one can think rightly about God unless the Spirit of God is in him. Apart from him, he will speak and judge wrongly about whatever may come under his judgment—God’s righteousness or mercy, himself or others. For the Spirit of God must give testimony to our spirit.

CALVYN OOR ROMEINE 1:18-25

1) Goddeloosheid en ongeregtigheid wys op die ondankbaarheid van die mens. God word daardeur van sy eer gestroop.

But by these two words one thing is designated, and that is, ingratitude towards God; for we thereby offend in two ways: it is said to be asebeia, impiety, as it is a dishonoring of God; it is adikia, unrighteousness, because man, by transferring to himself what belongs to God, unjustly deprives God of his glory. The word wrath, according to the usage of Scripture, speaking after the manner of men, means the vengeance of God; for God, in punishing, has, according to our notion, the appearance of one in wrath. It imports, therefore, no such emotion in God, but only has a reference to the perception and feeling of the sinner who is punished. Then he says that it is revealed from heaven; though the expression, from heaven, is taken by some in the sense of an adjective, as though he had said “the wrath of the celestial God;” yet I think it more emphatical, when taken as having this import, “Wheresoever a man may look around him, he will find no salvation; for the wrath of God is poured out on the whole world, to the full extent of heaven.”

2) Die skepping getuig van God, en alle mense behoort deur daarna te kyk die Outeur van die skepping te erken.

By saying, that God has made it manifest, he means, that man was created to be a spectator of this formed world, and that eyes were given him, that he might, by looking on so beautiful a picture, be led up to the Author himself.

3) Weens die sonde is die mens blind om God reg te ken, daarom het hy geloof nodig om God weer reg te ken.

So that they are inexcusable. It hence clearly appears what the consequence is of having this evidence — that men cannot allege any thing before God’s tribunal for the purpose of showing that they are not justly condemned. Yet let this difference be remembered, that the manifestation of God, by which he makes his glory known in his creation, is, with regard to the light itself, sufficiently clear; but that on account of our blindness, it is not found to be sufficient. We are not however so blind, that we can plead our ignorance as an excuse for our perverseness. We conceive that there is a Deity; and then we conclude, that whoever he may be, he ought to be worshipped: but our reason here fails, because it cannot ascertain who or what sort of being God is.

Hence the Apostle in Hebrews 11:3, ascribes to faith the light by which man can gain real knowledge from the work of creation, and not without reason; for we are prevented by our blindness, so that we reach not to the end in view; we yet see so far, that we cannot pretend any excuse. Both these things are strikingly set forth by Paul in Acts 14:16-17, when he says, that the Lord in past times left the nations in their ignorance, and yet that he left them not without witness (amarturon,) since he gave them rain and fertility from heaven. But this knowledge of God, which avails only to take away excuse, differs greatly from that which brings salvation, which Christ mentions in John 17:3, and in which we are to glory, as Jeremiah teaches us, Jeremiah 9:24

4) Deur die dwaasheid van die gemoed skep die sondige mens ‘n fiktiewe nuwe god.

Having feigned such a God as they could comprehend according to their carnal reason, they were very far from acknowledging the true God: but devised a fictitious and a new god, or rather a phantom. And what he says is, that they changed the glory of God; for as though one substituted a strange child, so they departed from the true God. Nor are they to be excused for this pretense, that they believe that God dwells in heaven, and that they count not the wood to be God, but his image; for it is a high indignity to God, to form so gross an idea of his majesty as to dare to make an image of him. But from the wickedness of such a presumption none were exempt, neither priests, nor statesmen, nor philosophers, of whom the most sound-minded, even Plato himself, sought to find out some likeness of God.

5) Die Here gee die goddelose oor aan hul dwalinge en afvalligheid, wat hul verdien het.

God therefore gave them up, etc. As impiety is a hidden evil, lest they should still find an evasion, he shows, by a more palpable demonstration, that, they cannot escape, but must be held fast by a just condemnation, since such fruits have followed this impiety as cannot be viewed otherwise than manifest evidences of the Lord’s wrath. As the Lord’s wrath is always just, it follows, that what has exposed them to condemnation, must have preceded it. By these evidences then he now proves the apostasy and defection of men: for the Lord indeed does so punish those, who alienate themselves from his goodness, that he casts them headlong into various courses which lead to perdition and ruin. And by comparing the vices, of which they were guilty, with the impiety, of which he had before accused them, he shows that they suffered punishment through the just judgment of God: for since nothing is dearer to us than our own honor, it is extreme blindness, when we fear not to bring disgrace on ourselves; and it is the most suitable punishment for a reproach done to the Divine Majesty. This is the very thing which he treats of to the end of the chapter; but he handles it in various ways, for the subject required ample illustration. …

6) Die oorsaak van sonde is nie van die Here nie.

As to the manner in which God gives up or delivers men to wickedness, it is by no means necessary in this place to discuss a question so intricate, (longam — tedious.) It is indeed certain, that he not only permits men to fall into sin, by allowing them to do so, and by conniving at them; but that he also, by his equitable judgment, so arranges things, that they are led and carried into such madness by their own lusts, as well as by the devil. He therefore adopts the word, give up, according to the constant usage of Scripture; which word they forcibly wrest, who think that we are led into sin only by the permission of God: for as Satan is the minister of God’s wrath, and as it were the executioner, so he is armed against us, not through the connivance, but by the command of his judge. God, however, is not on this account cruel, nor are we innocent, inasmuch as Paul plainly shows, that we are not delivered up into his power, except when we deserve such a punishment. Only we must make this exception, that the cause of sin is not from God, the roots of which ever abide in the sinner himself; for this must be true,

“Thine is perdition, O Israel; in me only is thy help.” (Hosea 13:9) [51]

By connecting the desires or lusts of man’s heart with uncleanness, he indirectly intimates what sort of progeny our heart generates, when left to itself. The expression, among themselves, is not without its force; for it significantly expresses how deep and indelible are the marks of infamy imprinted on our bodies.

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Die hele reeks is hier beskikbaar: Reformasie 500: LRLC