Ver. 1. Not in disputes about thoughts. [1] That is, without blaming or condemning the thoughts, and reasonings (as it appears by the Greek) of those new converts, who had been Jews, and who were still of this opinion, that they ought to abstain from meats forbidden by the Jewish law, and observe the Jewish festival days. You must charitably bear with the weakness of such converts. Wi. — Be tender with him who is weak in faith; enter not into disputes with him, which only serve to extinguish charity, and create inveterate prejudices.

Ver. 2. Eat all things. Viz. without observing the distinction between clean and unclean meats, prescribed by the law of Moses: which was now no longer obligatory. Some weak Christians, converted from among the Jews, as we here gather from the apostle, made a scruple of eating such meats as were deemed unclean by the law: such as swine's flesh, &c. which the stronger sort of Christians did eat without scruple. Now the apostle, to reconcile them together, exhorts the former not to judge or condemn the latter, using their Christian liberty; and the latter to take care not to despise, or scandalize their weaker brethren, either by bringing them to eat what in their conscience they think they should not: or by giving them such offence, as to endanger the driving them thereby from the Christian religion. Ch. — For one that is not so weak, but well instructed, believeth, is persuaded, that he may eat all things, the distinction of clean and unclean meats being no longer obligatory under the new law of Christ. He that is weak, and not convinced of this Christian liberty, let him eat herbs, or such things as he esteems not forbidden. It is likely some of them abstained many times from all manner of flesh, lest they should meet with what had been offered to idols, or lest something forbidden by the law might be mixed. Wi.

Ver. 3-4. God hath taken him to him, that eats of any meats; he accounts him his servant, and will reward him as such. — God is able to make him stand, and will justify him before his tribunal. Wi.

Ver. 14. For if they, who are of the law, be heirs: faith is made void, the promise is made of no effect. That is, if the Jews, who are under the law, are the only heirs of the blessings promised, it will follow that the faith which Abraham had before the circumcision, and before the law, was of no value, which I have shewn to be false. And, secondly, it will follow that the promise made to him, that in him all nations should be blessed, is also null. Wi.

Ver. 5. Between day, &c. Still observing the sabbaths and festivals of the law. Ch. — And another judgeth every day. That is, thinks every day to be taken away, that was to be kept, merely because ordered under the Jewish law. And now since both they who keep days, or do not keep them; and they who eat, or who abstain, do these things which a regard to God, and according to their conscience, let no one judge, or condemn the one party, nor the other; in these things, let every man abound in his own sense. It is without grounds that some would pretend from hence, that Christians cannot be bound to fast, or abstain from flesh on certain days. The apostle speaks only of the distinction of meats, called clean and unclean, and of fasts or feasts peculiar to the law of Moses. It does not follow from hence, that the Catholic Church hath not power to command days of fasting, and abstaining, for self-denial or humiliation. Wi. — The apostle here treats only of the subject in hand, viz. the Mosaic distinctions of clean and unclean meats: and in this he allows, for that present time, each one to follow his own private judgment. S. Chrysostom observes that S. Paul did not wish the weak to be left to their own judgment in this, as in a point of no consequence; but that they should wait for a time. The converts were not immediately prohibited their accustomed practices, but they were tolerated in them for a while, till fully instructed. This we see in many of the converts at Jerusalem, who were still observers of the Mosaic ordinances; this was tolerated, that the synagogue might be buried with honour. Estius.

Ver. 14. You are not under the law of Moses, as some of you were before: but now you are all under grace, or the law of grace, where you may find pardon for your sins. But take care not to abuse this grace of pardon offered you, nor multiply your sins, and defer your conversion, as some may do, by presuming, that after all, by the merits of Christ, you can find pardon. This, says Tertullian, is the greatest ingratitude, to continue wicked, because God is good. Reflect that you make yourselves servants of him whom you obey. By yielding to your passions, you become slaves to sin. If you keep your obedience to the law of Christ, and to his doctrine, the form of which you have delivered to you by the gospel, you are the happy servants of justice, and the servants of God, who is justice itself. Wi.

Ver. 14. I am carnal, sold under sin, a slave subject to sinful inclinations, which are only properly sins when they are consented to by our free-will. There has been a great dispute both among the ancient and later interpreters, whether S. Paul from this verse to the end of the chapter speaks of a person remaining in sin, either under the law of nature or of the written law, (which was once the opinion of S. Aug.) or whether he speaks of a person regenerated by baptism, and in the state of grace in the new law, and even of himself when he was a faithful servant of God. This is the opinion of S. Aug. in many of his later writings against the Pelagians, for which he also cites S. Hilary, S. Greg. Naz. and S. Amb. It is also the opinion of S. Jerom, (Ep. ad Eustochium de custod. Virg.) of S. Greg. the great, of Bede, and the more approved opinion, according to which the apostle here by sin does not understand that which is properly speaking a sin, or sinful, but only speaks of sin improperly such, that is of a corrupt inclination, of a rebellious nature corrupted by original sin, of a strife betwixt the spirit and the flesh, which remains for a trial in the most virtuous persons: of which see again S. Paul, Gal. v. 17. We may take notice that the apostle before spoke of what he was and what he had been, but now speaks in the present time of what he is, and what he doth. Wi. — The law is styled spiritual: 1st, because it prescribes what appertains to the spirit, and to the spiritual man: i.e. to follow virtue and shun vice: 2nd, because it directs man to the worship of God, which is spirit and truth: 3rd, because it cannot be fulfilled by spiritual men, unless by spirit and grace: 4th, because it directs the spirit of man and disposes him properly towards God, towards his neighbour, and towards himself: and lastly, because the law spiritually received and understood, leads and prepares men for the evangelical law, which is the law of grace and spirit. Menochius.

Ver. 14. &c. They are the sons of God, by this new grace of adoption, by which also they call God, Abba; that is to say, Father, whereas under the former law of Moses, God rather governed his people by fear; they were his servants, we are his sons; and if sons, also the heirs of God, with the promise of an eternal inheritance in his kingdom, provided we suffer for Christ's sake, as he suffered for us. And surely the short sufferings in this world have no proportion, nor can be put in balance with the future endless glory, which is promised and prepared for us in heaven. Wi. — Abba is a Syriac word, which signifies my father. This is properly the word of free and noble children; for amongst the Hebrews, the children of slaves were not allowed to call their fathers Abba, nor their mothers Imma. This kind of expression was very rarely used under the old law. The Hebrews called the Almighty their Lord, their God, their Salvation, their King, their Protector, their Glory, &c. but seldom their father, scarcely ever, except in the case of Solomon, who was a particular figure of the Messias, the true Son of God. On this account God said to him: "He shall call me Father and God; and I will be to him a Father, and will treat as my first-born." But it is the property of the Christian to call the Almighty his Father with confidence indeed, yet tempered with a filial awe; remembering at the same time that he is his judge. Calmet. — Mat. Polus says that not any one of the just dared to call God, my Father, before the coming of Christ, as this favour was reserved for the time of the gospel. In hunc. locum. A. — S. Chrys.[1] takes notice, that God was also called the Father of the Israelites, and they his children, in the Old Testament, when God rather governed his people by fear of punishments, and promises of temporal blessings, but not in that particular manner as in the new law. Wi. — The Spirit himself, &c. By the inward motions of divine love, and the peace of conscience, which the children of God experience, they have a kind of testimony of God's favour; by which they are much strengthened in the hope of their justification and salvation; but yet not so as to pretend to an absolute assurance, which is not usually granted in this mortal life: during which we are taught to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Phil. ii. 12. And that he who thinketh himself to stand, must take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor. x. 12. See also Rom. xi. 20, 21, 22. Ch. — He hath given to us, says S. John, (c. i. 12.) the power, or dignity, of being the sons of God. Christ taught us to pray, and to begin our prayers with our Father, &c. Matt. vi. 9. Wi.

Ver. 14. What shall we say, then? Is there injustice with God, when he bestows special favours and benefits on some, and not on others? He answers, by no means. And he justifies almighty God's conduct, v. 22. In the mean time, it is certain that there is no injustice in not giving what another has no right to: and besides all men having sinned, deserved punishment. If then, he shews mercy to some, it is an effect of his goodness and liberality only which they do not deserve. If he leaves others in their sins, they are only punished according to their deserts. His mercy shines upon his elect; and his divine justice is displayed against the wicked and the reprobate, but only according to what they have deserved. Wi.

Ver. 14. &c. Or how shall they believe, &c. He shews the necessity of preachers, and that all true preachers must be sent, and have their mission from God. — Who hath believed our report? [1] Lit. our hearing? Some expound it thus: who hath believed the things we have heard from God, and which we have preached? The common interpretation is, who hath believed what he hath heard from us? Wi.

Ver. 11. The apostle here gives a remarkable proof of the divinity of our Saviour. He could not possibly be more express. He had said in the preceding verse, that all men should appear before the tribunal of Christ; to prove this assertion, he adduces this testimony of the prophet Isaias: "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall confess to God." Is. c. xlv. Thus shall all acknowledge the power, the divinity, and sovereign dominion of Christ, by bending the knee; and by confessing to him, shall acknowledge him for the master and judge of all mankind. Calmet.

Ver. 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. To put on, is a metaphor used in the Scripture; as when it is said, put on the new man, &c. And make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscenses. That is, do not take care, nor pamper and indulge your appetite in eating and drinking, so as to increase your disorderly inclinations, but keep them in due subjection. Wi. — The apostle does not forbid all care of the body, since he himself says in the epistle to the Ephesians, v. "No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." But he forbids that care of the flesh, by which the desires and concupiscences of the flesh are strengthened and encouraged. This those are guilty of, who are always indulging in delights and voluptuousness. Estius. — Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, enter into his sentiments, imitate his virtues, and indulge not the flesh in its inordinate desires.

Ver. 14. Nothing is unclean of itself. Because the law that made them unclean, is not now binding of itself, yet a man must not act against his conscience, neither must he, when he can avoid it, scandalize or offend the weak: nor cause divisions or dissensions. Wi.

Ver. 15. S. Paul repeats this, in almost the same words, in 1 Cor. c. viii. and plainly gives us to understand, that Christ died for the salvation of all men, by supposing a Christian brother, for whom Christ had died, in danger of perishing by the scandal given by another. This supposition could never have been made, if the death of Christ was only offered up for the elect: but we here learn from S. Paul, that they for whom Christ shed his blood and suffered the death of the cross, may perish eternally; and therefore all, even the greatest reprobates, may be saved, if they effectually desire it, by virtue of the death of our divine Redeemer.

Ver. 16. Let not then our good, or which we have a Christian liberty to do with a good conscience, be evil spoken of, because of the disputes and quarrels you have about it. Wi.

Ver. 17. The kingdom of God is not meat, &c. It does not consist in eating, nor in abstaining, both which may be done without sin, but in justice, peace, &c. Wi.

Ver. 20. Destroy not the work of God for meat. That is, do not hinder your brother's salvation, for whom, whoever he be, Christ died, who may be so offended at the liberty which you take, as to quit the Christian religion; or you may make him sin against God, by eating by your example against his weak conscience. Wi.

Ver. 22. Hast thou faith? [2] He doth not here mean, saith S. Chrys. a faith to believe divine truths. But art thou by faith persuaded in mind and conscience, that to eat meats formerly forbidden, is now lawful, have it within thyself, remain in this faith and conscience, but make it not appear, when it is prejudicial to thy weak brother. — Happy is he that condemneth not himself, that maketh not himself liable to condemnation, by giving scandal, by using that liberty, which he is convinced is allowed. Or happy is he that acteth not against his conscience, by doing what he sees is allowed of by others, but which his conscience tells him he ought not to do. Wi.

Ver. 23. He that discerneth, or who judgeth that he ought to abstain from such meats, if he eat, is self-condemned, because he acts not according to his faith. For whatever a man doth, and is not according to what he believeth he may do, or whatever is against a man's conscience, is sinful in him. It is a mistake of the sense of this place, to pretend that every moral action done by an infidel, must needs be a sin, as when he gives an alms to relieve the necessities of the poor. Wi. — Discerneth. That is, distinguisheth between meats, and eateth against his conscience, what he deems unclean. — Of faith. By faith is here understood judgment and conscience: to act against which is always a sin. Ch.