Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans John Calvin
Commentary on Romans
21. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 21. Qui igitur doces alterum, teipsum non doces; qui concionaris, non furandum, furaris; 22. Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 22. Qui dicis, nom mœchandum, mœcharis; qui detestaris idola, Sacrilegium perpetras; 23. Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 23. Qui de Lege gloriaris, Deum per Legis transgressionem dehonestas: 24. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. 76
24. Nomen enim Dei propter vos probro afficitur inter gentes, quemadmodum scriptum est. 17. Behold, thou art named a Jew, etc. Some old copies read {εἰ} {δὲ}, though indeed; which, were it generally received, would meet my approbation; but as the greater part of the manuscripts is opposed to it, and the sense is not unsuitable, I retain the old reading, especially as it is only a small difference of one letter. 77
Having now completed what he meant to say of the Gentiles, he returns to the Jews; and that he might, with greater force, beat down their great vanity, he allows them all those privileges, by which they were beyond measure transported and inflated: and then he shows how insufficient they were for the attainment of true glory, yea, how they turned to their reproach. Under the name Jew he includes all the privileges of the nation, which they vainly pretended were derived from the law and the prophets; and so he comprehends all the Israelites, all of whom were then, without any difference, called Jews.
But at what time this name first originated it is uncertain, except that it arose, no doubt, after the dispersion. 78 Josephus, in the eleventh book of his Antiquities, thinks that it was taken from Judas Maccabæus, under whose auspices the liberty and honor of the people, after having for some time fallen, and been almost buried, revived again. Though I allow this opinion to be probable, yet, if there be some to whom it is not satisfactory, I will offer them a conjecture of my own. It seems, indeed, very likely, that after having
76These texts are referred to, Isaiah 52:6; Ezekiel 36:20. 77Griesbach has since found a majority of MSS. in favor of this reading, and has adopted it. But the difficulty is to find a corresponding clause. There is none, except what begins in Romans 2:21; {εἰ} {δὲ} and {οὖν} do not well respond, except we render the first, though indeed, and the other, yes or nevertheless somewhat in the sense of an adversative. It will admit this meaning in some passages. See Matthew 12:12; Matthew 26:64; Romans 10:14. — Ed.
78This is not quite correct. They were called Jews even before the captivity, and during the captivity, but most commonly and regularly after it. The words Jews, first occurs in 2 Kings 16:6. See Esther 4:3; Jeremiah 38:19; Daniel 3:8; Ezra 4:12; Nehemiah 2:16. — Ed.