Apollinaris of Laodicea — Commentary on Scripture

Romans 4:1

Paul shows from the example of Abraham that faith is not given only to those who are under the law and the circumcision, but also to those who are not circumcised. For Abraham was not justified by his works either, nor did he have any reason to boast, for he was imperfect and apart from God he could do nothing.… Abraham our father was justified by faith. Paul calls him the “forefather according to the flesh” of those Israelites who have become sons of God by the Spirit. For Christ was made like them in his birth according to the flesh, and now he has made them like him through his birth by grace in the Spirit.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 4:24

The Lord is building his own temple, for the Father raised Christ from the dead in order to do his work through the Son.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 9:15

It is not unjust for God to have mercy on those he wishes to have mercy on but not on others. For, as Paul says, God demonstrates through Moses what his mercy was like. He does not dispense mercy according to human standards, but according to the wisdom of God. For we are shown mercy not because of our own works but because of God, who has the power to show mercy.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 9:18

Someone may object that Pharaoh cannot have been hardened, nor can anyone else who falls into sin, since in that case they would not be guilty of the hardening which has come upon them. But in saying this, O Man, you are going beyond yourself and seeking the secret reason for this inequality in God. There is no injustice here, the apostle said, because the refusal to show mercy on a sinner is due to the foreknowledge of the divine wisdom and not to some judicial reward. In this respect the apostle goes on to say that it is not up to men to sound the hidden depths of God, for the message of salvation is properly administered to all, whether mercy is shown to them or not.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 10:4

Christ furnishes believers with holy righteousness, because he is “the end of the law,” and the law prepared the way for Christ by showing that he was the fulfillment of it, the salvation of mankind.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 10:14

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

Romans 10:15

It is clear even from the prophets that it is impossible to believe if nobody preaches the gospel.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 11:8

This quotation was taken directly from the Hebrew by the apostle himself. The Septuagint edition has “God has put a spirit of stupor in you.” The version of Aquila more clearly has “virulence” and that of Symmachus has “pride.” … In effect, because of the ignorance of the people, the prophetic writings will be a sealed book to them, and they will be incapable of reading them.

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Romans 12:2

This is what the prophet Jeremiah meant when he talked about writing the law of God on the heart. For in the pursuit of God the spiritually minded heart will know what is good and acceptable and perfect, and it will only like the things which are pleasing to God. Filled with the goodness of the good Father it will want to do his will and will try to encourage everyone to do good.However, it is not enough merely to do good; one must resist evil as well. For it is the rejection of evil which represents true progress toward the good.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 12:6

Paul is saying here that if someone has the gift of prophecy, then he has the greatest gift, after that of apostleship. For God placed in the church first apostles and second prophets, and thus such a person, knowing that the apostleship comes first, ought to recognize the limitations of prophecy and accept that he is a servant who must follow the rule of service laid down by his superiors, just as the hands must do the bidding of the head.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Romans 12:7

The teacher must remain in subjection to the prophets, according to the established order, for the prophets are second (after the apostles) and the teachers are third. In fact, teachers are interpreters of the prophetic word, because they have heard and understood it with their ears and seen it with their eyes. For the prophets themselves called those whom they had taught to serve in the ministry of teaching.

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Romans 13:1

“Judas the Galilean revolted in the days of the census,” says Gamaliel in the Acts of the Apostles, and “drew away some of the people after him,” refusing to obey the order of the Romans and register their goods, for which reason Quirinius had been sent to Syria.… But as Judas’s decision was the cause of domestic murders and of a rebellion against the authorities which did much harm to the people, it seems to me that here the apostle is condemning any attempt to imitate him based on the illusion that it is a godly thing to disobey rulers. He has a good deal to say about this, condemning it as a mistaken way of thinking.

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Romans 14:1

As far as matters of indifference are concerned, Paul says that it does not matter whether we do them or not, but when it comes to loving our neighbor, they cease to be matters of indifference. Any regulation concerning food is a matter of indifference, because everything has been sanctified by the power of Christ. But not everyone is so strong in his faith that he is in no danger of being corrupted by these things. Whether we injure such a person or do not injure him is not to be regarded as a matter of indifference, but we are to take great care to ensure that no one loses his soul by eating something which he thinks it might be wrong to eat.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH