Cornelius a'Lapide's Commentary on the Book of Romans

Original translation from the Latin text of the Commentary of Cornelius aLapide on on the Book of Romans by Michael Miller - 528 pages Sewn Hardcover

This book starts with a 49 page introduction on St. Paul: his wisdom, style of writing, virtues, preaching, martyrdom, and miracles.

This is followed by aLapide's collected commentary on the book of Romans, chapter by chapter.

Included in the book is the Rheims New Testament text for the Letter to the Romans.

Sample Text:

WHO WAS S. PAUL?

WHAT KIND OF A MAN, AND HOW GREAT?

Eight gifts and extraordinary prerogatives should be considered and admired in S. Paul. First, his honorable descent and talent; second, his marvelous vocation and grace; third, his uncommon wisdom; fourth, his heroic virtues; fifth, his efficacious, fruitful evangelization; sixth, his illustrious martyrdom; seventh, his miracles, and eighth, his fame and glory.

CHAPTER ONE

Paul’s descent and talent
With regard to the first, Paul was born of noble Jewish stock, of the tribe of Benjamin. S. Jerome (De Scripturis Ecclesiasticis 15) seems to relate that Paul was born in Gischala, a town in Judaea; when it was captured by the Romans, he emigrated with his parents to Tarsus in Cilicia. But the same S. Jerome, in his Epistle to Philemon, calls this tradition a fable, and truly it is a fable. For it is certain that Paul was born, not in Gischala, but in Tarsus. He himself declares it: “I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia” (Acts 22:3).

Furthermore Tarsus of Cilicia was a metropolis, and it had obtained municipal status from the Romans, so that the citizens of Tarsus were considered Roman citizens and enjoyed the privileges of Roman citizens. Hence Paul (Acts 16:37 and 22:25) proclaims that he is a Roman citizen: “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?” And when the Tribune said, “I obtained the being-free,” or as the Greek versions say, πολιτείαν, civilitatem, “of this city with a great sum,” Paul replied, “But I was born so.” This legal status of Roman citizenship was acquired by the citizens of Tarsus from Julius Caesar and from Augustus, because they had aided the parties of both rulers in the civil wars. Hence Tarsus is also called Juliopolis, as Dio Cassius attests in Book XLVII.

For this reason Paul had a noble, liberal education, and was very well versed in Greek literature and the liberal arts; for schools teaching these subjects flourished in Tarsus, and thus the citizens of Tarsus were dedicated to them, as Strabo notes in Book XIV, and surpassed Athens and Alexandria in these studies; so much so that Rome itself abounded in men of letters from Tarsus. Paul therefore was steeped in the disciplines of the Gentiles first of all in Tarsus, from which, being of the Jewish race, He traveled to the major city of the Jews, Jerusalem, in order to be instructed in the sacred subjects by Gamaliel. He himself says in Acts 22:3, “I was brought up in this city; at the feet of Gamaliel [I was] taught according to the truth of the law of the fathers, zealous for the Law, as also all you are this day.”

Indeed, he made such great progress in these studies that Tertullian (Contra Marcionem, V, toward the end), does not hesitate to claim that no one knew the riches of the Scriptures better than S. Paul. And listen to S. Jerome (Epistola ad Paulinum): “Why is Paul called the vessel of election? Truly because he was the chest in which the Law and the Sacred Scriptures are stored.”

Moreover Paul was a Pharisee, and that sect was the noblest and most distinguished among the Jews. Thus he himself says in Acts 26:5: “According to the most sure,” in Greek ἀκριβεστάτην, i.e. most diligent, most exacting, most religious “sect of our religion I lived, a Pharisee.”

But now his eminent, magnanimous, and heroic talent shines forth in his ardent zeal and battle for Judaism in which he himself, still a young man, proved to be a leader for the Jews in persecuting and eradicating Christians, although he mistakenly thought that he was paying homage to God.

Luke says in Acts 8:3, “Saul made havoc of the Church, entering in from house to house; and dragging away men and women, committed them to prison.” And in Acts 9:1; “Saul, as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues: that if he found any men and women of this way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” But more admirably, Paul himself says in Galatians 1:13-14: “Beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it. And I made progress in the Jews’ religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being more abundantly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.”

Certainly the prophecy of Jacob in Genesis 49:27 is fulfilled mystically in Paul: “Benjamin, a ravenous wolf in the morning, shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil.” S. Augustine says brilliantly (Contra Faustum XXII, 70): “Souls that are capable and productive of virtue often bring forth vices first, whereby they indicate the very fact that they would be highly inclined to that virtue if they were instructed by precepts. Thus Moses, in killing the Egyptian, gave many signs that were vicious, to be sure, but very promising; so too Paul’s fury was a wild vice, but a sign of great promise.” For who, later on, was Paul’s equal in the courage and ardor with which he proclaimed the Gospel to the whole world? Who labored more? Who was more frequently imprisoned? Who suffered more torments and stripes? Who was more often in danger of death? Who was so bold and noble in hardships? Who dared to think, not to mention undertake, such great things as Paul undertook, did, and accomplished?