By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
All Commentaries on Romans 1:5 Go To Romans 1
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
60. After commending Christ in his origin and power [n. 28], he now commends him in his generosity, which is shown by the gifts he conferred on believers. And he sets out two gifts [n. 61]. One is common to all believers, namely grace, by which we are restored. We receive this from God through Christ; hence, he says, through whom we believers have received grace; "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (Jn 1:17); and below (5:2): "Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand." For it is fitting that just as all things were made by the Word (Jn 1:3), so by the Word as by the art of God Almighty all things should be restored; as an artisan repairs a house by means of the same art as he built it: "God was pleased to reconcile through him all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (Col 1:20). 61. The other spiritual gift was conferred on the apostles. This he touches on when he says, and apostleship, which is the chief office in the Church: "God has appointed in the church, first, apostles" (1 Cor 12:28). Apostle is the same as sent. For they were sent by Christ, bearing, as it were, his authority and office: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (Jn 20:21), i.e., with full authority. Hence Christ himself is called an apostle: "Consider Jesus, the apostle and 38 high priest of our confession" (Heb 3:1); hence, too, through him as chief apostle or "one sent," the others secondarily obtained apostleship: "He chose twelve whom he called apostles" (Luke 6:13). Now he sets out the grace of apostleship as a preface both because they obtained apostleship not through their merits but from grace: "I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle; but by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor 15:9); and because apostleship cannot be worthily obtained unless sanctifying grace precedes it: "Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift" (Eph 4:7). 62. Then he describes this apostleship: first, from its aim when he adds, to bring about the obedience of faith. As if to say: We have been sent with this aim, to induce men to obey the faith. Obedience finds its scope in things we can do voluntarily; in matter of faith, since they are above reason, we consent voluntarily. For no one believes unless he will to, as Augustine says. Consequently, in matters of faith, the following has a place: "You have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed" (Rom 6:17). Concerning this aim Jn (15:16) says: "I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." 63. Secondly, it is described from its extent when he says, among all the nations, because they were directed to instruct not only the Jews but all nations: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19). Paul in particular had received a mandate to all nations, so that the words of Is (49:6) apply to him: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will give you as a light to the 39 nations." Yet the Jews were not excluded from his apostolate, especially those who lived among the Gentiles: "Inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them" (Rom 11:13-14). 64. Thirdly, from the completeness of its power when he says, for the sake of his name, i.e., in His place and with His authority. For as Christ is said to have come in the Father’s name and had the Father’s full authority, so the apostles are said to have come in Christ’s name, as though in Christ’s person : "What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the person of Christ" (2 Cor 2:10). Or by these words it is described from its end, i.e., to broadcast His came without seeking any earthly reward for himself: "He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before kings and the Gentiles and the children of Israel" (Ac 9:15). Hence, he urged all believers to do the same: "Do everything in the name of Jesus Christ (Col 3:17). 65. Fourthly, as to his power over those to whom he was writing and who were subject to his apostleship. Hence h says, including yourselves, i.e. I number among those subject to my apostolate even you Romans howsoever lofty: "He lays it low, the lofty city," the foot of the poor, i.e., of Christ, tramples it, "the steps of the needy," namely, of the apostles Peter and Paul (Is 26:5-6); "We were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ" (2 Cor 10:14). He adds, the called of Jesus Christ, in accord with Hos 1(:9), "I will call ‘not my people’ mine"; or, you are called that you may be of Jesus Christ, as is said below (8:30), "Those whom he predestined he also called." Or, you are called of Jesus Christ, i.e., you 40 are named from Christ, "Christians": "So that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians" (Acts 11:21). 66. Then the persons greeted are described: first [n. 67], from their place when he says to all in Rome. To all, indeed, because he sought the salvation of all: "I wish that all were as I myself am" (1 Cor 7:7); also the Lord had said to him: "You must bear witness also at Rome" (Ac 23:10). 67. Secondly, they are described from their gift of grace, God’s beloved. First [n. 68ff.], the primary source of grace is mentioned, namely, God’s love: "He loved his people, all those consecrated to him were in his hand" (Dt 33:3); "Not that we loved God first, but that he first loved us" (1 Jn 4:10). For God’s love is not called forth by any goodness in a creature, as human love is; rather, He causes the creature’s goodness, because to love is to will goodness to the beloved. But God’s love is the cause of things: "Whatever the Lord pleases, he makes" (Ps 135:6). 68. Secondly, their calling when he adds, called. This call is twofold. One is outward, as when He called Peter and Andrew (Mt 4), while the other is inward, when it is according to an interior inspiration: "I called and you refused to listen" (Pr 1:24). 69. Thirdly, he mentions the grace of justification when he says, to be saints, i.e., sanctified by grace and the sacrament of grace: "But you were washed, you were sanctified," to be beloved by God, called to be saints (1 Cor 6:11). 70. Then [cf. n 15] the blessings he wishes them are mentioned. These are grace and peace. One of these, namely, grace is the first among God’s gifts, because by it the 41 sinner is made holy: "They are justified by his grace as a gift" (Rom 3:24). The other, namely, peace, is His last gift, which is completed in happiness: "He makes peace in your borders" (Ps 147:14). For perfect peace will exist when the will is at rest in the fullness of all good, a state that results from being free of all evil: "My people will abide in the beauty of peace" (Is 32:18). Consequently, in these two blessings all those between are understood. 71. Then he shows from whom these blessings are to be expected when he adds, from God our Father: "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (Jas 1:17) "The Lord bestows grace and glory" (Ps 84:11). He adds, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, because, as stated in Jn (1:17): "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." He Himself says: "My peace I give to you" (Jn 14:27). 72. The phrase, God the Father, can be taken for the whole Trinity, which called Father, because names implying a relationship to the creature are common to the whole Trinity, for example, Creator and Lord. But he adds, and the Lord Jesus Christ, not to imply that He is another person distinct from the three, but to stress the human nature by whose mystery the gifts of grace come to us: "Through whom he has granted to us his precious and very great promises" (2 Pt 1:4). Or it might be said that the phrase, God the Father, stands for the person of the Father, Who is called the Father of Christ by propriety, but our Father by appropriation: "I am ascending to my Father and to your Father" (Jn 20:17). 42 73. Then the person of the Son is meant when he says, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The person of the Holy Spirit is not expressly mentioned, because he is understood in his gifts, which are grace and peace, or even because He is understood whenever there is mention of the Father and of the Son, for He is their union and bond.
