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6.Whose house are we, etc. As Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, after having prefaced that he was appointed to be the Apostle of the Gentiles, adds, for the sake of gaining credit among them, that they were of that number; so now the author of this epistle exhorts the Jews who had already made a profession of Christ to persevere in the faith, that they might be deemed as being in Gods household. He had said before that God’ house was subject to the authority of Christ. Suitably to this declaration is added the admonition that they would then have a place in God’ family when they obeyed Christ. But as they had already embraced the gospel, he mentions their condition if they persevered in the faith. For the word hope I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith. He mentions confidence and rejoicing, or glorying, in order to express more fully the power of faith. (59) And we hence conclude that those who assent to the Gospel doubtfully and like those who vacillate, do not truly and really believe; for faith cannot be without a settled peace of mind, from which proceeds the bold confidence of rejoicing. And so these two things, confidence and rejoicing, are ever the effects of faith, as we stated in explaining Romans the 5th chapter, and Ephesians the 3rd chapter
But to these things the whole teaching of the Papists is opposed; and this very fact, were there nothing else, sufficiently proves that they pull down the Church of God rather than build it. For the certainty by which alone we are made, as the Apostle teaches us, holy temples to God, they not only darken by their glosses, but also condemn as presumption. Besides, what firmness of confidence can there be when men know not what they ought to believe? And yet that monstrous thing, implicit faith, which they have invented, is nothing else than a license to entertain errors. This passage reminds us that we are always to make progress even unto death; for our whole life is as it were a race.
(59) It is better for “” here to be retained in its proper meaning; for in verse 12 the defect of it is traced to unbelief. Were the words “” and “” rendered adjectivally, the meaning would be more evident, — “ we hold firm our confident and joyful hope to the end.” So we may render a similar form of expression in verse 13, “ deceitful sin,” as “ of life” in Rom_6:4, means “ life.” The most common practice is to render the genitive in such instances as an adjective, but this is not always the case.
Hope is “” or assured, while it rests on the word of God, and is “” while it anticipates the glory and happiness of the heavenly kingdom.
But Beza and Doddridge take words apart, “ of profession and boasting of hope,” or according to Beza, “ hope of which we boast.” Macknight renders them “ boldness and the glorifying of the hope.” The secondary meaning of the word παρρησία is confidence, and of καύχημα joy or rejoicing, and the most suitable here, as it comports better with holding fast, or firm. — Ed.