Quest. 21. Of the persons, whom the Apostle saluteth, to all you that be at Rome, &c.

There are three parts of this salutation: he describeth them 1. by the place, to all at Rome. 2. by the cause and fountaine of their vocation and calling: beloued of God. 3. the end, called to be Saints, that they should be holy: he writeth not generally to all at Rome, but with a restraint, he writeth fidelibus, non alijs, to the faithfull, not to any other, Gorrham, and writeth vnto all the faithfull, without any respect of persons, siue essent ex primatibus, & consulibus, whether they were of the chiefe men or consuls, or priuate and poore men, Chrysost. and he writeth not onely to those which were Romanes by nation, but euen vn∣to the strangers at Rome also which were conuerted to the faith, so that they are deceiued, which thinke that this epistle was written in the Romane tongue, because it is written to the Romanes: there were Grecians, and of other nations at Rome, in so much that Iuve∣nal calleth it Graecam vrbem, a Greeke citie, because of the abundance of strangers there, Erasmus.

2. Beloued of God. 1. because God loued vs before any merits of ours, gloss. ordinar. 2. there is a twofold loue of God, vna predestinationis, one of predestination, as it is said, Iacob haue I loued, Esau haue I hated: alia presentis iustificationis, another of present iusti∣fication: Page  44 as it is also said in the Prouerbs, c. 8.17. I loue them, that loue me: of the former the Apostle speaketh in this place, Hugo Cardin. delectis per praedestinationem, beloued in Gods predestination, Gorrham. 3. herein Gods loue is vnlike vnto mans: for man loueth vpon some cause, or desert going before: but God loued vs without any desert of ours, To∣let. so then the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, beloued, is here taken passiuely, not actiuely, not for the lo∣uers of God, but for them which are beloued of God, Aretius.

3. Called Saints. 1. Chrysostome here noteth, that thrice S. Paul hath vsed this word, called, of himselfe, v. 1. and t•ice of the Romanes, v. 6.7. which he doth not superfluously, but volent illis, beneficij admouere, willing to put thē in mind of the benefit, that they should ascribe all to the calling of God: and that S. Paul beeing called writeth to those that are called, he prepareth them to heare him: seeing he was ab eodem vocatus, called by the same, by whom they were called, Aretius. 2. they are called Saints, that is, called, ••sint sancti, to be Saints, Tolet. and hereby the Apostle maketh a difference betweene their former state wherein they liued, which was vnholy and impure, and the con∣dition to the which they were now called to be holy, Aretius: and hereby is taken away the difference betweene the Iewes and the Gentiles, that the Iewes should not exalt themselues a• the onely holy people: but the Gentiles also were called to the same glorious condition of holinesse, Erasm. here the name of Saints, non perfectionem denotat, doth not note a perfection, but signifieth him which was consecrate vnto God, Gualter. he is counted holy, qui affectu tenet sanctitatem, which retaineth holinesse in his affection, though he haue some imperfections: And though there might be some hypocrites and carnall professors a∣mong them, yet respicit ad meliorem par•em, he hath respect to the better part of the Church. Aretius.