Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom,'said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ.

Declaring and insinuating that the Christ was to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this is Jesus Christ, whom I preach to you.

opening and laying down that the Christ must have suffered and risen up from among the dead, and that this is the Christ, Jesus whom I announce to you.

opening and alleging, that it behoved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom, said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ.

Opening and alledging, that it was needful that Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach to you, is Christ.

opening and alleging, 'That the Christ it behoved to suffer, and to rise again out of the dead, and that this is the Christ, Jesus whom I proclaim to you.'

which he clearly explained, pointing out that it had been necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, and insisting, "The Jesus whom I am announcing to you is the Christ."

Saying to them clearly and openly that Christ had to be put to death and come back to life again; and that this Jesus, whom, he said, I am preaching to you, is the Christ.

explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Messiah.'

interpreting and concluding that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead, and that "this is the Jesus Christ, whom I am announcing to you."

He laid before them and explained that the Christ must undergo suffering and rise from the dead; and "It is this man," he declared, "who is the Christ – this Jesus about whom I am telling you."

Opening. In this place he describeth the sum and subject of the disputation, and he putteth down two members concerning Christ, that he must have died and risen again, and that the son of Mary which was crucified is Christ. When the question is concerning Christ, there come three things in question, Whether he be, who he is, and what he is. If Paul had had to deal with the Gentiles, he must have fet his beginning farther; [1] because they had heard nothing concerning Christ; neither do profane men conceive that they need a Mediator. But this point was out of doubt among the Jews, to whom the Mediator was promised; wherefore Paul omitteth that as superfluous, which was received by common consent of all men. But because there was nothing more hard than to bring the Jews to confess that Jesus who was crucified was the Redeemer, therefore Paul beginneth with this, that it was meet that Christ should die, that he may remove the stumbling-block of the cross. And yet we must not think that he recited the bare history, but he taketh on undoubtedly principle, that the causes were showed why Christ must have suffered and rise again; to wit, because he preached of the ruin of mankind, of sin and of the punishment thereof, of the judgment of God, and of the eternal curse wherein we are all enwrapped. For even the Scripture calleth us hither, when it foretelleth the death of Christ. As Isaias saith not simply that Christ should die, but plainly expressing, because [that] we have all erred, and every one hath gone his own way, he assigneth the cause of his death, that God hath laid upon him all our iniquities; that the chastisement of our peace is upon him, that by his stripes we may be healed; that by making satisfaction for us, he hath purchased righteousness for us, (Isaiah 53:4-8.) So doth Daniel show the force and fruit of his death in his 9^th chapter, (Daniel 9:24,) when he saith that sin must be sealed up, that eternal righteousness may succeed. And, surely, there is no more apt or effectual way to prove the office of Christ, than when men, being humbled with the feeling of their miseries, see that there is no hope left, unless they be reconciled by the sacrifice of Christ. Then laying away their pride, they humbly embrace his cross, whereof they were before both weary and ashamed. Therefore, we must come unto the same fountains at this day, from which Paul fetteth [fetcheth] the proof of the death and resurrection of Christ. And that definition brought great light to the second chapter. It had not been so easy a matter for Paul to prove, and certainly to gather, that the Son of Mary is Christ, unless the Jews had been taught before what manner of Redeemer they were to hope for. And when that doth once appear, it doth only remain that those things be applied to Christ which the Scripture doth attribute to the Mediator. But this is the sum of our faith, that we know that the Son of Mary is that Christ and Mediator which God promised from the beginning; that done, that we know and understood why he died and rose again; that we do not feign to ourselves any earthly king, but that we seek in him righteousness, and all parts of our salvation; both which things Paul is said to have proved out of the Scriptures. We must know that the Jews were not so blockish, nor so impudent, as they be at this day. Paul might have drawn arguments from the sacrifices and from all the worship of the law, whereat the Jews gnarl at this day like dogs. It is well known how unseemly they rent and corrupt other places of Scripture. At that day they had some courtesy [2] in them; also they did somewhat reverence the Scripture, so that they were not altogether such as would not be taught; at this day the veil is laid over their hearts, (2-Corinthians 3:15,) so that they can see no more in the clear light than moles.

Footnotes

1 - "Necesse fuisset altius sumere exordium," it would have been necessary to go farther back with his exordium.

2 - "Ingenuitas," ingenuousness.

Opening - διανοίγων dianoigōn. See Luke 24:32. The word means to explain or to unfold. It is usually applied to what is shut, as the eye, etc. Then it means to explain what is concealed or obscure. It means here that he explained the Scriptures in their true sense.
And alleging - παρατιθέμενος paratithemenos. Laying down the proposition; that is, maintaining that it must be so.
That Christ must needs have suffered - That there was a fitness and necessity in his dying, as Jesus of Nazareth had done. The sense of this will be better seen by retaining the word "Messiah." "That there was a fitness or necessity that the Messiah expected by the Jews, and predicted in their Scriptures, should suffer." This point the Jews were unwilling to admit; but it was essential to his argument in proving that Jesus was the Messiah to show that it was foretold that he should die for the sins of people. On the necessity of this, see the notes on Luke 24:26-27.
Have suffered - That he should die.
And that this Jesus - And that this Jesus of Nazareth, who has thus suffered and risen, whom, said he, I preach to you, is the Messiah.
The arguments by which Paul probably proved that Jesus was the Messiah were:
(1) That he corresponded with the prophecies respecting him in the following particulars:
(a) He was born at Bethlehem, Micah 5:2.
(b) He was of the tribe of Judah, Genesis 49:10.
(c) He was descended from Jesse, and of the royal line of David, Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10.
(d) He came at the time predicted, Daniel 9:24-27.
(e) His appearance, character, work, etc., corresponded with the predictions, Isaiah 53:1-12.
(2) his miracles proved that he was the Messiah, for he professed to be, and God would not work a miracle to confirm the claims of an impostor.
(3) for the same reason, his resurrection from the dead proved that he was the Messiah.

Opening and alleging - Παρατιθεμνος, Proving by citations. His method seems to have been this:
1st. He collected the scriptures that spoke of the Messiah.
2d. He applied these to Jesus Christ, showing that in him all these scriptures were fulfilled, and that he was the Savior of whom they were in expectation. He showed also that the Christ, or Messiah, must needs suffer - that this was predicted, and was an essential mark of the true Messiah. By proving this point, he corrected their false notion of a triumphant Messiah, and thus removed the scandal of the cross.

(2) Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
(2) Christ is therefore the mediator, because he was crucified and rose again: and he is certainly not to be rejected because the cross is shameful.

Opening,.... That is, the Scriptures of the Old Testament, explaining and expounding them, giving the true sense of them; so this word is frequently used in Jewish writings (e), as that such a Rabbi "opened", such a Scripture:
and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; he set this matter in a clear light, and made it plain and manifest, from the writings of the Old Testament, that there was a necessity of the Messiah's suffering and rising from the dead; or otherwise these Scriptures would not have been fulfilled, which have said that so it must be; for these things were not only necessary on account of God's decrees, and the covenant transactions the Son of God entered into, and on the account of the salvation of his people; but because of the types, promises, and prophecies of the Old Testament: the Scriptures which the apostle opened and set before them, and reasoned upon, showing the necessity of these things, very likely were such as these, Genesis 3:15 Isaiah 53:1 with many others:
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ; he showed that all the things which were spoken of Christ, or the Messiah, in those Scriptures, were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, who was the subject matter, the sum and substance of his ministry; and therefore he must be the Messiah, and the only Saviour and Redeemer of lost sinners.
(e) Zohar passim.

Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, &c.--His preaching, it seems, was chiefly expository, and designed to establish from the Old Testament Scriptures (1) that the predicted Messiah was to be a suffering and dying, and therefore a rising, Messiah; (2) that this Messiah was none other than Jesus of Nazareth.