PRESENTED TO THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 BY 
 
 JV[ps. Rlei^andcp Pfoudfit. 
 
 
ST. PAUL'S 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS : 
 
 NE\YLY TKANSLATED, 
 
 AXD EXPLALVED FROM A MISSIOXARY POINT OF VIEW. 
 
 BT THE y 
 
 / 
 
 RIGHT REV. J. W. bOLENSO, D.D., 
 
 BISHOP OF NATAL. 
 
 NEW yore:: 
 D. APPLETO^ AXD COMPANY, 
 
 443 & 445 BJROADWAY. 
 1863. 
 

 TO THE HONOUEABLE 
 
 THE SECRETARY FOR NATIVE AFFAIRS 
 
 TO THE NATAL GOVERNMENT, 
 
 THEOPIIILUS SHEPSTONE, Esq. 
 
 My deae Fktexd — 
 
 This book contains the substance of many conversa- 
 tions, which I have had with you from time to time, 
 upon the subject of teaching the truths of Christianity 
 to the natives of this colony, and those of other heathen 
 countries. The teaching of the great Apostle to the 
 Gentiles is here applied to some questions, which daily 
 arise in Missionary labours among the heathen, more 
 directly than is usual with those commentators, who 
 have not been engaged personally in such work, but 
 have wi'itten from a very different point of view, in the 
 midst of a state of advanced civilisation and settled 
 Christianity. Hence they have usually passed by alto- 
 gether, or only touched very lightly upon, many points, 
 w^hich are of great importance to Missionaries, but 
 which seemed to be of no immediate practical interest 
 for themselves or their readers. 
 
 The views, which I have here advanced, are the 
 results of seven years of Missionary experience, as well 
 
IV 
 
 as of many years of iDrevioiis close study of this Epistle. 
 I had hoped that this book might have been of iise 
 with reference to that great work in Znlnland to which, 
 as it seemed lately, the Providence of God was more 
 directly calling you — a work which promised immense 
 results of blessing to the natives of this part of Africa, 
 and in which it would have been my joy and pride to 
 have rendered you any assistance in my ]power. I 
 cannot but believe that the time is not far distant, 
 when the singular abilities, which God has given you, 
 for influencing the native mind,- — to which, under the 
 Divine blessing, this colony has been mainly indebted 
 for the order and peace, which, during so many years, 
 have been maintained, within its border, — will be called 
 into yet more active exercise in advancing the civilisa- 
 tion of these tribes. 
 
 Meanwhile, I beg you to accept this book, as a token 
 of sincere esteem and friendship, and as a pledge that, 
 if God will, I shall gladly be associated with you, at 
 some future day, in carrying on such a work. 
 
 I am, my dear Friend, 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 J. W. JS^ATAL. 
 
 BisnopsTowE, June 1, 1861. 
 
IISTTEODUCTIOI^. 
 
 Before we can enter fully into the Apostle's meaning in 
 this Epistle to the Romans, and see the very gist of his 
 argument, and the line of thought he is following through- 
 out, it is necessary that we should have a clear idea of the 
 persons to whom, and the circumstances under which, it was 
 written. This, which is desirable, of course, for the eluci- 
 dation of all his Epistles, is absolutely essential here. It is 
 impossible that any one should understand his language in 
 this Epistle, even in the Greek, much less in the English 
 translation, who has not realised to himself, in some meas- 
 ure, the state of things at Rome, at the time when the 
 Apostle wrote, who does not keep that state of things in 
 his mind all along, as he reads his words. 
 
 To what class of persons, then, was this Epistle written ? 
 We call it the Epistle ' to the Romans,' that is, of course, 
 to the Christian believers then living at Rome. But who 
 were these ? And how did there happen to be any Chris- 
 tians at Rome at this time ? It is natural to imagine a 
 Christian Church at Rome, definitely formed and fully 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 developed, like those at Corinth, Antioch, or Ephesus, or, 
 in later times, at Rome itself. And, probably, most readers 
 who have not bestowed much thought upon the subject, 
 would take for granted that these ' Romans,' who are here 
 addressed, were like the Thessalonians, Corinthians, and 
 others, mostly converts, made directly from the heathen 
 world, in the midst of the teeming population of the Impe- 
 rial City. When St. Paul writes (Rom. i. i) ' to all that 
 be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints,' and speaks 
 to them (i. 5, 6) of his having received apostleship ' for the 
 obedience to the faith atnong all nations^ among whom also 
 are ye,' and tells them further on (i. 13) that he 'had often- 
 times purposed to come unto them, that he might have 
 some fruit among them, also, as even among other Gentiles^ 
 it is plain that he is not writing to Jews, but to Gentiles, 
 — to men who were not merely living at Rome, as numbers 
 of Jews were at this time, but who were really men of the 
 'nations,' true Romans born and bred, and who had had, 
 most probably, their early training in heathenism. 
 
 But, when we look at the Epistle itself, we are at once 
 struck with the peculiarity of its style, and of its main sub- 
 ject-matter. The first eleven chapters would seem to be 
 addressed to Jews, rather than to Christians. By far the 
 greater part of the Epistle assumes in the reader a very 
 familiar acquaintance with Jewish history, and Jewish 
 practices, and Jewish modes of thought, such as no mere 
 ordinary convert from heathenism, especially at a time 
 when there were only manuscripts, and the Books of the 
 Old Testament were not in every one's hands, could pos- 
 sibly have possessed. St. Paul passes rapidly from one 
 
INTKODUCTION. 7 
 
 point to another, as if sure of carrying his reader along 
 with him, without stopping for a moment to explain more 
 clearly, to the Roman mind, any one of his allusions. The 
 Jew's ' resting in the Law,' his ' making his boast in God,' 
 his confidence in circumcision, the story of Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, in some of its minuter details, — the destruction 
 of Pharaoh, — extracts from the Psalms and the Prophets, — 
 all these are brought in, when the argument requires it, 
 without any doubt seeming to cross his mind as to the 
 possibility of his illustrations being unintelligible, and his 
 reasoning failing to take effect, because of any want of 
 acquaintance, on the part of those to whom he wrote, with 
 the main facts of Jewish history. In fact, in some places, 
 he writes directly as to Jews — he sets up a Jew to argue 
 "with — as in (ii. 17), 'Behold! thou art called a Jew, &c.,' 
 and in (iv. l), ' What shall we say then that Abraham, our 
 father, hath found ? ' 
 
 And yet the expressions quoted from the first chapter, 
 and other passages, such as (xi. 13) ' I speak to you Gen- 
 tiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magni- 
 fy mine oifice,' and the general tone of the Epistle in many 
 parts, forbid our supposing that he w^as writing merely 
 or mainly to Jews. How then are we to account for this 
 fact, that in this particular Epistle there is so much ref- 
 erence to Jewish matters, more than in all his other Epis- 
 tles put together, unless St. Paul wrote also the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews ? How is it to be explained that, address- 
 ing himself here distinctly to ' Gentiles,' ' Men of the Na- 
 tions,' Christians of Roman birth, he yet all along assumes 
 in his readers such a perfect knowledge of Jewish matters, 
 
8 ENTKODUCTION. 
 
 such a strong sympathy with the Jewish mind and feel- 
 
 ings? 
 
 In order to give the answer to this question, we must 
 consider what light the Scripture records throw upon the 
 origin of the Roman Church. And here we shall come at 
 once upon this inquiry, namely, Was there, in fact, any 
 Christian Church at Rome at all, at this time, distinct and 
 definitely marked off from the Jewish community ? There 
 would seem to have been none whatever, for the following 
 reasons ; 
 
 (1) It is certain that no apostle had as yet been at 
 Rome, or taken any prominent part in founding such a 
 Church, or setting in order its affairs. Had it been other- 
 wise, St. Paul must have made some reference to him in 
 this Epistle. And, besides, he tells these very Romans 
 (xv. 20), that he ' strove so to preach the Gospel, not where 
 Christ was already preached, lest he should be huildiyig on 
 another man'^s foundation? 
 
 (2) Among the numerous salutations in the last chap- 
 ter, in which twenty-eight persons are named, and others 
 indicated, to whom, as believers at Rome, the Epistle must 
 be considered to be especially addressed, there is no refer- 
 ence to any kind of Church government as existing among 
 them, to any ruling power in the Christian community, to 
 any presiding or oflSciating person, whether bishop, presby- 
 ter, or deacon. It would have been so natural, in chapter 
 xiii., where he enjoins obedience to the higher civil powers, 
 though these were heathen, to have thrown in a word or 
 two, as to their duty also to submit themselves to those, who 
 had the ' rule over them ' in spiritual matters, who were 
 
mTKODUCTION. 9 
 
 * set over them in the Lord ' — if any such there were. It 
 may be said, indeed, that there would appear to be some 
 reference to duly ordained ministers, pastors, and teachers, 
 in the following words (xii. G — 8), 'Having then gifts, dif- 
 fering according to the grace that is given to us, whether 
 prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of 
 faith, or ministry, let us wait on our ministering, or he that 
 teacheth, on teaching, or he that exhorteth, on exhortation : 
 he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity, he that ruleth, 
 with diligence, he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.' 
 And, certainly, some of these expressions might be under- 
 stood to refer to Christian ministers, if there were any 
 other sufficient reason for supposing that there were such 
 at Rome at this time, — if there were any trace of them in 
 any other parts of the Epistle. But it seems almost impos- 
 sible that St. Paul, who knew by name so many of the be- 
 lievers at Rome, should not have saluted by name among 
 the rest the presbyters of the Church, if, indeed, there 
 were any to be saluted. Had he named only two or three 
 persons in the last chapter, we might have inferred, per- 
 haps, that these were saluted by him as prominent in offi- 
 cial position; just as in Col. iv. 17, he writes, *Say to 
 Archippus, Take heed to the ministry, which thou hast re- 
 ceived in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.' But the very fixct 
 that he salutes so many, and makes no particular mention 
 of any one of them having office or authority among them, 
 implies that he knew of none such. Nor is it easy to see 
 how any could have been appointed, if the city of Rome 
 had never as yet been visited by an Apostle. It seems, 
 therefore, more reasonable to explain the words quoted 
 1* 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 above, as referring to the mutual services which the * mem- 
 bers of one body ' should render to one another, each ac- 
 cording to the gifib he has received, in their religious com- 
 munion, or common every-day intercourse, and not to the 
 duties of ordained ministers. Indeed, it is most unlikely 
 that, if the expression, ' he that ruleth or presideth,' is 
 meant to refer to the presiding presbyter, it should be 
 brought in at the close of the sentence, as above. 
 
 (3) But the most decisive proof of the non-existence of 
 a definite Christian community or Church at Rome at this 
 time, is the account given in the last chapter of the Acts, 
 of the circumstances which attended St. Paul's first visit to 
 Rome. 
 
 For this first visit of St. Paul to Rome took place sub- 
 sequently to his writing the Epistle ; inasmuch as in it (i. 10, 
 11, 13, 15) he distinctly implies that he was 'longing' in- 
 deed to * see them ' at Rome, but was stiU a ' debtor ' to 
 them, and 'had been hindered hitherto,' having not yet 
 found the answer to his request 'that by some means now at 
 length he might have a prosperous journey by the will of 
 God to come unto them.' If, therefore, we find reason to 
 believe that, on his thus coming among them in person, he 
 found no distinct organized Church, we may conclude, a 
 fortiori^ that there was none at the time when he wrote 
 the Epistle. 
 
 Now, we are told in St. Luke's narrative (Acts xxviii. 
 14), that at Puteoli he found ' brethren.' What this ex- 
 pression means wiU depend on the view we take of the 
 same language, when applied, in the following verse, to the 
 believers at Rome. For 'from Rome,' we read, ' when tTiQ 
 
INTKODUCTION. 11 
 
 brethren heard of us, they came to meet us, whom when 
 Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.' The article 
 is important here — ' the brethren.' "We should infer from 
 this expression that, if not the whole, yet at all events the 
 great body of the believers at Rome came out to meet the 
 Apostle. And if the number had been large, we should 
 surely have had some plainer intimation of the fact, than is 
 given by the simple words, ' the brethren.' And when he 
 reaches Rome, we do not hear of any gathering of the 
 Church, or of any visit made to the Aj^ostle by the pastors 
 or teachers of the Church, by any presbyter or deacon. 
 The whole tenor of the narrative in Acts xxviii. 17 — 31, 
 clearly implies that there was nothing of the kind. St. Paul 
 calls together the chief of the Jews, not the elders of the 
 Christian Church ; he tells them that ' for the hope of Israel 
 he is bound with this chain.' They answer that they had 
 heard no evil about him from any quarter, which would not 
 surely have been the case, if controversies such as those, 
 which arose in every other Church between St. Paul and 
 the ' party of the circumcision,' had broken out here. And 
 yet the same difficulties must have arisen in Rome, as else- 
 where, between the Jewish community and the * sect ' of 
 Christians, if there had been at this time any distinct and 
 anti-Jewish development of Christian principles in the Im- 
 perial City. But the ' chief of the Jews ' at Rome tell St. 
 Paul, that ' they desire to hear what he thinks ; for, as con- 
 cerning this sect, we know that it is everywhere spoken 
 against.' ' This sect,' — ^here is the expression which gives 
 us the clue to their present state of feeling, with regard to 
 those who professed to believe in Jesus. They regarded 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 them only as ' a sect ' of the Jews. And they do not seem 
 to have had much personal knowledge of ' this sect ' at all. 
 They speak as men who had heard more about it than they 
 had seen — who had no proof before their eyes of the corrupt 
 and dangerous teaching, as they would consider it, w^hich 
 in other places was doing so much mischief, and caused the 
 ' sect ' to be so much ' spoken against.' In other words, 
 they had evidently no knowledge of a Christian Church, 
 existing in their very midst, at Rome. There were, doubt- 
 less, believers there of a certain kmd, of the nature of 
 whose belief something shall be said presently. But, w^hat- 
 ever they believed, they had not yet broken loose from the 
 Church of their fathers, they had not yet forsaken the Jew- 
 ish faith. They had not yet separated themselves from the 
 great body of the Jews m Rome, nor formed themselves 
 into any distinct community. 
 
 Let us go on next to consider what the belief of these 
 Christians at Rome was likely to be. 
 
 There is no doubt that this Epistle was written at 
 Corinth, during St. Paul's second visit to that city, included 
 in the expression (Acts xx. 2, 3) ' he came into Greece, and 
 there abode three months.' On his first arrival in Corinth 
 (Acts xviii. 2, 3) he found there 'a certain Jew named 
 Aquila, lately come from Italy^ with his wdfe Priscilla, 
 (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart 
 from Rome,) and came unto them. And because he was of 
 the same craft, he abode mth them and wrought ; for by 
 their occupation they were tentmakers.' ' And he continued 
 there a year and six months, teaching the word of God 
 among them' (Acts xviii. 11). From the above we may 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 infer that durinc: those eic^hteen months St. Paul abode still 
 with Aquila and Priscilla ; and we find that when at last 
 'he sailed thence for Syria' (Acts xviii. 18), Priscilla and 
 Aquila went with him. 
 
 Now what is meant by the expression, 'he found a 
 certain Jew named Aquila' ? We know that at some time 
 or other, Aquila and Priscilla became eminent Christian 
 believers ; and it would be hard to suppose that St. Paul 
 could have lived so long, in such intimate connexion with 
 them, if they were rigidly fixed in the principles of Juda- 
 ism. Are we to understand, then, these words, ' a certain 
 Jew,' only to refer to Aquila's Jewish birth ? — as when. St. 
 Paul said to St. Peter (Gal. ii. 14), 'If thou, being a Jew, 
 &€.,' when yet they were both Apostles of Christ. But in 
 that case, would not St. Luke have written a ' certain 
 helieving Jew ' ? The argument, of course, is not conclu- 
 sive. But, certainly, the expression used would incline one 
 to suppose that Aquila, when St. Paul first * found him at 
 Corinth, was a Jew, indeed, still by outward act and pro- 
 fession, and as such, associating freely with his Jewish 
 brethren, but one with a strong tendency to Christianity, 
 which St. Paul himself, by his long close intercourse with 
 him, was the means under God of fostering into a down- 
 right, earnest, genuine, profession of the Christian faith. 
 Was not, in short, Aquila a specimen of the kind of Chris- 
 tianity, which at that time existed in Italy, among the 
 'brethren' at Puteoli and Rome? Were not these, in 
 point of fact, either actual born Jews, as Aquila, or Jewish 
 proselytes from among the Romans, who had received in 
 some way some knowledge of the Gospel, and had gone so • 
 
14: INTKODUCTION. 
 
 far as to recognise in the crucified Jesus the Christy the 
 Messiah, the anointed one of God, who had been so long 
 promised to the Jewish people ? Were not these * breth- 
 ren' men, who were sincere of heart, and pious and devout 
 in life, whether Jews or Roman proselytes, believing in the 
 true living God, and believing also that He had now 
 visited them according to His promise, and revealed to 
 them their King, but who had not yet abandoned by any 
 means the hope of the Jewish nation, which every Jew- 
 inherited as his birthright, and into which every proselyte 
 was baptized, — that infatuated notion of their own import- 
 ance, merely as children of Abraham and circumcised, 
 which possessed them to the last, and made them think, 
 that, amongst all their iniquities, they were the favourites 
 of God, and sure of entering into His kingdom ? Hence we 
 have John the Baptist's warning, ' Think not to say within 
 yourselves. We have Abraham to our father.'' — To them 
 'circumcision was the seal of the covenant, the charm 
 which protected them from God's wrath : ' Jowett, who also 
 quotes from Schcettgen's Hor. Hebr., Vol. i. p. 499, a remark- 
 able passage, where a Jewish Rabbi, being pressed with the 
 question, ' How could Israelitish heretics, apostates, and 
 otherwise impious persons, after being circumcised, be sent 
 to perdition ? — answers, ' God will first uncircumcise them, 
 and so they will go down to hell.' 
 
 If such a feeling possessed the hearts of the worst men 
 of the nation, who reckoned that, though their places might 
 be low in the ' kingdom,' yet their claim to it was certain, 
 for the word of God was pledged to their great forefather, 
 — and that word no wickedness of theirs could make void, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 for, whatever they might do, God would be faithful who 
 had promised — how much stronger must it have been in the 
 mind of the pious Jew. About this ' Kingdom,' doubtless, 
 Nicodemus came to inquire, though the report of the 
 conversation begins so abruptly in St. John's narrative, that 
 we scarcely see at first the reason for the form, which our 
 Lord's first words assume in it. Nicodemus, however, as a 
 devout Jew, had no doubt about the ' coming of the king- 
 dom,' in God's due time, — not that Kingdom of ' righteous- 
 ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,' which we, as 
 Christians, know to be the Kingdom of God, — but a King- 
 dom of some kind, of some unknown, unimaginable glory, 
 over all other nations upon earth, which should one day be 
 * restored to Israel.' Nicodemus also had no doubt as to 
 his own right, not merely as a true behever in God, but 
 as a true born Jew, a child of Abraham, to have a share in 
 it. "What he wanted to know was, how he might best 
 prepare himself for it, how he might best attain a worthy 
 place in that kingdom. And he probably asked a question 
 to that efi*ect. Our Lord throws him back at once in 
 His reply to the only true ground of hope. It is as if He 
 had said, (to paraphrase with reverence the sacred words,) 
 ' You are come to me very confident of your concern In 
 this Kingdom. You are sure, you think, of a place in it. 
 But why are you sure ? What ground have you for think- 
 ing that you have any place at all in it .? Do you imagine 
 that, because you are born of Abraham, your claim will be 
 allowed ? But I tell you this will avail you for nothing. 
 Your mere natural descent is no ground at all for any such 
 expectation. Yerily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man 4^ 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 be born again — be born a second time, or be born from 
 above, by a supernatural, spiritual birth, — ^lie cannot so 
 much as see the Kingdom of God.' Nicodemus, in point 
 of fact, was ah'eady thus born again, thus born from above ; 
 he had already received that second spiritual birth, though 
 he did not know it. It was the working of God's good 
 Spirit upon his heart, that had all along been leading him 
 in the way of Truth and Righteousness, and was now lead- 
 ing him to Christ. But he had never been accustomed to 
 think of this. It was a new thing to him, though a Master 
 of Israel, to be told that such work of grace as this was 
 needed for him, as it was needed for all men, if they were 
 to see the Kingdom of God. Though an * earthly thing,' a 
 thing common to men, — which we. Christians, now are 
 more or less plainly taught to recognise from the very first, 
 as the free gift of God, which alone can make ns fit for His 
 service here and His glory hereafter, — yet to Nicodemus 
 it was strange and new. He could not, at first, believe, or 
 understand, what the Master was telling him. This, then, 
 was an instance of a devout Jew, fully prepossessed with 
 the infatuation of his people, and requiring to have this 
 false ground of hope struck away from under his feet at the 
 very outset, if he would heartily embrace the faith of Jesus. 
 So too the Apostles were asking, even after the Resurrec- 
 tion, 'Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the Kingdom 
 to Israel ? ' And the whole tone of the Magnificat, Bene- 
 dictus, and Nunc Dimittis, evidences the same rooted feel- 
 ing in the minds of pious Jews, who yet were believers in 
 Christ, that His Coming was to be attended with special 
 .benefits to their nation at large, as ' God had promised to 
 
* INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 their forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever ; ' it was to 
 bring ' a light,' indeed, ' to lighten the Gentiles,' but so as 
 'to be the glory of God's people, Israel.' We have now 
 learned to give to all such passages a sf)iritual meaning, to 
 understand by 'Abraham's seed,' the children of the faith 
 of Abraham, and by ' God's people, Israel,' the body of 
 true behevers. But, certamly, this is not the way in which 
 the first Jewish believers would have interpreted such 
 words. And we have abundant proof, — in the hesitation 
 of St. Peter to baptize the first Gentile convert, — in the 
 contention which arose in consequence of his so doing, in 
 the Church at Jerusalem (Acts xi. 2), — in his subsequent 
 vacillation of conduct, for which St. Paul so severely re- 
 proved him (Gal. ii. 14, &c.), when 'the other Jews dissem^ 
 bled with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried 
 away by their dissimulation,' — in the constant endeavours 
 which were made by certain parties, who came down from 
 Jerusalem (and who must, of course, have been professed 
 believers themselves, or they could have had no influence 
 upon the disciples to whom they came), to turn away the 
 Gentile converts from the pure Gospel, as preached by St. 
 Paul, back to the servile practices of Judaism, — above all, 
 in the vigorous, determined battle, which St. Paul himself 
 was constantly waging with such teachers, as one impelled 
 to this conflict, from a deep sense of the urgent necessity 
 of the case, — in all this we have abundant proof that, for 
 many years, during the first age of Christianity, there ex- 
 isted in the minds of many, who professed to beheve in 
 Jesus, a very strong Jewish feeling — a notion that the Jew 
 had in some way a superior claim upon the gifts of God's 
 
18 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 favour ; and that, if the Gentiles were to be permitted to 
 share them, it could only be, as it were, by taking hold of 
 a man that is a Jew, and ' clinging to his skirts ' — ^by ob- 
 serving the Jewish ^aw, as the ground of their acceptance 
 with God, only adding to this the recognition of Jesus 
 Christ, as the ' Great Prophet, whom God had raised up 
 to them,' to be the channel, through whom the blessing, 
 which the Jews had a right to claim, as children of Abra- 
 ham, would be bestowed upon them first, and, through 
 them, upon those of the heathen world, who would first do 
 honour to their law, and adopt their religion. 
 
 And, what the Jews themselves held in this respect, 
 they taught, of course, to their proselytes, ' making them 
 tenfold more the children of error than themselves.' If 
 one of these had incurred the contempt or ill will of his own 
 countrymen, by adopting the religion of the Jew (and 
 many of them had undergone the right of circumcision it- 
 self), of course, he would be eager to claim his share also 
 in the honours of ' the Kingdom,' of which he was now 
 made free. Like the Jew, his teacher, he, too, would be 
 ' resting in the Law, and making his boast of God,' in his 
 own measure ; trusting, indeed, that Christ would profit 
 him in some way, but only as being already a Jew, or a 
 quasi-Jew, and not, simply, as being a man. 
 
 This was, in all probability, the state of mind of those 
 at Rome, who professed to believe in Christ at the time 
 when St. Paul wrote this Epistle. The Gospel, we may 
 believe, was first carried to Rome by some of that great 
 number, who were baptized by St. Peter at Jerusalem on 
 the day of Pentecost. We read of there being present on 
 
INTEODUCTION". 19 
 
 that occasion, ' strangers from Rome, Jews and proselytes > 
 — ^travellers, who had come to Jerusalem to keep the Fes- 
 tival, and perhaps, for other pm-poses of business or pleas- 
 ure, and meant to sojourn there for a short time only, and 
 who consisted not only of true-born ' Jews,' but of ' prose- 
 lytes ' also, who, though of Roman birth, had embraced to 
 some extent the Jewish religion, because of the pure the- 
 ism which it contained, and had connected themselves ulti- 
 mately with the true-born Israelites. We have abundant 
 evidence from profane writers that such Jews abounded at 
 this time at Rome, and that they had made many prose- 
 lytes. Surely, among the three thousand souls, who were 
 added to the Church on the day of Pentecost, it is reason- 
 able to believe that some were 'strangers from Rome.' 
 They were baptized on that day, impressed by the facts 
 which they had witnessed, and ' pricked to the heart ' by 
 St. Peter's words. These men had, doubtless, heard at 
 Jerusalem the story of Jesus of Nazareth, — how He had 
 gone about doing good, and working mighty wonders of 
 healing mercy among the people, and speaking mighty 
 words of truth and love in their hearing. They had heard 
 the story of His Death, His Resurrection and Ascension, 
 from the lips of those, who had only just before been actual 
 witnesses of those events, but who had not even themselves 
 realised the full meaning of them. They had been present 
 when the Spirit came with power on the day of Pentecost, 
 and had heard the Apostles, Galileans as they were, men 
 despised and unlearned, ' speaking with other tongues the 
 wonderful works of God.' They had listened to St. Peter's 
 address, and been convinced by it, that He, who had been 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rejected of men, was yet the chosen One of God, — that He, 
 who had been cast out as an unclean thing by the chief 
 priests and the great body of the Jewish people, was yet, 
 indeed, their Messiah, the Anointed One, the promised son 
 of David, the seed of Abraham, ' in whom all the nations 
 of the earth should be blessed.' They had never heard His 
 gracious words, nor seen His form, nor been partakers in 
 the guilt of those who had ' hid their faces from Him,' or 
 who had ' taken Him by wicked hands, and crucified, and 
 slain Him.' Hence, perhaps, they were the more ready to re- 
 ceive St. Peter's words, and to acknowledge Him, of whom 
 they heard such wonders, and of whose power they had 
 been themselves eye-witnesses in the occurrence of the day 
 of Pentecost, as the true King of the Jewish nation, their 
 Saviour and Lord. And so they 'gladly received the 
 "Word, they believed, and were baptized.' Thus they made 
 profession of their faith in Jesus. For a few days, perhaps, 
 they kept company with the Apostles, ' continuing in their 
 doctrine, and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and 
 in prayers.' But, then, when the festival was over, they 
 would return to their own homes at Home, and take with 
 them what knowledge they had gained of the Christian 
 Faith. 
 
 But what, we must again ask, was the extent of that 
 knowledge, and of their acquaintance with the principles of 
 Christianity, as St. Paul afterwards unfolded them, when 
 God Himself had ' revealed His Son in him ' ? We are so 
 apt to overlook the fact that, in those early days, the ful- 
 ness of the Truth was not developed, as in these days every 
 
INTEODUCTION. 21 
 
 Christian child possesses it, that we are ready at once to 
 connect, with their baptism and profession of Christianity, 
 all that we should understand by it, if we spoke of the bap- 
 tism of a Christian convert from heathenism, mider the 
 teaching of a missionary of our own day. ' Blessed, in- 
 deed, are the eyes which see the things which we see ! ' 
 Taught as we are by the Epistles of St. Paul, and the writ- 
 ings of St. John the Divine, we know now, and we should 
 teach our native converts to know from the very first, 
 truths, which even St. Peter for a long time did not know, 
 though enhghtened from above on the day of Pentecost. 
 Much, indeed, of his Jewish prejudices and prepossessions 
 must have been shaken on that day, but not all by any 
 means. He could still, in the true spirit of Jewish exclu- 
 siveness, seven or eight years afterwards, hesitate about 
 keeping company or eating with Cornelius and his friends, 
 as things '' common and unclean.' And after the baptism 
 of Cornehus, we are told that the Apostles and brethren 
 that were in Judaea, when they heard his story, ' held their 
 peace, and glorified God, saying. Then hath God also to the 
 Gentiles granted repentance unto life.' — It is plain that, 
 up to this time, they still clung to the notion of their supe- 
 riority as Jews and children of Abraham. And yet Corne- 
 lius was no mere heathen when St. Peter went to visit him. 
 He was ' a pious man, and one that feared God with all his 
 house,' — ^words which indicate a proselyte of the gate, one 
 who had adopted the Jewish religious faith, without con- 
 forming to its ceremonial observances, and so becoming a 
 ' proselyte of righteousness.' These ' strangers from Rome ' 
 were probably of the latter class — some of them, at all 
 events, circumcised as the Jews. 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Nor was St. Peter's conduct wholly corrected even by 
 what happened in the case of Cornelius. For, though 
 specially taught on this occasion the lesson, that he should 
 count nothing common or unclean, which God had made 
 clean, we find him, ten years afterwards, actually ' with- 
 drawing and separating himself' from the Gentile baptized 
 converts, * fearing those of the circumcision.' We cannot 
 wonder, therefore, that he did not preach to the assembled 
 multitudes, on the day of Pentecost, such a sermon, exactly, 
 as a Christian Divine of the present day might preach. He 
 spoke as a Jew to Jews, of the prophet Joel and the pa- 
 triarch David, and of the oath which God had sworn to 
 the latter, that ' of the fruit of his loins, according to the 
 flesh. He would raise up (Christ) the Messiah to sit on his 
 throne.' ' Therefore,' said he, ' let all the House of Israel 
 know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, 
 whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ — ^both King 
 and Messiah.' Such words as these, and ' many other' like 
 words, these ' strangers from Rome ' must have heard on 
 the day of Pentecost, — many other like words, because the 
 language of the Apostles, Peter and John, in the addresses 
 recorded in the third chapter of the Acts, is precisely simi- 
 lar in character. There is not a word in them all, calculat- 
 ed to shake the confidence of the Jew, as a child of Abra- 
 ham. There is much, which might be turned to a perverse 
 purpose, for building up the fond hope and the proud ex- 
 pectation of the Jewish nation. ' Moses truly said unto the 
 fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto 
 you, of your brethren, like unto me : Him shall ye hear in 
 all thuigs, whatsoever He shall say unto you.' Was not 
 
INTEODrCTION. 23 
 
 Moses their mighty leader and lawgiver and conqueror of 
 old ? How easy and natural for the heart of a pious Jew, 
 yet untaught to spiritualize the prophetic promises, to sup- 
 pose that a fresh time of glory was at hand for God's own 
 people ! ' le are the children of the prophets, and of the 
 covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto 
 Abraham, In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be 
 blessed.' What seed would that be but the Jewish nation 
 — at least, the devout, obedient part of it ? Would they 
 not even now be raised from their abject state, and become 
 as the stars of heaven for glory and multitude ? ' Unto 
 you first, God, having raised up His son, Jesus, sent Him 
 to bless you, by turning away every one of you from his 
 iniquities.' Yes, they would confess the iniquity of their 
 priests and people in times past, and specially in the bloody 
 act, with which Jerusalem was still ringing, when their 
 rulers had ' denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired 
 a murderer to be granted unto them, and had killed the 
 Prince of Life.' Yes, they would acknowledge Him as 
 Christ and King, and so await ' the times of refreshing and 
 restitution of all things, which should come from the pres- 
 ence of the Lord ' to Israel, when ' Jesus Christ, whom the 
 Heaven must now receive for a season, should come again,' 
 and set up amidst men His Kingdom upon earth, of which 
 they, the sons of Abraham, should be, if not the exclusive 
 inheritors, yet, at all events, the lords and princes. 
 
 The confession of many, perhaps of most of the earliest 
 Jewish believers, went, probably, no further than this. They 
 did not acknowledge Him, for they did not know Him 
 then, as the Eternal Son of God, the only-begotten of the 
 
24 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 Father, the Brightness of His Glory, the express iraage of 
 His Person. He was, indeed, in their eyes, the Son of 
 God, but only in that lower sense, in which they supposed 
 their Messiah would come as the Son of God. It was not 
 on this account merely, because our Saviour called Himself 
 the Son of God, that the Pharisees were offended with 
 Him ; but because they fancied that He had used those 
 words in a higher sense than they did, and seemed to make 
 Himself equal with God. They took up stones to stone 
 Him, because He said, ' I and my Father are One.' And 
 our Lord Himself, who did not at that time intend to reveal 
 the mysteries of His Divine [N'ature, which men could not 
 look upon, until their eyes should be enhghtened by the 
 Spirit of Truth, replied in such a way as to silence their ob- 
 jections, by appealing to the language used of themselves 
 in the Holy Scriptures, which surely might be used of the 
 Anomted Messenger of God. * Is it not written m your 
 Law, I said. Ye are Gods ? If he called them Gods, unto ' 
 whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be 
 broken), say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified, 
 and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, 
 I am the Son of God ? ' It cannot be believed for a moment 
 that in these words our Lord was merely evading the point 
 of their charge. Such a course would never have been 
 consistent with the character of Him, who was perfect truth 
 and sincerity. They accused Him of blasphemy, because 
 they thought He 'made Himself equal with God' by what 
 He said. If He really did do so, and did intend by His 
 words to do so, it is impossible to believe that He would 
 have replied to them in the way He did. And it is very 
 
INTEODrCTION. 25 
 
 natural that unbelievers should lay hold of this passage, as 
 it is sometimes explained, to raise from it a charge of 
 quibbling and dishonesty against Him, whose every word 
 is Truth. But there is no ground for supposing that our 
 Lord did intend by these words, ' I and my Father are One,' 
 to express that Divine Truth, which was afterwards so 
 clearly enounced by St. John, ' The "Word was with God, 
 and the Word v/as God.' He was not then speaking at all 
 of His Substantial Unity with the Father, but only pf His 
 Unity of Will and Word with Him. We see this at once, 
 if we look at the context. ' My Father, which gave them 
 me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them 
 out of my Father's Hand. I and my Father are One.' 
 (John X. 29, 30.) He had just before said, '/give unto 
 my sheep Eternal Life, and they shall never perish, neither 
 shall any man pluck them out of my Hand.' Why ? 'Be- 
 cause I am only carrying out the Will and Purpose of my 
 Father, who is above all. They are in His Hand, if they 
 are in ^nine. Because I come from Him, therefore my 
 Word is His ; I am commissioned and empowered to declare 
 His Mind and Will ; all that I say and do is in His name. 
 It is one and the same thing to say that I will keep them, 
 and to say that He will keep them. For I and my Father 
 are One, and I do always such things, and such things only, 
 as please Him, and speak such words as I have heard from 
 Him.' Our Lord seems to have intended no more than 
 this by the expression, though it sounded to the Jews as if 
 He were taking higher ground than any mere man might 
 take. They were offended that He coupled Himself, a 
 mere man as they regarded Him, in one breath with the 
 2 
 
26 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 Majesty of God. *He made Himself equal,' they said, 
 ' with God.' And yet in truth He did not, and did not in- 
 tend to do so by these words, but only to express that His 
 Mind was wholly one with the Mind of his Eternal Father, 
 who had sanctified Him, and sent Him into the world. It 
 does not appear that our Lord ever confessed His Divinity 
 on Earth, or revealed His full Name to His disciples, until 
 that last evening, when He spoke of ' the Glory, which He 
 had with His Father before the w^orld was.' Otherwise all 
 His expressions might be, and probably were, understood, 
 even by His chosen followers, as the words of a mere man, 
 a chosen Messenger of God, having something strange, no 
 doubt, and mysterious about Him, but a man still like unto 
 themselves, though one wholly intent upon fulfilling to the 
 uttermost the work of Him w^ho sent Him. They did not 
 even receive the full meaning of those deep words, which 
 He uttered in His last solemn prayer. If they had done so, 
 or believed fully in Him who spoke them, is it possible that 
 they should have turned away that very night in panic 
 terror, when they ' all forsook Him and fled ' ? It was for 
 the Spirit to take afterwards of the things of Christ and 
 reveal them to the Apostles, and through them to the 
 w^orld. 
 
 Professing then such a faith as that above described, and 
 making such an acknowledgment as this of Him, w^hom God 
 had made both Lord and Christ, v/ere those three thousand 
 baptized on the Day of Pentecost, and many others after- 
 wards. The narrative in the Acts, and the Epistles of St. 
 Paul, sufficiently show that many were admitted into the 
 Church by baptism, in those early days, who were very de- 
 
INTKODUCTION. 27 
 
 ficient in that which we should now consider an intellio;ent 
 knowledge of the Christian Faith. The best of them were 
 still devout and pious Jews in heart and practice, though 
 baptized into the name of Jesus, and recognising His Divine 
 Mission. Such, we may believe, were those, who took back 
 to Rome the first tidings of the spread of the Gospel after 
 the Day of Pentecost. They had no presbyters or deacons 
 among them, much less a bishop in the later sense of the 
 word ; for none had yet been ordained in the Christian 
 Church, even at Jerusalem. They were merely individual 
 Jews, or Roman proselytes, as Jewish as their teachers — 
 perhaps more so, if possible, from the very sacrifices they 
 had made to obtain their present standing. They had pro- 
 fessed their faith in the Crucified, as the Messiah who v/as 
 to come for the Jewish nation, and, in so doing, they had, 
 of course, passed censure on the act which had condemned 
 Him. But they saw no reason for forsaking their own body 
 at Rome, their own modes of worship, their own rulers and 
 elders. They may, perchance, have propagated to one and an- 
 other the views, which they themselves had adopted. They 
 may possibly have baptized a few in the faith, by lay-bap- 
 tism of course, as there seems to have been no pastor, and 
 no ordained minister of any kind, among them. But such 
 teaching as this could not have gone very far, and we find, 
 in fact, no sign of any distinct Church existing at Home^ 
 lohen the Apostle first came to it, more than thirty years 
 after the Day of Pentecost. ' The brethren ' were still not 
 too numerous to be able to go out and meet St. Paul upon 
 the road, without attracting special notice. They were still 
 not so separated from the great body of their fellow- 
 
28 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 countrymen at Rome, as to have excited any sinister sus- 
 picions in the minds of the ' chief of the Jews,' as to the 
 evil tendency of the views which they had embraced. They 
 were regarded still at Rome as a mere sect of the Jews, 
 and, probably, themselves had as yet no distinct idea of 
 the true doctrine of God's grace in the Gospel. The best 
 of them were what Aquila and Priscilla might have been, 
 humanly speaking, had they never met with St. Paul, or 
 what Apollos might have been, had he never been taken 
 in hand by them, and ' taught the way of God more per- 
 fectly.' 
 
 For such, probably, were Aquila and Priscilla them- 
 selves, when St. Paul found them at Corinth, fresh from 
 Italy, that is, from Rome, 'because Claudius had com- 
 manded all Jews to depart from Rome.' Knowing some- 
 thing already of the faith of Jesus, and probably, already 
 baptized into that faith, though still mixing familiarly as 
 Jews with their Jewish brethren (and, indeed, there was 
 no Christian Church at Corinth at this time), they were 
 naturally attracted to St. Paul on his arrival, and he to 
 them. Taldng up his abode with them, he would soon find 
 how imperfect their views were of the Christian Doctrine, 
 how Jewish their sentiments. But, day by day, during 
 those eighteen months, he would have opportunities of set- 
 ting forth the truth to them. And he so won their hearts 
 to the true Spirit of the Gospel, that they went with him 
 from Corinth to Ephesus, and there vrere enabled to do for 
 Apollos what St. Paul himself had done for them. 
 
 Meanwhile how natural that, during this long interval, 
 the state of things at Rome should often be the subject of 
 
INTEODrCTION. 29 
 
 discourse between tlie Apostle and his two friends ! They 
 knew all about it, and could teU'him the names of all those 
 in Rome, who like themselves, had adopted the Christian 
 faith, however imperfect might be their knowledge of the 
 truth as it is in Jesus, llow^ otherwise^ did St. Paul come 
 to know the names of so many of the residetits in Home, sl 
 city which he had never seen ? In one chapter of this 
 Epistle, writing to persons, to whom he appears to have 
 been a perfect stranger in the flesh, he sends more saluta- 
 tions than in all his other Epistles put together. May it 
 not be that the twenty-eight persons mentioned by name, 
 and the others referred to in Rom. xvi., comprise really the 
 whole register, as it were, the church-roll, of believers at 
 that time in Rome ? Writing to perfect strangers, would 
 not St. Paul's innate courtesy, as well as his great tact, lead 
 him to show an interest in each individual person, if pos- 
 sible, by sending so many salutations, winning access for his 
 words in this way to their hearts, and smoothing down any 
 little asperity of feeling, which his sharper language, in the 
 course of the Epistle, might possibly have aroused ? 
 
 Let it be observed, however, that this does not at all 
 affect the general question, to what sort of persons this 
 Epistle was written. Whether they were known to St. 
 Paul beforehand or not, whether he had heard about them 
 individually from Aquila and Priscilla or not, still it is cer- 
 tain that in this Epistle he is writing to persons, who, while 
 professing Christianity, and living faithfully according to 
 their light, are still possessed with Jewish principles and 
 prejudices, and in danger of substituting, for the Gospel of 
 Grod's grace to man, merely a new edition of Judaism. As 
 
30 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 it seems, however, highly probable that he did actually get 
 his information, about the state of things in Rome, from 
 Aquila and Priscilla, and others like them, whom he met 
 with abroad, I shall conform my language to this supposi- 
 tion. The reader, who may not feel the same strong con- 
 viction on this point, will see that it is immaterial, as re- 
 gards the interpretation of the Epistle itself. But, certainly? 
 starting with this assumption, we can account most natural- 
 ly for the Apostle writing such an Epistle, and for the tone 
 which he adopts throughout it. 
 
 We may now form a better conception of the circum- 
 stances under which St. Paul wrote this Epistle. He had 
 now arrived at Corinth for the second time. He had left 
 Aquila and Priscilla behind at Ephesus, while he himself 
 went up to Jerusalem (xviii. 21, &c.), and afterwards passed 
 through Galatia, Phrygia, &c., on his way back to Ephesus, 
 where in the interim Aquila and Priscilla had been in- 
 structing Apollos, and had sent him on to Corinth. Did 
 he find them still at Ephesus? From 1 Cor. xvi. 19 it 
 would seem that he did, and that for some part, at least, 
 of the two years (Acts xix. 10), which he spent at Ephesus, 
 they continued with him. ' After these things were ended, 
 Paul purposed in the sj^irit, when he had passed through 
 Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying. After I 
 have been there, I must also see Rome.' (Acts xix. 21.) 
 What made him jttst now think of going to Rome ? Was 
 it that he had latelT/ parted with Aquila and Priscilla, and 
 that they had gotie back to Rome, the edict of Claudius 
 being no longer in existence ? He sent Timothy and Eras- 
 
* 
 
 INTKODrCTION. 31 
 
 tus forward into Macedonia to announce his coming, and 
 ' himself stayed in Asia for a season.' Then came the up- 
 roar at Ephesus, about the goddess Diana ; after which St. 
 Paul left that city, spent some time in visiting the churches 
 of Macedonia, ' going over those parts, and giving them 
 much exhortation,' and then x;ame into Greece, and so, no 
 doubt, though it is not named in the history of the Acts, to 
 Corinth. He abode in Greece ' three months,' perhaps, 
 chiefly at Corinth, where ' Erastus, the chamberlain of the 
 city,' was with him, when he wrote to the Romans (Rom. 
 xvi. 23). And accordingly, we find that, though Erastus 
 was sent on from Asia with Timothy, he does not return 
 into Asia with him (Acts xx. 4). 
 
 Supposing now that Aquila and Prisciila remamed at 
 Ephesus with St. Paul, till the end (or nearly) of the ' two 
 years,' we shall have (allowing one or two months for the 
 'season' mentioned in Acts xix. 22, and two or three for 
 the time spent in Macedonia) an interval of some three or 
 five months — perhaps, even eight or ten — ^between his 
 parting with Aquila and Prisciila, and his being again at 
 Corinth, purposing to ' see Rome.' There was time, in 
 short, for them to have returned to Rome, where the 
 Epistle to the Romans finds them (xvi. 3), and get comfort- 
 ably settled ; and St. Paul might have distinctly on his 
 mind the conversations he had had with them, the persons 
 they and others had named to him, and the promise, which 
 he may very possibly have made to them, of coming to 
 Rome in person as God gave him opportunity. It is true 
 some time had now passed since Aquila and Prisciila them- 
 selves had left Rome originally, St. Paul had sj)ent one 
 
» - 
 
 32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 year and six months with them. Since th*en, as a little cal- 
 culation will show, probably two years and a half or three 
 years must have elapsed before St. Paul is found again at 
 Corinth. So then four or five years must have passed 
 since they left Rome, before St. Paul wrote his Epistle to 
 the Romans. It may be asked, was there no change among 
 the believers at Rome in this interval, so that those, whom 
 they left there as such, were still living there and were stiU 
 believers ? But it is not necessary to suppose this. Why 
 might not * strangers from Rome,' Jews or proselytes, come 
 to Ephesus during the two years he spent there, and have 
 been the means of acquainting the Apostle and his two 
 friends with any change of circumstances at Rome, np to 
 the time when Priscilla and Aquila set sail for Rome, iu 
 advance, we may suppose, of St. Paul himself? May they 
 not even have communicated again with the Apostle after 
 their return to Rome, as to the actual state of things in 
 that city ? Though no mention is made in this Epistle of 
 such a letter having reached him, it would be easy to ac- 
 count for this not being stated under the circumstances. 
 
 Let us suppose then the Apostle at Corinth, having 
 parted not long ago from his two friends, Aquila and 
 Priscilla, who are now again settled at Rome, and are 
 accordingly saluted by him first among those, to whom his 
 letter is addressed. He finds Phoebe, a deaconess of the 
 church at Cenchrea, one of the two ports of Corinth, about 
 to sail for Rome. And he decides to write a letter by her 
 to the believers at Rome, most of whom, indeed, were 
 unknown to him in person, but with all of whom he felt 
 himself, as it were, at home, through the reports which he 
 
LNTEODUCTION. 33 
 
 had received from Priscilla and Aquila, and, perhaps, from 
 others. At all events, he is sure that his letter will be wel- 
 comed by his two friends. They^ at least, will thoroughly 
 understand the meaning, and enter into the spirit, of it. 
 They had, doubtless, gone back to Rome charged by their 
 own enlightened consciences, as well as, possibly, by the 
 Apostle's direct injunctions — taught, certainly, by his prac- 
 tice, which they had so long witnessed so closely — ^to do their 
 own utmost to break down the Judaism of the Romish 
 believers, and spread among them right notions of the free 
 grace of God in Christ. They would find this work, of 
 course, one of extreme difficulty. They must surely have 
 attempted it, after the training they had themselves. It is 
 not impossible, as has been above suggested, that, even 
 since their return to Rome, they may have reported to the 
 Apostle such a state of feeling existing there, as to have 
 given the tone to this letter. Otherwise, St. Paul must 
 have known enough of the Jewish prejudices, which he 
 found prevailing everywhere, and which, from some source 
 or other, he had reason to believe prevailed very strongly 
 among the most pious believers at Rome, to have no doubt 
 as to the object at which he must mainly aim in writing, 
 namely, to remove, if possible, that inveterate notion of the 
 Jews' superiority and high standing in God's favour, which 
 was a worm lying at the root of all their Christian profes- 
 sion. Indeed, the delicate manner, in which, from the very 
 first, he sets himself to this work, leads strongly to the 
 behef that he had had some previous intimations of the 
 necessity for such a letter from Aquila and Priscilla, and a 
 request that he would send it. Either by a special commu- 
 3* 
 
f ' 
 
 34 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 nication from Rome itself, or else by their many previous 
 conversations with him, they must have made him strongly 
 sensible that such an effort was needed. He must have 
 had some information given him about the believers at 
 Kome, which led him to address them as he has done, 
 approaching them at first as strangers, with all possible 
 courtesy and respect, manifestly endeavouring to avoid at 
 the very outset giving them any offence, by provoking 
 their Jewish prejudices, yet afterwards, for chapter after 
 chapter, plunging into arguments, which could only be intel- 
 ligible to one of thoroughly Jewish training, whether a Jew 
 by birth or a proselyte, and reasoning at times almost in a 
 tone of severity and indignation with them. 
 
ST. PAUL'S 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE EOMAK'S. 
 
 CHAP. I. 1—7. 
 
 (1) Paul, a bondman of Jesus Christ, called to he 
 an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, (2) 
 (which He had promised before by His prophets in Holy- 
 Scriptures,) (3) concerning His Son, (who came of the 
 seed of David according to the flesh, (4) who was de- 
 fined to he the Son of God with power, according to 
 the Spirit of Holiness, in consequence of the resur- 
 rection from the dead,) Jesus Christ, our Lord, (5) 
 through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto 
 obedience of faith among all the nations, for the honour 
 of His Name, (6) among whom are ye also, called ones 
 of Jesus Christ ; (7) to all that are in Rome, beloved 
 ones of God, called to he saints, grace to you and peace 
 from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1. It must be borne in mind that St. Paul is here writing (i) to persons 
 who were strangers to himself in person, (ii) to people of the great imperial 
 city, (iii) to men, whom he believes to be imbued with very strong Jewish 
 
36 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 prejudices, (iv) to men, however, whom, as Uvmg in the very centre of the 
 Koman world, he is most anxious to conciliate by every fair means, and to 
 win their attention to his words, before he goes on to uproot some of their 
 most cherished convictions. This will account for many of the expres- 
 sions in this introductory passage, and for the general style of the whole 
 of it. 
 
 We may notice that it is somewhat long and formal — not Hke the short 
 salutations to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, to 
 whom he was pouring out the fulness of his heart, as to familiar friends 
 and loving disciples. In 2 Corinthians the address is of the same kind, 
 when he finds that they had so readily attended to his reproofs in the first. 
 But in 1 Corinthians and Galatians there is the same characteristic as 
 here, a certain stiShess and formality, which betrays that he is writmg, in 
 the case of those two Epistles, to churches which made him uneasy and 
 unhappy by their proceedings, and, in the case now before us, to a body of 
 perfect strangers, though people of special interest and importance. 
 
 2. V. 1. a bondman of Jesus Clirist. By the use of these words at the 
 very outset, he disclaims all notion of his writing to them in his own name ; 
 he disarms all hostiUty, and takes away all occasion for offence, on account 
 of his seeming to intrude himself upon persons unknown to him, and into 
 matters with which he had no concern. ' I am but a servant, or rather a 
 bondman, who must do the Master's work ; and I am doing it here, as best 
 I can, in writing this to you. This must be my apology to you, for the 
 seeming abruptness of this act of mine, in thus undertaking to address you, 
 though, most of you, perfect strangers to me in the flesh.' 
 
 Though the word ' bondman' or ' slave' sounds harsh to English ears, 
 it is desirable to retain it here and in other places, in such a translation as 
 this, in which it is sought to represent as accurately as possible, in an Eng- 
 lish version, the Greek original. 
 
 It is worth notice, perhaps, that he does not use this formula, ' bond- 
 man or slave, &c.,' in any of his salutations to the other Churches, where 
 his person was already well known, except that to the Philippians he speaks 
 of himself mid Timothy together as ' bondmen of Jesus Christ,' dropping 
 the mention of his apostleship altogether, when addressing this flock ' dearly 
 beloved and longed for,' his 'joy and crown.' So too in those addressed 
 to Timothy and Philemon. But in that to Titus he does use the double 
 formula, ' bondman of God, but apostle of Jesus Christ,' and his salutation 
 again is long and formal. Was he, in fact, well known in person to the 
 churches in Crete ? It is plain that he had visited that island, as he had 
 left Titus behind. But he left him to ' ordain elders in every city,' — as he 
 ' had appointed him.' Does not this very expression intimate that there 
 
CHAP. I. i — 7. 37 
 
 was not the same familiar personal intimacy between St. Paul and these 
 churches, as between the other churches that he had planted ? He had 
 not lived eighteen months or two years among them, as he had at Corinth 
 and Ephesus ; (Timothy was to ordain elders, but not ' in every city '). At 
 all events, we have no intimation of any protracted sojourn in Crete. And 
 the strong terms he uses in speaking of the Cretans, — quoting the proverb 
 'The Cretans are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies,' and adding for 
 himself, ' This witness is true,' — seems to imply no very close and intimate 
 relations with them. 
 
 3. V. 1. called to he an apostle. ' As a servant, I have an office and 
 charge committed to me, being called and commissioned of God, not self- 
 constituted or appointed by man, to the work of the apostleship, one part 
 of which I am now discharging towards you.' 
 
 4. V. 1, separated unto the Gospel of God. 'This is the work, the 
 one work, for which I have been separated (Acts xiii. 2, Gal. i. 15) and set 
 apart, to proclaim God's blessed message of love to the world.' 
 
 5. V. 2. toliich He had promised before., dr. This parenthetical pas- 
 sage, and the one that shortly follows, are specially intended to touch pleas- 
 antly the hearts of his Jewish readers. He is feeling his way into their 
 confidences. But we partly lose the force of the original here in the Eng- 
 lish translation. The same Greek root is found in the word for Gospel, 
 and that translated ' promised before.' Perhaps a rude notion of how it 
 reads in the Greek may be gained, by remembering that the word Gospel 
 means Good Spell^ or good tidings, and by using the word ' spell ' in the old 
 sense of ' declare or deliver tidings ' — so translating ' separated unto the 
 Gospel of God, which He had before spelled (published, intimated) in Holy 
 Scriptures.' Wishing, as has been said, to win his way softly into their con- 
 fidences, he tells them, as soon as possible, that he is not coming to do 
 away with the teaching of the Scriptures, and to overthrow the grand hope 
 of the Jewish nation. Where he can avoid it, he would not give any of- 
 fence to his Jewish readers. He will turn their very prejudices into pre- 
 possessions in favour of the truths of Christianity. The Gospel, he tells 
 them, of which he is the preacher, is no oiew thing, only the development 
 of that which Avas preached of old to their fathers, only the fulfilment and 
 realization of that which had been all along declared and promised to them. 
 
 6. v. 3. ivho came of the seed of David, d'c. So too the Son of God, 
 of whom the Gospel testifies, came, he says, of the seed of David by his 
 natural descent, and thus the ancient words of their own prophets were ful- 
 filled. 
 
 1. v. 4. defined to he the Son of God with poioer. But that vrhich de- 
 fined, determined, distinguished, marked Him. out, from all others of human 
 
38 EPISTLE TO THE EOMANS. 
 
 birth, to be the Son of God with power, was (not the resurrection itself, 
 but) that lohich followed from the resurrection^ the manifestation that was 
 made of the glory now given to Him as the Son of God, ' exalted to the 
 right hand of power,' having ' all power given to Him in heaven and earth.' 
 That consequence of the resurrection was the pouring out of the Spirit 
 upon all flesh — the sending forth His messengers unto all the ends of the 
 earth — the giving power to them to preach, and to their hearers to receive 
 their words — the giving ' grace and apostleship unto the obedience of faith 
 among all nations.' In this way was the Lord Jesus clearly ' marked out ' 
 to be the Son of God with power, in consequence of the resurrection from 
 the dead. Thus St. Peter said, ' This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof 
 we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, 
 and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath 
 shed forth this which ye now see and hear ; ' and again, ' Him hath God 
 
 exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour And we are 
 
 witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath 
 given to them that obey Him.'' In the following passage, St. Peter speaks 
 of our Lord as being ' defined ' or ' marked out ' by the Resurrection itself, 
 without referring to the consequences of it. ' Him God raised up the third 
 day, and shewed Him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses 
 chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after 
 He rose from the dead ; and He commanded us to preach unto the people, 
 and to testify that it is He which was marked out of God to be the Judge of 
 the quick and the dead.' And so also St. Paul : ' He hath appointed a day, 
 in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom 
 He has marked out, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that 
 He hath raised Him from the dead.^ Thus was He ' defined to be the Son 
 of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, (a Hebraism for the 
 Holy Spirit,) out of, in consequence of, the resurrection from the dead.' 
 
 8. V. 5. tee received grace aoid apostleship, &c. ' We (probably meant 
 for I) received /)-om God the Fathei', through the Lord Jesus, the Head of 
 the Church, hy the Holy Spirit, the dispenser of all grace or favour from 
 the Father and the Son, the grace (xii. 3) which enables for the apostleship.' 
 
 9. V. 5. unto the obedience of faith among all the nations — that so 
 there may be the ' obedience of faith ' in every nation throughout the 
 world — the obedience springing from a living trust in God's Love, the 
 obedience of the heart to the spirit of God's Law, not the slavish obedience 
 to the letter — to the honour of that Divine Name, in whose strength alone 
 such results would be obtained and such obedience rendered. 
 
 10. V. 6. called ones, beloved ones. These expressions, as well as that 
 of ' saints,' that is, holy ones, consecrated, set apart for God, are used here, 
 
CHAP. I. 8 — 12. 39 
 
 as elsewhere, to describe all Christians, as we say ' the faithful,' ' believers,' 
 &e. Chi'istians are said to be ' called, beloved, set apart for God,' though 
 they may not be walking worthily of their vocation, nor of the grace or 
 favour, whereby they have been distinguished, nor of the work which God's 
 Spirit has been working within them, to fit them for God's special service 
 here and for His brighter glory hereafter. 
 
 CHAP. I. 8—12. 
 
 (8) And, first, I thank my God througli Jesus 
 Christ on behalf of you all, because your faith is being 
 told of in all the world. (9) For God is my witness, 
 (to whom I do religious service with my spirit in the 
 Gospel of His Son), how incessantly I make mention 
 of you, (10) always at my prayers making request, if 
 may-be at last, some time or other, I may be conducted 
 prosperously, through the will of God, to come to you. 
 
 (11) For I long to see you, that so I may impart to 
 you some spiritual gift, to your being established — 
 
 (12) that is, to my being comforted together among 
 you, by the mutual faith both of you and me. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 11. V. 8. through Jems Christ. All the Apostle's communion with 
 God is through his Lord. 
 
 12. V. 8. in all the world. This, of course, is hyperbolical language. 
 He means that he had heard of them in various places, far away from 
 Rome, at Corinth certainly, and, probably, at Ephesus, and elsewhere. 
 
 13. V. 9. do religious service. The English word ' serve ' does not here 
 give the full force of the original Greek, which is exclusively applied in the 
 New Testament to the performance of religious service, particularly to the 
 worship of God in the Temple, or even to the worship going on in heathen 
 temples. St. Paul seems to imply that, though not a priest, employed to 
 minister in the temple service, with outward forms and ceremonies, at 
 stated times, he was yet employed in a religious service, which was inward 
 and spiritual, and going on at all times, ' incessantly,' as he says, in the 
 secret utterances of the heart, as well as in his set times of prayer. In 
 such a service, with his spirit, he was continually offering up prayers, such 
 
40 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 as not himself only, but all Christians, the whole ' spiritual priesthood,' 
 had the duty and privilege of offering. 
 
 14, V. 11. some spiritual gift ; that is, not any extraordinary miracu- 
 lores gift, but such consolation and spiritual support and blessing, as he 
 might be the means of imparting, by having personal intercourse and con- 
 versation with them, and opportunities of setting forth to them more fully 
 the living truths of God's Love in the Gospel, 
 
 15. V, 12, that is, to my being comforted together among you. Here, 
 with a delicacy characteristic of St. Paul, and especially suited to the pres- 
 ent circumstances of his writing, lest he, a mere stranger in the flesh to 
 them, should seem to be arrogating too much to himself, in speaking of 
 coming to ' establish ' them, he changes the form of expression, and speaks 
 of the mutual blessing, which they Avould receive from one another. 
 
 CHAP. I. 13-17. 
 
 (13) But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, 
 that I often purposed to come to you, and was hindered 
 hitherto, that so I may have some fruit among you, as 
 also among the other nations. (14) Both to Greeks 
 and Barbarians, both to wise and simple, I am debtor. 
 (15) So my part is ready to preach the Gospel to you 
 which are in Eome also. (16) For I am not ashamed 
 of the Gospel of Christ ; for the power of God it is 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth, both to Jew 
 first and Greek. (17) For the righteousness of God is 
 being revealed in it, (a righteousness) from faith unto 
 faith, as it is written, ^ The righteous shall live out of 
 faith.' 
 
 NOTES, 
 
 IG, V. 13, loften-pmyosed . . . and was hindered. St. Paul wishes 
 them to know these two facts, both that he often purposed, and that he 
 was hindered, did not change or drop liis purpose, 
 
 lY. V, 13. til at so I may have some fruit also among you, — not 'that 
 I might,'' but ' that I may ' have fruit among you, not at some one time, or 
 at particular times, but permanently, at all times, as the abiding result of 
 my labours. 
 
CHAP. I. 13—17. 41 
 
 18. V. 14. Greeks and Barbarians. As the Jews divided the whole 
 human race into two classes, Jews and Gentiles, which last word was equiv- 
 alent to foreigners, men of the nations (Zulu, abaniu bezizice), so the Greeks 
 summed up all mankind as either Greeks or Barbarians, including in the 
 former their Roman masters in the time of the Apostle. Or, rather, the 
 Romans now used these distinctions, it being their custom to send their 
 sons to Athens to finish their education by learning Greek as an accom- 
 plishment, and studying the Greek philosophy. Hence the expression 
 ' Greeks and Barbarians ' is nearly equivalent to ' learned and unlearned,' 
 intellectual and unintellectual, or, as St. Paul says, ' vrise and simple.' 
 
 19. V. 14. / ajn debtor. I am bound by my duty, as a servant and 
 an apostle, to minister to all. I owe it to them all to do so. My now 
 writing to you is no act of officious intrusiveness on my part ; it is but the 
 discharge in some measure of a debt which I owe to you. 
 
 20. V. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. The con- 
 nexion of the Apostle's thoughts seems to be this. ' Having a duty to dis- 
 charge, I am ready for my part to preach the Gospel at Rome also — yes, 
 in the midst of the great Imperial City — amidst the majesty of the Senate, 
 the wisdom of the Schools, the glory of the Empire. For I am not ashamed 
 of the Gospel of Christ, Even there at Rome also, among the high and 
 mighty, the wise and prudent, — as well as in other places of commoner 
 name, — it will be found, now, as always, the ' power of God unto salvation ' 
 to every one that believeth.' 
 
 21. V. 16. the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 
 These words are the very key-ioords of the whole Epistle. St. Paul is 
 gradually, in the most wise and least offensive manner, bringing forward 
 the three points, which he means to press hereafter with all his might, 
 breaking utterly down thereby the three great Jewish prejudices. These 
 points are as follows : 
 
 (i) that salvation is wholly of God^ wrought by His Power, bestowed 
 by His Love, of His own free grace in the Gospel, and therefore to be 
 meekly and thankfully received as His gift, not arrogantly claimed as a 
 matter of right ; 
 
 (ii) that it is meant for Jew and Gentile alike, for all that believe, with- 
 out any special favour or distinction ; 
 
 (iii) that it is to be received by faith alone, by ' all that believe,'' by 
 simply taking God at His word and trusting in His Love, not to be sought 
 by a round of ceremonial observances, or a<3ts of legal obedience. 
 
 The Apostle is referring here, but only just referring by a hint, as it 
 were, — glancing at them for a moment and passing on— but so foreshadow- 
 ing what will be the real substance of his Epistle — to the three great pre- 
 
42 EPISTLE TO THE EOMANS. 
 
 possessing errors of the Jewish mind, which, lying deep in every Jew's 
 heart, though perhaps lying dormant for a time, as in the case of Nicode- 
 mus and St. Peter, till circumstances called them into activity, entirely pre- 
 vented their making progress in the real spirit of the Gospel, and, if allow- 
 ed to remain, would make their profession of Christianity only differ by a 
 shade from that of the most exclusive Judaism, and efiectually shut out 
 the great body of the heathen population of the City from any connexion 
 with it. 
 
 These three errors have been already touched upon. But, as it is im- 
 portant, in order to get a clear insight into the Apostle's argument, that 
 they should be distinctly noted, it may be well to restate them, and the 
 corrections which the Apostle applies to them. 
 
 {[) The Jew said, ' I am a favoured creature — a child of Abraham, and 
 therefore a child of God, and an heir of His Kingdom, whatever my life 
 may be. What have / to do with a message of salvation ? Perhaps, for 
 the heathen it may be needed. But the Kingdom of God is mine, by vir- 
 tue of the promise made to my great forefather. I have a right to enter 
 it. I claim it as mine.' 
 
 This error St. Paul must correct by showing that he had no such right, 
 that he, the Jew, needed the free gift oi Righteousness^ as well as all others 
 of the human race — that he too was ' concluded under sin ' like others, 
 and had no claim whatever, because of God's promises to Abraham, to en- 
 ter the Kingdom as a matter of right. He had, in fact, wholly mistaken 
 the nature of those promises. They were never meant to give such immu- 
 nities and privileges to the mere natural descendants of Abraham. The 
 Jew must be made to feel his need, as well as every other human being, 
 of a Gospel, a glad life-giving message, which should be the ' Power of God 
 unto Salvation ' to himself as well as to others. 
 
 (ii) But the Jew might say, ' Suppose that I admit this, yet, at all events, 
 the Messiah is to come specially for us. He is to be the carrying out and 
 realization of those promises to our forefathers, which made us the favoured 
 people above others. You do not surely mean to say that we, Jews, the 
 children of Abraham, the chosen family of God, are to be put on an equality 
 with the common Gentile in this respect ? ' 
 
 ' Yes ! ' St. Paul would say, ' you are to be put on a perfect equality 
 with the meanest Gentile. You will stand no better than they in this re- 
 spect — not a whit more safe from God's wrath — not a whit more sure of 
 entering the Kingdom. No difference whatever will be made between Jew 
 and Gentile, in the day when God shall judge the secret thoughts and do- 
 ings of men. No special favour will be shewn to you as a Jew, to screen 
 you from the just consequences of your doings. A righteous judgment 
 
CHAP, I. 13— IT. 43 
 
 will be dealt out to all — a judgment tempered with mercy — by Him, who 
 knows the hearts and lives of all. Only from those who, like you, have 
 received more than others, will the more be required. You must realize, 
 in short, what is meant when it is said that the Gospel is the ' Power of 
 God unto Salvation unto every 07ie that believeth,' Jew and Gentile alike. 
 
 (iii) Still, however, the Jev/ might persevere and say : ' But surely our 
 Law is not to be done away with. At all ovents, the Gentiles, if they are 
 to partake of the Gospel, and even to be admitted to share on equal terms 
 with us, must conform to our religion, and practise those observances, 
 which have come down to us through fifteen hundred years on the authority 
 of Moses, with the Divine Seal upon them. They must submit to be cir- 
 cumcised, as we are ; they must recognise our Priesthood and Temple Wor- 
 ship, and practise our solemn rites and ceremonies.' 
 
 ' No ! ' says the Apostle again, ' Faith, simple faith, a true, living, child- 
 like faith and trust, that worketh by love, this is all that God seeks of all — 
 no circumcision — no Jewish practices or peculiarities. The formal observ- 
 ances, enjoined in the Law of Moses, were intended for a season only, till 
 He should come, to whom the Law v/as pointing all along. These are all 
 now done away in Christ Jesus. ' The Gospel is the power of God unto 
 salvation to every one that believeth.^ 
 
 We shall have occasion to refer again to these three points. For the 
 present, as has been said, the Apostle does but just hint at them, and pass 
 on, intending presently to return deliberately, and unfold the full meaning 
 of his words. He wishes to break the matter deliberately, as it were, to 
 his readers — not to alarm their prejudices, before he has got his hold fairly 
 upon them, and fixed their attention upon the subject he has in hand. Nev- 
 ertheless, in point of fact, his words in this single verse (v. 16) do contain 
 a distinct contradiction to these three extravagant assumptions, on which 
 the opposition of the Jewish mind to the Gospel was based. We may take, 
 in short, this verse as the 7notto so to speak, to be set at the head of the 
 Epistle, announcing the thesis which he intends to maintain in it ; though, 
 as we shall presently see, he sums up the essence of the Gospel in a yet 
 shorter formula, ' From faith to faith.' 
 
 22. V. 16. to the Jew first, and also to the GreeTc. Just before, when 
 thinking of Imperial Rome and its grandeur, and of the high spirit, which, 
 perhaps, he might find in some of those to whom he is writing, as citizens 
 of the world's metropolis, he speaks of 'Greeks and Barbarians' — he uses 
 the Roman phrase for smnming up all mankind. Now that he is coming 
 to the religious question, well knowing that any believers in Christianity, 
 whom he might find at Rome, either would be Jews by birth, or, if heathen 
 by birth, would yet be thoroughly imbued by education, as proselytes, with 
 
44: EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 Jewish notions, St. Paul uses the Jewish formula, and speaks of Jew and 
 Greek, the last being another word for Gentile, because Greek was the com- 
 mon language in those days, spoken by all the nations of the Mediterra- 
 nean in Europe, Asia, and Africa, with whom the Jews came in contact as 
 
 traders. 
 
 23. V. 11. the righteousness of God^ that is, the righteousness, or state 
 of righteousness, which God gives graciously to man, as He gave to Abra- 
 ham, when He called him righteous, who in himself was imrighteous, when 
 He ' counted his faith to him for righteousness.' Let this be distinctly 
 noted that, throughout this Epistle, the righteousness of God, or God's 
 righteousness, means God's gift of righteousness— not God's own personal 
 inherent righteousness or justice, not GocVs way of justifying sinners, of 
 making them righteous, of giving them righteousness (which is by giving 
 it to them in His Son), but the very righteousness itself— which God gives 
 to men, so that by His free grace they stand before Him accepted and be- 
 loved, — Go(rs righteousness, in short, opposed to Man^s righteousness, to 
 that which a man may fancy he can claim or work out for himself. The 
 Jews prided themselves on haAing a righteousness of their own, a kind of 
 special virtue, which gave them a claim to be considered the * righteous 
 people ' of the earth, and in the strength of which they might stand boldly 
 before God. That righteousness, according to their notion, they had partly 
 inherited by their descent from ' righteous Abraham,' partly wrought out, 
 or, at any rate, made sure for themselves, by conforming to the rite of cir- 
 cumcision and by their other ceremonial observances. And St. Paul had 
 once been as confident as any of them as to the w^orth of this righteousness, 
 and had reason to be so. ' If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof 
 he might trust in the flesh, I more ; circumcised the eighth day, of the stock 
 of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; ' ' having 
 profited in the Jews' rehgion above many mine equals in mine own nation, 
 being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of our fathers.' In short, 
 ' as touching the righteousness which is in the law,' he was ' blameless,' 
 Such righteousness as this, Man's righteousness, he had in perfection, if this 
 could have served to give him righteousness before God. ' But what things 
 w^ere gain to me,' he says, ' those I counted loss for Christ, for whom I have 
 suffered the loss of all things,' of such righteousness as this among the rest, 
 ' and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, 
 not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Laiu, but that which is 
 through the faith of Christ, the righteousness tchich is of God hy faith.'' 
 
 This then is ' God's righteousness,' ' the righteousness of God,' of which 
 so much is said in this Epistle, that which God gives us graciously to pos- 
 sess before Him, if we will meekly receive it at our Father's hands, as His 
 
CHAP. I. 13— IT. 45 
 
 own gift, and not claim it as our right, by any merit- of birth, or any desert 
 of works. This ' righteousness of God,' thus thankfully received, as His 
 own free gift, we may then call ' our righteousness ; ' we may humbly and 
 joyfully say, we have righteousness, we are righteous, before Him. It is 
 the righteousness which He gives us, though in ourselves unrighteous, be- 
 cause He looks upon us in His Son. In virtue of this we stand before Him 
 as His children, accepted in the Beloved. The glad tidings of the Gospel 
 are these, that, though we neither have, nor can have, any righteousness 
 of our own procuring, which we can dare to rest in, yet has God provided 
 a righteousness for us, in which we may appear before Him. We must 
 'submit ourselves to God's righteousness,' instead of 'seeking to establish 
 our own righteousness.' "We must cast down before Him every proud, self- 
 righteous thought and imagination ; and, trembling with thankfulness, re- 
 ceive that righteousness, which He, of His ovm abounding grace, so freely 
 gives us. So shall we be dealt with as righteous creatures, being counted 
 righteous by Him, as Abraham was, because vre meekly trust in Him — our 
 faith being reckoned to us for righteousness, for His own Loving Mercy's 
 sake, declared to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. 
 
 24. V. 17. 18 being revealed in it. This 'righteousness of God,' — this 
 righteousness which comes from God, — which is the free gift of God — which 
 (as he will presently say) God has given to the whole human race, before 
 and after the coming of Christ, — is being ' revealed,' he says, that is, un- 
 veiled, in the Gospel. It is there already, in the mind of our Faithful 
 Creator, in tlie heart of our Loving Father. The whole human race was 
 redeemed from the curse of the Fall, in the counsels of Almighty Wisdom, 
 from all eternity — the Lamb was slain ' from before the foundation of the 
 world.' Adam and Xoah and Abraham and David, yes, the whole family 
 of man, in the ages gone by, 'good or evil,' 'just or unjust,' (in the ordi- 
 nary sense of the words, though all were unjust in themselves before the 
 eyes of the Most Holy,) were yet 'justified,' made just or righteous, dealt 
 with as children, before any clear revelation was made of the way in which 
 that righteousness v;as given to them. The tokens of God's favour have 
 been shed abroad on the human race from the first. He ' gave them rain 
 from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and glad- 
 ness.' He wrought by His Spirit on theirs, teaching men everywhere to 
 ' feel after Him, if haply they might find Him, in whom they lived and 
 moved and had their being, who was not far from any one of them.' But 
 now in the Gospel is being revealed the secret of all this. There we are 
 taught how^ God loved us in His Son, in whose image we are all made, who 
 came in due time, as His Fathei-'s Wisdom willed it, to take our likeness, 
 and bear away the sins of the world. 
 
46 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 25. V. \^ . from faith unto faUh, The usual explanation of this exjjres- 
 sion is ' from one degree of faith to another.' The Apostle is understood 
 to say that our convictions will be deepened from day to day upon the sub- 
 ject ; we shall see more and more clearly, as we grow in grace, the revela- 
 tion of ' God's righteousness' in the Gospel. This interpretation might be 
 acquiesced in but for the very remarkable passage which occurs in iii. 21, 
 22, and which appears to be almost, in v/ords, a resumption and expansion 
 of the identical language of this verse, at the end of the intervening passage 
 (i. 18 — iii, 20), which has the appearance of a long digression, though it is 
 not so in reality, as we shall presently see. On comparing the tv,o passages 
 (i. 17 and iii. 21, 22) the resemblance will be observed, even in the English 
 version, and still more distinctly in the original Greek. And it will be seen 
 that, in these latter two verses, the Apostle takes up again the thread of his 
 argument in i. 1 7, which he has let go for a while, for a reason which will 
 presently be stated. Comparing then the two passages, and using the ex- 
 panded form of expression in iii. 21, 22, to help us in explaining the more 
 condensed language in i. 17, we infer that, in the words ' to faith,' the ab- 
 stract ' faith ' is put for the concrete ' those that believe,' just as in chap. 
 ii. the words ' circumcision ' and ' uncircumcision ' are used for the ' cir- 
 cumcised ' and ' uncircumcised.' And thus St. Paul's meaning in tliis verse 
 will appear to be this : ' For in it the righteousness of God is being re- 
 vealed, (a righteousness arising) yrowi, or out of, faith, (a righteousness ex- 
 tending) 2(7ito faith, that is, unto all them that believe.' So Conybeare 
 translates : ' a righteousness which springs from faith, and which faith re- 
 ceives.' 
 
 Let us compare now the words of iii. 21, 22, where this same formula 
 is resumed. ' But nov/, apart from law, [of which he had been speaking 
 in the digression] the righteousness of God has been manifested, (though 
 being witnessed of by the law and the prophets,) but the righteousness of 
 God, through faith in Jesus Christ ( = from faith), unto all and upon all 
 them that believe ( = unto faith).' 
 
 In fact this verse, i. 17, is but a repetition in another form of the 
 words just preceding, another summary of the whole subject which occu- 
 pies his thoughts, and about which he means to write at full length, an- 
 other way of stating the three Christian principles, which combat the three 
 Jewish prejudices. Three times does the Apostle enunciate this summary, 
 seeking to win access for it more and more, to drive it, as it were, into the 
 hearts and minds of his readers. 
 
 26. V. 17. the righteous shall live out of faith. The Apostle merely 
 quotes these words of the Prophet Habakkuk, as illustrating the position 
 he had taken. 
 
CHAP. I. 18—23. 47 
 
 It is impossible not to notice the rhetorical ingenuity of his proceeding, 
 how gradually and insensibly he leads on his Jewish readers, repeating 
 twice the summary of the doctrine he wished to teach them, in different 
 terms, so as to set it plainly before their eyes, but then passing on, before 
 they can see all at once the full depth of its meaning, and meanwhile, in 
 case any suspicious misgiving had begun to cross their minds, reassuring 
 them by reminding them, how their own prophet Habakkuk wrote of old, 
 ' The righteous man shall live out of, in consequence of, by reason of, 
 faith.' Thus for the present they will be quieted with perceiving that, 
 after all, what he had announced to them was only in accordance with what 
 Habakkuk had taught. St. Paul, it is true, has gone further than the 
 prophet in his statement. They will have, perhaps, a confused sense of 
 this. They will feel that something more lies in his words than they had 
 as yet distinctly realized. But they will be so far soothed that they will 
 listen to him further, as with wonderful wisdom he leads them on after 
 him to the admission of the first point, which he seeks to establish in their 
 minds, namely, the conviction of sin, the sense of their needing (as well as 
 the ' sinners of the Gentiles') ' the righteousness of God ' which is ' revealed 
 in the Gospel.' 
 
 CHAP. I. 18—23. 
 
 (18) For the wrath, of God from heaven is being 
 revealed, upon every kind of impiety and iniquity of 
 men, such as keep back the truth through iniquity. 
 
 (19) Inasmuch as that which is knowable of God is 
 manifest among them ; for God manifested it to them. 
 
 (20) For His invisible things, from the creation of the 
 world, being understood by his works, are being clearly 
 seen, to wit. His Eternal Power and Deity, so that they 
 are without excuse. (21) Inasmuch a.s, knov/ing God, 
 they glorified Him not as God, nor gave thanks, but 
 became silly in their reasonings, and their heart, want- 
 ing sense, became darkened. (22) Professing to be 
 wise, they became fools ; (23) and changed the glory 
 of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image 
 of corruptible man, and flying, and four-footed, and 
 creeping, things. 
 
48 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 NOTES. # 
 
 27. V. 18. the wrath of God is being revealed. The Apostle enters 
 now on his delicate task. The pious Jew at Rome, or Jewish proselyte, 
 like Nicodemus of old, had no idea that he too, like any poor ' sinner of 
 the Gentiles,' was by his natural birth under the curse, and needed God's 
 forgiveness, God's righteousness. He must be brought to feel and acknowl- 
 edge this, in the first place, or there will be no room for the Gospel of 
 God's Love to enter in and possess his whole heart and being. How shall 
 St. Paul draw him gently on to see and feel and confess this? He begins 
 by announcing that God's universal dealings with mankind, and the secret 
 voice of conscience, are ever testifying that there is a ' wrath of God,' as 
 well as a ' righteousness of God,' — a wrath of God for all wilful sin^ whether 
 of Jew or Gentile. Such wrath is being daily and hourly revealed in one 
 way or other, in the outward occurrences of life, in the inward utterances 
 of man's spirit. There need be no doubt about it ; this is being made plain 
 to all, this is being revealed by tokens innumerable, that there is a Divine 
 displeasure for all acts whatever, by w^homsoever committed, of known wil- 
 ful sin, for every kind of impiety and iniquity of inen^ who Iceep back the 
 truth through iniquity^ for all sin, v/hich they commit with their eyes open 
 to the evil of it. 
 
 Then, having thus made a general statement, which really involves the 
 Jew as well as the Gentile, St. Paul does not apply it immediately to the 
 former; but he takes his Jewish reader by guile, turns off his attention, as 
 it were, for a while from what he is doing, and adroitly first carries him 
 away with him to condemn the heathen sinning against light, which the 
 Jew will very readily join him in doing. The Apostle's words glow, his 
 heart swells, as he goes on. It seems as if he could not find language dis- 
 tinct and strong enough to bring the heathen under condemnation a^ sin- 
 ners. Yet still it will be seen that he keeps the same point steadily before 
 him throughout, before his own eyes and those of his readers, this, namely, 
 that God's wrath is being revealed upon those who know what is right, yet, 
 against their better light and knowledge, willingly and wilfully do what is 
 wrong. Thus he speaks of those who 'keep back the truth through 
 iniquity,' — who ' knov.'ing God,' in some measure, yet ' do not glorify Him 
 as God, nor are thankful,' — who deliberately ' change the truth of God,' of 
 which their consciences tell them more or less clearly, ' into falsehood,' — 
 who ' do not distinguish to retain God in knowledge,' — who, in short, 
 'know the righteous judgment of God, that those, who do such things, are 
 worthy of death, yet both do them themselves, and encourage others to do 
 them.' All these expressions are manifestly intended to include Jews as 
 well as Gentiles, and, indeed, are framed with express reference to the for- 
 
CHAP. I. 18—23. 49 
 
 mer, though the Apostle does not yet unmask, as it were, his design, and 
 his words seem to be bearing only upon the heathen world. 
 
 Thus far, doubtless, while condemning such sinners against their better 
 light and knowledge among the heathen, he will have carried his Jewish 
 reader along with him, borne away, as it were, unresisting, by the power 
 of the truth, in the strong current of his vehement words. Then suddenly, 
 with admirable abruptness, he stops short, brings up the Jew in a moment, 
 turns round upon him, and asks, ' Well ! and you, who are able to join so 
 readily in passing judgment upon these, you, who know that such acts in a 
 heathen are wrong, — I ask you, are they not wrong in a Jew also ? Is it 
 conceivable that God's wrath is being revealed for them only, and not much 
 more for Jews, who, having more light than others, yet sin as they do ? 
 Can you imagine that there is any thing merely in a man's being a Jew, 
 circumcised, a child of Abraham, that will screen him from the righteous 
 judgment of God, if he does such things? ' Of course, if he can bring them 
 to see and admit that in any one single case, even of a wicked and profli- 
 gate Jew, his supposed immunity from God's wrath cannot possibly be 
 maintained, he will have introduced, as it were, the thin end of the wedge, 
 and presently may push on his advantage to overthrow the whole structure 
 of Judaism. 
 
 28. V. 18. from lieaven. The Greek leaves it doubtful whether it 
 should be rendered ' revealed from heaven,' or, ' the wrath of God from 
 heaven.' The latter seems preferable : but this is immaterial to the gen- 
 eral sense of the whole passage. 
 
 29. V. 18. is being revealed, not is revealed. It is being daily, hourly, 
 constantly revealed, by the dealings of God with men, and especially by the 
 secret witnessings of our own hearts. All men everywhere know in them- 
 selves that there is a Divine displeasure threatening those, who do what 
 they knoio to he wrong, who ' keep back,' hold down, restrain, suppress, 
 ' the truth through or in iniquity.' 
 
 80. V. 18. all or every hind of impiety or iniquity. This expression 
 is meant by St. Paul (though his Jewish reader may not immediately per- 
 ceive it) to include such acts both of Jew and Gentile. And, accordingly 
 in ii. 9 he resumes, as it were, the statement in this verse, and expands 
 these very words by saying (instead of ' wrath upon every kind of impiety 
 or iniquity') 'indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every 
 soul of man that worketh out evil, of the Jew first, and also of the (Greek) 
 Gentile.' 
 
 31. V. 18. impiety or ungodliness, sin more directly against God; 
 iniquity or unrighteousness, sin in our relations with men. 
 
 32. V. 18. keep or hold back, not merely hold, as in the English ver- 
 
 3 
 
50 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 sion. This is the point on which he is insisting throughout the whole chap- 
 ter, that men's consciences, as well as God's universal dealings with men, 
 are revealing to them plainly enough the fact, that there is wrath, the 
 wrath of God from His Holy Place, pronounced upon all wilful sin. But 
 let it be observed that, in all which follows, St. Paul is not speaking of the 
 certainty, that such wrath will be carried out into execution upon men — 
 the heathen or others. All, that he is here aiming at, is to awaken in his 
 readers the solemn conviction, that all acts of known and allowed sin must 
 of themselves incur the displeasure of a Holy God, by whomsoever commit- 
 ted, and to arouse them to consider that all men, who have so sinned con- 
 sciously, must necessarily have within them, in proportion to the strength 
 of such consciousness, a secret misgiving and dread of God's wrath, the 
 sense of sin which makes the sting of death, unless they hear of God's gra- 
 cious, forgiving Love in the Gospel. Some, like young children, may 
 have, indeed, very little of such consciousness — babes, for instance, none at 
 all ; the heathen may have more or less of it, according to circumstances. 
 The Jew, devout and humble-minded, not possessed with the fond conceit 
 of his own self-righteousness, would have a deep sense of the evil of sin, 
 and be ready at times to pray with David, ' Lord, rebuke me not in Thy 
 wrath, neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.' The Christian, who 
 has had ' shed abroad in his heart the Love of God by the Holy Ghost 
 which is given to us,' will feel more than any other the ' exceeding sinful- 
 ness of sin,' not the sin of infirmity and ignorance, but sin allowed and in- 
 dulged, against the voice of conscience and the known will of his Lord. 
 He will know that such sin is hateful and horrible, — that there must be 
 'wrath' upon it from the Holy and Blessed One. Thanks be unto God ! 
 one Love embraces all. Already, side by side with this revelation of God's 
 wrath for wilful sin in the heart of man, there is a revelation of His Mercy 
 — a secret sense that there is forgiveness with our Father in Heaven, in 
 some way or other, possible or actual. The Jews, before the coming of 
 Christ, had their system of sacrifices given them, to remind and assure 
 them of this. The heathen had their various modes of quietmg their hearts, 
 with what served to them as a pledge of Divine Forgiveness. But all men, 
 everywhere, have had all along, and still have, a belief in such Divine For- 
 giveness, as well as in such Divine "Wrath upon wilful sin ; they have a 
 feeling that it must exist, it must somehow be provided for them. Nay, 
 coupled with the very sense of sin, there is a dim sense of a righteousness 
 which they already possess. In the very midst of their perverseness, they 
 are conscious still that they are not dealt with as accursed creatures^ — that, 
 however He may see good to chasten and correct them, a Faithful Creator, 
 a Merciful Father, is still pouring out His benefits upon them, ' making His 
 
CHAP. I. 18—23. 51 
 
 sun to rise on the evil and on the good, sending His rain on the just and 
 on the unjust.' In the Gospel is explained the secret of this. For therein 
 is revealed the righteousness which God gives us, — which He gives to all, 
 the evil and the good, the just and the unjust alike, that we may be regard- 
 ed as children before Him — undutiful and disobedient children, it may be, 
 — self-willed and prodigal, — but children still, and to be dealt with as chil- 
 dren, even when He visits us with His displeasure — children who have been 
 called to inherit a blessing, and are not lying under a curse. 
 
 33. V. 19. that lohich is knoivable, that which may be attained by hu- 
 man faculties, enlightened by the Divine Spirit, without special revelation. 
 
 34. V. 19. manifested, not hath manifested, as if some full complete 
 work of manifestation had been wrought among them. The tense used in 
 the Greek is the aorist, and it implies ' God has manifested it from time to 
 time, still manifests, and will manifest.' In fact, the Greek aorist can often 
 be expressed best by one of the forms of the English present, ' God mani- 
 fests it,' which English expression does not point to any one particular 
 time, past, present, or to come, or to any continually progressing manifes- 
 tation, but implies the frequently recurring acts in all time by which God 
 manifests His Glory to men. 
 
 35. V. 20. His invisible things, d'c. As St. Paul has said elsewhere, 
 though we cannot see God with our bodily eyes, yet has He so made us 
 that we may ' feel after Him and find Him,' and see His Glory and Beauty 
 with our spiritual eyes ; ' for He is not far from any one of us.' 
 
 36. V. 20. they are tvithout excuse. The recognition of the Eternal 
 Power and Deity of our glorious Maker involves, as a natural and necessary 
 consequence, the duty of fearing, loving, trusting, and obeying Hira, in 
 proportion to the Light He gives us. 
 
 But who are 'without excuse'? St. Paul cannot mean here to say that 
 every individual heathen was without excuse, any more than afterwards he 
 means to say that every individual heathen was ' given over to a reprobate 
 mind,' so as to do all manner of abominable wickedness. Of course, there 
 wfere infants and young children, at all events, of whom this could not be 
 said. There were others also, the wise and good of ancient Greece and 
 Eome, and, doubtless, of every nation under heaven, civilised or barbarian, 
 who did, as St. Paul says himself presently (ii. 10), 'work that which was 
 good,' according to the light and strength vouchsafed to them. There were 
 those, in fact, who did discern something of the Divine Glory from the 
 works of God, and were thankful. ' This I esteem real piety,' wrote the 
 heathen Galen, 'not that I should sacrifice thousands and thousands of 
 hecatombs of His bulls, and offer up cassia and ten thousand other odours 
 as incense ; but, first, that I should myself understand Him, and then ex- 
 
52 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 plain to others what He is, as to Wisdom, as to Power, and as to Benignity. 
 To will to adorn this whole world, and to leave nothing destitute of His 
 Goodness, I lay down as a proof of perfect Benignity, and therefore He is 
 to be praised by us as Good. But to discover how this may be best 
 adorned, is the height of Wisdom. And to effect whatever He hath 
 chosen, is evidence of irresistible Power.' De Natura, ii, 60. Such words 
 alone are enough to show that St. Paul must be understood as speaking of 
 heathens generally, not individually, even as David in the Psalm, which is 
 quoted in iii. 10 — 18, is speaking of the general depravity of the people in 
 his time, not of each individual among them, child or adult, when he says, 
 ' There is not one righteous, no, not one .... The poison of asps is under 
 their lips : their feet are swift to shed blood.' 
 
 The Apostle's saying they are ' without excuse,' however, is not the 
 6ame as saying that the ' wrath of God ' will come down upon them to the 
 uttermost (as some seem to think). We, Christians, are ' without excuse "* 
 for sins which we daily commit ; we too are ' under sentence to God,' for 
 such things; but we trust to be forgiven, we trust that we are forgiven, 
 and are still able to appear as ' righteous ' creatures before Him, notwith- 
 standing all our faults, because He looks upon us in His Son, in whom He 
 has loved the world. And we believe that our King and Lord, the right- 
 eous Judge, will deal mercifully as well as justly with us in that day. So 
 too, we may be sure, will He deal with the heathen. Probably their worst 
 sins of murder and uncleanness are not more essentially abominable in 
 God's sight than the slanderous talk, and malicious acts, and dishonest 
 practices, and self-indulgent, selfish lives, of many Christians, whom He 
 alone can judge, who knows the secrets of all hearts, and the share of His 
 goods committed unto each — and not we. Let it be then distinctly noted 
 that what the Apostle is here driving at is not to announce that all the 
 heathen world without exception are without excuse, and shall be doomed 
 to eternal perdition. But he says that all such among the heathen, as 
 shut their eyes wilfully or heedlessly to the Light, which they have vouch- 
 safed to them, and, having powers and faculties for discerning some 
 measure of the truth, neglect or refuse to use it, but ' keep back the truth 
 through iniquity,' — {all heathens do not this, as heathen children, and 
 doubtless a multitude of simple souls beside them,) — are ' without excuse,' 
 and fall directly under the condemnation, that ' Light is come into the 
 world, but they loved darkness rather than the light, because they knew 
 in themselves that their deeds were evil.' He goes on then to say how 
 continuance in such evil tends more and more to darken the heart, and 
 ultimately speaks of the heathen world generally as doing what they knew 
 to be wrong, and encouraging even others to do the same. But the whole 
 
CHAP. I. 24—21^ 53 
 
 spirit of the passage is not to announce that these heathen will be punished 
 for their sin, (however this may be,) but to make it plain that such con- 
 duct is sin, and subject to GocVs wrath., and that, consequently, they need 
 the manifestation of a righteousness, which shall be God's, God's Gift to 
 them as sinners, and not their own, if they are to have any part in His 
 Kingdom of Light and Love. As for the better part among the heathen, 
 they would, like devout, humble-minded Jews, or Christians, be ready 
 enough to confess their own shortcomings of the standard of goodness, 
 which they had set up for themselves. The general statement was true for 
 them, as for others, that they too were ' concluded under sin,' and had 
 need of God's mercy and God's righteousness ; though the strong language 
 of St. Paul in this chapter could not, and was not meant to, apply to them, 
 any more than to young children or lunatics, who had yet within them by 
 nature the seeds of spiritual death, and were equally (as he will show here- 
 after) ' concluded under sin.' 
 
 3Y. V. 21. their heart., because wanting sense to understand what was 
 every day before their very eyes, ivas darkened. ' He that hath not, from 
 him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.' 
 
 88. V. 23. professing to be wise. St. Paul appears to have had in 
 view especially the sophists of Greece, to whom, in his own age, four or 
 five centuries before, the heathen philosopher, Socrates, that 'hunter of 
 the truth,' so resolutely opposed himself, and died, in fact, at their hands, 
 a martyr in the service of the God of Truth. 
 
 39. V. 23. they became fools. These wise and learned of the earth, 
 yet, generally speaking, were content with the idolatrous worship of the 
 times, and, with all their wisdom, could not see that, if we are God's off- 
 spring. He cannot be likened to a bird or beast, or made in the image of a 
 corruptible man. 
 
 CHAP. I. 24—27. 
 (24) Wherefore also Gocl gave them over in the 
 lusts of their hearts unto nncleanness, to dishonour 
 their own bodies among themselves ; (25) Such as 
 changed the truth of God into falsehood, and rev- 
 erenced and did religious service to the creature in- 
 stead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 
 (26) Therefore God gave them over to dishonourable 
 passions. For both their females changed the natural 
 use into that which is beyond nature ; (27) and like- 
 
54 episAe to the romans. 
 
 wise the males also, leaving the natural use of the 
 woman, were burnt up in their desire towards one ano- 
 ther, males in males working out uncleanness, and the 
 reward which was fitting of their error receiving back 
 in themselves. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 40. V. 24. God gave them over. In Eph. iv. 19, St. Paul speaks of 
 the heathen as ' having the understanding darkened, being alienated from 
 the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blind- 
 ness of their hearts, who, being past feeling, have (/iven themselves over 
 unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.' Of course, 
 as before, this is not true of all heathens. The Apostle is speaking of the 
 general aspect of the heathen world, especially in his own time, and within 
 his own knowledge. 
 
 But here we have the same double form of expression as in the Book 
 of Exodus, where God is sometimes said to have hardened Pharaoh's heart, 
 at another time Pharaoh is said to have hardened his own heart. Such 
 words as these point to the laws of the moral world, as sure and stable as 
 those of the physical, which make the darkening of the mind, and the 
 hardening of the heart, the natural and necessary consequence of con- 
 tinuance in knoion evil. It must be so. The laws of the physical world, 
 we believe, are fixed by the Creator, who gave to the different elements 
 their different powers. A man cannot put his finger in the fire without 
 being burnt, or drink spirits to excess without injury, or swallow prussic 
 acid without his life being sacrificed. We may say, in all such cases, that 
 the man did so and so — he burnt his finger, he impaired his powers of di- 
 gestion, he killed himself by taking poison. Yet, in reality, it was God's 
 minister, acting by God's law, that did it ; it was the fire that burnt, the 
 alcohol that corroded, the poison that killed. It is, therefore, God Him- 
 self, to whom these results must be ultimately attributed ; and the man's 
 rashness, intemperance, desperation, have brought upon him these con- 
 sequences from the Hand of the Almighty, according to the laws which He 
 has fixed for the physical world. Other laws, it is true, which God has 
 also fixed, may be brought into play by the action of the man himself or 
 of others, to prevent the former having their full effect, in producing such 
 consequences. He may so quickly di-aw back his hand as not to be burnt ; 
 he may be drawn from his sottish habits before the evil is irremediable ; 
 he may have an antidote administered in time. But the natural con- 
 sequence of his act is fixed beforehand by the "Will and Wisdom of God. 
 
CHAP. I. 24^27. 55 
 
 The man can foretel it to himself, that, following such and such a course, 
 he will brmg on himself, that is, the Almighty Ruler of the Universe will 
 bring on him, such and such consequences. 
 
 Just such an order there is also in the moral world, with only this dif- 
 ference, that the consequence here is not merely necessary by the fiat of 
 the Almighty, but necessary, as it seems to us, in the very nature of things 
 — in the very nature of His own Eternal Being. It is the Law of the Moral 
 World, that known, indulged sin of any kind 7iiust be followed with this 
 particular form of evil, the darkening of the mind, the hardening of the 
 heart. How far the sins of any man, of any heathen or Christian — the 
 sins of uncleanness, deceit, malignity, covetousness, pride, vanity, envy, 
 selfishness — are sins of ignorance, or sins committed against light by those 
 who know better, u<e cannot say. He only knows who knows the heart. 
 The ' sins of ignorance ' God ' winks at.' But where a man, heathen, Jew, 
 or Christian, ' keeps back the truth through iniquity,' ' changes God's truth 
 into falsehood,' knows how to do right, and yet chooses to do wrong, say- 
 ing, ' Evil, be thou my Good,' — when any man lives thus, whether in 
 Christian or heathen lands, — there will the work of death be assuredly 
 going on in his soul, and we may say of him, either that he has delivered 
 himself over unto evil, or God has delivered him. Hei-e, however, as be- 
 fore, other laws of the moral world may be brought into play, through the 
 mercy of God, by which such a man may be rescued from such evil, before 
 the work of death is wrought in him, effectually, for ever. 
 
 41. v. 25. siich as changed the truth, d:c. Let this be noted distinctly 
 once more. Throughout this whole passage St. Paul is straining at this 
 point only, — not to bring the whole of heathendom under condemnation, 
 to 'conclude them all under sin,' (he does that afterwards,) — but for the 
 present his argument only requires that he should lead on the Jew to con- 
 fess, that, whatever might be the case with those who sinned ignorantly, 
 yet, for those who did not sin ignorantly, who changed the truth which 
 they knew, or should have known, into a lie, there is wrath ' revealed ' 
 from a Holy and Righteous God. This, and this alone, is what he is aim- 
 ing at in this chapter. And then he will turn presently round upon the 
 Jew and ask him, if he really can suppose that there is no condemnation 
 for those, who know more than all the heathen, yet sin in direct opposition 
 to their knowledge, in direct defiance of the judgment, which they admit 
 readily, in the case of others, such sin would deserve. He means to set 
 before them this solemn truth, that the very knowledge of God's Law, 
 which they possessed, so far from being something to boast of, a kind of 
 charm, as it were, to secure them from His Wrath and admit them to His 
 Kingdom, would be the measure of their condemnation, if they were not 
 
56 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 found to walk according to the truth which they knew. He will then go 
 on to show that, if this ' charm ' of their Jewish immunity is broken in the 
 case of some, it is broken for all : they have nothing to trust in, any more 
 than the rest of the human kind, but the mercies of God. And he will 
 further warn them, as he draws towards the close of his argument, that if 
 they do not feel this to be true — if the Jewish nation, as a whole, still con- 
 tinues wrapt up in a senseless conceit of their own dignity and security, 
 self-satisfied and confident at having been ' raised up,' as if they must 
 ' stand ' for ever, and could not ' fall,' — it may be that by long continuance 
 in known evil, their eyes have become dark, and their hearts hard, even as 
 those of these ignorant and besotted heathen. 
 
 42. v. 26. dishonourable passions. In the present condition of a 
 heathen or any other people, it is not for us to say how much of their pres- 
 ent moral debasement is the result of a judicial debasement of the kind 
 here spoken of, and is to be regarded in the light of a penal consequence 
 of their ' keeping back the truth through iniquity.' 
 
 Let us take, for instance, the case of the Zulus. We know that they 
 exhibit certain virtues, and are capable of brave and kind and just and 
 generous actions. But we know also that they practise habitually, without 
 any restraint, a certain gross form of vice, that they kill for trivial causes, 
 sometimes, apparently, for none at all. Is the moral guiltiness of these 
 offences to be measured by the high standard of pure Christianity? 
 Again and again, in Zululand, some wretch is knocked on the head as an 
 umtakati, or evil-doer, supposed by certain occult practices, to plot against 
 the lives of the king and the royal family or others, just as wizards and 
 witches were believed to do not long ago — perhaps are still believed to do 
 — in some Christian lands. Are we able to measure the guilt, in the sight 
 of God, of such matters, when we remember how short a time has passed, 
 since even in England, with all the light of Christianity, and all the help of 
 learning, and all the benefits of English civilisation, such a truly good and 
 pious man as Judge Hale could condemn a supposed witch to be burnt to 
 death, and believe that, in so doing, he was acting according to the will of 
 God, and not merely according to the law ? Such things as these we must 
 leave to the righteous Judge of all the earth, who will assuredly do what 
 is right. Where a Zulu chief butchers out of mere spite or covetousness, 
 desiring to wreak his vengeance or increase his herds, and fighting thus 
 with his own conscience, (if he has not already silenced and deadened it,) 
 there, doubtless, will the work of death go on within, the mind will become 
 still more darkened, the heart still further hardened in evil. And so with 
 other corrupt practices. So far as these are now carried on, or were at 
 first begun, in ignorance of a higher law, after the example of parents, and 
 m obedience to those in authority, who stood in the place of God, they are 
 
CHAP. I. 24—27. 57 
 
 the sins of ignorance, which God ' winks at,' till His word is brought home 
 to them — not merely to their outward ears by the stammering lips of a 
 missionary, but inwardly to their hearts by His Spirit, teaching them to 
 know and feel that such acts are evil in His sight, and bidding them forsake 
 them, and live as becomes His childi-en. But, whenever men, knowing 
 God and the righteous requirements of His Law in some measure, yet 
 ' glorify him not as God,' and refuse to listen to His Voice, which speaks 
 within them — whenever men strive with their Heavenly Friend and 
 Teacher, and ' do not obey the truth, but yield themselves up to iniquity ' 
 — there is ' anger and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of 
 man that worketh out evil, be he Jew or Greek, Christian or Heathen.' 
 
 St. Paul, then, in the language of this chapter is not speaking of all 
 heathen indisci-iminately, and certainly does not mean to describe all such 
 men as Socrates and Cicero, with a multitude of other great and noble 
 men among the heathen — at all events not their young children — as being 
 ' filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, &c.' He is refer- 
 ring to individual cases in all times, — (as, in fact, is indicated by the use of 
 the Greek aorist), — and especially to the numerous instances of flagrant 
 vice, which in that corrupt age would be too familiarly known to those 
 living at Rome, or in any of the great cities of the Empire. And so he 
 carries his reader easily along with him, while he reiterates again and again 
 — four times, in fact, in different forms of expression, (as if to drive the 
 thought well into their minds,) — the natural and. necessary consequence of 
 continuance in known and allowed evil — that consequence being a further 
 sinking into evil, a heardening of the heart, a deadening of the conscience, 
 a darkening of the mind, an increasing inability to discern right from 
 wrong, the good from the evil. His words, however, seem to imply a very 
 general and widespread depravity of this kind. In chapter ii. he allows, 
 indeed, that there are men, Greeks as well as Jews, who, ' by patient con- 
 tinuance in well-doing, do seek for glory, and honour, and immortality ' — 
 who do ' work good ' — who ' having not the law, do by nature the things 
 contained in the law, and are a law unto themselves.' How many there 
 were, God only could know. But, to the Apostle's mind, the general as- 
 pect of the heathen world would seem to be that exhibited by the language 
 of this first chapter. And, indeed, the Satires of Juvenal, and the 
 Histories of Tacitus, give a very similar account of the profligacy of the 
 times, while yet everywhere giving tokens of the shining of some bright 
 lights to illumine the gloom, in the lives of noble individuals whose acts 
 are recorded for the admiration of all ages, and, doubtless, in the lives of 
 a multitude of other humbler souls, whose names are registered in 
 heaven. 
 
 3* 
 
58 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 How mucli of guilt, of moral guilt, there was in all this, God only can 
 know. But the Apostle teaches, what the Bible everywhere teaches, and 
 our own hearts teach also, that the essence of moral guilt consists in the 
 commission of acts of co)iscious wilful sin, whether sin of negligence or 
 sin of presumption. The sins of mere infirmity, the sins of mere ignorance, 
 as well as the sinful stain which infects our nature, St. Paul teaches, and 
 the Bible everywhere teaches, are forgiven freely by our Heavenly Father, 
 for His own Name's sake, declared to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. But 
 St. Paul teaches, and the Bible teaches, and our own consciences teach us, 
 that the sins which do weigh down the soul, which do naturally and neces- 
 sarily tend to defile, darken, deaden, and destroy it, are the sins committed 
 in disregard of that measure of light which has been vouchsafed, and which 
 still remains, and, however dimmed, is perhaps never wholly extinguished 
 in any man on this side the grave. What may be the consequences, in 
 another world, of having abused the gift of God in this, and having become 
 daily worse and more corrupt by continuance in known evil, instead of be- 
 coming better, as we shall become, by abiding in that which our consciences 
 tell us is right and good, St. Paul does not tell us. He only implies that 
 such men among the heathen in their measure, like the Jews themselves, 
 or like Christians who may do likewise, ' after their hardness and impeni- 
 tence of heart are treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of 
 wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render 
 to evei'y man according to his deeds ' — an awful, indeed, but yet a grand 
 and blessed and comforting truth, to which our own hearts fully respond, 
 for which the ^nations may rejoice and be glad; for He cometh — He 
 Cometh to judge righteously the earth.' Not for the sins of Adam, or the 
 sins of infirmity and ignorance, which Adam's sin may have been the cause 
 of in any man, but for his own wilful, known, conscious tampering with 
 the ti'uth, will he be judged in that day, — because, whether Jew or Greek, 
 Christian or Heathen, the light came to him (in what measure God only 
 can know) ; but he ' loved the darkness rather than the Light, because his 
 deeds were evil.' 
 
 43. w. 24, 26. God gave them over. Here, as everywhere through- 
 out the passage, the tense used is the aorist, — not ' God has given them 
 over,' as a settled thing, once for all, permanently and hopelessly ; but He 
 ' gave them over,' in each case, on each occasion, when the evil work was 
 done, which drew on this consequence. 
 
 So God ' gave over ' the Jews at various times, — not, indeed, all the 
 nation at any time, not the 'seven thousand chosen men, who had not 
 bowed the knee to Baal ' in each case, but the great mass of the people. 
 He gave them over again and again to a reprobate mind for a season; 
 
CHAP. I. 24—27. 59 
 
 though by various means and merciful acts of His Providence, He raised 
 them again, from time to time, from their state of spiritual degradation ; 
 until they gave themselves over at last — the great body of them, not all — or 
 God gave them over (for a time only, as St. Paul tells us in xi. 25,) into 
 that perverse state of mind, in which they rejected and crucified the Lord 
 of Glory. We know that many of them must have wilfully shut their eyes 
 to the Light, ascribing to Satan what was manifestly done by the Spirit of 
 God, and putting to death, as a malefactor. One, whom they saw and knew 
 to be pure, and loving, and innocent. Others, doubtless, even in that age, 
 did what they did, ' ignorantly,' as St. Peter says of them,—' ignorantly in 
 unbelief,' as St. Paul says of himself,— believing that they were doing God 
 service, led away by the example and teaching of their betters. 
 
 But, as for the Jews of the present day, v/e cannot presume to say that 
 they too have been ' given over to a reprobate mind,' or that their eyes are 
 darkened as a penal consequence of their continuing in unbelief. It may 
 be so in certain individual cases, where light has reached the inner man, 
 and been rejected. But, probably, in our days, amidst the great body of 
 the Jewish people, such cases are very rare. It is far more likely that the 
 acts of abominable cruelty, injustice, and contemptuous bigotry, with which, 
 in Christian lands and by Christian people — too often, alas ! by Christian 
 ministers — they have been so frequently, and are even now, treated, have 
 gone far to fix them in holy and righteous horror of a religion, which taught 
 that such outrages were right. All, surely, that an humble-minded Chris- 
 tian can allow himself to say of the present state of the Jews generally, is 
 that they are, not actually incurring great moral guilt — (he cannot judge 
 of that,) — but suffering great moral and spiritual loss from the acts of their 
 forefathers. 
 
 Just as if an English parent should commit some great breach of the 
 laws, and be transported to a penal settlement, and, settling there in after 
 days, should draw his family around him, removing them thus from the 
 means of grace and opportunities of spiritual growth, which they would 
 have enjoyed in England, and which he himself is unable to supply. The 
 probability, — we might say certainty, — is that the children in such a case 
 would suffer great loss in spiritual things through the fault of the parent, 
 though they can only incur guilt through fault of their own. They would 
 serve, in fact, to illustrate the words of the second commandment, that the 
 * iniquity of the fathers is visited upon the children unto the third and 
 fourth generations.' But the ' visitation' here spoken of is not punishment^ 
 laid upon them for their fathers' sins. ' The soul, that sinneth, it shall die.' 
 Frequently, indeed, such 'visitation' upon the children is turned into a 
 positive blessing, both to the fathers and to them. The sense of the con- 
 
60 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 sequences which he is entailing, by his guilty course of life, upon those 
 whom he loves, may act as a check upon the parent in the commission of 
 sin. If not, it may deepen his sorrow and repentance, and inspire them^ at 
 all events, with a salutary dread and abhorrence of that, which has ruined 
 him, and brought so much evil upon them all. In this way, however, it 
 can be easily seen how a family may sink into a lower state of spiritual life 
 than the parents, without incurring moral guiltiness thereby, if they have 
 not been consciously concerned in the acts which led to it. And their 
 children may sink lower still. 
 
 Thus we can conceive of the present state of the great body of the Jew- 
 ish nation, as being in most cases the consequence, mainly, if not alto- 
 gether, of the sins of their forefathers, without being in the least degree 
 able to judge how much of the guilt of that state belongs to themselves, or 
 how much of it belongs, rather, to us Christians, who have failed to let our 
 light shine to the glory of our God before them. So too, in looking at a 
 heathen people like the Zulus, we can conceive how they have sunk down 
 gradually from that knowledge, which the fathers of all the Kafir tribes 
 once possessed, as sons (very probably) or grandsons of Abraham, to the 
 mere trace which they now have of that knowledge, in the recognition of 
 one Supreme Creator, — whom they call uXkulunkulu, the Great-Great-One, 
 or uMvelinqange, the first Out-Comer, but whom they will often confuse 
 with the first created man, — without being in the least able to judge to 
 what extent the living people of the tribe are involved in the guilt of such 
 declension. It is enough for us to know that, whatever these brother-men 
 may suffer, however they may be degraded and debased, whatever loss of 
 moral or spiritual life they may experience through the sins of the genera- 
 tions which have gone before them, that measure of light which every one 
 has had vouchsafed to him, will not be withdrawn or darkened, except 
 through his own acts of conscious evil. Let it be repeated once more, 
 there is now no condemnation but this for any member of the redeemed 
 race of man, that ' light has come to him,' according to the measure of the 
 gift of God ; but he ' loved the darkness rather than the light, because his 
 deeds were evil.' 
 
 44. v. 2Y. receiving bach in themselves from God the just consequences 
 of their evil doing, in the darkening of the mind, &c. 
 
 CHAP. I. 28—32. 
 (28) And, as they did not distinguish to hold Grod 
 in their minds with intelligence, God gave them over 
 unto a reprobate mind, to do things unseeijily; (29) 
 
CHAP. I. 28—32. 61 
 
 filled with all iniquity, fornication, knavery, greed, 
 viciousness ; crammed with envy, hatred, strife, deceit, 
 spitefulness ; whisperers, (30) backbiters, God-haters, 
 insolent, haughty, braggarts, inventors of evil things, 
 disobedient to parents, (31) senseless^ perfidious, with- 
 out natural affection, implacable, unmerciful ; (32) 
 such as, knowing well the righteous decision of God, 
 that those doing such things are worthy of death, not 
 only do them, but even consent to those who do them. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 45. V. 28. reprobate^ that is, worthless, like drossy gold, rejected by 
 the assayer, refuse. The play of words in the original Greek is lost in the 
 English translation. It may be partially expressed by translating (with Dr. 
 Vaughan), ' As they refused to hold God intelligently, God gave them over 
 to a refuse mind.' 
 
 46. V. 29. hatred. The Greek word means literally 'murder,' but 
 appears to be used here in the sense of ' hatred.' 
 
 47. V. 30. inventors of evil things^ that is, of new forms of evil, new 
 vices, or vicious practices. ' Five of the terms here applied to the heathen 
 world (and in substance several others) are found in 2 Tim. iii. 2, 3, in the 
 predicted corruption of the Church itself.' Vaughan. It was, of course, 
 part of the Apostle's stratagem, as it were, to include, among the grosser 
 sins of the heathen, sins of a more ordinary kind, which were too often 
 committed by Jews as well. 
 
 48. V. 32. knowing well the righteous decision of God — knowing it, of 
 course, without revelation, in the secrets of their own hearts. The Apostle 
 is not here speaking, we see, of infants, young children, insane persons 
 &c., who may do things evil without knowing that they are evil; nor, by 
 analogy, is he speaking of others, who, though old in years, are as children 
 in understanding, with regard to much that they do, and of whom there 
 must be a multitude among the heathen. His argument does not require 
 him to speak of these. He is here only speaking of those, who deliberately 
 do what they know to be wrong, and justly incur a corresponding judgment. 
 
 49. V, 32. not only do them^ hut even consent to those who do them. 
 The guilt incurred by those, who, knowing a thing to be wrong, not only 
 do it, but encourage others to do it, or even look on complacently and con- 
 senting, while others do it, is double-dyed. A man may be overtaken by 
 
62 EPISTLE TO THE K0:MANS. 
 
 temptation, and sin in his own person, while actually condemning his own 
 act, and loathing himself while he commits it. But to look on with any- 
 thing like pleasure or concurrence, while another is committing it, impUes 
 that he has deliberately taken part with eyil. 
 
 CHAP. II. 1—10. 
 
 (1) Wherefore thou art without excuse, man, 
 whosoever thou art that judgest ; for, whilst thou art 
 judging the other, thou condemnest thyself ; for thou, 
 that art judging, doest the same things. (2) Now, we 
 know that the judgment of God is according to truth 
 upon those doing such things. (3) But dost thou cal- 
 culate this, man, thou that judgest those doing such 
 things and doest them, that thou shalt wholly escape 
 the judgment of God ? (4) Or dost thou make light 
 of the riches of His Goodness and Forbearance and 
 Long-suffering, not perceiving that the Goodness of 
 God is leading thee to repentance ? (5) But after thy 
 hardness and impenitent heart dost thou treasure 
 for thyself wrath in the day of wrath, and revelation of 
 the righteous judgment of God ? (6) — who will give 
 back to each according to his deeds ; (7) to those, who 
 with endurance in well-doing are seeking glory and 
 honour and immortality, Life Eternal ; (8) while for 
 those of party-spirit, and disobedient to the truth, but 
 yielding themselves up to iniquity, tJiere is indignation 
 and wrath ; (9) tribulation and anguish upon every 
 soul of man that worketh out evil, of the Jew first and 
 also of the Greek ; (10) but glory, and honour, and 
 peace, to every one that worketh good, to the Jew first 
 and also to the Greek. 
 
CHAP. IIo 1 — 10. 63 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 49. y. 1. thou art ivithout excuse. The Apostle, having carried his 
 Jewish reader along with him, while he brings under ' God's wrath ' — not 
 the heathen, bodily and universally, (he will speak of them afterwards,) but 
 those among them who, knowingly and wilfully practise the abominable 
 things of which he had been speaking, — such as ' knew in themselves the 
 judgment of God,' declared against such things, yet ' not only did them, 
 but consented to those who did them,' — now turns sharply round upon the 
 Jew himself, and asks, if he can possibly doubt that the same, or a heavier, 
 judgment must light upon a vicious Jew — not, again, upon the Jews, 
 bodily and universally, (he will speak of them also afterwards,) but upon 
 such as practised the very sins, which they condemned in others, or other 
 like sins. He wants, in fact, as has been said before, to introduce, as it 
 were, ' the small end of the wedge,' and then afterwards he will strike it 
 home, in the case of both Jew and Gentile. The idea was so new and 
 strange to the Jewish mind of that day, that they were to be treated just 
 like the Gentiles, or rather dealt with more severely, as their privileges 
 had been so much greater, but treated by one and the same righteous law, 
 according to their lives, ' according to their deeds,' — not treated with 
 special favouritism, sheltered and screened from wrath, because of their 
 descent from Abraham, their knowledge of the law, their practice of cir- 
 cumcision, — that St. Paul judiciously adopts this course, in order to set 
 before the mind of his pious reader, whether a Jew or Roman proselyte, 
 the startling result, to which his Jewish theory would carry him. That 
 result would be no other than this, that an utterly vicious, though en- 
 lightened, Jew would be wholly exempted from feeling the weight of that 
 wrath, which, as his own conscience told him, was declared from the God 
 of Heaven against all wilful sin, and Avhich he readily admitted to be de- 
 served in the case of the vicious, but ignorant. Gentile. He wishes to 
 make him stagger, as it were, at being brought face to face with such a 
 conclusion as this, and to begin to question whether, after all, the great 
 principle of Judaism was so irrefragably true. At all events, he will thus 
 prepare him to listen more attentively to what he will now go on to say. 
 
 For it is certain that St. Paul could not possibly mean that the pious 
 people at Rome to whom he was writing, were ' doing these same things,' 
 while they condemned others. "Whatever faults they were still committing 
 daily, through the infirmity of the flesh, jet he would not surely think of 
 speaking of them, as persons who habitually committed ' theft,' 'adultery,' 
 or * sacrilege,' through whom ' the name of God was blasphemed among 
 the heathen,' any more than, in the first chapter, he would hav6 spoken of 
 
64 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 the great and good among the heathen, as ' being filled with all iniquity, 
 fornication, uncleanness, &e.' All, that he wishes at this point to do, is to 
 shake the fixed prejudice of his readers, as to the point of the Jew's im- 
 munity from judgment and wrath, only because he is a circumcised child 
 of Abraham. If he can do this in the case of some, he can do it for all ; 
 he can bring them to confess that every Jew, even the most pious, must 
 lie under ' sentence to God.' If he can bring them to feel that a wicked 
 Jew must be subject to ' wrath ' as well as other men, he can then bring 
 home the pure and holy Law of God to the tender heart and conscience of 
 the most faithful believer, convincing him too of his need of ' righteous- 
 ness ' — a righteousness, which his Jewish privileges cannot give him, which 
 he cannot work out for himself in any way, which must be the free gift of 
 God's Love, and which he must be willing to receive, with humility and 
 thankfulness, like any poor ignorant heathen. In short, setting out with 
 the statement, (which he assumes to need no proof, for the truth of it is 
 manifest to the consciences of men, and in God's general dealings with 
 mankind,) that the ' wrath of God ' is revealed upon all wilful and conscious 
 8171, he will come, at last, to conclude the whole world, Jew as well as 
 Gentile, under sin — to show that they are all under judgment, though not 
 all under wrath — that they all, therefore, need this ' righteousness ' which 
 is revealed in the Gospel, as God's free gift to men, to the whole human 
 race, in order that, possessing it, they may be able to stand and rejoice 
 before Him as their Judge. 
 
 Turning then, as the Apostle does, so sharply upon his reader at the 
 beginning of this chapter, he takes for granted that he will feel, at once, 
 the real point of his question. The pious Jew will see that the argument 
 does, indeed, indirectly, and most vitally, concern himself, inasmuch as 
 what is true for great transgressions must be true in a measure for all. 
 But yet he will see this through the outward form of the question, and will 
 allow the Apostle to argue on, understanding of himself that the strong 
 words used, however implicitly they may involve him also, are not meant 
 directly to apply to every Jew, such as himself, or, indeed, to any one in 
 particular, but to any man whatsoever, Jew or Gentile, who condemns an- 
 other for doing such things, showing thereby that he knows that they are 
 wrong in themselves, and yet does them. 
 
 50. V. 1. whosoever. With this word he begins to drag in the Jew ; 
 'whosoever, whether child of Abraham or not.' 
 
 51. V. 1. that judgest — that hast gone along with me in all that I have 
 said, about the ' wrath of God ' being ' revealed ' upon all those among the 
 heathen, who ' keep back the truth through iniquity.' 
 
 52. V. 1. whilst, not ' wherein,' E. V. This is a very common use 
 
CHAP. n. 1 — 10. 65 
 
 of the Greek phrase here translated ; see Mark ii. 19, Luke v. 34, John 
 V. 7. 
 
 53. V. 1. thou condemnest thyself . ' You show that you have a light 
 to guide you, a knowledge of what is right by the very power you exercise 
 of judging others. Therefore, doing the same things yourself, you^ certain- 
 ly (whatever may be true of those others), are sinning against the light, and 
 are " without excuse," even as you agreed with me in saying (i. 20) that 
 they are " without excuse." ' 
 
 54. V. 2. we knoio that the judgfnent of God is according to truth. He 
 is referring to what he had said in the former chapter, in which he sup- 
 poses his reader to have fully agreed with him. ' We know, — we are 
 sure, from reason and conscience, as well as revelation, — we have no 
 doubt — we admit, in fact, in respect of those heathens, that God will 
 judge "according to the truth," according to the actual facts of the case, 
 rendering to every man according to his deeds, and not according to what 
 he may think or fancy. Will He not, think you, judge " according to 
 truth " in the case of the Jew also, not according to his own mistaken 
 notion of his birthright and pecuhar privileges ? ' 
 
 55. v. 3. wholly escape. This gives better the force of the Greek ; 
 ' clean escape,' not merely ' escape,' as in the E. V. 
 
 56. V. 4. or dost thou make light of the riches of His Goodness, d:c. 
 * Or art thou so taken up with high notions of thine own dignity and 
 security, as a child of Abraham, that thou regardest as a light thing God's 
 exceeding mercy, that He bears so long with you, still seeking that you 
 should repent and live? ' The Apostle asks two questions : (1) Dost thou 
 think that thou shalt altogether escape judgment ? (2) If not, then art 
 thou still presuming on thy supposed state of favour, and making light 
 of the mercy, which gives thee time and Opportunity for forsaking thy 
 evil deeds ? 
 
 57. V. 4. is for leading. This form of expression is often required to 
 give proper force to the Greek Present. We shall find other instances of 
 it in this Epistle. 
 
 58. V. 4. to repentance. He seems to be here just hinting at that 
 which he suggests more distinctly afterwards, namely, that the long con- 
 tinuance of the Jewish nation, in the enjoyment of extraordinary blessings, 
 was no sign that any individual member of it, or the nation as a whole, was 
 to be exempt from God's righteous judgment, by any special act of favour- 
 itism. On the contrary, what if the Great Husbandman has been all the 
 while digging and manuring, if haply He may find fruit at the last ? 
 
 59. V. 6, who will render to each according to his deeds. This is the 
 point, which the Apostle must reiterate again and again, that all will be 
 
66 EPISTLE TO THE ROMAICS. 
 
 judged according to their deeds. The Jew will not be treated with any 
 favouritism. On the contrary, having received so much more than others, 
 so much the more will be required of him. The Apostle is seeking to shat- 
 ter by repeated blows, in all manner of ways, this fond notion of their being 
 favourites with God,— their having grace given them above others for 
 some special merit in themselves, or on account of their extraction — which 
 he knew would sap all the life out of their Christianity. 
 
 60. V. Y. with endurance in well doitig, not ' by endurance &c.' E. V., 
 as if these sought glory, &c., by their deeds. The Greek implies that they 
 pursued their course of goodness, not as the means to a certain end, but as 
 the course which was right in itself, pursuing which, however, they be- 
 lieved also that they should attain the end of their soul's desire. 
 
 61. V. 7. endurance^ not merely 'patience,' or 'patient continuance.' 
 The Greek word is expressed better by ' endurance,' which implies ' con- 
 tinuance under hardship or difficulty.' 
 
 62. V. 7. Life Eternal. This, then, is the reward which God gives to 
 all, who endure in well-doing, ' seeking glory and honour and immortality,' 
 that is, consciously aiming at higher things than those of time and sense, 
 and so evidencing that their hearts are already in some measure quickened 
 with spiritual life. Seeking thus, they shall find supplied to them, even in 
 this life, the living bread and the living water, which their souls really 
 longed for. They shall have vouchsafed to them some knowledge of Him, 
 whom to know is Life Eternal. And that shall be a pledge and a foretaste 
 of yet fuller joys to come. 
 
 63. V. 8. to those of party-spirit. The Greek word here translated 
 ' party -spirit,' has been confounded by our translators with another some- 
 what like it, which means ' contention.' The same word occurs in Phil, 
 i. 16, ii. 3, in both which passages it means as here, ' party -spirit,' and it is 
 never used for ' contention' or ' strife,' simply. In Phil. ii. 3, it is coupled 
 with ' vain-glory ; ' and the compound expression completely describes the 
 proud, self-confident, exclusiveness, of the Jew, who professed, indeed, to 
 know God and to teach others to know Him, but, instead of seeking true 
 glory and honour and immortality, the praise which cometh from God, in 
 faithfulness of daily life, sought only to glorify himself and his nation, as 
 the special favourites of God, the only people who were permitted to know 
 Him. They made religion a party thing for their own exaltation ; while, 
 at the same time, living ungodly lives, and dishonouring God among the 
 heathen. 
 
 64. V. 8. disobedient to the truth — ^that is, the truth, the true and right 
 so far as they know it — that which has been revealed to them of the truth, 
 
CHAP. II. 1—10. 67 
 
 with more or less of fulness and clearness — consciously disobedient to the 
 truth, and willingly complying with falsehood. 
 
 65. V. 8. yielding thetnselves. The Greek word is in the middle voice, 
 and expresses that the ivill goes with the deed, that they give themselves 
 up to iniquity. 
 
 66. V. 8. there is indignation and wrath. The construction of the 
 sentence is here changed in the Greek, (' Life Eternal' being in the accusa- 
 tive case, 'indignation and wrath' in the nominative,) perhaps, because 
 these latter words did not well suit the foregoing verb. God gives ' Eternal 
 Life ; ' but He cannot so well be said to give ' indignation and wrath.' 
 
 67. V. 9. every soul of man ^ that is ' every person,' as in xii. 1. 
 
 68. V. 9. worketh out evil, with a will, resolutely, abandoning himself 
 to it, fidfilling the lusts of the flesh, instead of fighting with them ; but 
 V. 10, ivorketh good, (the Greek word is different,) because, at the best, we 
 cannot so fully work out the good as we may the evil. It should be noticed 
 that St. Paul speaks of this ' tribulation and anguish,' not for the soul of 
 every man that worketh evil, (for that even good men may do at times,) but 
 that worketh out evil. 
 
 69. V. 9. and also of the Greek, that is, of the heathen, not merely 
 the believing Greek or Gentile, as is plain, both from the Apostle's whole 
 argument, and from his going on to speak of men ' doing by nature the 
 work of the Law,' who ' have no revelation, but are a law to themselves.' 
 
 70. V. 10. glory, and honour, and peace, to every one that worketh 
 good. In the former words, v. Y, where he spoke of men ' seeking glory, 
 and honour, and immortality,' he appears to have had in view devout and 
 earnest minds of a higher class, whether Jews or converts from among the 
 Gentiles to Judaism or Christianity, or such as Socrates, Cicero, and others, 
 who eagerly ' felt ' after God amidst the darkness of heathenism, and so had 
 been graciously permitted in their measure to ' find ' Him. To these men, 
 who were consciously seeking after higher blessings than this life could 
 give, he says, God will give that highest transcendant gift, Eternal Life. 
 But now he speaks of others, not so highly gifted or privileged as these, 
 and he uses more comprehensive language. He wishes to embrace the 
 faithful and true of heart of every kind, all those who ' work good,' whether 
 Jew or Greek — all that are obedient to that measure of the truth which 
 has been revealed to them, however small it may be, — those who ' do by 
 nature the things of the Law,' who ' do justice, and love mercy, and walk 
 humbly with their God,' according to the light vouchsafed to them. Who 
 or how many there may be, such as these, among the heathen, we are 
 utterly unable to judge : God knoweth. The Apostle does not here speak 
 of these as sharing the gift of Eternal Life, whether they do or not, as a 
 
68 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 matter of fact. But, he says, such as these shall have the ' glory and 
 honour,' which cometh from the righteous Judge, and within their hearts 
 that ' peace,' which is the sign of an approving conscience, and the witness 
 of God's favour towards them — a peace, which the things of this world can- 
 not give or take away, and which passes understanding. 
 
 CHAP. II. 11—16. 
 
 (11) For there is no respect of persons with God. 
 (12) For allj who sinned without law, without law too 
 will perish ; and all who sinned under law, by law will 
 be judged. (13) For not the hearers of the law are 
 righteous with God ; but the doers of the law shall be 
 made righteous, — (14) the doers of the law, I say ; for 
 whenever nations, which have not law, do by nature the 
 things of the law, these, though not having law, are law 
 to themselves ; (15) such as show the outcome of the 
 law written in their hearts, their conscience witnessing 
 with (it), and between one another their reasonings 
 accusing or else excusing; — (16) in the day when God 
 will judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, 
 by Jesus Christ. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 71. V. 11. there is no respect of persons with God. St. Paul is here 
 quoting the words of Deut. x. lY, as well-known to his readers, 'God re- 
 gardeth not persons ; ' but he uses them in a wider sense than they had 
 ever thought of. 
 
 12. V. 12. without Zaw, that is, without any written revelation of God's 
 will, such as the Jews had. 
 
 1Z. V. 12. imder law^ literally ' in law,' as in a house or place, so as 
 to be surrounded with it. 
 
 74. V. 12. will perish. What this word ' perishing ' means is not ex- 
 plained : we shall see more plainly hereafter. But the ' sin,' spoken of in 
 this verse,—' all who sin without law will perish,' — is the same, of course, 
 of which St. Paul has been speaking all along — the sin of those, whether 
 Jews, Christians, or Heathens, who ' keep back the truth through iniquity,' 
 who consciously persist in doing what they know to be wrong, who ' do not 
 
CHAP. II. 11—16. 69 
 
 obey the truth, but yield themselves up to iniquity.' Their own consciences 
 tell such men as plainly as the Bible tells them, that they are working death 
 for themselves. Those who have no revelation, yet who sin thus against 
 the light they have, and the law in their own minds, know that they are in- 
 juring their own inner being, and becoming daily more dark and cold in 
 spirit, more helplessly bound in the fetters of evil ; and they feel, withal, a 
 wretched sense of guilt and uneasiness within; which tells of the ' Wrath of 
 God ' being revealed in their own hearts against the wickedness of their 
 lives. In one word, they are ' perishing ' by the moral law of nature ; nor, 
 in fact, does the voice of revelation bind the judgment more certainly upon 
 them, than the voice of their own consciences. 
 
 75. V. 13. not the hearers of the law are righteous with God. The 
 Jews are not righteous before God, in the sight of God, as they supposed, 
 because they had the Law, and heard it, and were taught out of it to know 
 the only true and living God and His requirements, whereas the ignorant 
 heathen worshipped their innumerable idols. Xor are Christians righteous 
 before God, for a similar reason, because they have the more glorious reve- 
 lation of God's Truth and Love in the Gospel. 
 
 76. V. 13. the doers of the law shall he made righteous. No human 
 being, whether he be Heathen, Jew, or Christian, is righteous in virtue of 
 his own merit of any kind, so as to be able to stand before God as a right- 
 eous creature, in the strength of his own righteousness. But all who, 
 according to the light and strength vouchsafed to them, are ' doers of the 
 Law,' — all who do what is right and good and true, as far as they know it, 
 — shall be ' 7yiade righteous,' shall have God's righteousness freely given to 
 them, shall be pronounced to be righteous, counted as righteous, dealt with 
 as righteous — in one word, shall be regarded by God as His own dear 
 Children, not by virtue of any merit or claim, which any one of them can 
 derive from * the Law or Sect which he professeth ' (Art. xviii.), as if he 
 could be saved from God's wrath by that, but by virtue of God's Free Grace 
 alone, declared to us in His Son, Christ Jesus. 
 
 77. V. 14. for whenever nations., (be. St. Paul has just used the ex- 
 pression ' doers of the Law,' intending to include under that description 
 both Jews and Gentiles. But, remembering that he was, perhaps, going 
 too fast for his Jewish readers, who would hardly follow him at once in 
 this generalization, he interrupts his sentence (which is completed in v. 
 16,) to show, by way of parenthesis, that the good and true among the 
 heathen might rightly be called ' doers of the Law,' though they had no 
 written revelation. 
 
 78. V. 15. the outcome of the Law — that which is produced, the essen- 
 tial product, the real thing in which the law results, ' that which it is its 
 
70 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 business to teach and enforce, its purport.' {Vaughan.) Though the 
 heathen have not particular laws, as the Jews, regulating their conduct in 
 this or that respect, yet they have certain principles to guide them, which 
 principles these particular laws of the Jews were meant to exhibit and en- 
 force. So our Lord sums up the ' work,' or ' outcome,' of the whole Law 
 in one short sentence : ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 mind, and with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, 
 and thy neighbour as thyself 
 
 79. V. 15. their conscience witnessing with (it), that is, with the pur- 
 port of the Law written in their hearts. That, which the mind's eye reads 
 there written, the conscience attests to be good, and bears witness with it 
 that it is a word written by the finger of God ; just as the conscience bears 
 witness with any Divine Truth, which we may read in the Bible or else- 
 where, and attests it to be good, to be a word of God. 
 
 80. V. 15. and between one another, (kc. Not only does the conscience 
 of each individual testify to the goodness of the law, but there is also ' pub- 
 lic opinion ' about things right and wrong, and men, ' between one another, 
 in their mutual intercourse, can 'reason' and judge accurately about the 
 conduct of others. 
 
 81. v. 16. m the day, d:c. Here the Apostle completes the sentence 
 interrupted at the end of v. 13. • 
 
 In the fifth chapter St. Paul will tell us that ' the grace of God and the 
 free gift by grace,' the gift of righteousness, ' abounded unto the many,'' 
 unto ' all men,' unto the whole human race that fell in Adam. He says 
 that, under the new. covenant of the Grace of God in the Gospel, all human 
 beings were declared to be accepted before God, as the Jews were declared 
 to be under the old covenant ; they were all pronounced to be righteous, 
 not accursed, creatures — righteous not in themselves, but for the sake of 
 Christ, their Head, — to be dealt with, all of them, as children, not as out- 
 casts. In the passage, however, which we are now considering, and all 
 along till we get to these expressions of the fifth chapter, St. Paul is not 
 speaking of infants, and young children, and the whole human race, but 
 only of the faithful and true-hearted among them, who ' do the works of 
 the law,' according to their light and the strength vouchsafed to them ; and 
 such as these, he says, shall be declared righteous in the ' day of judgment.' 
 Whenever Christ shall appear to visit and judge in His Father's Xame, now 
 amidst the affairs of daily life, as well as on the Great Day of future account, 
 they shall be pronounced righteous. They shall have a righteousness given 
 them by the free grace of God; they shall have the actual enjoyment of 
 this gift ; they shall realize the blessedness of having ' their unrighteous- 
 ness forgiven, and their sins covered.' In the Apostle's view, in fact, the 
 
CHAP. 11. 17—24. 71 
 
 gift of righteousness is being continually renewed to such as these by the 
 free forgiveness of sin in this life, as well as finally declared on the great 
 day of account, — not merely given once for all at first. We shall see this 
 more plainly as we proceed. 
 
 82, V. 16. according to my Gospel^ hy Jesus Christ. It was no part 
 of St. Paul's Gospel (that is, of course, the Gospel which he preached,) to 
 teach that God would judge the world, or to teach that Jew and Gentile 
 would equally be brought under that judgment. For that he had only to 
 appeal to the consciences of men, as well as to the old Jewish Scriptures. 
 * Say unto the righteous, it shall be well with him ; say unto the wicked it 
 shall be ill with him.' The ministers of the Gospel were not sent to deliver 
 this message ; though they often had occasion, as the Apostle had here, to 
 recall the thoughts of men to the fact, that there was a righteous order in 
 the world, and that the day would surely come, when a righteous Governor 
 would judge the secrets of men. 
 
 The new message of the Gospel, in connection with the matter now be- 
 fore us, is this, that this judgment shall be conducted ' by Jesus Christ ' — 
 that the Father 'hath given Him authority to execute judgment upon the 
 sons of men, because He is the Son of Man.' And this is a word of com- 
 fort and Hope for us. For He, we are sure, has a tender sympathy for us 
 His brethren, and can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; and 
 though dealing a righteous judgment to each according to his deeds. He 
 will know how to mingle mercy with judgment as each case shall require. 
 
 CHAP. II. 17—24 
 
 (17) Beliold ! thou art called a ]qw, and reposest 
 on the Law, and gloriest in God^ (18) and knowest the 
 Will of God, and distinguishest the things which are 
 more excellent, getting orally instructed out of the 
 Law ; (19) and thou art confident that thou thyself 
 art a ^ guide of the blind,' a ^ light to those in darkness,' 
 (20) an ' educator of simple ones,' a ' teacher of babes,' 
 having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the 
 law ! (21) Thou, then, that art for teaching another, 
 teachest thou not thyself ? Thou, that preachest not 
 to steal, dost thou steal ? (22) Thou, that sayest not 
 to commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery ? 
 
72 EPISTLE TO THE KOiMANS. 
 
 Thou, that abominatest idols, dost thou plunder 
 temples ? (23) Thou, that gloriest in Law, through 
 transgression of that Law dost thou dishonour God ? 
 (24) For the ^Name of God is being blasphemed 
 through you among the nations,' as it is written. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 83. T. 17, thou art called a Jew. As has been said before, the Apostle 
 sets before himself and his readers a Jew of the very worst class, not, of 
 course, meaning to say that any of them were such, but endeavouring in 
 this way to get in the point of his weapon, at the weakest part of his sup- 
 posed opponent's case, and knowing that, if he can once get a Jew to admit 
 that any one son of Abraham may and must be judged, like any other man, 
 by the righteous judgment of God, without favouritism, he will have struck 
 a death-blow at the whole corrupt system of Judaism. Perhaps he may 
 have in his eye, even more than the Jew himself, the Roman proselyte, 
 whose Judaism, however strong, would not be, as it were, ingrained or 
 inbred. These might, in some cases, at all events, be more ready to yield 
 access to the truth ; and they would naturally desire, if it were possible, to 
 see their friends and kindred embraced within the pale of God's grace, and 
 not shut out, by the exclusive spirit of the Jewish religion, till they too 
 had submitted to become one with the Jews. 
 
 84. V. 19. ^ guide of the blind,'' 6cc. These are titles which the Jews, 
 or their Rabbles, actually assumed with reference to those of their own 
 people, as well as the heathen, who came under their influence as teachers. 
 
 85. V. 22. plunder temples. It would seem that some Jews did really 
 pilfer or plunder from the temples of the heathen gods, in the to^vns where 
 they dwelt ; thus, of course, exciting the just indignation of the natives. 
 See Acts xix. 37, and Joseph. Antt. iv. 8, 10. Their merely defrauding 
 the Temple of its sacrifices, or the priests and Levites of their portions, (for 
 which the Jews are blamed in Neh, xiii. 10 — 12, Mai. i. 13, 14, iii. 8, 9,) 
 would not be likely to attract the notice, and excite the indignation of the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 86. V. 24. as it is written, namely in Ezek. xxxvi. 20 — 23. But in 
 the whole of this passage, as well as in the kindred one, Isaiah Iii. 5, refer- 
 ence is to the dishonour done to God's Name, not by the immoral conduct 
 of His people, but by their suffering and humiliation, which brought a re- 
 proach upon the Lord their God, as if He could not save them. So that 
 St. Paul has here merely made use, as he often does, of an apt quotation, 
 which occurs to him, as an expression of his own thought. 
 
CHAP. in. 1 — 8. 73 
 
 CHAP. II. 25—29. 
 (25) For circumcision, indeed, profiteth, if thou be 
 a doer of the Law ; but, if thou be a transgressor of 
 the Law, thy circumcision has become uncircumcision. 
 (26) If, then, the Uncircumcision keep the require- 
 ments of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be 
 reckoned for circumcision ? (27) and that, which is 
 Uncircumcision by nature, fulfilling the Law, judge 
 thee, who, with the letter and circumcision, art a 
 transgressor of the Law ? (28) For not he, who is 
 so apparently, is a Jew, nor is that, which is apparent 
 in the flesh, circumcision. (29) But he, who is so in 
 secret, is a Jew, and circumcision is of the heart, in 
 the spirit, not in the letter, — whose praise is not of 
 men, but of God. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 87. V. 25. for circumcision, d'c. It is obvious that this whole passage 
 may be directly applied to the case of Christians and Heathens, as in the 
 following paraphrase : ' The baptism of a Christian has a meaning and use, 
 if he walks faithfully ; otherwise his baptism becomes a mere nullity. If, 
 then, an unbaptized heathen does that which is good and right and true, 
 shall not his unbaptized state be reckoned for baptism ? and they, which 
 are heathens by nature, and walking according to the light vouchsafed to 
 them, judge those, who, baptized Christians as they are, yet knowingly 
 transgress the law of their Lord ? For he is not a Christian, who is so 
 merely in name and profession, nor is that true baptism, which is only out- 
 wardly with water. But the Christian in God's sight is he who is one 
 inwardly ; and the baptism, which is of value before Him, is that of the 
 heart, in the spirit, not in the outward form.' 
 
 88. V. 29. whose. The Greek relative, here employed, must be referred 
 either to the true Jew, or to the true Jew and the true circumcision, as a 
 whole, taken collectively. 
 
 CHAP. III. 1—8. 
 (1) ' What then is the advantage of the Jew, or 
 what the profit of circumcision ? ' (2) Much, in every 
 
74: EPISTLE TO THE ROMAICS. 
 
 way. Why, in the first place, that they were entrusted 
 with the oracles of God. (3) ^ But what if some (of 
 them) were unfaithful ? Surely their unfaithfulness 
 will not do away with the gpod faith of God ? ' (4) 
 Nay, let God prove to be true, though every man 
 should be a liar, as it is written, ' That Thou mightest 
 be justified in Thy words, and prevail when thou 
 pleadest/ (5) ^ But, if our iniquity establishes God's 
 righteousness, what shall we say ? Is God unjust in 
 bringing wrath upon us ? ' (I speak after the manner 
 of a man.) (6) Nay, not so ; since then how shall 
 God judge the world ? (7) ' But, if God's truth 
 abounded through my lie to His Glory, why am I still 
 withal to be judged as a sinner ? ' (8) And loliy not 
 say, as we are calumniated, and as some assert that we 
 do say, that ' we should do evil, that good may come ' — 
 whose judgment is just. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 89. V. 1. %ohat then is the advantage of the Jew? St. Paul is here 
 imagining the thoughts which may start up in the mind of a Jewish ob- 
 jector, and answering them. 
 
 90. V. 2. i7i the first place ^ that they were entrusted^ &c. St. Paul only 
 mentions this one point of advantage, which the Jew has above the heathen, 
 and then, without naming others, as he might have done, he is carried off 
 by the impulse of his argument to other matters. 
 
 All his language here again may be well applied to those unfaitliful 
 Christians, who bring dishonour on the Name of God among the heathen 
 in the present day, and whom the heathen himself, though unbaptized, and 
 ignorant of the name of Christ and the letter of Christianity, yet keeping 
 the law of truth and right, according to his light, shall one day judge. For 
 instance, it might be asked, ' If you say the heathen may be saved without 
 the knowledge of the Gospel, what advantage, then, hath the Christian, or 
 what profit is there in Christian Baptism ? ' And a similar answer might 
 be given : ' Much, in every way : in the very first place, because to them 
 are entrusted the Holy Scriptures, the books of the New Testament as well 
 
CHAP. III. 1 — 8. 75 
 
 as the Old.' And to this we might go on to add, ' To them are given the 
 means of grace, and the hope of glory.' 
 
 91. V. 3. bat what if some icere unfaithful? He supposes the objector 
 to have been silenced sufficiently on the first point, and to take up other 
 ground. ' What, if some of our people have turned out badly, as must be 
 allowed and broken the covenant, so far as they are concerned? But 
 God's promise was made to the whole seed of Abraham. Surely, the un- 
 faithfulness of a few will not do away with His good faith, will not be a 
 sufficient ground why He should break His own plighted word to our fore- 
 fathers.' Presently St, Paul will show that they have entirely mistaken 
 the nature of the promise made of old to Abraham. Here, however, he 
 reserves his full reply, and merely answers : ' No ! nothing that I have said 
 or intend to say — nothing that I maintain or teach — will amount to this, 
 will give ground for any such charge of a breach of faith on the part of 
 the Holy and Blessed One.' For the Greek words, rendered 'faith' and 
 'unbelief in the E. V., should here be translated 'faithfulness' and 'un- 
 faithfulness,' in which sense both these words occur in Soph. CEd. Col. 611. 
 See also Xen. Exp. Cyr. ii. 6, 21. 
 
 92. V. 4, prove to be true^ when the matter is examined into, and seen 
 as it really is, 
 
 93. V. 5. but if our iniquity, d'c. The objector takes up as it were, the 
 Apostle's last words, and tries to turn them to his own account in the ar- 
 gument. ' You say that God's good faith will still be maintained unim- 
 paired in spite of the unfaithfulness of some of us. If this be the case, our 
 unrighteousnesa does but establish, confirm, the righteousness of God. 
 [The context would rather seem to imply that t'ne expression, ' righteous- 
 ness of God' is here used as an equivalent for the 'good faith of God' just 
 spoken of, and in contrast with the unrighteousness or iniquity of men. 
 If, however, the Apostle be understood as using the words in the same 
 sense as that in which he has used them all along, for the righteousness 
 which God gives to man, then t'ne objector's argument is that the un- 
 righteousness of His people only increases the importance, the value, and 
 the necessity of that righteousness, which he has pledged His word to give 
 them. In either case the point of the argniment remains the same.] 
 'God's glory, God's purpose, is not hindered or interfered with in any way 
 by us through our iniquity. Why then should He visit us with wrath? Is 
 He not unrighteous in punishing us, when v/e have only given occasion for 
 His glory to shine all the brighter through our deficiency ? ' 
 
 94. V. 5. / speak after the manner of a man, that is, ' I do but speak 
 as I can imagine a man might speak.' The Apostle shrinks from the very 
 semblance of using in his own person such language or such an argument. 
 
Y6 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 95. V. 6. sitice then, hoio shall God judge the world? St. Paul does 
 not, as yet, directly and fully reply to the objector's question ; he only 
 negatives it, disclaiming, as before, the idea that anything he had ever said, 
 or ever could say, anything he had ever taught or maintained, would lead 
 justly to the conclusion, that God was in any the least degree unrighteous 
 in any one of His acts. If He were, if there were one speck of unrighteous- 
 ness attaching to His character, how could He be fitted to judge righteously 
 the world ? — as our consciences and the Scriptures teach us, and as St. Paul 
 himself had been laying down in this very Epistle, He certainly will. 
 * Shall not the Judge of all the earth do that which is right — right in itself^ 
 not right, because He does it ? ' St. Paul is very probably referring to these 
 words of Abraham. 
 
 96. V. 7. but if God's truth, (kc. The same objection is here repeated 
 in a slightly different form. 
 
 97. V. 7. why am I still withal, — why am I, that have actually by my 
 falsehood helped to make God's truth more conspicuous and glorious, 
 (which ought to be reckoned on my side rather,) to be still, after all that, 
 treated as a sinner ? 
 
 98. V. 8. and why not, d:c. ' Yes ! And why not go on a step further, 
 and carry your principle to its proper result ? ' — adding an indignant cen- 
 sure upon those who, from his preaching the free Gospel of God's grace, 
 attributed to himself such an abominable notion. 
 
 CHAP. III. 9—20. 
 
 (9) ' What then ? are we preferred ?' Not at all : 
 for we have before laid the charge that both Jews and 
 Gentiles are all under sin ; (10) as it is written : 
 'There is none righteous, not even one ; (11) there is 
 none that seeketh earnestly after God. (12) All are 
 gone out of the way ; they are together become use- 
 less ; there is none that doeth good, there is not even 
 one. (13) An opened sepulchre is their throat ; with 
 their tongues they deceived ; the poison of asps is 
 under their lips ; (14) whose mouth is full of cursing 
 and bitterness. (15) Their feet are swift to shed 
 blood. (16) Kuin and wretchedness are in their 
 
CHAP. III. 9 — 20. 77 
 
 paths ; (17) and the way of peace they know not. 
 
 (18) There is no fear of God before their eyes.' 
 
 (19) Now we know that, whatsoever the law saith^ it 
 speaketh to those under the law ; so that every mouth 
 may be stopped, and all the world become amenable 
 to God. (20) Inasmuch as by works of law shall no 
 flesh be made righteous before Him. For by law is 
 the full knowledge of sin. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 99. V. 9. what then? are we preferred ? The Apostle has now prepared 
 the way sufficiently for his purpose, and comes to assert boldly the entire 
 equality, in the sight of God, of all mankind. The Jew is not preferred 
 before the Greek or Gentile in the righteous eye of Him, who is the 
 Father of all. There is no favouritism — no ' respect of persons ' — with 
 God. He has already more than once hinted at this ; and we, looking at 
 his words by the clear light of Christianity, can see this plainly enough. 
 His expressions in the second chapter, and his replies just made to the 
 Jewish objector, involve this principle, which, however, he now sets down 
 before them, for the first time, in plain words. In order to this, he once 
 more brings forward the objector, and puts in his mouth a direct question 
 upon the point at issue, to which he gives a distinct reply. ' Are we pre- 
 ferred' — literally ' being held before ' 'others?' 'No! not at all. The 
 Jew will be treated by the same rule of judgment exactly as the Gentile. 
 Each will be dealt with righteously, and will be judged by the light he has 
 had, according to his works.' And this judgment will bi'ing home the holy 
 requirements of God's pure and perfect law, with condemning power, to 
 the heart and life of every man. The whole world will become amenable 
 at God's tribunal, will become under sentence to God, as, at the very best, 
 imperfect, erring, sin-defiled, creatures, needing, all of them, that 
 ' righteousness of God,' which He Himself has revealed in His Gospel 
 for all. 
 
 100. V. 9. xoe have laid before the charge^ asserted, stated, laid it down, 
 (that is, throughout the first two chapters, more or less distinctly, in 
 various expressions). He seems to say, ' Do not be startled at this as- 
 sertion. You have already, in fact, gone along with me, in admitting it. 
 At all events, you have allowed me to make it. Having so far listened to 
 me, do not break off suddenly without reason now, because I put the 
 matter a little more plainly. Hear what your own Scriptures say, &c. 
 
78 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 Now such words as these surely describe a state of life, which must be 
 liable to God's judgment. And yet of whom is the Psalmist writing ? To 
 whom does the Law, (that is, the Jewish Scriptures generally,) address it- 
 self? to whom do these very words refer ? Not surely to Gentiles, but to 
 Jews, to those " under the Law." ' 
 
 101. V. 10. there is none righteous, not even one. The Psalmist in this 
 passao-e is describing the general depravity of the age in which he lived, in 
 terms very similar to those of the prophet Elijah : 'I only am left, and 
 they seek my life.' And yet came the answer of God to him : ' There are 
 seven thousand left in Israel, who have not bowed the knee to Baal ; ' — 
 where we may believe the definite number is put for an indefinite multitude 
 of people, unknown, indeed, to the desponding prophet, but known to 
 Him who reads the hearts and searches the reins, and ' knows them that 
 are His,' the true and faithful in every land, in every age, under every 
 form of religion. So, though the words before us give such a gloomy ac- 
 count of the state of things in Israel, we must not suppose it to have been 
 really so very bad as the Psalmist imagined, and his language implies. To 
 him it seemed that he was left almost alone on God's side. Yet even he 
 could not have meant to include, in his general terms, the case of infants 
 and young children. There were, doubtless, thousands of humble souls, 
 unknown to him, serving God devoutly according to their light, in the midst 
 of a naughty world, and of whom the Lord will take account on that day 
 when He 'maketh up His jewels.' 
 
 However, what is here to be expressly noticed is this, that to use these 
 words as a proof from Scripture of the universal depravity of man, is 
 simply to wrest them from their true meaning, and to destroy the value of 
 the extract, for the very purpose for which the Apostle quotes it, — namely, 
 to show that in their own Scripture there is language actually used of 
 Israelites, sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not ' sinners of the Gentiles,' 
 language so strong and severe, as must surely be enough to convince them 
 that the Psalmist, at all events, and the other writers of the Sacred Books, 
 did not for a moment believe that an Israelite, merely as such, would be 
 screened in any way from the Divine judgment. 
 
 The words in vv. 12 — IV do not occur at all in the English Authorised 
 Version of Psalm xiv., nor, of course, in the Hebrew original. They do 
 appear, however, in some MSS. of the LXX. Version, and in the Latin and 
 some other Versions, but have evidently been inserted at a later date, be- 
 cause of their occurring in this passage of St. Paul's Epistle. Hence verse 
 3 of Psalm xiv. in the LXX., at the end of which this insertion is made, 
 will be found to be of extraordinary length. The whole passage, however, 
 is found in the Prayer-Book Version of the Psalms, which is chiefly Cover- 
 
CHAP. III. 21—26. 79 
 
 dale's, made from the Latin and German. But in the Bible the different 
 parts can only be found in detached passages ; and St. Paul seems to have 
 taken them as such, by memory, and, therefore, with more or less of literal 
 exactness, out of the LXX. Version, as it then existed, of Pss. v. x. xiv. 
 xxxvi. liii. cxl. and Is. lix. 
 
 102. V. 13. an opened sepulchre^ 'yawning, and therefore pestilential 
 and corrupt.' Vaughan. 
 
 103. V. 19. it speaTceth to those under the Law ; that is, it speaks to 
 Israelites, not to the heathen ; it is describing the abominable wickedness 
 of the former, not of the latter. 
 
 104. T. 19. and all the world became amenable to God : ' all the world,' 
 that is, not Gentiles only, as you are ready to suppose, but Jews as well 
 as Gentiles. 
 
 105. V, 20. 5y law is the full knowledge of sin. The most perfect 
 obedience will be full of imperfection, and fall infinitely short of the holy 
 requirements of God's perfect law. The more we know of that holy and 
 blessed law, and the more v/e learn to love it, the more also shall we be 
 made aware of our own shortcomings, the more shall we be convinced of 
 sin, of our utter unworthiness, on account of any righteousness or good- 
 ness of our own, to stand before the presence of our God. The clearer 
 knoAvledge, therefore of the law, which the Jews possessed, and on which 
 they prided themselves, so far from being a matter about which they were 
 at liberty to indulge vain thoughts of self-glorification, would have gen- 
 erated, if that law had been properly studied, the same spirit which made 
 Job of old lay his hand upon his mouth, and say, ' I have heard of Thee 
 by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth Thee : wherefore I 
 abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes ; ' or which forced from Isaiah 
 the words of reverential self-abasement, ' Woe is me ! for I am undone ; 
 because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people 
 of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.' 
 
 CHAP. III. 21—26. 
 (21) But now, apart from law, the righteousness 
 of God has been manifested, being witnessed of by the 
 Law and the Prophets ; (22) I mean the righteousness 
 of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, unto all and 
 upon all them that believe. For there is no distinc- 
 tion. (23) For all sin, and come short of the glory of 
 God, being made righteous freely through His grace, 
 
80 EPISTLE TO THE EOMAl^S. 
 
 through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus ; 
 (24) whom God set forth, a propitiation through faith 
 in His blood, unto the showing forth of His righteous- 
 ness, with a view to the remission of bygone sins dur- 
 ing the forbearance of God, — (26) for the shewing forth 
 of His righteousness in the present season, to the effect 
 of His being righteous, and making righteous him who 
 is of the faith of Jesus. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 106. V. 21. the righteousness of God, that is, as we have had it all 
 along, the righteousness which God of His own free grace bestows upon 
 man, that so he may be able to stand before Him as a righteous, not an 
 accursed, creature, and be dealt with, when deserving chastisement, not as 
 an outcast, but as a child. 
 
 107. V. 21. Tlie righteousness of God has been manifested. The 
 Apostle is here taking up again the thread of the passage in i. lY, which 
 he had broken oflf (note 25) because he felt that, before he could expect a 
 Jew to take pleasure in hearing of a gift of righteousness, he must first 
 teach him that he needed such a gift, — that he too, though calling himself 
 righteous par excellence, one of ' the righteous people that keepeth the 
 truth,' was really as much in need of God's free gift, as any one of his 
 fellow-men.- Having digressed for a while in order to enforce this, and 
 having brought the matter to a point in iii. 20, — ' by works of law shall 
 no flesh be made righteous before God, for by law is the clear knowledge 
 of sm,' instead of righteousness — he now resumes his former position al- 
 most in the same words, and proceeds to speak about this ' righteousness of 
 God,' to which the Law and the Prophets, indeed, ' bore witness,' if they 
 had only heeded them, (either by speaking generally of God's forgiving 
 and restoring grace for the penitent, or by testifying beforehand of the 
 coming of Christ,) but which was now first revealed, and 'manifested' 
 unto men in the Gospel. 
 
 108. V. 22. I mean. This is the best English equivalent to express, 
 in its present connection, the force of the Greek conjunction here used. 
 
 109. V. 22. the righteousness of God, through faith in Jestts Christ, 
 unto all, and upon all, them that believe. These words, as before stated 
 (note 25), are an amplification of those in i. 17, ' the righteousness of God 
 from faith unto faith.' The phrase ' from faith,' in one passage, is expand- 
 ed into ' by faith in Christ Jesus,' in the other, and indicates that the 
 
CHAP. III. 21—26. 81 
 
 righteousness, which God gives us, is not for any works of ours, but simply 
 as the result of our taking Him at His own gracious word, and believing 
 in His Love, declared to us in Christ Jesus. Tlie phrase ' unto faith ' is 
 expanded into ' unto all and upon all them that believe,' by which St. 
 Paul desires to exhibit the extent and fretmess of the Divine Gift. It 
 extends ^ nnto aW,^ it is bestowed ' upon all' — them that believe. (1) The 
 Jew cannot claim it by works, ceremonial or moral : it is a righteousness 
 which is given as ' of faith,' ' by faith in Christ Jesus.' (2) The Jew can- 
 not claim it by faith for himself alone, to the exclusion of his Gentile 
 brother : it is a righteousness which God means to extend ' unto all,' Jew 
 and Gentile alike. (3) The Jew cannot claim it by faith, in common with 
 the Gentile, in such a way as to maintain a notion of his own peculiar 
 privileges as a child of Abraham, so as to imply any favouritism on the 
 part of God. He cannot claim it by faith, as his special right, by virtue 
 of the ancient promise : while the Gentile may be admitted to share it, but 
 only as a, favour, and by a special act of God's mercy. No ! it is a right- 
 eousness which all must receive as an act of mere favour, but which God 
 will bestow freely ' upon all ' them that believe. Thus every pretence of 
 privilege and favouritism is struck away from under the feet of Jewish 
 believers. The pure and simple Gospel, of the ' Kindness and Love of 
 God our Saviour towards Man ' as Man, is now set clearly before their eyes, 
 probably for the first time in the history of the Christians at Rome. 
 
 110. V. 23. for all sin, and come short of the glory of God. The 
 force of the Greek Aorist is here again best given by the English Present, 
 not all ' have sinned,' but all ' sin,' by individual acts, in all ages, under 
 all circumstances, and ' come short ' (the Greek present), not by individual 
 acts, but as their permanent condition, of the glory of God. 
 
 111. V. 23. coyne short of the glory of God, are unworthy to see the 
 Face of God in His Glory, to share the glorious inheritance of the saints in 
 light. 
 
 112. V. 23. being made righteous freely through his Grace. As he 
 has just said that all sin, and all come short of God's glory, so now he 
 must mean that all are made righteous, justified, freely by the Grace of 
 God. In former days the Jews were all 'made righteous,' treated as 
 righteous, though many of them individually were unfaithful. They were 
 all embraced in God's favour, and dealt with as children, not for any works 
 of righteousness which they had done, nor for any virtue they possessed in 
 themselves as descendants of Abraham, but because of God's free Grace, 
 which had called them before others to the knowledge of His Truth, and 
 the present enjoyment of His Gift of righteousness — a gift, however, which 
 was intended for all mankind, and was actually in fact bestowed from the 
 
 4* 
 
$S EPISTLE TO THE EOMANS. 
 
 first upon them, though as yet they knew it not, for it was not yet reveal- 
 ed to them. But now it is revealed that this gift of righteousness is meant 
 for all, that all are being made righteous (the Greek Present, implying their 
 continuing state of righteousness),— all men everywhere, though many may 
 be unfaithful, who have heard the blessed tidings, and many more may not 
 yet have heard them, and so may have little or no present enjoyment of 
 their Father's Love. 
 
 The Apostle's words in this verse most probably mean this, because he 
 afterwards (vv. 15 — 19) fuily and explicitly states it, namely, that the jus- 
 tification here spoken of extends to all, to those who have never heard the 
 name of Christ, and who cannot have exercised a living faith in Christ, as 
 well as to Christians. It is certain that, in this latter passage, he is speak- 
 ing of the whole human race. It is possible, however, that in the passage 
 we are now considering, he may not yet have arrived at this full gener- 
 alization of the Gospel Message, and that by the words ' all sin,' and ' all 
 come short of God's Glory,' he may not have in his mind all human beings 
 whatever, but merely ' all believers,'' in connection with his preceding words 
 that this righteousness is ' from faith unto faith,' ' unto all and upon all them 
 that believe.' It is possible, therefore, that he may be here only speaking 
 of ' all that believe ' as being still sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, as all 
 coming short of the glory of God, and being all justified by His Free Grace. 
 And if this be so, then St. Paul does not here speak of any receiving this 
 gift of righteousness, but only ' those who believe.' 
 
 But then also it must be remembered, that, whatever may be the 
 Apostle's exact meaning here, he does distinctly, in chap, v., mclude the 
 whole of mankind as recipients of God's grace in the Gospel ; and that, ad- 
 mitting the above restriction of his meaning in the present passage, the 
 fact, that ' those that believe ' receive the gift of righteousness, cannot be 
 understood to exclude from it all those who do not believe ; otherwise, 
 what will be said of infants, baptized or unbaptized ? ^Ye must also con- 
 sider what St. Paul means by constantly reiterating the words ' of faith,' 
 ' to faith,' ' them that believe,' &c. He is fighting with all his might 
 against the Jewish dogma that righteousness is to be obtained by ivorks of 
 latv. It is in opposition to this that he lays such constant stress upon the 
 word ' faith ' in his arguments, having in his mind not infants and young 
 children, or the multitudes of heathen, who cannot believe in the Gospel, 
 because they have never heard it, but adults who are seeking after right- 
 eousness, and may consciously receive it by faith, and enjoy the blessed- 
 ness of having peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And even 
 in heathen men, who have never heard the Gospel, and cannot ' believe ' 
 in the full sense of the word, there is a faith in the Living "Word, which 
 
CHAP. III. 21—26. 8^ 
 
 speaks within them ; there is a living obedience to the law of truth and love, 
 which they find written upon their hearts by the finger of God, which is akin 
 to the true living faith of a Christian, and to which is granted a kindred feel- 
 ing, a measure of enjoyment, even in this life, of the gift of righteousness, a 
 sense of gladness and freedom in the consciousness of at-one-ment with the 
 Right and the True, a share of the peace of God's children, ' which passes 
 all understanding.' 
 
 But, whatever may be St. Paul's exact meaning here, these words are 
 at all events a foreshadowing of the full announcement which he makes in 
 chap, v., namely, that the whole human race are partakers of the gift of 
 life in the Gospel, of the blessing of righteousness, as they are of the ' rain 
 from heaven and fruitful seasons,' many of them, — most of them, indeed^ 
 — without knowing that these daily mercies, which they partake of, are 
 signs to them of their Father's Love, that tho beauty of nature is the smile 
 of God, and that every flower which grows beside their pathway speaks a 
 word of hope and peace to them from Him, ' who is not far fi'om any one 
 of them,' ' in whom they live and move and have their being.' 
 
 113. V. 23. through the redemption lohich is in Christ Jesus. The 
 word ' redemption ' implies a buying back, a ransoming, as of a captive 
 from slavery. And this is the proper meaning of the Greek word thus 
 translated. But what is this redemption ? redemption from what '? What 
 is the idea present to the Apostle's mind ? He does not here unfold it. 
 But in chap. v. he speaks of Sin, personifying it as a horrible tyrant, who 
 ' reigns through death,' who has power by nature to inflict death upon us 
 all; and so in Heb. ii. 15, the Devil, as it were, the concentrated essence 
 of sin, is spoken of as having the ' power of death.' The accursed bond- 
 age in which we should all be held, by our mere natural birth, to this tyrant 
 Sin, is, as we shall see more clearly further on, the bondage or slavery 
 from which our Lord has redeemed us. We are all sinful creatures ; and 
 the more we know of God and of His Holiness, the more too we know of 
 sin, and the more we must naturally dread death, as taking us out of this 
 world of things seen into the awful eternal world for judgment. With this 
 knowledge of our sinful state, and without the Gospel, we should, indeed, 
 be bound down under a weight of woe, under the consciousness of a heavy 
 burden, hopelessly aware of our coming doom, and even now feeling it 
 beforehand. Having thus the certainty of the curse upon us, being, indeed, 
 under it already, we should have no motive to strive with evil, we should 
 fall helplessly into the hands of the Evil master as his very bond-slaves ; 
 we can but do his will and perish ; the noblest thought of a man would be 
 to ' curse God and die.' But Christ has come, sent by the Grace and Love 
 of our Heavenly Father, to redeem us, to buy us back with a precious price 
 
84 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 from this state, and to set us wholly free from the power of evil, that Sin 
 ' should no longer have dominion over us.' In what way this ' redemption' 
 is effected, will appear more fully as we proceed. 
 
 114. V. 24. whom God set forth ^ a propitiatio7i through faith in his 
 blood. Dr. Vaughan observes that the word here translated ' set forth,' in 
 the only other passages in which it occurs in the writings of St. Paul, and, 
 indeed, in the whole New Testament (Rom. i. 13, Ephes. i. 9), is used in 
 the sense to propose to one's-self, to purpose. Hence, he says, ' here too 
 it may refer to God's purpose, rather than to His revelation of it — whom 
 God set before Himself as, purposed to make, a propitiation, &c.' 
 
 But without insisting upon this, and adhering to the usual translation 
 of the passage, we may make the following remarks upon it. 
 
 (1) St. Paul here says that ' God Himself set forth,' exhibited, ' His 
 Son to us,' &c. This is in exact accordance with what the Scriptures every- 
 where teach us, that ' All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to 
 Himself by Jesus Christ ; ' though it is a truth, which is painfully left out 
 in so much modern religious teaching. 
 
 (2) St. Paul says that ' God set forth His Son to us as a propitiation,'^ 
 that is to say, as something to make acceptable, as one through whom God 
 will smile graciously upon us as our Father, notwithstanding all our own 
 unfitness. In Him the Father was well pleased, and with us in Him. In 
 His Holy obedience unto death was that expression of perfect righteous- 
 ness exhibited in the life of a Son of Man, which the Father beheld with en- 
 tire satisfaction, and accepting Him, whom He Himself had made to be our 
 Head and Elder Brother and Representative, He graciously accepted us all 
 in Him. 
 
 (3) St. Paul says that God sent forth His Son to us ' as a propitiation 
 through faith in His Blood,'' or ' as a propitiation through His Blood, to 
 be applied by faith ' ( Vaughan). The general meaning of the passage is 
 the same in both translations. It is by looking specially at the fact of our 
 Lord's Death, — at the fact that He, at His Father's bidding, took our nature 
 wholly upon Him without our sin, and in that nature, though spotless and 
 innocent, was given over to share that death, which we must suffer because 
 of our sin, that so He might be wholly one with us, taking part with us in 
 all the evils which sin has brought upon us, except that tendency to sin 
 which we all inherit, — it is by looking at the fact that He was 'made sin' 
 for us, was treated as if He too had sin in His nature, and, therefore, was 
 under necessity to die as we are, though He knew no sin — it is thus that we 
 have the surest sign that our Father loves us, since ' He spared not His own 
 dear Son, but freely gave Him up for us all.' 
 
 Let us imagine a people separated from their King, — ^not only by their 
 
CHAP. iir. 21 — 26. 85 
 
 own wilful faults, but mainly through some acts of their forefathers — and 
 lying now in misery and want, by reason of their rebellion, torn to pieces 
 by civil discord, their fields ravaged, their homes desolated, a prey to fam- 
 ine, and fever, and countless other forms of evil. And, meanwhile, their 
 King, it may be, sits afar off in his own fair land, and their cry, they think, 
 can scarcely reach him, or, if it does, what can they look for at his hands 
 but wrath and judgment ? But his thoughts are not as their thoughts, and 
 he longs to save them from their misery ; yes, in spite of all their faults, 
 he still regards them as his children, and would have them believe that he 
 has indeed a Father's love towards them. And how shall he shew forth 
 that feeling of his heart, and convince those fear-stricken wretches of its 
 reality ? What, if he should send a dear-loved Son, not to visit them for a 
 day or two, and pass away, but to dwell with them, to become as one of 
 them, to come and share their want and misery and famine and fever — all 
 but their sin — to live and to die with them ? "Would not this be enough to 
 convince them of the greatness and reality of his desire for their truest wel- 
 fare, and to bind them down hereafter in loviug obedience to his will ? Can 
 we not conceive how the Prince, who had thus become their own, wholly 
 identified with those whom he had been pleased to call his brethren, would 
 be regarded as their representative, and act as their mediator, — not to 
 screen his people from the anger of their King, but because in his Son the 
 King looked upon them all, because he had given his Son to live and suffer 
 and die for them all, because he was himself in his Son, reconciling his 
 fallen people to himself, not imputing their offences to them ? 
 
 And so has the King of Kings been mercifully dealing with us ; and so 
 does He now look upon us in His Son, whom He delivered even unto death 
 for our offences, and raised again for our justification. Now are we all re- 
 garded as in Him, whom God has given to be our Chief and Head. Through 
 Him we have free access to our Heavenly Father, being counted as righteous 
 for His sake, though in ourselves unrighteous, having peace with God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that our Lord has died, death has 
 lost all its sting and bitterness for us. His brethren. We must die now, as 
 before. But now our death is no longer a token of the curse lying 
 heavily upon us, is no longer a woe inflicted on us by the tyrant, Sin. It 
 is now a loving act of conformity to the death of our Lord. He died, be- 
 cause of our sin, because we are sinners, because He was sent to take part 
 with us wholly in all our misery, except our Sin, because we must die, and, 
 therefore. He, that He might be wholly one with us, came also to die. But 
 now that He has shown His brotherhood with us so completely, as to share, 
 though without stain of Sin, in that sentence of death, which the Sin in our 
 nature has brought upon us, the reason of the ' must ' in our case is entirely 
 changed. We would not now be unlike our Lord, or refuse to go down 
 
86 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 after Him into the dark valley, into which he has gone before, and through 
 which our loving Father in His Wisdom calls each one of us to pass, under 
 the guidance of our Head, that we may enter into His Kingdom of Light 
 and Life. The curse is taken away. Our Father in Heaven smiles gra- 
 ciously upon us, as He looks upon us in His Son, as one in Him, as one 
 with Him, as made wholly one with Him by that crowning act of His Life 
 of Obedience, the shedding of His Blood. ' His death was the central and 
 completive act of the whole work of redemption. The death presupposes 
 the incarnation, life of obedience and self-sacrifice, &c., and is the necessary 
 prelude to the resurrection, ascension, intercession, &c. Thus it is at once 
 the briefest and the most comprehensive term for the whole redeeming 
 work of Christ ' ( Vcmghan). Through that precious Blood-shedding, the 
 whole race has been redeemed from the curse. It is the bond of union be- 
 tween God and Man, the sign that God loves us, loves the whole race, and 
 will deal with them henceforth, even in His severest chastisements, as 
 righteous creatures, not creatures lying under a curse, but creatures whom 
 He has reconciled and restoi-ed to Himself through the Son of His Love. 
 
 (4) But, though all men are thus redeemed, and belong, not to the 
 Devil, but to Christ, and are even now under His care and government, 
 though they may not yet be blessed to know His Name, yet ' to us,^ Chris- 
 tians, the Apostle says, ' God set forth His Son, as a propitiation through 
 faith in His Blood.' We are privileged to know the Great Mystery of God- 
 liness, to know in what way, through the Wisdom of God, we have been 
 redeemed from the power of evil, to look at Christ Jesus through faith in 
 His Blood, and behold in Him the propitiation for our sins, the object 
 which makes us, the whole human race, of which He is the Head, accept- 
 able to God. That blood is the sign and seal of God's Love to us. We 
 have only to believe the witness which it gives us that there is, indeed, 
 ' Goodwill towards men ' in the Bosom of our Heavenly Father. We have 
 only to rest at peace in the assurance that He sees us, not as we are in our- 
 selves, in our sin and deformity, but as we are in Him, in whom we are 
 ' made righteous.' 
 
 (5) But, then, how awfully strong is the necessity which is thus laid 
 upon us. Christians, that we defile not the Body, of which Christ is the 
 Head, and we are the members, by continuance in any known sin ! Let 
 no one dare to turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness. The very great- 
 ness of our Father's Love towards us makes deeper the sense of guilt and 
 misery in those, who have once tasted its blessedness, but have wandered 
 away like the prodigal, to waste the substance of the soul in riotous living, 
 and famish in the far-off land, where, though redeemed creatures, and able 
 to live and act as freedmen of Christ, they have chosen to live as the 
 wretched slaves of sin. 
 
CHAP. III. 21 — 26. 87 
 
 115. V. 24. unto the showing forth of His righteousness^ &c. The 
 English Version is here exceedingly defective and obscure. The Apostle 
 wishes to say that God ' set forth His Son ' with two ends in view, one 
 aimed at indirectly, as one result among others to which the act in question 
 led, the other the direct and special object /or which that act was expressly 
 intended. This difference is expressed in the Greek by the use of two 
 different prepositions, here rendered by to and /or, the latter of them in- 
 volving the idea of throwing the mind or heart forward with a strong will 
 or purpose. What he says, therefore, is that our Lord Jesus Christ was 
 set forth (1) with an indirect object in view, ' unto the showing forth of 
 that righteousness,' which God gave to the patriarchs, and to the Jews gen- 
 erally, and heathen also, in bygone days, and which He gives now, it may 
 be added, to the mass of human kind, who do not yet know the truth as it 
 is in Jesus, 'with a view to the remission' or letting go, ('forgiveness' is 
 too strong a word to represent the Greek in this place,) of the sins com- 
 mitted in the days of ignorance, (' bygone sins,' St. Paul calls them, be- 
 cause he is thinking more of the Jews in former days, than of the Jews or 
 heathen in his own and future days, to whom, however, the same principle 
 of God's 'forbearance' applies,) ' in the time of God's forbearance,' when 
 He ' winked at ' many things, which in the clearer light of the Gospel stand 
 condemned. But, he says, (2) God set forth His Son also, with a direct 
 and special object in view, for the showing forth of that righteousness, 
 which He gives ' in the present time ' to all them that believe, ' so as to be 
 both righteous ' Himself, (that is, true and faithful all along to His prom- 
 ises,) ' and making righteous him who is of the faith of Jesus.' 
 
 In other words, St. Paul says, the secret of that righteousness, which 
 was reckoned to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and which was given to the 
 whole Jewish nation aU along, is now explained. It was not on account 
 of any special merit or virtue of theirs, as the Jews had been supposing. 
 It was simply a gift of God's Mercy, which is meant for all men, which is 
 actually given to all men, and which it is His Will shall now be revealed 
 to all, who are called to the knowledge of His Grace in the Gospel. God, 
 then, is shown to be ' righteous,' true to all His Promises made of old to 
 the Patriarchs, to whom He first revealed Himself more fully than to 
 others ; but He fulfils them in the way in which He always meant to fulfil 
 them, namely, by the way of faith, in which He first gave them to Abra- 
 ham. He is shown to be righteous, 'justified in His words, and clear when 
 He is judged,' though He grants no exclusive privileges, though He extends 
 His gift of righteousness to all mankind, making righteous all, whether Jew 
 or Gentile, ' who are of the faith of Jesus.' 
 
 As before, the fact that such as these, who are able consciously to be- 
 
88 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 lieve in the Gospel, are justified, — have the blessedness of knowing that 
 they are justified, and so have peace with God, — does not exclude the case 
 of baptized or other infants, nor, in fact, the mass of human kind, -who are 
 not yet privileged to know this, but of whom, in chap. v. and in other parts 
 of this epistle, the Apostle distinctly speaks as sharers in this gift of 
 righteousness. 
 
 IIG. v. 26. to the effect of His being righteous, etc. These words are 
 often explained to mean that God does not treat lightly sin in His Universe : 
 but, if He reconciles to Himself, out of His boundless Compassion, our 
 fallen race, it is by sending His own dear Son to bear the weight of woe 
 which we have deserved, to suffer in our stead, as our substitute, in this 
 way to die for us sinners. Thus, it is said. He vindicates His ways, and is 
 able to be 'just, and yet the justifier of him that believes in Jesus.' 
 
 But this, as already intimated in the previous note, is not at all the 
 Apostle's meaning here. He is referring again in these words to the argu- 
 ment which he has been maintaining all along — to the point which he has 
 left unsettled — to the questions which he left unanswered at the beginning 
 of the chapter. He is now, at last, giving the reply to those questions. 
 ' You see, after all, God is righteous, He is faithful in respect of His prom- 
 ises made of old to you and your race. He has now, by the setting forth 
 of His Son, explained what His dealings of old with you meant, how He 
 then regarded you as righteous, called you righteous — not for any merits 
 of your own or your forefathers, but for His own Mercy's sake in Him, in 
 whom He loved you, and not you only, but all mankind, from before the 
 foundation of the world. It was in His Son, the second Head of the Fam- 
 ily of Man, in due time to be revealed, that He loved you then, and not 
 for anything in your forefathers. All the righteousness, which He gave to 
 them. He gave through Him. All the goodness which He saw in them. He 
 saw through Him, from whom alone it came to them, in whom it existed 
 pure and perfect, and undefiled with the consequences of the Fall. There- 
 fore, in now also justifying through faith, and not for works of any kind, 
 ceremonial or moral, He is only carrying out the system, upon which He 
 has all along been acting. There is no fickle change in His purpose or 
 plan, as you suppose, which may render Him liable to the charge of un- 
 faithfulness. You have mistaken the meaning of the old dispensation en- 
 tirely, and supposed that you were made righteous by Circumcision and the 
 keeping of the Law, when Circumcision only declared and ratified, to each 
 individual Jew, the righteousness which God had given him from the first, 
 in the secret counsels of His Wisdom and Love, as a child of man, and the 
 Law, if you understood it rightly, would only condemn you utterly, and 
 work out wrath upon you. Do you now begin to understand that God can 
 
CHAP. m. 27—31. 89 
 
 be righteous, true to His promises to you and to your father Abraham, and 
 yet can extend His gift of righteousness to others,— that He can judge an 
 unfaithful Jew on the one hand, and on the other open wide the Kingdom 
 of Heaven to all ' those that beheve ' ? 
 
 CHAP. III. 27—31. 
 
 (27) Where is the glorying then ? It was exclud- 
 ed. Through what kind of law ? one of works ? No, 
 but through a law of faith. (28) We concludej then, 
 that by faith a man is made righteous, apart from 
 works of law. (29) Is God tJie God of the Jews 
 only ? Is He not also of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the 
 Gentiles also. (30) If, at least, ' God is One,' who 
 will make righteous the Circumcision in consequence 
 of faith, and the Uncircumcision through the faith. 
 (31) Do we then make void law through the faith ? 
 Far from it ; rather we establish law. 
 
 NOTES. "* 
 
 117. V. 21. where is the glorying then? <jcc, *In all this, then, name- 
 ly, God's setting forth His Son as a propitiation, for sins both of the past 
 generations and the present, where is there anything for you to glory in ? 
 Where is the ground of the Jew's pride, his self-conceit of his own impor- 
 tance, his vain confidence in his own merits as a son of Abraham ? The 
 ' righteousness ' and other blessings, which he has, are all a free gift of 
 God's Love. And if Abraham and the fathers of our nation were justified, 
 as no doubt they were, that too was through a law of faith, not of works. * 
 Justified, indeed, they were by the grace of God, as all others of the human 
 race, even before they v/ere born. But if they had this declared to them, 
 if they were privileged to know that they were justified, and to receive a 
 sign and seal of it in circumcision — if thus they had the joy of peace with 
 God, and the pledge given them by God Himself that they were looked 
 upon and dealt with as righteous creatures, — it was simply in consequence 
 of their faith, their taking Him at His owti gracious word, not for any vir- 
 tue they had of their own, not for anything which they had done to make 
 themselves righteous ; and, in fact, in themselves, they were still unright- 
 eous. All glorying then was from the first cut off, if you had only under- 
 
90 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 stood God's dealings with yourselves and your fathers. It was ' excluded' 
 from the first by the ' law of faith,' under which both they and you have 
 really been partaking all along of the mercies of God, and not, as you sup- 
 pose, under a ' law of works,' which could only have condemned you. That 
 very Law of Moses, under which you have been placed, if regarded merely, 
 as you regard it, as a ' law of works,' would overwhelm you with an awful 
 judgment. But that Law itself contains also a ' law of faith,' suited to the 
 wants of sinful creatures. It tells you of the Mercy and Love of God,- as 
 well as of His Holiness ; it provides pardon for the penitent, and means of 
 grace and at-one-ment for all ; and shadows out beforehand, in a thousand 
 gracious ways, the Gospel of Christ.' 
 
 118. V. 12. Is God (the God) of the Jews only? is He not also of the 
 Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also. ' The idea of this brotherhood of all 
 mankind, the great family on earth, implies that all men have certain ties 
 with us, and certain rights at our hands. The truest way, in which we can 
 regard them, is as they appear in the sight of God, from whom they can 
 never suffer wrong, nor from us, while we think of them as His creatures 
 equally with ourselves. There is yet a closer bond with them as our breth- 
 ren in the Gospel. No one can interpose impediments of rank, or fortune, 
 or colour, or religious opinion, between those who are one in Christ. Be- 
 yond and above such -transitory differences is the work of Christ "making 
 all things kin." Moreover, the remembrance of this brotherhood is a rest 
 to us when " our light is low," and the world and its distinctions are pass- 
 ing from our sight, and our thoughts are of the dark valley and the solitary 
 way. For it leads us to trust in God, not as selecting us, because He had 
 a favour unto us, but as infinitely just to all mankind. It links our for- 
 tunes with those of men in general, and gives us the same support in refer- 
 ence to our eternal destiny, that we receive from each other, in a narrower 
 sphere, in the concerns of daily life. To think of ourselves, or our church, 
 or our country, or our age, as the particular exceptions which a Divine 
 Mercy makes, whether in this life or another, is not a thought of comfort, 
 but of perplexity. Lastly, it relieves us from anxiety about the condition 
 of other men, of friends departed, of those ignorant of the Gospel, of those 
 of a different form of faith from our own ; knowing that God, who has thus 
 far lifted up the veil, " will justify the Circumcision through faith, and the 
 TJncircumcision by faith," the Jew, who "fulfils the law," and the Gentile, 
 " who does by nature" the things contained in the law.' Jowett. 
 
 119. V. 30 ' God is One.'' The Apostle quotes here the well-known 
 formula of the Jewish law, ' Hear, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' 
 
 120. V. 30. ivho will make righteous. It should be observed that, 
 both here and elsewhere, when the Apostle says that God 'justifies' any, or 
 
CHAP. Ill, 2T— 31. 91 
 
 * makes them righteous,' he means, that He justifies them in their oivn con- 
 sciences, He brings home to them consciously the gift of righteousness. 
 Abraham, for instance, was righteous in God's sight, before it was declared 
 to him that ' his faith was reckoned to him for righteousness. Jewish Ji 
 children of old were righteous in God's sight, before they were declared to 
 be so in circumcision ; and yet they could exercise no faith at that early 
 age, and many years must have passed before it could have been said of 
 them that they were 'justified in consequence of faith.' So Christian chil- 
 dren are signed and sealed in their baptism as children of God ; but years 
 may pass before the sense of God's Love is brought home to their hearts, 
 before they know the blessedness of being ' made righteous ' by the free 
 grace of God, before they can be said to be ' justified through the faith,' 
 which, in their infant years, they cannot have exercised. 
 
 Hence, St. Paul is not speaking here at all of young children, whether 
 Jewish or Christian, or of Heathens, who have no opportunity of hearing 
 and receiving ' the faith,' as it is in Jesus. Many, indeed, of these latter, 
 walking faithfully according to their light, may enjoy some sense of the 
 gift of righteousness, may be ' consciously justified,' may have some meas- 
 ure of peace within the heart, ' in consequence of faith ' in the Right and 
 True and Good. And ail of them, as St. Paul plainly teaches afterwards, 
 are counted as righteous creatures, though they may not know it, through 
 the Grace of God, bestowed upon the whole human race in His own dear 
 Son, whom He has given to be their Head, and whose members they are. 
 And all will be judged alike. Jews, Christians, and Heathens, by the same 
 righteous rule, according to their works, and according to the light vouch- 
 safed to them, in that day when God shall judge the secrets of men by the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 121. V. 30. in consequence of faith . . through the faith. The Apos- 
 tle's expressions are noticeable ; the change of form in them has a mean- 
 ing. There is but one God for all, he says, and He v/ill deal by the same 
 rule with all, and not make favourites in His judgment of men. He will jus- 
 tify those of the circumcision, Jews of the past and present, who have lived 
 and died as true children of Abraham, not having been brought under the 
 higher influences of the Gospel, ' in consequence of faith,' — not in conse- 
 quence of any works of theirs, their birth from Abraham, or circumcision, 
 or keeping of the law, but in consequence of faith generally, of the living 
 principle which ruled their hearts and governed their actions, however im- 
 perfect and defective these may have been. And the Uncircumcision, those 
 of the heathen, who now and hereafter shall hear and receive the message 
 of life in the Gospel, he will justify ' through the faith ' in Christ Jesus. 
 
 122. V. 31. rather^ ive establish law — that is, law, generally, whether 
 
92 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 that of the Jews, or that written in the consciences of men. 'The faith* 
 of Jesus, influencing the life, will bring forth that faithfulness in daily act, 
 which though at the best very imperfect, so as not to constitute a righteous- 
 ness in the strength of which a man could stand before a Holy God, will 
 yet be far more complete and all-embracing, than any which the law itself 
 could produce. ' What the law could not do, in that it was weak through 
 the flesh, God did effect by sending His own Son,' to live and die for us 
 sinners. Thus are we brought to yield to God's Holy Law a cheerful, wil- 
 ling, happy obedience for Love's sake ; and so the law itself is established 
 and glorified. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 1—8. 
 
 (1) What then shall we say that Abraham, our 
 father, obtained after the flesh ? (2) For, if Abraham 
 was made righteous in consequence of works, he has 
 ground of glorying. But no ! not so before God. 
 (3) For what says the Scripture, ^ But Abraham be- 
 lieved God, and it was reckoned unto him for right- 
 eousness.' (4) Now to one that worketh the payment 
 is not reckoned by way of favour, but by way of debt. 
 (5) But to one not working, but believing on Him who 
 maketh righteous the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for 
 righteousness. (6) Just as David utters the blessing 
 on the man, to whom God reckoneth righteousness 
 apart from works, saying, (7) ' Blessed are they whose 
 iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered over. 
 (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not 
 
 reckon sin.' 
 
 NOTES. 
 123. V. 1. What then shall we say that Abraham, our father, d:c. 
 The Apostle here puts the question in a mild form himself, and not in the 
 person of a hostile and ill-conditioned objector. In fact, he here identifies 
 himself with his brethren—' our father,' what shall toe say ? His argument 
 is this. ' Suppose we drop for the present the question of the Jewish na- 
 tion at large, and confine ourselves to him, to whom we refer as our great 
 forefather, to whom first the promises were given, and to us in him. What 
 
CHAP. IV. 1--8. 93 
 
 then did Abraham obtain by the fleshly ordinance of circumcision, which 
 was enjoined upon him ? What was the value of that ? Was he not made 
 righteous by it, separated from all others as the favoured head of a race, the 
 friend of God ? Does it not seem that he, at all events, was justified by 
 works ? ' 
 
 Many connect the words ' after the flesh ' with ' father,' translating, 
 ' What shall we say that Abraham, our father after the flesh, has gained ? ' 
 
 124. V. 2. for if Abraham was made righteous by works, (tc. St. 
 Paul admits the importance of the question, and answers as if he meant to 
 say, ' It is well to bring the matter to a point, as it were, with this ques- 
 tion. For, if Abraham was made righteous in consequence of works of 
 any kind, then he has, of course, (in opposition to what I have just been 
 saying,) a ground of glorying, something to trust to, and to boast of, inde- 
 pendent of that Mercy of God, which other men need. But, no ! he has 
 nothing of the kind before God. For hear what the Scripture saith, &c.' 
 
 The answer, in fact, is twofold, as he brings it out in the course of this 
 chapter. 
 
 (1) Abraham was justified, was pronounced by God to be righteous, not 
 because of his circumcision, or his acts of obedience, his leaving his coun- 
 try, or offering up his son, but because of his faith, because he trusted in 
 God, he took God at his word, he believed God's promise that his seed 
 should be as the stars, when as yet, in his old age, he had no son. He 
 shewed thus that the principle of true faith ruled in his heart, which would, 
 on all needful occasions, exhibit itself in life and act. 
 
 (2) Abraham was pronounced to be righteous before he was circum- 
 cised. So that his circumcision, like Christian Baptism, was in fact a sign, 
 appointed graciously by God Himself, to declare and ratify to him the bless- 
 ing already given, to convey and make it over to him, as it were, — as a 
 legal document may convey formally a property, which has long ago, in 
 point of fact, been given, and possessed and enjoyed by the recipient. 
 
 125. V. 4. now to one that worketh, <kc. This is an axiom drawn from 
 the every day transactions of common life. ' If Abraham had really worked, 
 even so far only as to submit to be circumcised, on condition of acquiring 
 righteousness thereby,' — (and every Jewish proselyte was taught this doc- 
 trine, that by submitting to circumcision and the other Jewish ordinances, 
 and so becoming one with the chosen people of God, he would thus acquire 
 righteousness in consequence of his work,) — ' it must be admitted that he 
 would have had a right to claim that righteousness as his due. But here 
 in the Scripture, you see, the case is not so. Nothing whatever is said 
 about his receiving righteousness as the discharge of a rightful claim, the 
 payment of a debt ; but he received it simply as a free gift and favour, be- 
 cause he believed in God.' 
 
94 EPISTLE TO THE EOMANS. 
 
 126. V. o. hut to one not workincf, &c. The English reader might 
 suppose that the reference here is to Abraham expressly and singly, as if 
 the Apostle had said, ' But here, in this case of Abraham, to one not work, 
 ing, &c.' The Greek negative adverb, however, here employed, would 
 forbid this interpretation of the passage, if we suppose it to be strictly 
 used. The reference would then be general, to amj siicli^ including, of 
 course, the case of Abraham, — to any one who, independently of works, 
 believes in God, &c. Nevertheless, the former interpretation seems so 
 natural, that it is most probable that St. Paul uses the negative here, as in 
 Hellenistic Greek, without strict classical accuracy. And of this we have 
 other instances in i. 28, ii. 14, iv. 19. 
 
 12*7. V. 6. Just as David also speaks of, d'c. 'So David also speaks 
 very plainly of forgiveness of sin being free and gracious and uncondition- 
 al.' The Apostle evidently considers this forgiveness of sin to be identical 
 with justification, or pronouncing to be righteous ; and having spoken of 
 the ' blessedness ' of receiving the one, he goes on at once, in the next 
 verse, to speak of the ' blessedness ' of receiving the other. In other words, 
 the work of justification is not completed once for all, when we are brought 
 near to God as righteous creatures, redeemed and reconciled in the Son of 
 His Love. It is going on continually, through the Life of our Lord. In 
 Him God still looks on us as children, and sets us up again as righteous 
 creatures, notwithstanding our numerous falls. He still receives us as 
 children, forgives, and blesses us, after each of our sinful wanderings, when- 
 ever we return to confess our fault before Him, and look by living faith 
 unto Him, whom He Himself has set forth as ' the propitiation for our sins, 
 and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.' 
 
 CHAP. lY. 9—12. 
 
 (9) This blessing, then, is it upon the Circumci- 
 sion, or upon the Uncircumcision also ? We say, now, 
 that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 
 (10) How then was it reckoned ? when he was in cir- 
 cumcision, or in uncircumcision ? Not in circumcision, 
 but in uncircumcision. (11) And he received the sign 
 of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith 
 which he had in his uncircumcision : so as to be the 
 father of all that believe in a state of uncircumcision, 
 that the righteousness may be reckoned to them also ; 
 
CHAP. IV. 9 — 12. 95 
 
 (12) and the father of circumcision, to those who are 
 not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the 
 steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had 
 in his uncircumcision. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 128. V. 9. TJiis blessing, then, &c. ' These words of blessing, then, 
 which David utters, — which were meant for him, and Abraham, and all 
 devout Jews, by the free grace of God remitting all their sins, and pro- 
 nouncing them to be righteous, though in themselves unrighteous,— are 
 they confined, as by an act of special favour, to the circumcised, so that 
 the Jew may have reason to think himself exclusively entitled to them, or, 
 at all events, may require the Gentile to accept circumcision, and become 
 himself a Jew, before he could partake of the blessedness ? Far from it. 
 Abraham himself received the announcement of his being righteous, while 
 yet uncircumcised ; and his circumcision was but a sign and seal of the 
 grace already bestowed upon him, just as Baptism is to a Christian.' 
 
 ' The argument may seem slight to us ; it was forcible to the Jew. The 
 state, which was odious and almost loathsome to him, was the state in 
 which the father of the faithful found favour Avith God.' Jowett. 
 
 Manifestly, then, the gift of God's righteousness does not depend on 
 circumcision. 
 
 129. V. 12. hict loho also loalk, <&c. St. Paul here strikes his blows 
 again at the root of the three principles of Judaism, by the example of 
 Abraham himself. 
 
 (1) Righteousness is the free gift of God, to be received by faith, not 
 by works : for Abraham's faith, not his circumcision or any other work, 
 was counted to him for righteousness. 
 
 (2) Righteousness could not be claimed by the Jews exclusively by rea- 
 son of their covenant relations with God : for Abraham was pronounced 
 righteous, not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 
 
 (3) Righteousness could not be received by the Jews differently from 
 other men, by any preference or partial judgment. For those, and those 
 alone, will be pronounced true children of Abraham, and, therefore, heirs 
 of the promises, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, who walk in the 
 steps of his faith, while yet uncircumcised. 
 
»-9 
 
 96 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. * 
 
 CHAP. IV. 13—21. 
 
 (13) For not under a state of law was the promise 
 given to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be 
 heir of the world, but under a state of righteousness of 
 faith. (14) For, if those, who are of law, be heirs, the 
 faith has been made void, and the promise has been 
 done away. (15) For the law worketh out wrath ; 
 since, where there is no law, there is no transgression 
 either. (16) Therefore it is of faith, that so it may be 
 by grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the 
 seed, not to that of the Law only, but also to that of 
 the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, — 
 (17) (As it is written, ' I have made thee the father of 
 many nations,') — in the presence of Him whom he be- 
 lieved, God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth things 
 not in being as if in being ; (18) who, beyond hope, 
 believed in hope, so as to become the father of many 
 nations, according to that which was said, ^ So shall thy 
 seed be.' (19) And, not being weak in faith, he regard- 
 ed not his own body now grown dead, being somewhere 
 about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's 
 womb. (20) At God's promise he staggered not in un- 
 belief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to 
 God, (21) and being fully persuaded that, what He 
 has promised, He is able also to perform. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 130. V. 13. not in a state of law was the promise given to Abraham. 
 The promises, Gen. xv. Y, &e., upon which the Jews relied, as the charter 
 of their greatness, were not given to Abraham, when he was in a state of 
 law, — under the law of circumcision, or under any such law as that of 
 Moses, — but when he had the righteousness of faith ; he had simply trust- 
 
* * CHAP. IV. 13—21. 97 
 
 ed in God, and, so trusting, had been pronounced to be righteous of God's 
 free grace. St. Paul here adopts the usual Jewish interpretation of these 
 promises, which enlarged the meaning of the words ' this land,' * the land 
 which thou seest,' to include the whole world. He may have done this 
 naturally from his own Jewish training, because accustomed to it, and be- 
 cause it was a notion so familiar to his Jewish readers. But he, doubtless, 
 in his own mind spiritualized the promise, to mean that the true seed 
 of Abraham, all true believers, shall, like the peacemakers, ' inherit the 
 earth,' have the full, rich, enjoyment of all things in earth and heaven : — 
 some being able to say, in the highest sense, ' All things are ours, for we 
 are Christ's, and Christ is God's ; ' but all, in every nation, who are walk- 
 ing in the steps of Abraham, that is, who are walking patiently in the path 
 of duty according to the light vouchsafed to them, receiving God's blessed 
 gift, not earned by their works, poor and unworthy at the best, but be- 
 stowed by His free grace — being made partakers, each in their measure, 
 of the peace of God's children, which passes understanding, and which 
 they would not exchange for all the power and riches of the world. 
 
 131. V. 14. if those who are of law he heirs, dec. If only those are to 
 partake of the blessing, who shall have first deserved it, by keeping the re- 
 quirements of law, whether written or not, there is an end to the promise 
 given to Abraham, and his faith, ' the faith,' that was reckoned to him for 
 righteousness, is made void. For the law, with its holy requirements, 
 which we are utterly unable to keep as they ought to be kept, would make 
 it hopeless for any man, and therefore, would have made it hopeless for 
 Abraham himself, to obtain the inheritance. The promise made to him 
 would have been a mere mockery, and his faith, which had been so com- 
 manded, would after all have been fruitless and void. 
 
 132. V. 15. the law ivorketh out wrath. Our own consciences, having 
 some sense of law, condemn us too frequently, working wrath. But ' the 
 law,' the clearer and fuller revelation of God's holy will, '■worheth out 
 wrath' — enlightens our eyes, quickens our consciences, makes us more 
 deeply sensible of our utter inability to carry out that perfect will, leaves 
 us helplessly condemned. 
 
 133. V. 15. lohere there is no law, there is no transgression either. 
 Without law of some kind, there is no transgression. The essence of all 
 sin is to break a known law. Hence, many of the acts of young children, 
 lunatics, &c., though wrong, yet being done in necessary ignorance of a 
 law to the contrary, are not transgressions, are not sins. So, too, under 
 the Jewish dispensation, many wrong things were done, and permitted — 
 sometimes even, commanded — in the Mosaic law, (such as the contracting 
 polygamic man^iages, concubinage, divorce, slavery, wholesale butchery of 
 
98 EPISTLE TO THE EOIVIANS. 
 
 unoffending persons captured in war, a man's killing his slave, ' for he is 
 his money,' Ex. xxi. 21, &c.,) which were not transgressions of any known 
 law, and, therefore, were not sinful then, however now condemned by the 
 letter or spirit of Christianity. And so, too, among the ignorant heathen, 
 many things are practised, which, however offensive in the eyes of a white 
 man and a Christian, are not transgressions of God's known Law, and are 
 not reckoned as sins in the sight of Him, who searcheth the hearts and 
 judgeth righteously the children of men, until that Law is brought home 
 to their hearts and consciences by the teaching of His own Good Spirit, 
 not merely reiterated in their ears, with the voice of authority, by the lips 
 of a Missionary, laying down the law to them, often with most obscure and 
 defective utterance, in some difficult native tongue, upon matters of the 
 deepest personal and social interest. Among the reproofs that will be 
 passed ' in that day,' are there none that will justly belong to us, Christians 
 and Missionaries, for the harsh uncharitable, judgments which we have 
 passed in our arrogant self-confidence upon our heathen fellow-men ? 
 
 134. V. 16. therefore it is of faith, that so it may he by cjrace, d;c. 
 Therefore God has graciously willed it to be of faith, as a favour, a free 
 gift of His Love, that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not de- 
 pending on man's hopeless endeavours to work out a righteousness for 
 himself ' It ' is of faith : what is ? The Apostle does not fill up the sense. 
 We may supply ' the inheritance,' or ' the promise,' or ' the whole,' or, 
 better still, perhaps, * the righteousness,' of which he has been speaking all 
 along, and to which he has just made a fresh reference in v. 13. 
 
 135. V. lY. as it is written, &c. This is an adaptation of Gen. xvii. 5 
 to St. Paul's present purpose. Or, rather, he spiritualises the expression, 
 ' many nations,' which in the original promise referred to the various 
 tribes, that sprung literally from the loins of Abi"aham, in descent from 
 Isaac, Ishmael, and his other sons. 
 
 136. V. lY. in the presence of Him, etc. The Patriarch, Abraham, 
 stands at this moment as the father and type of all believing souls, in every 
 age, past, present, or to come, under all circumstances, in the sight of that 
 God, who looks upon the future as present, and when He says, ' I have 
 made thee, &c.,' already has called into being, as it were, before Him, 
 ' things which are not.' 
 
 137. V. 17. quickeneth the dead. The reference appears to be to the 
 quickening both of Abraham, ' already dead,' and of Sarah's womb. 
 
 138. V. 18. beyond hope, that is, beyond all hope. 
 
CHAP. i\\ 22—25. 99 
 
 CHAP. lY. 22—25. 
 
 (22) Wherefore also it was 'reckoned to him for 
 righteousness.' (23) But it was not written with a view 
 to him alone, that it was reckoned to him, (24) but with 
 a view to us also, to whom it is to be reckoned, who 
 believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the 
 dead, (25) who was delivered with a view to our faults, 
 and raised with a view to our justifying. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 139. V. 22. reckoned to him for righteousness. The quotation is from 
 Gen. XV. 4. 
 
 140. V. 24. who raised up Jesns our Lord fro7n the dead. Let it be 
 noted that the Scriptures do not speak of our Lord rising by His own in- 
 herent power from the grave, of His exerting His own Divine Might to 
 break the bars of death asunder. The language of the Bible is again and 
 again, as here, ' God raised Him from the dead.' Thus ' He was raised by 
 the glory of the Father,' Rom. vi. 4, ' Him God hath raised up,' Acts ii. 24, 
 * This Jesus hath God raised up,' Acts ii. 32, ' whom God hath raised from 
 the dead,' Acts iii. 15, ' God, having raised up His Son Jesus,' Acts iii. 26, 
 ' God that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory,' 1 Peter i. 21. 
 This is our consolation, to know that He, the Son of Man, went down to 
 the grave, as we must do, trusting in God, and God did deliver Him — Him, 
 our great Head and Chief, our Elder Brother. This is our great comfort, 
 the very ground of our hope, to know that a Man in our nature, a perfect 
 Man, a pure, loving, and true-hearted Man, through the power of the Holy 
 Spirit, granted to Him freely, without stint or measure, according to the 
 greatness of the work for which He was sent into the world, — (and that 
 same gracious help will be granted as freely to us, in our measure also, as 
 we need it, in proportion to the work which God calls each one of us also 
 to do for Him in the world,) — was enabled to persevere to the end, trust- 
 ing in God, as any one of us must do, and thereby says the Apostle (Heb. 
 ii. 13) giving the plainest sign of His perfect oneness of brotherhood with 
 us ; to know that, at last, through the same Eternal Spirit helping Him, 
 He gave up, in obedient faith, the mortal life, which He had taken for our 
 sakes, in obedience to His Father's Will, commending His Spirit into the 
 gracious Hands of Him who loved Him, with the cry, ' It is finished ! ' and 
 
100 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 then, further, to know that, by raising Him thus from the dead, God has 
 declared by a mighty sign to us all, that the work of our redemption is, 
 indeed, completed, that as He had died with reference to our sins, so now 
 He has been raised with reference to our justification. 
 
 141. V. 25. who was delivered^ that is, not merely to the suffering of 
 death, but to the whole work of humiliation, which culminated in His 
 Death, reaching from the hour of His Conception to that of His Res- 
 urrection. 
 
 142. y. 25. who was delivered with a view to our faults. The ex- 
 pression '■for our sins,' in the English Version is very ambiguous, and 
 allows all kinds of conjectures to be made by the English reader, as to the 
 way in which our Blessed Lord may be said to have been ' delivered for 
 our sins,' or ' rather for our faults.' For, let it be observed that the Greek 
 word here used is a very mild one to express ' sins : ' in Liddell and Scotfs 
 Lexicon^ the meaning of the singular noun is given, ' a falling beside, a 
 false step, blunder.' It expresses, therefore, all the slips and errors, in- 
 tentional or otherwise, those arising from infirmity and ignorance, as well 
 as from wilful transgression, which the whole human race can commit. 
 ' With a view to ' these, our Lord was delivered. The Greek expression is 
 precisely the same in the two clauses of the verse — ' He was delivered 
 loith a view to our faults ; He was raised ivith a view to our justifying.' 
 Whatever, therefore, may be said in other passages, yet from this now be- 
 fore us, (however naturally it might be drawn from the EngUsh Version,) 
 no inference can be drawn that our blessed Lord was delivered for our 
 sins, in the sense of bearing the burden of them, suffering the punishment 
 due to them, &c., any more than it can be inferred that He was raised for 
 our justification, in the sense of bearing the burden of it, &c. In fact, the 
 Greek preposition here used is precisely the same as that which is used in 
 V. 23, 24, and used similar with an accusative, — ' it was not written with a 
 view to him alone, .... but vnth a view to us also.' In what sense our 
 Lord was delivered specially with a view to our sins, the Apostle does not 
 here stop to unfold. We shall find this fully stated further on. 
 
 143. V. 25. raised with a view to our justifying^ that is, the justifica- 
 tion of us, our being justified. By thus raising our Lord from the death, 
 our Heavenly Father gave us a sign that the at-one-ment or reconciliation 
 was completed, that our Head was accepted as having finished the work 
 which His Father had given Him to do, and in Him we too are accepted. 
 His words are still Hmited, indeed, to those who consciously believe. But 
 in the next chapter he goes on to extend the boundless grace, manifested 
 in the Gospel, to the whole human race. 
 
CHAP. V. 1—11. 101 
 
 CHAP. V. 1—11. 
 
 (1) Made rigliteous then out of faith, we have peace 
 with Grod through our Lord Jesus Christ ; (2) by whom 
 also we have had the access through faith into this grace 
 in which we stand, and glory in hope of the glory of 
 God. (3) And not only so, but we glory also in our 
 tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh out en- 
 durance, (4) and endurance experience, and experience 
 hope ; (5) and hope maketh not ashamed, because the 
 Love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the 
 Holy Spirit which was given us. (6) For, while we 
 were yet weak, Christ at the due time died on behalf 
 of the ungodly. (7) For hardly on behalf of a right- 
 eous man will one die ; liardly, I say, for, perhaps, on 
 behalf of the good man one is ready to die. (8) But 
 God establishes His love to us, in that, while we were 
 yet sinners, Christ died on our behalf. (9) Much more 
 then, being made righteous now through His Blood, 
 shall we be saved through Him from the wrath. 
 (10) For if, being enemies, we were at-oned to God by 
 the Death of His Son, much more having been at-oned, 
 shall we be saved through His Life ; (11) and nut only 
 so, but also glorying in God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, through whom we have now received the at-one- 
 ment. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 144. V. 1. made righteous then out of faith. Made righteous, pro- 
 nounced to be righteous, out of faith, not out of works — of God's free 
 grace, not for any claims of birth, not for our own deservings in any way 
 — we have peace with God, we are assured of His favour to us, we know 
 that He loves us, that He Himself is our Father and Friend. 
 
102 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 Note well that the idea which the Apostle connects inseparably with 
 the use of this word ' faith,' and has principally before his own. mind at all 
 times, is not so much that of the believer's subjective activity in laying- 
 hold consciously of the promises, as that of the objective existence of those 
 promises, as the free gift of God's grace, to be received simply as such, 
 not claimed as a due, in consequence of birth or of works. So in the 
 wilderness it might have been said of the great body of the Israelites, 
 ' Saved then by merely looking at the brazen serpent, not by any long and 
 doubtful medical process,' — where the main thing intended to be marked 
 is not so much the act of him who looks, as if that had any worth in it, 
 but the act of grace which gave him such a simple means of recovery. It 
 is necessary to note this, because the Apostle's words might be understood 
 to mean that none are justified, except they have conscious faith in God's 
 promises in Christ Jesus, — by which, in fact, the justification is made after 
 all an afiair of 'works.' But, of course, the Apostle beUeved, at all 
 events, that young baptized children were justified, though they cannot 
 have faith. It is plain, therefore, that he is speaking in this passage only 
 of adult Christians, — of the access they have had into the actual reahsation 
 and enjoyment of the state of grace in which they stand, (and not they 
 only, but the whole human race, though as yet the mass of mankind do 
 not realise and enjoy it,) of their comfort and peace in the midst of their 
 tribulations, — of their sense of God's Love, shed abroad in their hearts by 
 the Holy Ghost, as they come more and more to know Him, — of their joy in 
 God Himself, when consciously recognised as their reconciled, or rather, 
 reconciling. Father and Friend. In the latter part of this chapter, how- 
 ever, St. Paul extends the gift of righteousness through Christ Jesus to 
 the whole human race. 
 
 145. V. 2. by whom also we have had the access by faith, &c. The 
 Apostle distinguishes throughout two parts of our Blessed Lord's work, the 
 one completed in the culminating act of His Death, the other commenced 
 at His Kesurrection, and carried on now by His Life — the one having 
 reference to our sins, the other to our justification. So here, by the whole 
 work of our Lord upon earth, summed up in His Death, ' we have had 
 access,' — still ' by faith,' that is, by trusting in God's Goodness, not in 
 any deserts of our own — ' into this state of grace,' of at-one-ment or re- 
 conciliation, ' in which we stand ;' by this God declared to us that, though 
 in ourselves ' weak,' ' sinners,' ' enemies,' He yet regards us as His 
 children, having sent His own dear Son to take our nature, to become a 
 true Brother of our race, and, as such, to share our woes to the uttermost, 
 even that which we should otherwise, as sinners, have reason to dread 
 with utter horror, the bitter woe of death ; by this He has at-oned, recon- 
 
CHAP. V. 1—11. 103 
 
 ciled, brought us near, to Himself. And now, being thus rought near, 
 we are kept near. We have peace maintained with God, notwithstanding 
 our daily faults and falls, by the life which our Brother-Man, our Head 
 and King, now lives for us. Because He has been raised from the dead, 
 and God has set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, ever 
 to appear in His Presence for us, we know that we are still justified, that 
 we are still recognised as God's children, that our Father indeed loves us, 
 having given us into His dear Son's Hand for time and for eternity. We 
 know that our hope of maintaining that freedom of access, which our 
 Lord's work on earth was God's appointed means of assuring to us, is thus 
 secured, by the gracious provision of our Heavenly Father, from all fear 
 of being cut ofiF, by reason of our deficiency of works. It does not depend 
 on them or on us — on our frames or feelings, doings or deserts, — but on 
 Fatherly Love of God toward us. 
 
 In one word, we have a peace akin to that, which the children of a 
 loving earthly parent may have in the sense of their security. They may, 
 indeed, do wrong — they may turn to be disobedient or prodigal. But they 
 are still objects of his tender regard. If chastened and corrected, they 
 will be dealt with as children, not outcasts. If even lost to their home 
 for a season or altogether, it will be a thing to break their parent's heart, 
 not satiate his anger. The pain, which such a father would feel at the loss 
 of his child, will abundantly justify his loving embrace, when he goes out 
 to meet the returning penitent, and falls upon his neck and kisses him. 
 He can thus pour out upon him a free and full forgiveness, which in his 
 heart he had ready from the first, without any stain being left upon his 
 character, for not dealing justly with his other children. But they, the 
 dutiful and loving children of the family, will enjoy a settled peace in the 
 assurance of their father's love, a peace which comes from a simple, child- 
 like, trustful dependence — in other words, from faith — not from any thing 
 they have done to draw it forth or deserve it. The difference between 
 this imaginary case and ours is that we have first to be assured that God is 
 our Father, that He does love us, fallen and sinful creatures as We are, 
 most truly and tenderly. And though, it is true, a thousand gentle signs 
 in nature indicate this, — ' the rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling 
 our hearts with food and gladness,' — the flower by the wayside, the beauty 
 which covers the earth, the sea, and the sky, and which our eyes are made 
 to behold, and our hearts to enjoy — yet the reassuring and convincing 
 proof of it, amidst all life's changes and chances, and, above all, under 
 the ever-deepening sense of His perfect holiness and our utter unworthi- 
 ness, is the great Sacrifice of Love, which He Himself has provided for us, 
 and of which the Apostle will speak more freely presently. 
 
104: EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 146. V. 2. and glory in hope of the glory of God. ' Reconciled and 
 at peace with God, and assured of the permanency of this at-one-ment, 
 we too can now glory, not as the Jew glories, with a self-conlident, mis- 
 taken notion of his right to claim a share in God's Kingdom, from some 
 supposed merit in himself, or his forefathers, but with a humble, yet as- 
 sured trust, in our Father's Goodness. We can triumph in the hope of 
 the o-lory of God, a glory this, such as ' eye hath not seen, nor car heard, 
 nor man's heart conceived, but which God hath prepared for them that 
 love Him.' 
 
 14*7. V. 3. we glory in our trihidations also. ' Yes, and our very 
 tribulations, (the pronoun here expressing the Greek article, and implying 
 the certainty that we shall have such tribulations,) so far from being signs 
 that our Father does not love or care for us, are the very things which 
 bring home the sense and assurance of His Love more completely to our 
 hearts. For ' tribulation worketh endurance,' as practice forms the ath- 
 lete, hardships in the field the soldier, ocean-buffetings the mariner, each, 
 after being exercised, being now able to endure more steadily, having ac- 
 quired the habit of endurance, not being now ready to quail and faint at 
 the first sign of danger and difficulty. And ' endurance works experience,' 
 trial, proof of our faith, of its real power to sustain us in the time of our 
 need. And this ' experience works in us hope,' a firm trust that we shall 
 be sustained even to the end, whatever calls of duty may be made upon us, 
 whatever greater trials may await us than any we have yet encountered. 
 And this ' hope doth not shame us,' put us to the blush, before ourselves 
 or before the world, by failing us, and disappointing us, in our season of 
 extremity. Why ? How do we know this ? Why are we sure of it, so 
 as to assert it confidently, not merely of time past, but of all times, of the 
 permanent state of our spirit's life ? Because we are sure of God's love to 
 us, which will not fail us ; because that Love, the sense and assurance of 
 it, has been ' shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which was 
 given to us.' 
 
 148. V. 6. for^ while tee were yet weak, Christ at the due time died on 
 behalf of the ungodly. For here is the plam convincing evidence of the 
 wondrous Love, with which our faithful Creator has loved us, that He 
 gave His Son for us, not as good, and loving, obedient creatures, but as 
 sinners. As St. John also writes, ' Herein is Love, not that we loved God, 
 but that God loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our 
 sins.' ' The point of these words is not that, while we were yet sinners, 
 Christ died for us, but rather that the Love of God (in sending Him), 
 like that of a parent to a child, was called forth by our helplessness.* 
 Jowett. 
 
CHAP. V. 1 — 11. 105 
 
 149. V. 6. at the due time^ at God's appointed time, ' in the fulness of 
 time.' 
 
 150. V. 6. on behalf of . Once for all let it be stated distinctly, thei-e 
 is not a single passage in the whole of the Xew Testament, which supports 
 the dogma of modern theology, that our Lord died for our sins, in the sense 
 of dying instead o/us, dying in our p/ace, or dying so as to bear the pu7dsh- 
 vient or penalty of our sins. It is often said that He died for ics, He died 
 for our sins ; but the Greek preposition, here rendered by 'for,' never, in 
 any single instance, means ' in our stead,' but ' on our behalf,' as in tins 
 passage. The distinction is well shown in the following passage from 
 Xenophon's Anabasis, vii. 9, 10. ' So Seuthes inquired, ' What, would 
 you be willing, Episthenes, to die {hyper) on behalf of this youth ? ' And 
 he, having stretched out his neck, said, ' Strike, if the youth bids it, and 
 will feel obliged.' Seuthes went on to ask the youth, ' if he should strike 
 him {a7iti) instead of him.' 
 
 In the above extract, the first question is merely whether Episthenes 
 would be wilhng to lay down his life in any way on behalf of the boy, not 
 to die in his place. The use of the former preposition does not exclude the 
 idea of the latter, but does not necessarily include it. In fact Episthenes 
 might have died in battle on behalf of the youth, and yet the youth be 
 killed after all. If, therefore, in any other parts of Scripture, it were laid 
 down distinctly that our Lord died in our stead, the ' for ' in such express- 
 ions as that now before us would have to be interpreted accordingly. But 
 the fact is that there is no such statement in the whole of Scripture. The 
 common modern dogma has probably arisen from following the English 
 Version without due attention to the Greek original. 
 
 The real meaning of the expression ' He died for us,' or ' He died for 
 our sins,' is this, ' He died on our behalf,' ' He died for our sakes,' ' He died 
 to help us in respect to our sins.' Just so, we have St. Peter saying, John 
 xiii. IV, ' I will lay down my life for thee,' for thy sake, on thy behalf, in 
 thy defence ; and so St. Paul says, Rom. xvi. 4, ' they laid down their 
 necks /or my life,' in defence of my life, on my behalf 
 
 And the truth is that our Blessed Lord certainly, whatever he did, did 
 not '' die in our stead.^ If it be spiritual death, which is meant, as the 
 doom of our sins, we know that He did not die spiritually at all, and, 
 therefore, did not die in our stead. If it be physical death which is meant, 
 He did die that death for our sakes, but not in our stead, for we must all 
 die that death still. 
 
 151. V. 7. a righteous man .... the good man. There seems to be a 
 distinction of meaning intended in the use of the two Greek words, trans- 
 lated here by ' righteous ' and ' good.' The ' good ' man, the brave and 
 
 5* 
 
106 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 good, indicates a nobler character, more likely to win esteem and warm 
 affection, than the ' righteous,'— the merely upright and just. 
 
 152. Y. 8. But God establishes His Love to tis. Let this be noted: it 
 is God Himself, who establishes, makes sure. His Love to us, in giving up 
 His own dear Son for us. ' All things are of God.' 
 
 153. V. 9. much more, then, being justified now through His Blood, 
 shall we be saved through Him from the wrath, — that is, from the wrath of 
 which he has been speaking all along, as declared not in the law only, but 
 in our own consciences, against all acts of our lives which have been con- 
 sciously evil, as, the best must confess with shame, too many of theirs have 
 been. 
 
 154. T. 9. through Him, that is, through His Life, now that He has 
 been raised from the dead, and ever lives to act as our Head and King, and 
 make intercession for us at God's right hand. 
 
 The Apostle brings out again distinctly the two parts of our Lord's 
 work. (1) We 'have access,' are brought near, reconciled, at-oned, justi- 
 fied, pronounced righteous, through His Blood, in which expression is 
 summed up His whole life of humiliation on earth, from the womb to the 
 grave. (2) We shall be saved through His Life, His ever living to appear 
 in the presence of God for us, from that wrath, which (i. 18) is revealed 
 from God upon all wilful evil, and which, our consciences tell us, as well 
 as the Bible, is deserved by each fresh act of sin we daily commit, sin not 
 of mere ignorance and infirmity, but sin committed, as alas ! we all do 
 commit it, against the Light, and our better knowledge of the pure and 
 holy will of God. We shall be saved, daily and hourly, from that wrath, 
 by having our faults freely pardoned for His sake, when confessed and re- 
 pented of, ' our unrighteousness forgiven and our sins covered.' Frail and 
 faulty as we are, we shall still be looked upon and dealt with as children 
 in Him our living Head. His perfect obedience is that which God looks 
 at, and in Him is He well-pleased, and with us in Him. Our Heavenly 
 Father has given us all, as younger children of the House, into the hands 
 of our Elder Brother, who, by His own course of submission and self-sacri- 
 ficing love, will instruct and guide us ; and He will keep us to the end, 
 teaching us to do more and more perfectly the will of God in this life, and 
 helping us to our joyful resurrection through the grave and gate of death, 
 which we need not fear to enter, since He has gone before. Though ' the 
 wrath' is still there, and ever will be, burning for ever fiercely, while there 
 is any such evil to be devoured by it — the wrath revealed against all " un- 
 righteousness of such as keep down the truth in iniquity,' — yet we are 
 safely sheltered from that wrath in the Love of our Lord. 
 
 Of course, the Apostle will have presently to guard this precious doc- 
 
CHAP. V. 1—11. 107 
 
 trine from antinomian perversion. He here assumes that we are yielding 
 to be embraced by that Love, not wilfully fighting with it, persisting in that 
 which our own hearts know to be evil, and as such to be working death 
 in us. 
 
 '155. V. 10. enemies^ that is, not hated by God, or hateful to Him, but 
 hostile to Him, as in Col. i. 21. 
 
 156. V. 10. we were reconciled to God hy the death of His Son. The 
 language of St. Paul is, ' God hath reconciled us to Himself by the death 
 of His Son.' ' God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself It 
 is not He who needs to be reconciled to us ; for He loves us all along. It 
 is we, poor, sinstricken creatures, who need to be reconciled, brought 
 back, to Him. And, in order to this, as the first step to this, we need to 
 be assured of His Love to us. And He has given the most convincing 
 proof of it, in that He sent His own dear Son to take part with us alto- 
 gether, in all except our sin, in our weaknesses and trials and temptations, 
 and in that which is the very horror of our souls, — that which is the conse- 
 quence of sin in our nature, — by which Sin, as a hateful tyrant, having 
 power to inflict it upon us, triumphs and lords it, as it were, over our whole 
 race — through dread of which so many all their lives are kept in a state of 
 anguish, subject to bondage — which nothing but a firm trust in God's 
 Fatherly, forgiving Mercy, and reconciling Love, can make us face without 
 terror : — He sent Him to take part in our death. And that death He 
 shared, not worn out with the decrepitude of age, wearied with life's toils, 
 and with the framework of the body already crumbling down and decaying 
 — not after long sickness, wearying out its strength and deadening its sen- 
 sibilities ; but in the prime of life, in the fulness and vigour of manhood, 
 under the most distressing circumstances, persecuted, betrayed, forsaken, 
 rejected, — He the pure and meek, the loving and innocent, rejected for the 
 outlaw, the man of violence and blood, — condemned by an iniquitous judg- 
 mentj-with bitter shame, contempt, and mockery, sentenced to suffer cruel 
 pain and anguish, — and all this done, and His precious blood shed, by those 
 whom He had come to bless and save. 
 
 This was the Sacrifice of faith and obedience, offered by One in our na- 
 ture, and perfect unto the end, which our Father's Loving Wisdom had 
 prepared. In this way our Lord took part with that death, which sin had 
 brought upon us all. As He came to take our nature, and to become one 
 with us, whom He was pleased to call His brethren, it was needful also that 
 He should pay the debt of nature, the debt which Sin (according to the Apos- 
 tle's bold personification in the next chapter) had the right to demand of 
 Him, if He was really willing to be a true Son of Man. And now that He, 
 our Head, has paid that debt, we are free. We are made partakers of His 
 
1^ 
 
 108 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 death, are reckoned to have died, to have paid this deabt of sin, because 
 He died. This is the doctrine of St. Paul. We shall die, indeed, still, but 
 no longer as paying a debt which we owe to Sin, no longer as incurring a 
 part of the curse of our fallen nature. The sting of death is taken away 
 for us. We shall die now because our Father wills it, He wills that all His 
 children shall pass, as their elder Brother has passed before them, through 
 death unto life. 
 
 But we are anticipating here the matter, which the Apostle will bring 
 before us more fully in the next chapter. Let the expression, however, 
 once more be noted. The Apostle does not say that God is reconciled to 
 us by the Death of His Son, but that we are reconciled to God. The differ- 
 ence in the meaning of these two expressions is infinite. It is our unwill- 
 ingness, fear, distrust, that is taken away by the revelation of God's Love 
 to us in His Son. There is nothing now to prevent our going, with the 
 prodigal of old, and throwmg ourselves at His Feet, and saying, ' Father, I 
 have sinned ; but Thou art Love.' 
 
 157. V. 11. a7id not only so, but also glorying in God, cCr. Not only 
 so, says St. Paul, not only ' reconciled,' it is too cold a word to use when 
 we speak of our relation to God in Christ Jesus. We too, like the Jews, 
 can triumph and glory in God Himself, as our Father and God — in all His 
 Excellencies and Perfections, in all the wonders of His Power and Wisdom 
 and Goodness. 
 
 • We boast of our recovered powers ; 
 Lords are we of the land and floods ; 
 And earth, and heaven, and all, is ours, 
 And we are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' 
 
 J. Wesley. 
 
 But we do this, not confiding in anything in ourselves, as meriting His 
 regard or claiming His special favour ; we do it ' through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom we have now received,' had given us, ' the reconciliation,' 
 by whom God Himself has now ' at-oned' us, brought us back unto Himself. 
 
 158. V. 11. we have now received the at-one-ment. It is very unfortu- 
 nate that the true meaning of the word atonement, which occurs in this pas- 
 sage in the English Yersion, namely, at-one-ment, or reconciliation, should 
 be so commonly lost sight of, and the notion introduced of something paid 
 down to atone (as it is said), or compensate, to God, or, at least, to recon- 
 cile God to us, for our sins. But the English reader should remember that 
 the word is identically the same in the Greek, as that which has just before 
 been twice rendered in the English Yersion, ' reconciled.' And, as has 
 been said already, St. Paul is not speaking of anything being done to recon- 
 cile God to uSf but of what God has done to reconcile us to Himself; and 
 
CHAP. V. 12—21. 109 
 
 so we find him speaking of our receiving the reconciliation or at-one-ment, 
 as a gift from our Father's Love. 
 
 CHAP. V. 12—21. 
 (12) Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the 
 world, and through sin death, and so death went through- 
 out unto all men, for that all sin ; — (13) For, previously 
 to law, sin was in the world ; but it is not reckoned as 
 sin, if there be no law. (14) Yet death reigned from 
 Adam until Moses, and upon those who sinned not 
 after the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is 
 the figure of the One to come. (15) But, not as the 
 fault, so also is the free gift. For, if by the fault of 
 the one the many died, much more the grace of God, 
 and the gift by grace, the grace of the one man Jesus 
 Christ, abounded unto the many. (16) And, not as it 
 was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judg- 
 ment teas out of one fault, unto a sentence of condem- 
 nation ; but the free gift is out of many faults, unto a 
 sentence of justification. (17) For, if through the fault 
 of the one, death reigned through the one, much more 
 they, who receive the abundance of grace and of the 
 gift of righteousness, shall reign in life through the one, 
 Jesus Christ. — (18) So then, just as through one fault, 
 it passed unto all men, unto condemnation, so also, 
 through one righteous act, it passed unto all men, unto 
 justification of life. (19) For, just as through the 
 disobedience of the one man, the many were rendered 
 sinners, so also by the obedience of the one shall the 
 many be made righteous. (20) But law came in by 
 the way, so that the fault abounded. But, where sin 
 abounded, grace over-abounded ; (21) that, as sin 
 
110 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 reigned tlirougli death , so grace also should reign 
 tlirougli righteousness, unto Eternal Life, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 159. V. 12. through sin, death. Geological discoveries abundantly 
 show that not only was death in the world before man's sin, but that pain 
 was in the world, brute force and violence, fierce, ravenous, animals de- 
 stroying one another, the strong preying upon the weak, the lion upon the 
 lamb. All the notions, then, which are imbibed so unfortunately in child- 
 hood from that noblest of poems, but nursery of bad thedogy, the Paradise 
 Lost, about the effect of the Fall of Man upon the animal creation, must be 
 discarded. Half a century ago, it would have exposed a writer to the 
 charge of heresy or infidelity to have said this, to have asserted that all 
 death did not come into the world in consequence of Adam's sin ; just as 
 two centuries before, it might have brought a philosopher to the stake, to 
 have persisted in asserting that the earth went round the sun, and not the 
 opposite, as the Scripture states it. It is possible that St. Paul entertained 
 this notion himself, namely, of all death having come into the world by 
 sin. For we have no reason to expect scientific knovv^ledge of any kind, 
 beyond that of the people of his age, in a Scripture writer. It is not in 
 this way, by securing an historian, or prophet, or evangehst, or apostle, 
 from all errors of detail in matters either of science or of fact, that the 
 power of the Divine Spirit is exhibited in Scripture. The ' spirit and the life,' 
 which breathes throughout the Holy Book, — that which speaks to the heart, 
 and touches the main springs of being in a man, — that which teaches him 
 what is pure and true and loving, and gives him living bread to feed upon 
 in the seci^ets of his own spiritual consciousness, — this is the work of God's 
 Spirit, these are the ' words which the Holy Ghost teacheth,' — not a mere 
 historical narrative, or a table of genealogies, or a statement of scientific 
 facts, cosmological, geological, astronomical, or any other, in all which 
 matters the books of the Holy Scriptures must be tested by the ordinary 
 rules, which critical sagacity would apply to any other human compositions. 
 So it is quite possible that St. Paul himself may have entertained the erro- 
 neous notion, so common among the best Christians within the memory of 
 the present generation. But the passage before us, perhaps, is hardly 
 enough to show this. He goes on to speak of ' death passing upon ' all 
 mankind; and we may therefore fairly assume that in saying that death 
 ' came by sin,' he is thinlcing, at all events, only of death as entering the 
 world for man by reason of the first man's sin. 
 
CHAP. V. 12—21. Ill 
 
 160. V. 12. for that all sin. The Greek Aorist should be rendered by 
 this form of the English Present (see note 110). The expression does not 
 imply, of course, that ' all are sinning ' at this moment, but is nearly equiv- 
 alent to saying ' all are sinners.' 
 
 161. V. 13. For, previously to law, sin was in the world. The Apostle 
 breaks off his sentence here, with a kind of long parenthesis, extending to 
 the end of v. 17, when he resumes again, in v. 18, the language of v. 13, 
 in slightly modified terms. He appears to have been led into the digres- 
 sion in consequence of his last expression ' for that all sin,' remembering 
 that he had just before laid it down (iv. 15) that 'where there is no law, 
 there is no transgression,' and that, consequently, it may seem contra- 
 dictory now to include in one general formula, as sinners, (in the phrase, 
 ' all sin,') all human beings whatsoever — infants, youu gchildren, and lu- 
 natics, as well as rational adults, — ignorant and untutored heathens, as well 
 as intelligent and well-instructed Jews and Christians. He stops short, 
 therefore, for a few moments to clear up this point, and says, ' For, before 
 lavv^ was given,' (the context shows that he is speaking of written law, and 
 especially the Mosaic law,) ' sin was in the world' — men did wrong, they 
 went astray from the right path, in other words, they sinned (for the Greek 
 word, translated 'sin,' means 'an erring from, a missing of the path'). 
 Still, where there is no law, it is not reckoned properly as sin ; it cannot 
 properly be called sin ; it cannot be regarded as having in it the true 
 essence of that sin, against which God's wrath is revealed, presumptuous, 
 wilful sin, committed against light and better knowledge, which is called 
 by the Psalmist the ' great transgression.' God ' winks at,' and in His 
 mercy overlooks, the ' times of ignorance.' Nevertheless, it was sin — a 
 departure from the path of righteousness and life. And this we see, be- 
 cause all died ; ' death reigned,' all along the stream of time, ' from Adam 
 down to Moses,' all the while before the Mosaic law was given, and onward, 
 — yes, ' and over those who did not sin ' knowingly and wilfully, ' after the 
 likeness of Adam's transgression,' over infants, and young children, and 
 lunatics, &c., all inheriting a fallen nature, as born of Adam, all prone of 
 themselves to sin, as fallen creatures, all having, in their fleshly nature a 
 seed of evil, and, therefore, lying under the necessity of death. For by 
 death only, as St. Paul will presently show, can that evil be brought to an 
 end for us, and the body be redeemed from its power. 
 
 162. V. 14. ivho is the figure of the One to come ; that is, who, by bring- 
 ing, through his unfaithfulness, this necessity of death to every member of 
 the race, is the figure of Him who was to come, and, through his faithful- 
 ness, has brought the free gift of life to every member of the race. 
 
 163. V. 15. not as the fault, so also is the free gift ; that is, the free 
 
112 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 gift of God's grace outdid infinitely, by its consequences of good, the evil 
 consequences of the fault of Adam. 
 
 164. V. 15. the many, which verse 18 shows to mean '■all men,' as, 
 indeed, the context itself proves. For ' the many ' who ' died in Adam,' 
 were, of course, the whole race ; and, therefore also, blessed be God ! ' the 
 many,' to whom ' the grace of God abounded, and the free gift by grace of 
 the one man Jesus Christ,' the gift of righteousness, must be the whole 
 race, the whole family of man. 
 
 165. V. 15. the grace of God. Let it be noted that what the Apostle 
 speaks of here, as ever, is ' the grace of God ' Himself, and the gift (of 
 righteousness) by grace, which God Himself, our Father, sends us, by the 
 one man, Jesus Christ. ' All things are of God.' 
 
 166. V. 17. shall reign in life, shall triumph, exult, in the enjoyment 
 of abundant life. 
 
 16*7. V. 18. so then, just as through one fault, <&c. The Apostle evi- 
 dently intends in this abrupt sentence to put strongly forward the anti- 
 thetical points, namely, 
 
 one fault of Adam .... one righteous act of Christ, 
 
 unto all men unto all men, 
 
 unto condemnation .... unto justification of life. 
 
 168. V. 18. one righteous act. We may understand by this the one 
 eternal act of loving obedience, by which He surrendered Himself to do the 
 Father's will, to take our nature, and become one with us for our redemp- 
 tion — that act including in itself all the precious details of His obedience 
 in Life and in Death. In the next verse, this ' one righteous act' is ex- 
 pressed by ' the obedience of one.' 
 
 169. V. 18. Let the words of this verse be well noted. They are the 
 words of an Apostle of Christ, and blessed be God that he was moved to 
 write them so plainly, that he that runs may read the great truth, the gra- 
 cious message of God's Love to man. By Christ's one act of loving obe- 
 dience, the free gift of God has come upon all men, unto justification of 
 life, that is, unto a justification which brings with it the gift of life. 
 
 170. V. 19. For, just as through the obedience, dr. ' As by the disobe- 
 dience of the one man,' Adam, ' the many,' the whole race, ' were render- 
 ed sinners,' — inherited a sinful nature, and, as they came to years of con- 
 sciousness, sinned actually, more or less, in thought and word and deed, — 
 ' so by the obedience of the one man,' Jesus Christ, ' shall the many,' 
 the whole race, ' be made righteous.' 
 
 171. V. 19. the many shall be made righteous. The use of the future, 
 in tlais and other such passages, seems to contain a reference to the final 
 declaration of their righteousness on the day of account, of that righteous- 
 
CHAP. V. 12—21. 113 
 
 ness which really belonged to ' the many ' all along, through the grace of 
 God bestowed upon them in their Head, and which had already been re- 
 vealed to some, and enjoyed by them, even in this life. But (see notes 81, 
 120, 127) it also refers to the multiplied declarations of righteousness, 
 which shall be made in this life to the individual members of the great hu- 
 man family. Whenever the ' unrighteousness ' of any Jew, Christian, or 
 Heathen, ' is forgiven, and his sin covered,' — whenever he feels any meas- 
 ure of the peace of God's children, in the faithful discharge of any duty, or 
 in forsaking any path of evil, — whenever there is brought home to his heart 
 in any way the message of God's Fatherly Love by means of any one of 
 Earth's ten thousand voices, — then he hears, as it were, a fresh declaration 
 of righteousness, he may know that he is recognised again as a child of 
 God's House. 
 
 Though thus declared to be 'righteous' creatures, in God's sight, 
 whether here, in this world, again and again, or finally, on the great day 
 of account, it does not follow that they will not be judged, — rewarded or 
 punished, as tjjeir Father sees meet, — dealt with, each according to his 
 works. On the contrary, the whole aim of the Apostle is to bring home 
 an assurance to the heart of his reader, that there will be such a judgment 
 for all — that the Jews, though a ' righteous people,' in covenant with God, 
 would not be exempt from it — that all men, though redeemed in Christ, 
 set free from the curse, and made partakers of the gift of righteousness, 
 embraced in a yet more gracious covenant, as children of God in Christ 
 Jesus, would still have to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to re- 
 ceive each a portion at His hands, according to the deeds done in their mor- 
 tal bodies. 
 
 172. V. 20. hut laio cmne in by the loay, dc. But, ' by the way,' pa- 
 renthetically, as the stream of human life flowed on, ' law came in,' the rev- 
 elations of God's will were made more clearly to man, with this effect, that 
 he came to see more plainly the holiness of God, and his own sinfulness, 
 and thus his known conscious wanderings from the way of life were mul- 
 tiplied, and the evil of each act of sin intensified. But God's grace yet 
 more abounded ; it defied, as it were, the power of evil to do its worst. 
 He that gave His law. He that revealed His word. He that sent His Spirit, 
 to convince men of sin, gave also at the same time, with clearer and 
 stronger and more abundant evidence than before, the tokens of His Good- 
 ness. And at last He sent His own dear Son, to make more plain than ever 
 the beauty of Holiness, and the exellence of the Law, with the full message 
 also of His Fatherly Love to all the world, that as sin had reigned and rev- 
 elled, as it were, through the death which it had brought on all the race, 
 so now might grace reign through the righteousness, which it would give 
 to all the race, unto Life Eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
114: EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 173. It may be well to gather up here in one view the doctrine of the 
 Apostle, which he has at length fully enunciated, having advanced step by 
 step in his statement, as the course of his argument required it. 
 
 (1) He announces that in the Gospel is revealed God's gift of right- 
 eousness, which is not to be claimed, as a matter of right or desert, for 
 any works of ours, but springs from God's free Grace, and must be re- 
 ceived by us simply by faith, by looking up to our Father in Heaven, and 
 trusting in His Love. 
 
 (2) As St. Paul knew that the Jew of his day, or the Jewish proselyte, 
 for whom he is more expi-essly writing, even though devout and pious, 
 would suppose himself to be already righteous, in the right of his Jewish 
 birth or practices, and, therefore, fancy that he, at all events, had no need 
 of any free gift of this kind, he must try to convince him of his need of it ; 
 and this he proceeds to do by one or two circuitous steps. 
 
 (i) He leads the Jews on to condemn very strongly the wilful and gross 
 breaches of the moral law among the Gentiles. 
 
 (ii) He turns round upon him suddenly, and asks if he really can be- 
 lieve that the like offences would be overlooked in a Jew, merely because 
 he was a Jew and circumcised. 
 
 (iii) He refers to it as a notorious matter of fact that such offences 
 were committed by Jews. 
 
 (iv) He further quotes the Jewish Scriptures, as confirming this fact, 
 and charging such things against them. 
 
 (v) Having thus broken down, in certain cases, at all events, the wall 
 of immunity, within which the Jew had come to consider himself to be 
 sheltered, as God's special favourite, from that ' wrath of God,' which is 
 ' revealed against all unrighteousness of men, who keep back the truth in 
 iniquity,' he now goes on plainly to assert that no Jew is righteous, in the 
 way he supposes, as a matter of right, by virtue of his descent or his works, 
 but simply by the mercy of God, which gave his Father Abraham his 
 righteousness, and gave his whole nation its righteousness, as an act of free 
 grace, not of debt. 
 
 (vi) But that grace, he says, is not confined to the Jew, but extends to 
 the Gentile also ; for there is one God and Father of all, who will be just 
 and loving alike to all. 
 
 (vii) Hence it has pleased God now, in the fulness of His own good 
 time, to manifest that grace freely to all, as He did formerly in some meas- 
 ure to the Jews ; and this He has done in the Gospel of His Son Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 (viii) But, though now first fully revealed, it was in His Son alone that 
 God looked with favour upon Abraham of old, and the whole Jewish peo- 
 
CHAP. Y. 12—21. 115 
 
 pie, and pronounced them to be righteous before Him. It was through 
 Him alone, and His perfect righteousness, hereafter to be manifested, that 
 God gave to them the gift of righteousness. 
 
 (ix) In fact, as he reminds them, Abraham received the gift while yet 
 in a Gentile state, uucircumcised, and his circumcision was but a sign and 
 seal of the grace already bestowed. 
 
 (x) The Jew, therefore, is as much concerned as other men in, hearing 
 of this gift of righteousness which is announced in the Gospel. 
 
 (3) But the gift is bestowed freely upon the whole human race ; for, 
 as all became sinners and subject to death in Adam, so shall all be made 
 righteous, and be made sharers of the Life that is in Christ. 
 
 1*74. Thus then the ' good tidings of great joy for all mankind ' is 
 this divine announcement, that the whole human race are looked upon and 
 dealt with as righteous creatures, in Jesus Christ their Head. The curse 
 of their sinful nature has been taken away altogether — has been taken 
 away from the first, though the fact is only now fully declared in the 
 Gospel — by God's Fatherly Love. They are not looked upon as they are 
 in themselves, but as they are in Him, in whom God Himself has loved 
 and redeemed them. As by their natural birth from Adam they fell at 
 once, as fallen sinful creatures, under a ' condemnation of death,' so by 
 the free grace of God in Christ Jesus they shall receive, every one of 
 them, a 'justification of life.' The gift of life, which all men possess, 
 whether physical or spiritual, is itself a proof of this. They would not 
 have had such gifts at all vouchsafed to them, if they had, indeed, been 
 still lying under the curse, if they had not been redeemed, and made 
 righteous. The present life, with all its blessings, is one portion of this 
 gift of life, which all men partake of through the grace of God declared 
 to us in Christ Jesus ; the resurrection-life, which they will all share in, is 
 another portion of this gift. But, above all, the spiritual life, which all men 
 now partake of, each in his own measure, is another sign of that ' right- 
 eousness,' which God has given them. He Himself, the Father of Spirits, 
 is everywhere enlightening and quickening the spirits of men. Every 
 good thought, which has ever stirred within a heathen's mind, is a token 
 of that work, which God's good Spirit is working within him, as one of the 
 great Human Family, redeemed by the Love of God in Christ Jesus, and 
 related all to the Second Adam by a second spiritual birth, (of which 
 Baptism is the express sign and seal to the Christian,) as they are by their 
 natural birth to the first Adam. And God's Blessed Will, in bestowing 
 this 'justification of life' upon us, is this, that, making due use of that 
 which is now vouchsafed to us, we may find His Grace still more abound- 
 ing towards us, so that it ' may reign through righteousness unto Eternal 
 
116 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 Life,' — so that the Christian, with his full light of the sun, and the heathen, 
 with his feeble glimmering of daylight, it may be, yet each according to 
 the grace bestowed upon him, ' continuing patiently in well-doing,' may 
 receive the precious gift of ' Eternal Life.' 
 
 CHAP. VI. 1—4. 
 
 (1) What sliall we say tlien ? Are we to continue in 
 sin, so that grace may abound ? Far from it. (2) We, 
 who died to sin, how shall we any longer live in it ? 
 (3) Know ye not that we all, who were baptized into 
 Christ Jesus, were baptized into His Death ? (4) We 
 were buried, then, together with Him through the 
 Baptism. into death, so that, as Christ was raised from 
 the dead by the glory of the Father, likewise we also 
 should walk in newness of life. 
 
 NOTES. 
 175. V. 1. What shall we say then, dr. The great doctrine of St. 
 Paul requires now to be guarded from corruption, lest the grace of God 
 be turned to lasciviousness. All men are redeemed, reconciled, brought 
 back, made righteous, by the love of their Heavenly Father. Does it 
 follow, therefore, that they will not be judged ? that none of them will be 
 condemned and punished? This was just the mistake which the Jews 
 made. Because God had been pleased to single out their nation, — not to 
 be made righteous exclusively, as they supposed, while all other nations 
 were left to perish, — but to have God's gift of righteousness declared and 
 made known to them, signed and sealed to them, while other nations were 
 for a while left in ignorance of the gift, which was meant for them all, as 
 well as for the Jews, and in fact was even then bestowed upon them all 
 — they fancied, that, being righteous, God's people, God's children, they 
 could not be judged and condemned as others, as those * sinners of the 
 Gentiles.' On the contrary, St. Paul means to tell them that the very gift 
 of righteousness and sonship, which they had received, would only make 
 their judgment heavier, and their punishment more severe, if they lived 
 unfaithfully, if they walked unworthily of the grace bestowed upon them, 
 if they ' kept back the truth,' which they knew so much more fully and 
 clearly than others, ' in iniquity.' They would not be judged and con- 
 demned because of their sinful nature, because of their sins of infirmity 
 
CHAP. VI. 1 — 4. 117 
 
 and ignorance. No son or daughter of Adam would be condemned for 
 this. The whole human race is made righteous, and released from any 
 fear of judgment on this account. This alone will be the condemnation 
 of any, whether Jews or Christians or Heathens, that ' Light has come into 
 the world,' come into their very midst, come into their very hearts ; but 
 yet ' they loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds 
 were evil.' 
 
 Accordingly, the Apostle proceeds in this chapter to protect his teach- 
 ing from any such perversion. 
 
 176. V. 2. ]'Fe, who died to sin. We are so accustomed to put a 
 particular meaning on the expression * die unto sin,' that we are likely, 
 without due attention to the context, to lose entirely the spirit of the 
 words now before us, and the whole point of the Apostle's argument. We 
 generally suppose that we are to ' die unto sin ' by some resolute, deter- 
 mined, act of ours, or, rather, by a continued series of such acts, maintain- 
 ed throughout the whole life, by the help of Divine grace, explaining, 
 however, the above language to mean that we are to put sin to deaths to 
 mortify the deeds of the flesh, to ' crucify the old man, and utterly abolish 
 the whole body of sin.' 
 
 But the Apostle is not here speaking of anything which we have to do 
 or have done, by any efforts of ours, by any act or exertion of our own. 
 He is speaking of that which Christ our Head has done, of that which He 
 has done for every man, of that which really and truly belongs to every 
 man, but which by our Baptism is declared and ratified, as done for each 
 of us, baptized Christians, individually. 
 
 The idea, which pervades the whole chapter, is this. St. Paul has just 
 been saying that death came upon the whole human race through sin, — 
 that we have all inherited from our earthly parent a sinful nature, and 
 through that a necessity of dying, — that sin has, by our mere natural 
 birth a right, as it were, to bring death upon us. Sin has ' reigned through 
 death,' — that is St. Paul's expression, — sin has reigned, triumphed, revelled, 
 as it were, inflicting death, over every member of the human race — even 
 over infants, young children, and maniacs, who had never sinned wilfully 
 after the similitude of Adam's transgression, but yet had inherited in their 
 nature from him the taint of corruption, the seeds of death. Thus he has 
 used a strong figure, to make more plain his meaning to us ; he has per- 
 sonified sin, as he elsewhere personifies faith, hope, love, &c. He has 
 represented sin as a sort of tyrant, which, by reason of our natural descent 
 from Adam, has obtained dominion over us, with power to inflict death. 
 So, in another place (Heb. ii. 14) we read of ' him that had the power of 
 death, even the devil.' Maintaining still this figure, he here asks, ' We, 
 
118 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 who have already died to sin,' who have already paid to sin that death, 
 which it had a right to inflict upon us, how shall we any longer consent to 
 live in it, and so bring ourselves again voluntarily beneath its power? 
 
 How then have we already paid this debt due to sin ? In our Saviour 
 Christ we paid it. He died not instead of us : but He died for us, on our 
 behalf; He died unto sin once. He paid to Sin in His own person, as a 
 Son of Man, that debt, which, if He really came to be a true member of 
 the race, a true brother-man. He was bound, as any one of us, to pay, — 
 bound by His owti gracious act, in taking our nature, with all its weak- 
 ness and feebleness, with its necessity of dying, though without its taint 
 of sin. And we are reckoned so completely one with Him, and declared 
 to be so in our Baptism, that His Death is regarded as ours. We have 
 paid this debt to sin, the tyrant, because He, our Chief and Head, has 
 paid it. 
 
 Of course, it is but a figure of speech to say that sin has by nature a 
 claim upon us, that we by nature owe death, as a debt to sin. Dropping 
 the metaphor, the real truth thus meant to be expressed is that our death 
 is a consequence of the sinful taint, which we inherit in our nature — that 
 we must die because of our sin. But our Lord was under no such neces- 
 sity of dying, unless He willed to become wholly one with us, with us in 
 our fallen, sorrowful state, with us in all things, except our sin. If He 
 came thus to be made like unto His brethren, it was needful that He should 
 die. And death, though to us the consequence of sin, has no necessary 
 connection with sin ; there is nothing impure or unholy in death, that a 
 Holy Being should be defiled by it. To Him death was what it is to us now, 
 the necessary painful passage for a human being out of this life to another, 
 without any shadow of the curse to darken it. That the mere pains of 
 death, the faintness of spirit, the shrinking of nature, are no signs of the 
 curse, we must believe, because we know that in ages long before man's 
 sin, the innocent brute creation suffered, as they do now. There is a mys- 
 tery here, which we cannot explain ; but the fact is certain, that suffering 
 and pain and death itself were in the world before man's sin, and, there- 
 fore, they have no necessary connection with sin and the curse. 
 
 Thus, then, we see what our Lord's Death did for us. It did not do 
 away with the necessity of our dying ; for we must still die. But it did 
 away with the necessity of our dying as accursed creatures^ of our suffering 
 death as a part of the curse, of our paying death as a debt, which sin had 
 a right to demand of us. We are reckoned to have paid that debt. 
 When our Lord, the righteous Son of Man, died, as if He were a 
 sinner, as if He were by nature under the curse, as if He were under 
 the necessity of dying. He ' died unto sin,' the Apostle tells us (vi. 10) ; 
 
CHAP. VI. 1 4:. 119 
 
 He recognised, as it were, the right of the tyrant to put Him to death, as 
 a Son of Man. He paid the precious price of His Death for us, as a debt 
 to sin, though He did not owe it, except for His Love's sake to us His 
 brethren; and so dying, He paid, as our Head, a sufficient debt to sin the 
 tyrant, to release us from any further necessity of paying. He paid this 
 debt on behalf of us all, though He paid it not in our stead, that is, He 
 paid it not in the way, in which we, unredeemed, should have had to pay 
 it. He did not bear the weight of the curse ; He did not suffer the ac- 
 cumulated weight of woe, due, as a punishment, to the sins of the world. 
 St. Paul says not a word of this. What he says is the same as we find 
 written in the Epistle to the Hebrews, namely, that He took our nature ' in 
 order that by the grace of God he might taste death for every man ' (Heb. 
 ii. 9). ' For it became Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all 
 things, in bringing many sous unto glory, to make the Captain of their 
 salvation perfect through sufferings.' (Heb. ii. 10) — ' Forasmuch then as 
 the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He also Himself likewise 
 took part of the same ; that, through death. He might destroy him that had 
 the power of death, even the devil.' (Heb. ii. 14.) 
 
 In other words, our Lord, through death, by dying as we sinners must 
 die, declared most fully, by His Father's gracious Will, His brotherhood 
 with us. And so, by the loving Wisdom of God, the cloud of guilty fear 
 has been removed, which must otherwise have hung, by reason of the sin 
 in our nature, between our souls and the blessed Face of our Most Holy 
 and Glorious Creator. The curse has been utterly taken away ; and all we 
 of the human race, being i-ecognised as one with our Head, are counted to 
 be righteous as He is righteous, are made ' the righteousness of God in 
 Him.' We shall die, indeed, still, but we shall not die under a curse ; we 
 shall die as righteous creatures, creatures freed from the curse, however 
 they may need to be chastened. We shall die now, not because we must 
 pay a debt to sin the tyrant, not because we must suffer it as a penalty, an 
 awful doom, because of our sin ; but because our Heavenly Father wills it, 
 because we must follow the steps of our Blessed Lord, because, as He our 
 Head and King and Elder Brother passed through the grave and gate of 
 death, so must we pass also — they that have done good to a resurrection 
 of life, they that have done evil, and have died in evil, to a resurrection of 
 condemnation — to be beaten with few or with many stripes, as He shall 
 order, who, in that day, as we are told, shall execute judgment, ' because 
 He is the Son of Man.' 
 
 I'ZY. V. 3 were baptized into His Death, that is, were declared by our 
 Baptism to have a share in His Death. Going down under the water, (as 
 the custom was of Baptism in those days,) as into a grave, they were 
 
120 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 ' buried,' as it were, ' with Him by baptism into His Death.' It was a sign 
 and symbol of their being so united to Him, that His Death became theirs, 
 that, because He had died unto sin, they had died also. All men have 
 thus a share in the precious Death of Christ their Lord ; though the mass 
 of human kind do not yet know the Love wherewith they are loved. But 
 we, Christians, know it, and we have our Baptism as the assurance and 
 pledge, the sign and seal, of all our Father's loving-kindness to us, the out- 
 ward token of that other mightier sign and seal, the inward pledge of God's 
 Love, which every living man has, namely, the secret work of His own 
 good Spirit in the heart. Thus it is our Father's will for us. His children, 
 to whom He has graciously revealed His message of life, that ' by two im- 
 mutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie,' — by the outward 
 visible sign and promise, and by the inward spiritual grace, the living wit- 
 ness of His Love within the heart — ' we should, indeed, have a strong con- 
 solation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us in 
 the Gospel.' 
 
 I'ZS. V. 4. that^ like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory 
 of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. We all have 
 a share in our Saviour's Life as well as in His Death ; we have both died in 
 the death of Christ our Lord, and been raised in His Resurrection. Such 
 is the wonderful language which the Apostle uses. What He, our Head, 
 did, that we, the members of His Body, share in — we, the whole brother- 
 hood of Man, — we, the whole race, whose nature He took upon Him. So, 
 then, he says, we have a ' new life ' given us ; we stand in new relations to 
 God and His glorious Universe ; we know now for certain that we are re- 
 garded, not as accursed, but as redeemed creatures. Behold ! all things 
 are become new to us. We are to walk henceforth, not hanging down our 
 heads in fear and trembling and despair, but rejoicing as free and happy 
 creatures, as children of God and brethren of Jesus Christ. 
 
 179. V. 4. raised by the glory of the Father. St. Paul speaks here, as 
 elsewhere, of our Blessed Lord, not as raising Himself from the dead, or 
 rising by His own inherent powers, but, as ' being raised by the glory,' by 
 the glorious Might and Majesty, ' of the Father.' This is a point which he 
 insists upon continually, that our Lord, when He came to be ' made sin,' to 
 die as a sinful man on our behalf, gave up His human spirit in the hour of 
 death into His Father's hands, as any one of us, His brethren, must do in 
 our hour of death, — He ' trusted in God,' as any one of us must do,— and 
 God did deliver Him, and raised Him from the dead, and, so raising Him, 
 declared His good-will towards us all of the human race, declared that in 
 Him, as a Man, our Brother, He was perfectly Avell pleased, and with us all 
 in Him. 
 
CHAP. VI. 1 — 4. 121 
 
 180. V. 4. we also should walk in newness of life. Though his words 
 are true in their measure (v. 15 — 21) of all mankind, yet the Apostle is 
 especially speaking here of Christians, to whom their Baptism is a sign and 
 seal of their share in the death of their Lord, and also in His Resurrection- 
 Life. This is expressed in the Church Catechism by saying that the inward 
 spiritual grace, or free gift of favour, which is given us in Baptism, is * a 
 death unto sin ' and ' new birth unto righteousness.' These words of the 
 Catechism are often explained to signify that in our baptism is set forth to 
 us our dut^ to die unto sin, to mortify and kill all vices in us, and so to 
 walk in holiness of life, as becomes God's dear children. Of course, it is 
 true that we ought to do so ; but just because we have already died unto 
 sin, and risen again unto righteousness, in our very birth-hour, through the 
 gracious gift of God, by that mysterious union with Christ our Head, which 
 we all enjoy through the grace of our Heavenly Father, as members of the 
 great human family, and by virtue of which we are partakers of the Death 
 which He died, and of the Life which He now lives. That is the ' death 
 unto sin,' — our share in our Lord's own ' Death unto sin,' — and that is the 
 ' new birth unto righteousness,' — our share in our Lord's own ' Life unto 
 God,' (Rom. vi. 10,) — which are said to be given to us as the inward spir- 
 itual grace, set forth to us by the outward visible sign in our Baptism. 
 
 Light may be thrown upon this point by considering the language used 
 in the Catechism in the case of the other Holy Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper. In that case, the ' inward spiritual grace,' or free gift of favour, 
 set forth to us by the Bread and Wine, is not something in ourselves, or 
 something to be wrought in ourselves, but something out of ourselves, some- 
 thing that is given us in Christ, a share or participation in which our 
 Father gives us as the free gift of His Love. The Body and Blood of 
 Christ are represented to us by the Elements, whether we come to feed by 
 faith upon them at that particular time or not. These things, out of our- 
 selves, are set forth to us in that Holy Sacrament, as the source of all Life 
 of every kind to us all, of all the blessings which we enjoy in our daily life, 
 personal, family, social, or national — as the great provision of our Father's 
 Love for us, of which we are partaking, day by day, at every moment, as 
 redeemed creatures, though we may not know it or may not heed it, — of 
 which every man everywhere is partaking, though he may not know what the 
 "Word made Flesh has done at his Father's bidding for the children of men. 
 But, in that Holy Supper, these things are brought vividly before us by the 
 ' outward and visible sign ' of them ; and we are called more closely and 
 deeply to consider them, and to feed upon them in our hearts by faith. 
 Whether we do feed by living faith upon them or not, at such times, these 
 things are then set forth to us, as God's free gift, His gift of grace, to the 
 6 
 
122 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 children of men. "We may thankfully use the precious gift, or we may sin- 
 fully abuse it, ' not discerning the Body of the Lord,' which the sign is 
 meant to signify. But the point now to be noticed is that the ' inward spir- 
 itual grace ' is not the effect wrought upon ourselves by coming to the Holy 
 Sacrament, depending, therefore, on the spirit in which we come to it, but 
 the Body and Blood of Christ, which are graciously given to us of God, 
 which we may or may not faithfully partake of, which are given to us, 
 hov/ever, and to all the human race, not only in the Sacrament, but at all 
 times, and of which, in fact, all men are everywhere partaking, through 
 God's mercy, and so receiving all the life they have, as redeemed creatures, 
 whether they feed upon it by living faith or not, whether they know the 
 precious gift of God's grace or not, whether they heed or disregard it.* 
 
 In like manner, in Holy Baptism, the outward visible sign ' of water, 
 in which the person, in those days, was immersed or, as it were, buried, is 
 the sin, indeed, of our dying and rising again, but this death and resurrec- 
 tion is not something iji ourselves, or something wrought in ourselves, but 
 something out of ourselves, something that is given us in Christ, which is 
 set forth to us in the Sacrament of God's gift of grace, of which we are 
 partakers, which is bestowed freely upon us and all mankind, and depends 
 not in any way on the spirit in which we come or are brought to the Sacra- 
 ment. That gift is a ' death unto sin,' which is given us because Christ 
 died, and a new life, a * new birth unto righteousness,' which is given us, 
 and daily maintained in us, because Christ lives. So ' being by nature,' by 
 our mere natural descent from Adam, ' children of wrath,' lying under a 
 curse, ' we are hereby made,' that is, adopted, avouched, declared, taken 
 formally to be, what in truth we were before from our very birth-hour, 
 ' the children of God.' Before our baptism we were partakers of the Life 
 and Death of our Lord, we were receiving daily supplies of mercy for body 
 and soul, by virtue of His Body and His Blood, which our Father's Love 
 has given to be the source of all blessing to the children of men. But we 
 had no assurance that they might not be taken from us, by reason of our 
 own manifold unworthiness, that we might not be left, at some time or 
 other, in our hour of need, forsaken and forlorn. At all events, whatever 
 we might reason out to ourselves, as many pious heathens have done, in 
 order to assure our hearts before Him, by considering the signs of God's 
 Goodness, and ' pondering these things,' and so coming to ' understand 
 the Loving-kindness of the Lord,' it has pleased our Blessed Lord to order 
 and appoint a special outward sign, to confirm the mercies of our God to us. 
 In Baptism a gracious pledge is made to us, a right is given to us, that we 
 may humbly claim a share in Christ's Life and Death, His Body and His 
 
 * See " Sermon on tlie Eucharist" at the end of this volume. 
 
CHAP. VI. 1 — 4. 123 
 
 Blood, at all times, as our Father's own free gift of grace to us. Hence it 
 is said in the Catechism, that the ' inward spiritual grace ' is given to us in 
 either Sacrament, because it is then and there set forth and formally 
 pledged, signed, sealed, and, as it were, made over to us. 
 
 Let us imagine that an earthly parent were to take and train among his 
 own children, the child of another, perhaps, of some poorer family, and, 
 on a certain day, were to go through a formal process of adoption, and 
 inake it his child. He may not change in the least, after that hour, his 
 ov/n bearing towards the child. He may treat it, after this formal adop- 
 tion, with just the same kindness as before. The child may perceive no 
 difference whatever in his dealings with it, except that, as it grows in years, 
 it will begin more and more to understand and appreciate his love. In 
 that love it may really have been as secure (excepting human accidents) 
 before the adoption as after it. But here is the difference. The father 
 has now put it out of his power to change his purpose towards the child, 
 and the child knows this. He has given it two things now to trust in, his 
 love so long experienced in the past, and his actual pledged promise for 
 the future. Whereas, when it had done wrong at any time, a fear might 
 have entered its bosom, that, after all, it might be sent away for its faults 
 to its want and wretchedness again, and cut off from the family which it 
 dishonoured, now the father, out of the kindness of his heart, has given an 
 assurance that this will never be. It may stray from its path of duty, and 
 for a while, it may be, absent itself as a prodigal from its home. It may 
 even, in its madness of folly, renounce its claim upon the father's love. 
 But he will ever reckon it as a child of the house ; he will ever be ready to 
 give it its place in his heart. He will chasten it, as a child, it may be ; or 
 he will go out and meet it, if need be, in after days, and fall upon its neck 
 with tears and kisses, when he sees it returning in penitence, should it 
 ever, in its wild self-will, have wandered away to the far-off land. But he 
 will never forsake it. He has, in this formal act of adoption, declared the 
 long-settled purpose of his heart. He has made it his child ; and, as a 
 child, it shall ever receive at his hands, notwithstanding all its faults, a 
 father's tender pity, forgiveness, and love. 
 
 Just so our Heavenly Father's Love towards us does not depend upon 
 our being baptized or not. Our baptism does but declare it, and assure it 
 to us. It assures, and by His own gracious kindness, pledges his faithful- 
 ness to us, that vve are, in very deed and truth. His children, that He has a 
 Father's heart towards us. ' Being willing more abundantly to show unto 
 us the immutability of His Counsel,' He confirms the secret purpose of His 
 heart towards us by this outward sign. He makes us, adopts us, to be His 
 children in Baptism ; and gives us the right henceforward to claim with 
 
124 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 humble reverence a Father's tender pity and forgiveness at His Hands. 
 The ' rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and 
 gladness,' — all good and beautiful and blessed things around us, — the way- 
 side flowers and the woods ' so full of song,' — -all these have power to wit- 
 ness of our Father's Love to us, to say to us, 'Rejoice! Rejoice!' If 
 we had no other ground of hope vouchsafed to us, a wise and pious heart 
 might have reasoned, by ' pondering these things,' that they were tokens 
 of a deeper mystery, 'outward and visible signs' of some most precious 
 ' inward spiritual grace,' bestowed upon the children of men by their Cre- 
 ator. They might have been — these common things beside our daily 
 pathway — a sign to us of our Father's Love, of which the seal is the work 
 of His Spirit on our hearts, and on the hearts of all men. But our Bap- 
 tism is the sign which Christ Himself has ordained to assure us of this, 
 to confirm the testimony of all the glad tones of nature, to explain her 
 more sad and sorrowful utterances. Our Baptism becomes thus a glorious 
 reality, — not to separate us from our fellow-men, as if we were any better 
 or safer than they, under one Father who loves us all, — but to rouse us up 
 to earnest action in our daily paths of duty before Him, assured, as we are, 
 ourselves, of His Love. Having now no fear of death, having paid the 
 death already in our Lord which Sin, the tyrant, could have claimed, hav- 
 ing ' died unto Sin ' when He died, — and having also the joyous gift of a 
 new life, because our Lord lives, — we are to go forth in the confidence 
 that all men everywhere are sharing these blessings, though as yet they 
 may not be privileged to know it — honouring our brother-men, whoever 
 they may be, as members of the Great Human Family, whom God hath re- 
 deemed for Himself in His own dear Son, — and longing and labouring to 
 tell them, in life and act, in our own persons, if we may, or by helping 
 others in our name to tell them, of One Love, of which all earthly loves are 
 telling, of which all precious thoughts are whispering in the very centre of 
 their being, which embraces us all. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 5—11. 
 
 (5) For, if we have become planted witli (Him) in 
 the likeness of His Death, so too shall we he (in that) 
 of His Kesurrection ; (6) Knowing this, that our old 
 man was crucified with (Him), so that the body of sin 
 should be destroyed, that we might no longer serve Sin. 
 (7) For he, who has died, has been emancipated from 
 
CHAP. VI. 5 — 11. 125 
 
 Sin. (8) But, if we died with Christy we believe that 
 we shall also live with Him ; (9) knowing that Christ, 
 having been raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death 
 hath no longer mastery over Him. (10) For, in that 
 He died, He died unto Sin once for all ; but, in that 
 He liveth. He liveth unto God. (11) Likewise, reckon 
 ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto Sin, but living 
 unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 181. V. 5, so shall loe he in that of His Resurrection. "We have here 
 again the use of the future tense, which we have noted so often, and find 
 again in verse 8, ' if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live 
 with Him ' — implying that, though the redeiiiption, which our Lord wrought 
 for us by His Death, was wrought and completed at once, yet the salva- 
 tion, which is now being wrought out by His Life, is a work progressing 
 continually unto completion. It is plain that St. Paul does not mean, by 
 the words now before us, that we shall be like our Lord in His Resurrec- 
 tion, merely because we shall be raised from the dead at the judgment-day ; 
 because in v. 11 he bids us reckon ourselves to be 7ioio ' dead unto Sin, 
 but ' living unto God,' as our Lord has once ' died unto Sin,' but now, being 
 raised again, ' liveth ever unto God.' What he means, therefore, is that 
 we shall be ' planted with ' our Lord ' in the likeness of His Resurrection,' 
 by having had a new life given us now, and by that life being continually 
 maintained in us by the grace of God, after the likeness of Christ's Resur- 
 rection-Life. ' The completion of the promise is future ; but there is an 
 
 approximation to it now The process being gradual, beginning as 
 
 soon as he (the Christian) receives any portion of Christ's Spirit, advan- 
 cing as he receives more, and perfected at death, the language used to de- 
 scribe his state is apphcable, more or less fully, to different stages of his 
 progress.' (Vaughan.) 
 
 182. V. 6. our old man, the Adam man, that which we should have 
 been by nature, by our mere natural birth, if unredeemed by the grace of 
 God in Christ Jesus. This ' old man ' it is which has ' died unto Sin,' has 
 paid in Christ the death which Sin had a right to claim — has been ' cruci- 
 fied with Christ ' — that so the ' body of Sin should be destroyed,' the ' body 
 of death,' as St. Paul calls it afterwards — that body which belongs, as it 
 were, as a slave, to Sin, over which Sin would have had a right to rule, 
 
126 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 with which the old man would have done the works of Sin, and earned, as 
 wages, death, death all along, death in the doing of the work and after it. 
 This body, according to the figure here employed, has been destroyed or 
 done away, in the Death of Christ. We have no longer any such body be- 
 longing to Sin, wherewith its works can or ought to be done. The body 
 which we now have is Christ's body, it belongs to Christ, it ought to be 
 used in the service of Christ, by the new man, with the new life which we 
 have given us, by our participation in Christ's Resurrection-Life. We may, 
 indeed, take our bodies, which belong to Christ, and use them for Sin, and 
 yield ourselves up again, body and soul, to do the will of the tyrant. But 
 we are bound not to do so ; we are set free from the thraldom of Sin. Sin 
 has no more any power to claim dominion over us, to require us, as its 
 slaves, to do its work and die. 
 
 183. V. 7. for he, who has died, has been emancipated from Sin. For 
 one that has died, one who has paid to Sin that death, which it had power 
 to claim of us by our natural birth, has by that act been set free, eman- 
 cipated, from Sin. Sin has no more right to have further dominion over 
 him, to treat him as its thrall, its bond-slave, any longer, or to bring death 
 upon him any further. 
 
 184. V. 7. It is noticeable that St. Paul in this passage does not repre- 
 sent the necessity of death, which is a consequence of sin in our nature, as 
 a doom which God inflicts upon the race — innocent as they must be, mul- 
 titudes of them, babes and others, of all wilful sin. He carefully guards 
 his words from this. It is Sin, the tyrant, who inflicts it — not God, the 
 gracious Father of Spirits ; it is ' the Devil,' who ' has the power of death,* 
 who keeps ' many all their life-time subject to bondage.' 
 
 Of course, this personification of sin is but a figure of speech. But, 
 nevertheless, it represents to us a very precious truth. It implies that the 
 death of the human race is a necessary consequence of the sin in their na- 
 ture, according to the moral order of the Universe, not a doom, which the 
 Great and Blessed God, who is called in Scripture the ' Faithful Creator,' 
 passes, as a judgment, upon His fallen creatures, however helpless, and in- 
 nocent of real conscious guilt. It implies that when our Father permitted 
 the human race to be propagated, so that it was brought, ' not willingly, 
 but by reason of Him who subjected it,' under the inevitable necessity of 
 death, as a sin-tainted race, He, at the same time, in his Eternal Counsels, 
 gave the gift of new life to us all. He did away with the curse, and con- 
 verted that death, which we must all die, into a blessing. 
 
 For death in itself, as before noted, is no sign of a curse. Death was 
 in the world, for the countless races of animals and animalcules, ages be- 
 fore man's sin. There was no sign of curse in their death. Nor would the 
 
CHAP. V. 5—11. 127 
 
 death of man be attended with any notion of a curse attached to it, but 
 for the consciousness of sin. The" less we know or think of sin, the less 
 we dread death ; the more we know and think of sin, the more we dread 
 it, unless we have the Light, of God's Love in the Gospel to cheer us. As 
 human beings, bound by ties of tender affection to one another, there is, of 
 course, connected with death, the grief of separation from those whom we 
 love. There is also, generally, the anticipation, and the actual sense, of 
 pain and physical distress. But the sense of grief and pain is not the sense 
 of a curse. And feelings of this kind are often overpowered by nobler 
 feelings, quickened within the hearts of men, even heathen men, by the 
 grace of God, though untaught, by more intimate acquaintance with the 
 truth, as we Christians know it, to understand more fully the baneful na- 
 ture of sin, and to bless God for its antidote revealed in the Gospel. How 
 many thousands die on every battle-field, or in the active discharge of life's 
 duties in every land, without any dread of death, as necessarily coupled 
 with a curse ! What notion of a curse embittered the glorious hours of 
 those who fell, fighting for their homes and their fatherland, at Thermo- 
 pylae or Marathon ? So, then, the idea of death is not necessarily connect- 
 ed in the minds of men with that of a curse. 
 
 But then comes the Law, and brings home to our consciences the sense 
 of sin, of evil committed, against the light we had, and our belter knowl- 
 edge, and better resolves, before the Face of a Most Pure and Holy Being. 
 And the Devil — the Slanderer — the Accuser of God and of the Brethren — 
 makes \ise of this to fill our hearts with guilty fears, which keep us away 
 from our Father's footstool. He teaches us thus to connect the idea of a 
 curse with death. And many go trembling along the path of life, with the 
 gloomy grave at the end of it, afraid to look the ghastly terror in the face. 
 And so they turn their eyes ever, as it were, to the ground, as they go, and 
 busy themselves closely with the petty things of this life, its business and 
 pleasures, that they may for the present forget their fears, instead of mak- 
 ing light of death, as they might, as they ought, and manfully pressing on 
 to do the work of their Lord. 
 
 For how utterly unchristian, how utterly contrary to the whole spirit 
 and letter of the Gospel, is this notion of death, as something to be dread- 
 ed, not merely for the pain, or present sense of separation from the objects 
 of our love, which it brings with it, but for itself, for some idea of a curse 
 attending it, as the carrying out of a fearful doom, a judgment from God, 
 which Adam's sin has brouglit on his race ! Separations take place con- 
 tinually in families, lifelong separations, for various reasons in the common 
 path of duty, with grief of heart, no doubt, and the dropping of natural 
 tears of pure affection, sometimes with bitter pain and anguish, but yet 
 
128 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 without sense of awe or horror. Extreme pain is undergone under various 
 circumstances, in the hospital-ward, on the battle-field, far exceeding in in- 
 tensity that which we see to be generally connected with death. Often 
 such pain is borne courageously and cheerfully, sometimes with fear and 
 shrinking ; but there is no sense of horror, no notion of a curse, mixed up 
 with this fear. Now, if we read the New Testament rightly, we shall learn 
 to look at the separation which death brings with it, and the pain which 
 may attend it, in something of this temper. We shall learn to look upon 
 death, as a Christian should do, as St. Paul did, who takes but little ac- 
 count of it, and makes very small provision in his letters for the comfort 
 of bereaved friends, and none at all for the dying Christian himself, except 
 to tell him that he has fought the good fight, and finished his course, and 
 may now hope to enter into rest. Indeed, we make far too much of death 
 in these days. We crown him King of Terrors, when our gracious God 
 and Father has bereft him of all his power to harm us, has deprived bun 
 of his sting, and made him a messenger of grace to us. 
 
 Will it be said that after death still comes the judgment ? Why, yes, 
 and before death too. And this is the point, which we ought to bear in 
 mind, not to prepare for death^ but to prepare for our Lord's appearing, 
 for His coming to judge us, as He may do at any moment, as He actually 
 does, from day to day, from hour to hour, in the ordinary work of common 
 life, as well as on special great occasions. The reason why we are so prone 
 to connect this judgment only with death is this, that we cannot conceive 
 of its actually taking place in this blessed world, where on every side we 
 find a Father's Love. And yet it is really taking place from day to day 
 even here. A Father's Hand is blessing continually, or chastening His 
 children. But we feel as if we shall then stand before Him all alone, 
 stripped of the countless gifts of His Goodness, which here relieve our 
 fears, and are meant to do so under the Gospel of His Grace, but which 
 are too often perverted into reasons for sinning yet more, and turned into 
 lasciviousness. In truth, however, the 'judgment after death' is but the 
 carrying on of that which is going on in life, — the manifestation of that 
 which is now taking place, it may be in silence and secresy, — the revela- 
 tion of that Lord, who is even now, daily and hourly, taking account with 
 His servants. Those, who never bethink themselves now of their Master's 
 Presence, will, indeed, then see Him, perhaps, for the first time, who has 
 been with them, speaking in their consciences, observing and overruling 
 their doings, all along. And those, wlio have been consciously ' keeping 
 back the truth in unrighteousness,' all their lives long, and have died, 
 hardened in impenitence, may have reason to dread death, because it will 
 bring them face to face with Him, whose Voice they have heard in their 
 
CHAP. VI. 5 — 11. 129 
 
 hearts, whose Light shone upon their minds, whose Love they felt on every 
 side, and yet they chose ' the darkness rather than the light, because their 
 deeds were evil.' But even to such as these death itself has no curse at- 
 tached to it. It is but the gate, through which tbeh* Lord and Master calls 
 them to Him, that He may pass the righteous sentence of His Love upon 
 them — that is, that He, who knows exactly what they are, in consequence 
 of what they have done, may appoint for them that lot, that degree of puri- 
 fying chastisement, which they need. And this, indeed, may be something 
 fearful and terrific, as the needful rod is to children. 
 
 But Christians should learn to make light of death, as St. Paul did. 
 Indeed, he tells us, ' we shall not all die.' And, as we do not couple the 
 ' change,' which, St. Paul says, will pass on the bodies of some, by which 
 ' this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on 
 immortality,' with any notion of a curse attached to it, so neither ought we 
 to connect any such notion with death, as it will come to others. To ' die ' 
 or to ' be changed,' it is all one, it should be all one, to the Christian. 
 How courageously and cheerfully may we go to the duties of life, whatever 
 dangers they entail upon us, with this thought to sustain us, instead of 
 shrinking and weakly wailing with fear at the idea of death ! To the frail 
 flesh, indeed, the form of death may be often terrible ; but the thing itself 
 ought not to be ever to the spirit. There are some, who will say ' good- 
 night ' to one another, and retire to rest, perhaps at early eve, perhaps at 
 midnight, and who, on waking on the glorious mom, will put on their new 
 apparel. There are others who will not go to rest at all, but, having 
 watched all night, will rise up at once at the break of ' that day,' and be 
 clothed upon, and mortality be swallowed up at once in life. 
 
 185. V. 8. we shall also live with Him. As noticed before (see note 
 181), the Apostle is not speaking here only or chiefly of our living with 
 Christ hereafter. He is speaking of our living now with Him, in the like- 
 ness of His Resurrection-Life. He is speaking of that ' life unto God,' 
 which is bestowed upon us as redeemed creatures, together with a ' death 
 unto Sin,' as our portion in our Lord's own Life and Death, which was 
 given us from the first moment of our existence, and of which our Baptism, 
 therefore, is not the efficient agent, but the declaration, the sign and seal, 
 to us, and withal ' a means of increasing it (Art. xxvii.) by virtue of prayer 
 to God.' The future is used here, as in 181, and elsewhere so often, to 
 imply that for this life we shall be continually depending, from moment to 
 moment, on the Life of our Lord. The ' death unto Sin ' is given us once 
 for all. But the ' life unto Righteousness,' our life, as members of Christ 
 our Great Head, as sharers in His Resurrection-Life, which began with the 
 first moment of our being, though first formally given, assured, made over 
 6* 
 
130 EPISTLE TO THE EO]iIANS. 
 
 to us, as God's blessed gift in our Baptism, is maintained in us, day by day, 
 and fihall be to the end, by His never-failing Life. 
 
 186. V. 9. Christ, having been raised from the dead, dieth no more. 
 For Christ's Life, now that He is raised from the dead, we know, will not 
 be yielded up again. He has paid to Sin that hfe, which He took as a 
 human being. He died, as His Father willed it, as if He too had sin in His 
 nature, like any one of the children of men. And so was His brotherhood 
 with them completely exhibited ; ' He was made perfect,' as their Head, 
 ' through suffering.' And now He will die no more for ever : death has 
 no more any power over Him. He ' died unto Sin,' He paid the claim of 
 Sin, ' once for all ; ' and now ' He liveth unto God.' And, therefore, that 
 ' life unto righteousness ' which we have all received — which is as much a 
 part of our inheritance, as human beings, from the Second Adam, as the 
 sin in our nature was from the First, — that life will also be permanent. 
 We are to reckon ourselves as ' dead to Sin,' as having died unto Sin, hav- 
 ing paid to Sin, in our Lord's Death, that death, which the tyrant had a 
 right to exact from us, ' but living unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 
 
 CHAP. VI. 12—14. 
 
 (12) Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal 
 body, unto obedience to it (Sin) in the desires of it (the 
 body) ; (13) Nor do you surrender your members unto 
 Sin as instruments of unrighteousness. But surrender 
 yourselves unto God, as alive from being dead, and 
 your members unto God, as instruments of righteous- 
 ness. (14) For Sin shall not have lordship over you ; 
 for you are not under law, but under grace. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 187. V. 12. let not Sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, <tc. 
 And what is the direct inference from all that has been said ? Why, surely 
 this. Let not Sin reign, lord it, as if it had any right to do so, in your 
 mortal body, so that you should obey Sin in your natural bodily desires. 
 Sin is there, no doubt ; it is there in your nature : it will pretend to have 
 a power over you, to have a power and a right to make you do its work 
 with your bodily members, and receive, of course, its wages, death. And, 
 so long as you continue in this ' mortal body,' thus it will ever be. Sin 
 will take occasion by the desires of the body, its natural desires, to lord it 
 
CHAP. VI. 12—14. 131 
 
 over you, and keep you in subjection, and treat you as its slaves. But do 
 you boldly deny its claim. Do not allow it to play the king over you, and 
 ' reign iu your moi-tal body,' so that you should willingly comply with it in 
 regard to the body's desires. Your body, though mortal, is no more a 
 ' body of Sin ; ' it no longer belongs to Sin ; it belongs to Christ. As a 
 ' body of Sin,' it is dead, through your share in Christ's death. It is now a 
 body of righteousness, wherewith you may present daily unto God a ' living 
 sacrifice, which is your reasonable service.' Therefore, though Sin may vex 
 you by its assertions of sovereignty, and now and then, perhaps, get the 
 better of you for a season, yet do not let it ' reign,' ' do not fulfil the lusts 
 of the flesh.' 
 
 188. V. 13. nor do you surrender your members unto Sin ^ d:c. Do not 
 habitually yield up to Sin, as your lord, those bodily members of yours, 
 that they may do its work as instruments of unrighteousness. But yield 
 yourselves unto God, as men who have died, but are alive, — who died unto 
 Sin, when Christ died, but are now living unto God, because Christ lives, 
 — and yield your bodily members unto God to do His work as instruments 
 of righteousness. It is noticeable that the Greek word, which means ' sur- 
 render,' or ' yield up,' and which occurs twice in the above passage, is in 
 the first instance used in the Present Tense, implying the easy habitual 
 yielding, day by day, to the impulses of sin, as they prompt to evil, in the 
 natural desires of the body ; whereas, in the second instance, it is used in 
 the Aorist, implying the vigour, energy, decision, with which we must re- 
 solve that this vile tyrant, who falsely claims from time to time to have 
 power over us, shall not be obeyed at such times, shall not be allowed the 
 use of our bodily members as instruments of unrighteousness. 
 
 189. V. 14. for Sin shall not have lordship over you, de. Sin shall 
 not have power to exercise lordship over you as its slaves, to treat you as 
 such, and work its work of death upon you : for you are not slaves of Sin, 
 but servants of Christ. Nay, however a man may choose in his corrupt 
 heart to do the works of the flesh, and to serve Sin as a slave, instead of 
 serving the Gracious Lord who bought him, yet for all that he is not really 
 a slave of Sin, his body is not really a ' body of Sin,' a body belonging, as 
 a thrall, to Sin. He has been ' bought with a price.' He belongs to the 
 one true and only Lord of the children of men, and He will deal with His 
 unfaithful servant as He sees best. Sin shall not have lordship over him — 
 the right to treat him as its slave, the right to dispose of him, and work 
 out its work of death upon him. The true Lord of that servant shall call 
 for him, and reckon with him, and appoint him his portion as He sees 
 right, — perhaps to be chastised and corrected by being cast into the outer 
 darkness, ' where is the weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.' 
 
132 EPISTLE TO THE KOMAl^^S. 
 
 But to each faithful soul, using still this metaphor, the Apostle would 
 say : ' Though you are conscious of Sin within you, of Sin in your nature, 
 tempting you from time to time in the natural desires of the body, trying 
 to bring you into bondage — and though you are conscious also, not only of 
 these impulses to evil, but of times also when you have yielded to the im- 
 pulse, of sinful thoughts and words and acts, enough to darken all the joy 
 of your spirit's life, to bring you under the heavy judgment of the law, and 
 force you to cry out against yourself, ' Unclean ! Unclean ! ' — yet fear not, 
 my brother ; remember that, for all that, you are not a slave of Sin, but a 
 servant of Christ, and a child of God ; you are not under the Law, but 
 under Grace — under Mercy and Love, forgiving and embracing you. When 
 Sin, as it were, is dragging you away in its clutches, conscious of the past 
 evil you have done, of the miserable weakness by which you have yielded 
 to temptation, of the utter wretchedness and helplessness of your condition, 
 — when the Slanderer brings the just and holy Law to bear upon you, and 
 tells you that a creature so impure and defiled, so enslaved, as it would 
 seem, in the service of the Evil One, cannot ever hope to enter into the 
 Presence of the Blessed God, to behold the Face of the King afar off in His 
 Glory, — then bethink you of the birthright which belongs to you, ' through 
 the loving-kindness towards man of God our Saviour ' — your birthright, as 
 a man, fallen, indeed, in Adam, but redeemed in Christ, Remember that 
 you have no need to lie thus bound, in the thraldom of Sin. Sin has no 
 right to claim this lordship over you. Take with you words of hope, of 
 living trust in your Father's Love, and say, " Sin shall not lord it over me ; 
 for I am not under Law, but under Grace, Let the Law say what it will ; 
 it is not for me ; it is for ' murderers and men-stealers,' for all such as ' keep 
 back ' wilfuUy * the truth in unrighteousness.' And that I will do no 
 longer. In myself, I know, I have no strength whatever to refuse the claim 
 of Sin, to resist its power. But He still lives who is our King and Head ; 
 and, because He lives, we shall all live also. His Death I have a share in ; 
 in Him I have died to sin ; and Sin cannot claim from me a second death, 
 because of my bearing about with me a fallen nature. His Life also is 
 mine ; and the very sense, which I have, of my own sinfulness, is a sign of 
 that Life being even now imparted to me — is a token that my Father loves 
 me, though most unworthy to be loved. Because the Lord of man liveth, 
 I can refuse, and every man living can refuse, to be the slave of sin, I will 
 not let it reign then in this my mortal body, I will not obey it in my 
 body's desires. Though I may not be able, through the weakness of the 
 flesh (see note 195), perfectly and all at once to do this, yet I will renounce 
 obedience to the lusts of the flesh, I will not fulfil them." 
 
CHAP. VI. 15—20. 133 
 
 CHAP. YI. 15—20. 
 
 (15) What then ? Shall we sin, because we are not 
 under Law, but under Grrace ? Far from it. (16) Know 
 3^ou not that, to whom ye are surrendering yourselves 
 slaves unto obedience, slaves ye are to him whom ye 
 obey, whether of Sin unto death, or of obedience unto 
 righteousness ? (17) But thanks be to God that ye 
 were slaves of Sin, but ye obeyed from the heart the 
 form of doctrine, into which ye were delivered over ; 
 (18) and, being set free from Sin, ye were enslaved to 
 Kighteousness. (19) I mean what is human (humanly 
 possible), because of the w^eakness of the flesh. For, as 
 ye surrendered your members slaves to Impurity and 
 Lawlessness unto lawlessness, likewise now surrender 
 your members slaves to Eighteousness unto sanctifica- 
 tion. (20) For when ye were slaves to Sin, ye were 
 free from Kighteousness. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 190. V. 15. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not tmder Law, 
 hut under Grace ? Shall we thus turn the loving mercy of our God into 
 an excuse for lasciviousness, living loosely and carelessly, because the 
 judgment of the Law is no longer to be dreaded, because we know that 
 we are children of the House, and have a place, all unworthy as we are to 
 have it, in the heart of our Heavenly Father ? God forbid ! 
 
 191. V. 16. Know you not that, &c. Do you not perceive that who- 
 ever gives himself up to do the work of any master, as an obedient slave, 
 is practically the slave of that Master, whatever he may call himself, what- 
 ever he may have a right to call himself? And, remember, all that can 
 result from being ' a slave of Sin,' from ' keeping back the truth in in- 
 iquity,' is death — a gloomy sense of guilt and unrighteousness, a gradual 
 darkening of the mind, and hardening and deadening of the heart, a deep- 
 ening consciousness of separation from the Holy and Blessed One, the 
 Fountain of all Light and Life to His Creatures ; whereas the result of 
 
134 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 ' obedience ' to the truth, which God has revealed to you, whether bv the 
 written word or by the secret teaching of His Spirit, the ' end of walking 
 in the Light as He is in the Light,' is 'Righteousness' — the realisation and 
 enjoyment of that gift of righteousness, which is yours as redeemed crea- 
 tures, a sense of fellowship with God, a cheerful, happy freedom of the 
 soul, in the enjoyment of His favour, as righteous creatures, as children 
 of His Love. 
 
 192. V. 17. thanks be to God that ye were slaves of Sin, d:c. 'There 
 was a time, indeed, when you did thus surrender yourselves to be, prac- 
 tically, the slaves of Sin, and yielded up your members to do its will.' The 
 Apostle is, of course, not speaking of all among them, but is speaking 
 generally of what would have been the case with many of his readers, be- 
 fore their conversion from a state of heathenism. When writing to the 
 Corinthians, (although the Church of Corinth was in a very defective state 
 at the time he wrote,) he says only, speaking of the corruptions of their 
 former heathen state, ' And such were some of you.' So here, speaking 
 generally, he says, ' Once, in the days of your heathenism, you did yield 
 yourselves up to that hateful tyrant to do his will. But, thanks be to God ! 
 you obeyed from the heart, with sincerity of purpose, however imperfectly 
 through the weakness of the flesh, the form of doctrine into which you 
 were delivered over.' And here, too, he is, no doubt, speaking charitably 
 of them all, in the fervour of his love to them., speaking what he could not 
 know, but what he hoped and believed of them all. 
 
 193. V. 17. 2/ow obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine into ivhich 
 you ivere delivered over. What form of doctrine was this y He cannot be 
 speaking of the pure Christian doctrine, into which the converts from hea- 
 thenism at Rome had not yet been ' delivered over,' as appears plainly 
 enough from all that he has been writing, and all that he has still to write. 
 He must mean that Jewish doctrine, which they had imbibed at first, and 
 afterwards mixed with a certain infusion of Christianity. This Jewish 
 training had taught them many precious lessons, though mixed with many 
 fables and corruptions of the truth. But they had ' obeyed it from the 
 heart.' They had renounced their idolatrous rites and vicious practices, 
 and, in obedience to the truth which had reached their hearts, they had 
 earnestly striven to lead a new life, as became the servants of Jehovah. 
 They were not of the number of those, who ' kept back the truth in ini- 
 quity,' or to whom the severe language of the Apostle, in various parts of 
 the epistle, is meant directly to apply ; though, indirectly, he does desire 
 to warn them agamst those fatal errors, into which the most pious of them 
 might be easily drawn, by the example of the true-born Jews, with whom 
 they were daily associating. For their ready obedience to the truth, a3 
 
CHAP. VI. 15—20. 135 
 
 hitherto brought home to their consciences, tlie Apostle gives thanlvs. 
 They had done their best with the light which God had given them. And 
 the time was now come for a fuller stream of Divine Illumination to be 
 poured upon tlieir eyes. 
 
 "'You readily obeyed the mould into which jon were poured, as it 
 were, like soft, ductile, and fluent metal, in order to be cast and take its 
 form. You obeyed the mould, you were not rigid and obstinate, but were 
 plastic and pliant, and assumed it readily.' The metaphor suggested itself 
 to the Apostle in the city of Corinth, where he was writing, which was fa- 
 mous for casting statues in bronze." Wordsworth. 
 
 The use of the Greek Aorist in this verse and the next shows that the 
 Apostle is referring to a single act, to the decisive action which they took 
 at the time of their conversion, or, perhaps, to separate acts, by which 
 they had embraced, from time to time, the truth, as it more fully reached 
 them. 
 
 194. v. 18. and being set free from Sin, ye were enslaved to Righteous- 
 ness. When the word of God's truth and grace had come home to you, 
 and you believed and obeyed it, you refused to be any longer the slaves of 
 Sin ; you felt that Sin was not to be your lord, that you were set free from 
 its tyranny, that you were no longer obliged to obey it, nor compelled to 
 yield up your members to do its work ; and with a willing heart you 
 yielded up yourselves and your members as ' slaves unto Righteousness.' 
 
 It might seem, at first sight, that he is using here the word ' Righteous- 
 ness ' in a different sense from that in which he has employed it all along, 
 if we judge merely from the words with which he contrasts it. Thus in v. 
 16 it is opposed to ' death,' in vv. 18 and 20 to ' Sin,' and in v. 19 to ' im- 
 purity and lawlessness,' which may be considered as another amplified ex- 
 pression for Sin. These variations might, of course, be explained by the 
 fact that St. Paul couples closely in his mind the idea of si7i with that of 
 death, and the idea of righteousness (uprightness, goodness) with that of 
 life, and opposes the one set of ideas to the others. But, on closer con- 
 sideration it will appear that he is not using the word here in this sense, as 
 directly antithetical to ' sin,' but in that sense in which he has been using 
 it all along, namely, to express ' God's gift of righteousness,' the righteous- 
 ness which God gives in His Son, which being a gift of life, (a 'justification 
 of life,' as he calls it,) he employs as antithetical to sin and death, suffi- 
 ciently so, at least, for the apostle's manner of writing. That this latter, 
 though not the most obvious, is the true interpretation of St. Paul's mean- 
 ing in this passage, seems to be confirmed by the language which he uses 
 afterwards in x. 3, — ' seeking to establish their own righteousness, they 
 were not subjected unto God's Righteousjiess,^ — where the expression, 
 
136 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 ' God's Righteousness,' is, evidently, the same which he has been repeating 
 all along. Here, then, God's Righteousness is personified as a lord or 
 master, just as in the passage now before us. And the phrase, 'subjected 
 unto God's Righteousness, esactly corresponds with that here used, ' en- 
 slaved unto Righteousness,' which expression he changes, in v. 22, into 
 ' enslaved unto God.' 
 
 195. V. 19. I mean what is human^ because of the mjirmity of your 
 fesh. When I say you became ' enslaved to righteousness,' I mean ' hu- 
 manly speaking,' with such allowance as human weakness, the weakness of 
 your flesh, must call for. I know you cannot, as fallen creatures, in your 
 present state of being, perfectly fulfil the will of your rightful Master. 
 The things that you would, I know by my own experience, you often do 
 not, and you do the things you would not. Though washed by God's 
 grace, and cleansed from the pollution of your former servitude, you will 
 still have daily to ' wash your feet,' and confess before God the faults of 
 which you are daily conscious. But you obeyed the truth, as you came to 
 know it, with the heart, with sincerity of purpose and a single eye. You 
 come now to the light continually, that all the remainder of corruption may 
 be purged out of you, and all your deeds be ' made manifest, that they 
 are wrought in God.' 
 
 196. V. 19. for^ as ye surrendered your members, 6:c. ' Without mean- 
 ing, then, that you can perfectly do this, yet, as you once gave up your- 
 selves heartily to be the willivg slaves of Sin, yielding your members up to 
 impurity and lawlessness, so as to become each day more lawless and im- 
 pure in heart, so now give up yourselves heartily, with the like ready zeal, 
 to be the willing slaves of Righteousness, and grow thereby each day in 
 holiness.' 
 
 197. V. 20. for, when ye were slaves of Sin, ye were free from Right- 
 eousness, that is, free with respect to Righteousness. ' For, of course, you 
 could not serve two Masters at once. While you were willing servants of 
 Sin, and therefore practically its slaves, you could not be servants of God 
 and His gift of Righteousness ; you were renouncing the grace of God as 
 your Master, and repudiating its claim to rule you, as one of God's family 
 and household.' 
 
 CHAP. YI. 21—23. 
 
 (21) What fruit had ye then in those things, at 
 which you are now ashamed ? For the end of those 
 things is death. (22) But now, being freed from Sin, 
 and enslaved unto God, ye have your fruit unto holi- 
 
CHAP. VI. 21—23. 137 
 
 ness, and the end (is) Eternal Life. (23) For the 
 wages of sin is death ; hut the free gift of God is 
 Eternal Life, in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 198. V. 21. Wliat fruit had ye then, dx. All the fruit, all the enjoy- 
 ment, which you had in those days, in the practice of those things, which 
 now it shames you to think of, could have been only a little guilty pleasure 
 for a season. But the end of those things, that which they were really 
 working in you at the time, that which they result in necessarily by the 
 laws of the moral universe, is death — that death which is the opposite of 
 the Life Eternal here spoken of, Eternal, Spiritual Death, the sense of sep- 
 aration from God, and from the Light and Life and Joy of His Presence, — 
 which is the sure result of wilful, indulged, sin of any kind, and becomes 
 more dark and fearful, as the power of evil over its voluntary slave be- 
 comes daily more confirmed. 
 
 199. v. 22. but now, being freed from Sin, &c. ' But ye have shaken 
 off this accursed bondage. You have heard the message of your Heavenly 
 Father, and claimed your freedom as God's servants, and the hold of Sin 
 was loosened at once upon you, and you ceased to be its slaves. And in 
 the service of God and His Righteousness, under the happy government of 
 His Free Gift of Grace, which binds you under a law of loving obedience, 
 you find your fruit, your joy, in daily increasing holiness of heart and life. 
 You feel a growing strength within you, a strength which God gives you, 
 to do the things you would, and refuse to do the things you would not. 
 You feel your peace grow deeper day by day ; and the end of all, that 
 which is being daily wrought in you, and shall live, as the permanent result, 
 when time shall be no longer, is Life Eternal, that life which is given us in 
 Jesus Christ, that we should know Him, who is the only true God, revealed 
 to us in His Son. 
 
 200. V. 23. For the wages of Sin is death ; but the free gift of God is 
 Lfe Eternal, in Christ Jesus our Lord. The wages of Sin, that which Sin 
 will work in you for doing its will, is death. [Observe that here again, as 
 before (see note 184), the Apostle refers this death to the accursed tyrant 
 Sin, and not to the Gracious and Blessed God.] But the free gift of God, 
 that which we do not deserve and cannot earn, by any labour of ours, — 
 (for, when we offer of our best, we do but offer that which He gave us pure 
 and perfect, which we have defiled, more or less, by our sinfulness) — that 
 which He gives us of His own gracious purpose, out of the overflowing foun- 
 tains of His Love, — is Life Eternal, in His dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
138 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 1—4. 
 
 (1) Do you not know, brethren, (for I speak to men 
 knowing law,) that the law has power over a man so 
 long as he iiveth ? (2) The wife, for instance, is bound 
 by law to her husband while he lives ; but, if the hus- 
 band have died, she is discharged from the law of her 
 husband. (3) So then, while the husband lives, she 
 will be called an adulteress, if she become another hus- 
 band's ; but, if her husband has died, she is free from 
 the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though having 
 become another's. (4) Just so, my brethren, you too 
 were put to death to the law by the body of Christ, so 
 that you should become another's, even His, who was 
 raised from the dead, that so we might bring forth fruit 
 unto Grod. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 201. The Apostle has just been likening Sin to a tyrant, who lords it 
 over us by nature, as if we were its slaves, bound to do its work and take 
 its wages. He has taught us how, by the death of Christ, we are set free 
 from the claim of that tyrant, and redeemed for God's service, and ought 
 now to render up ourselves in loving obedience to God's blessed will, and 
 we shall receive His gracious gift. Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 But how does Sin get such a power to lord it over us ? The strength of 
 sin is the Law. Sin has power to enslave, torment, and kill us, because 
 of the existence of God's Holy Law, which pronounces us to be guilty, dis- 
 obedient creaturesj as our sin-stricken hearts too surely feel, — which, with 
 its j)erfect requirements, make demands upon us such as we cannot fulfil. 
 So the Devil drives us to despair. We feel that we cannot ' do these things 
 and live ; ' and we are tempted to give up the hopeless struggle, and to fall 
 back helplessly into the clutches of Sin, to do its hateful work, ' curse 
 God, and die.' Such is the way in which the pure and holy law of God, 
 brought home to the conscience, is used by the Slanderer, to work death in 
 us. It is very noticeable, as before observed, that St. Paul does not say 
 that the Law dooms us to death, as the punishment of our faults. He says 
 
CHAP. VII. 1 4. 139 
 
 that Sin takes advantage of the existence of a Holy Law, to bring death 
 upon us, to get us to do its work and so receive its wages. Death is not 
 represented as the just retribution inflicted upon sinners, by an angry God, 
 but as the natural, inevitable, consequence of their choosing to continue as 
 slaves of Sin, a consequence flowing from the necessary eternal laws of the 
 moral universe. 
 
 The Apostle proceeds to explain the matter by the use of another figure. 
 The Law, he says, was by nature the husband of the soul : it has a right, as 
 a husband, to lay its commands upon us, and we feel that we ought to obey 
 it ; for they are holy, just, and good. But its commands are impossible to 
 be obeyed by us ; the soul of man must utterly despair of pleasing its first 
 husband, the Law : it would inevitably fail in its duty, and form, in its 
 madness and despair, a vile adulterous connection with Sin, which (and not 
 the blessed Law of God) will bring it to ruin, misery, and death. But the 
 first husband of man's soul is dead, says the Apostle, which metaphor, feel- 
 ing it to be not quite correct, he afterwards modifies, (introducing thereby 
 a little obscurity into his reasoning,) and corrects it by saying that the soul 
 itself has died to its first husband. The first life of the soul came to an 
 end when we died in Christ, (such is the Apostle's figure,) and the claim 
 of its first husband, the Law, came then also to an end. The soul is now 
 married a second time to another Husband, in another life, in that new 
 life which it lives, united to Him whom God hath raised from the dead, 
 by virtue of the share which God has given it in Christ's Resurrection- 
 Life. 
 
 202. V. 1. I speak to men knowing law — law generally, not the Jewish 
 law. 
 
 203. v. 2. the wife is hoiincl hy the laiv to her husband while he lives. 
 The Apostle's meaning is sufficiently plain ; but there is here a little con- 
 fusion in the statement of his argument. He has changed, inadvertently, 
 the line of thought, which he was pursuing in the first verse. And now, 
 instead of the person dying, and the law losing its hold upon him, the il- 
 lustration he here gives is that of the husband dying, and the law so losing 
 its hold upon the wife. However, when he comes to the practical illustra- 
 tion, in verse 4, he returns to the original supposition, and represents to us 
 that we have died, and so are released from the claim of our former hus- 
 band, the law, though he is still living, that we may be married to a new 
 husband, even Jesus Christ. 
 
 204. V. 4. you were put to death to the law by the body of Christ, d'c. 
 ' By the body of Christ,' (in which is implied all the humiliation connected 
 with His taking a body in our nature, and all the obedience which He 
 rendered in it, even unto death,) you died ; you were put to death to your 
 
140 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 old life when He was given for you, when He came of His Father's will to 
 take a human body, to become a Son of Man, to live and die as a brother 
 of your race. And now it is your Father's Will, in thus giving His Son 
 for you, that you should be His henceforward. He will look upon you as 
 one with Him, united to Him, married to Him, who has not only died, 
 but been raised from the dead by the power of God, that we may all have 
 life because He, our Head, lives, and by virtue of the fresh supplies of 
 life which flow from this blessed union, may bring forth fruit abundantly 
 to God. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 5—6. 
 
 (5) For, when we were in the flesh, the sinful pas- 
 sions, which were by reason of the Law, wrought in 
 our members, so as to bring forth fruit unto death. 
 (6) But now we were discharged from the law, having 
 died to what we were held in, so that we should serve 
 in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 205. V. 5, whe7i we were in the flesh, d'c. While we lived in the flesh, 
 that is, in our natural state, without knowledge and realisation of our re- 
 deemed state, and subject, as we felt ourselves to be, to that righteous 
 Law, whose voice came home with power to our consciences, as holy, just, 
 and good, and so made us aware to some extent of our duty, and aware 
 also of our delinquency, the ' passions of sin. the sinful passions, which 
 are in us, in our fallen nature, — which lie dormant until called out into 
 energetic action by reason of the existence of the pure and holy Law, and 
 the sense we have of its requirements, — waked up into perverse opposition 
 to that which we knew to be right, and wrought in our members, as organs 
 or instruments, so that we brought forth fruit, not unto God, but unto Sin 
 and Death. 
 
 206. V. 6. having died to u'hat we were held in, to that in which we 
 were held. This is the sense of the approved reading of the original, in- 
 stead of that which is given in the English version, ' that having died, iu 
 which we were held.' 
 
 207. V. 6. in newness of spirit, in newness of life, under the gracious 
 influence of God's Spirit, so that we too, in spirit, like children, render a 
 loving, though, at the best, imperfect obedience to a Father's word, receiv- 
 
CHAP. VII. 5 6. 14:1 
 
 ing life freely from Him, as His own gracious gift to us, not in the oldness 
 of the letter^ as men who have only a code of laws delivered to them, by 
 perfect obedience to which (such as they can never render) they might ob- 
 tain the life which their sjiirits need and long for. 
 
 208. The language of St. Paul in this place throws light on a very dif- 
 ficult passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, ix. 16 — 19. It seems certain 
 that the Greek word in these verses should be translated, not testarnent, 
 as in the English Version, but, as it has been all along, ^ covenant,^ or 
 rather ' disposition,' ' arrangement,' in which the one party graciously 
 promises to give, and the other is willing humbly to receive. Now, in the 
 previous verse, the writer to the Hebrev/s, (most probably St. Paul him- 
 self, or, at all events, one thoroughly accustomed to the reasoning, and 
 steeped in the spirit, of St. Paul,) had been saying that Christ is a ' media- 
 tor, or manager, of a new arrangemeiit^ that so, death having taken 
 place for the redemption of the transgressions committed under the first 
 arrangement^ we, who have been called to eujoy the blessings of the new 
 one, may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.' ' For,' says he, 
 ' where there is an arrangement^'' (already in existence, the ' first arrange- 
 ment,' just spoken of,) there must needs be reported the death of him who 
 arranged ; ' — that is, before any new arrangement can be made, it is ne- 
 cessary that, in some way or other, the only party to the first arrangement, 
 who could die to it, namely the Jewish believer, (the other party being the 
 ever-living God,) should die to it. '■For an arrangement is valid^^ that is, 
 a new arrangement can be made and take effect, ' hi the case ofdeadper- 
 sons^'* with persons who have died to the old one ; ' since it has no force at 
 all, while he, that arranged, liveth,^ while the only party to the first ar- 
 rangement, that could die to it, is still alive to it. ' Whence neither has 
 the first arrajigement been ratified (the Greek word implies ratified, estab- 
 lished, as something new) loithout blood.'' The first arrangement was to the 
 people of Israel a new one, just as the second is to us. Christians. By 
 that they were ' called ' to enjoy the blessedness of a covenant -relation 
 with God, which other men were not permitted to share in. And, in order 
 to this, it was necessary that they also should have set before them the 
 fact, that death was necessary to get rid of the claims, which the pure and 
 perfect Law had upon them in a state of nature. By the sacrifices of the 
 Mosaic Law it was expressed continually that the worshippers had already 
 died before God to that Law, in the death of Him who was to come, but 
 was slain in God's purpose from before the foundations of the world : and 
 so the Law had lost its hold upon them, to judge and condemn them. 
 
14-2 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 7—11. 
 
 (7) What shall we say then ? Is the Law sin ? 
 Nay, not so ! Yet I knew not sin, but through Law. 
 Desire, for instance, I knew not, but that the Law said, 
 ^ Thou shalt not desire.' (8) But Sin, taking occasion 
 by means of the Commandment, wrought in me all' 
 manner of desire. (9) For, apart from Law, Sin is 
 dead : so I was living, apart from Law, once ; but 
 when the Commandment came. Sin revived, and I . 
 died ; (10) and the Commandment, meant for life, 
 turned out to me, that same, for death. (11) For 
 Sin, taking occasion, by means of the Commandment, 
 beguiled me, and, by means of it, slew me. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 209. V. 7. 2S the Law sin ? Do I then make the Law out to be Sin, by 
 thus coupling it with Sin, and representing tliat, by m-eans of it, Sin works 
 its evil work in us, and brings death upon us, as the natural and necessary 
 consequence, the wages, of that work, which we do as its willing slaves ? 
 Is it the holy Law of God, which is given for life, is it God Himself our 
 Father, the giver of that Law, who slays us? God forbid ! It is Sin — . 
 Sin, the hateful tyrant and destroyer — the Devil, ' that hath the power of 
 death.' But, however, the Sin in my nature would have been dormant, 
 would have had no opportunity of exei'ting its baneful activity, if there had 
 not been Law, a holy and blessed Law, which it could tempt me to depart 
 from and disobey. ' I knew not Sin, but through Law,' — either written on 
 the heart, or revealed to the conscience in some other way. St. Paul is 
 musing, as it were, within himself, and, by reciting his own deep experience, ^ 
 is telling that of all earnest men in all ages, with more or less of truth and 
 actual resemblance, according as they have been more or less enlightened 
 
 to see the perfect excellence of God's Law. 
 
 210. v. Y. desire, evil desire of any kind, lust, concupiscence. 
 
 211. V. 8. Sin, talcing occasioyi by the Commandment, iirought in me 
 all manner of desire. The perverse character of the sin in my nature was 
 shown by its instantly urging me to desire what I knew was wrong and 
 
CHAP. VII. 7—11. 143 
 
 evil ; it ' took occasion,' by the Law showing me what was good, to stir up 
 in me the desire to do the very opposite. 
 
 212. V. 9. upart from Laii\ Sin is dead. "Where there is ho law, 
 where there is no consciousness of right or wrong, no sense of duty. Sin 
 cannot act ; though it may be there in the nature, it cannot take effect in 
 the life, it is practically dead (as in the case of infants, insane per- 
 sons, &c.). 
 
 213. V. 9. I teas living, apart from Law, once. Before the Law came 
 home with power to my heart, I was living ; I was happy enough in my 
 ignorance ; I thought all was right with me ; I was not conscious of any 
 sickness of the soul, much less of death. But this could not last. The 
 time must come, for every man, sooner or later, when this state of mere 
 animal existence must come to an end, and he must be wakened by the 
 living word of God, ' sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to 
 the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, dis- 
 cerning the thoughts and intents of the heart,' — and roused to a sense of 
 his duty, and alas I of his delinquency also. The heathen, in their measure, 
 have this experience, as well as others. But the Apostle is here addressing 
 himself to pious Jews and Jewish proselytes, well trained in matters of re- 
 ligion, and earnestly desiring, as he believed, to do the will of God, and 
 live. He is explaining to them the secret movements of their own hearts, 
 by telling of his own experience ; and in this way also is seeking to shatter 
 their confidence in their own meritorious righteousness, and to lead them 
 on to appreciate more fully that blessed gift of righteousness, which our 
 Father's Love bestows on us in the Gospel. He is sure that they too have 
 found that they could not secure the life, which they longed for, by their 
 own obedience to God's perfect Law, — that they too must have often felt, 
 that, when wishing to do good, evil was present with them, — that they 
 must have been constrained at times to cry out with himself, ' wretched 
 man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? ' 
 
 214. V. 9. when the Commandment came, Sin revived, and I died. 
 When the word of God came home to my heart, and I saw with a deeper 
 insight what kind of service the holy requirements of the Law demanded, 
 the evil in my nature ' revived,' gained, as it were, new life and vigour, 
 sprung up at once into activity. It stirred in me all manner of desire to 
 do what I now knew to be wrong ; and so, doing evil, I became conscious 
 of a weight of guilt upon my soul, and this sense of guilt, — of the evil in 
 my nature, of my inability to resist it, and of the bitter consequences of 
 yielding to it, — became ever more heavy upon me. Thus I felt more and 
 more under the power of Sin. I became its thrall, and groaned under its 
 horrible tyranny. I felt that Sin was a reality, that it had a fearful energy 
 
144 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 and vitality, that I was falling more and more under its power, that it was 
 working in me shame, misery, and death ; ' Sin revived, and I died.' 
 
 215. V. 10. And the Commandment^ doc. Thus that very Command- 
 ment, which was given me for life, by the opposition which my fleshly 
 Adam-nature roused to it, and by the despair engendered through my 
 fruitless efforts, by reason of the sinful taint in my nature, to do what I 
 knew to be good, and eschew what I knew to be evil, turned out to be ef- 
 fective only for producing death. 
 
 216. V. 11. for Sin, takmg occadon hy the Commandment, beguiled 
 me, and, hy means of it sleio me. For Sin, seeing that there was a Com- 
 mandment, which had come home to my heart, so that I knew what was 
 right and good by means of it, made use of that very knowledge of mine 
 to exert its abominable power upon me. Just as, in the primeval story of 
 our race, the Serpent is represented as knowing that our first parents had 
 a commandment, and were fully aware of it, and beguiling the weaker one 
 to transgress that very commandment, bringing death upon them both 
 thereby, so the Sin in my nature beguiled me to transgress that very will 
 of God, which my conscience knew of, — it told me, as the serpent told 
 Eve, that I should not surely die for committing this one act of disobe- 
 dience, that I should gain some immediate pleasure and benefit from it, — 
 and so it brought death upon me, a sense of shame and uneasiness, a sense 
 of separation from God, a sense of gloom and guiltiness, increasing and 
 deepening ever more and more, with each fresh act which I wrought in 
 that accursed slavery. 
 
 Notice again that it is not the Blessed Law that kills, but Sin, that takes 
 occasion by the Commandment, and, by means of it, slays us. 
 
 CHAP. YII. 12—20. 
 
 (12) So then the Law is holy, and the Command- 
 ment holy, and just, and good. (13) Has then that 
 which is good become to me death ? Nay, not so ! 
 But Sin, so as to appear Sin, by means of that which 
 is good, working out death, so that Sin might, by 
 means of the Commandment, become exceedingly sin- 
 ful. (14) For we know that the Law is spiritual ; but 
 I am fleshly, sold under Sin. (15) For, what I work 
 out, I do not allow ; for not, what I will, that do I, 
 
CHAP. vn. 12—20. 145 
 
 but, what I hate, that do I. (16) But if, what I will 
 not, that I do, I agree to the Law that it is good. 
 (17) But now no longer I work it out, hut Sin dwell- 
 ing in me. (18) For I know that there dwelleth not 
 in me, that is in my flesh, anything good ; for to will 
 is present to me, but to work out what is beautiful, I 
 find not. (19) For the good, which I will, I do not ; 
 but the evil, which I will not, that I do. (20) But, 
 if I do that which I will not, it is no longer I that 
 work it out, but Sin dwelling in me. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 217. V. 13. So as to appear Sin, so as to appear in its true character 
 as Sin, so as to exhibit its true nature of perverse wilfulness, so as to show 
 itself, by making use of a blessed commandment, to be Sin in very deed 
 and truth, ' exceedingly sinful.' 
 
 218. V. 14. We knoiv that the Law is Spiritual. The Law is ' spiri- 
 tual ; ' it has to do with the spirit of man, and with those things which be- 
 long to the spirit, with righteousness, and purity, and truth, and love. It 
 requires also this spirit in man, endowed with the proper faculty for re- 
 ceiving its admonitions, who shall attend and give heed to its teachings, 
 and by whose instructions, as it were, man's will shall be directed, and by 
 whose living force, derived from the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, the man 
 shall be enabled to keep the body in subjection to the Law of God, its 
 Maker. Now this spirit in man is breathed into us, with the first breath 
 of new life, which the Spirit of God imparts to us all, as redeemed 
 creatures. It is the gift of life, which is given us in Christ Jesus. All the 
 sense, which we have, of the 'beauty of holiness,' — all admiration, and 
 secret love, in our very heart of hearts, of that which is ' good, and true, 
 and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report,' even while we may 
 perversely be choosing and practising the opposite, — we have because of 
 the existence of this spirit in us, because we are spiritual beings, because 
 we have had this spiritual life quickened in us, by our Father's grace, by 
 virtue of our relation to our Head. All men, then, have this spirit, this 
 spiritual life, though all men may not realise it to themselves nor exhibit 
 it to others. In some it may be as yet undeveloped, as in infants, — in 
 others, suspended, disenabled or suppressed, as in persons asleep, insen- 
 
 7 
 
146 EPISTLE TO THE KOMAlfS. 
 
 sible, or insane, in whom the spirit is unable to act upon the will in a con- 
 sistent and normal manner, because of some defective physical arrange- 
 ments. So too, in persons such as St. Paul, when he was ' living, apart 
 from the Law once,' as yet not thoroughly quickened by the word of God 
 coming home with power to his heart, the spirit is dormant^ and not yet 
 roused into energetic action. The man is hardly conscious of his spiritual 
 life ; he has not yet had with his heart those awful communings, which be- 
 come a creature born for eternity. His spirit, though it be not dead, has 
 not yet been waked into active living exercise, by the touch, as it were, of 
 the Spirit of God. He is, practically, still in ' the flesh,' in his natural state, 
 unconscious of the grace of God, and the gift of spiritual life by grace, of 
 which he, as a redeemed creature, is partaking, and in the strength of 
 which, ever renewed from the fulness of life in Christ Jesus, he can break 
 off the chains of Sin, and refuse to be its slave. 
 
 219. V. 14. I am fleshly, sold under Sin. St. Paul is still thinking of 
 himself in his former state, not as he was at first, when he was ' living 
 apart from the Law,' but as he was when the Law had come home to him, 
 and he saw something of its perfection and beauty, and his spirit rejoiced 
 in it, and his will desired it, but, being beguiled by Sin into disobedience, 
 he fell into despair, and under the slavery of Sin and Death. In this state, 
 knowing nothing of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, by which his spirit 
 would be kept alive continually, and strength supplied to him to refuse to 
 be the slave of Sin, it seemed to him that he was but a fleshly creature, one 
 sold by the very conditions of his birth, as one of a fallen race, under the 
 power of Sin. 
 
 St. Paul's words here, as before, will correspond more or less exactly 
 to the experience of all earnest men, in proportion as their eyes are en- 
 lightened to see the Holiness of the Divine Law, and their own deficiency. 
 Such a feeling, as he has here expressed, must often be the feeling of any 
 man, who, without the revelation of God's grace, becomes awakened to the 
 sense of his duty, and again and again is made deeply conscious how much 
 he comes short of it. He knows nothing of the life of the spirit, that spiri- 
 tual life which has been given to us, and will be maintained in us, because 
 Christ lives, though, in fact, he feels its presence within him, continually 
 prompting him to good, and warning him from evil. But, every time he 
 is seduced into sin, it seems as if he must lie down in the dust, and die, as 
 if he were only fleshly, sold as a bond-slave under Sin. It is true, all the 
 while, that such a person is not really a mere fleshly creature, is not sold 
 under Sin. The very sense he has of his misery shows this — shows that 
 the spirit is there, and is alive within him. The very groaning of his soul, 
 while he feels the accursed power of Sin, and writhes under the hateful 
 
CHAP. VII. 12—20. 147 
 
 bondage, is a sign that he is not born to be a slave of Sin, that his rightful 
 Master is even now claiming him, that he has even now, though he does 
 not yet know it, a right and a power to shake off the fetters of Sin, and 
 rise up rejoicing, as a freed man of Christ. Sometimes, indeed, he does 
 begin to lift up his head in hope, conscious of a strength, which he has 
 been able to exert for a season. He begins, perhaps, to reckon upon it as 
 his own, and to suppose that he shall now at length escape from the bond- 
 age in which he has been held. Alas ! the strength, on which he has re- 
 lied, gives way in the time of temptation. He has no sweet assurance, as 
 the Christian has, to comfort him under this disappointment, to raise and 
 restore him, after his fall, to encourage him to repeat the effort, not in his 
 own strength, but in the strength of Him who is our Head. And so it seems 
 to him that he is still ' in the flesh,' and its weakness must yield, and Sin 
 must be master, and lord it over him to the end. He feels that he cannot 
 escape out of this thraldom, — that, struggle as he may, it is of no use to 
 contend with evil, — that he must surrender himself to do the work of Sin, 
 and receive its wages. 
 
 220. V. 15. / do not alloio^ literally, ' I do not know,' I do not recog- 
 nise, approve of, allow ; in the same sense in which it is said, ' The Lord 
 knoweth them that are His.' 
 
 221. V. 16. / agree to the Laio that it is good, I have an inward con- 
 sciousness that the Law itself is good and excellent. It is the redeemed 
 spirit, quickened with life from the Life which is in Christ, which is con- 
 scious of this, though the man himself may not know that he has such a 
 living spirit within him, and may yield himself, in spite of this conscious- 
 ness, to be the slave of Sin. 
 
 222. V. 17. But now. The word ' now' here does not refer to time, as 
 if opposed to ' then,' but is equivalent to ' this being the case,' ' under these 
 circumstances.' 
 
 223. V. 17. N'o longer Iivork it oict, but Sin dwelling in me, — that is, 
 in my fallen nature, as a man. The Apostle is still describing the state in 
 which he found himself, when God's Law was brought home to his con- 
 science, and he approved it heartily, his mind took delight in it, though he 
 knew not why, he knew not that he was a spiritual creature, and that his 
 spirit's life was, and would be, sustained by virtue of his union with the 
 Spirit of Christ. And so he tried to keep the holy Law, and, presently. 
 Sin sprung up into life in his fallen nature, beguiled him into disobedience, 
 overthrew him, and slew him. And yet he did not consent willingly to be 
 its slave. He speaks of himself, — not as doing from the heart the works 
 of Sin, for in that case he would be ' working out ' evil (ii. 9), but — as hat- 
 ing the work, while, from the weakness of the flesh, he does it, as loathing 
 
148 EPISTLE TO THE KOMAN 
 
 the bondage, in which he feels himself, as it seems to him, hopelessly con- 
 demned to do the work of a slave. ' It is not I that work out this evil, 
 that work it with my heart, with full consent and purpose. But it is the 
 tyrant Sin, who lords it over me, and makes me do it, and is day by day in 
 this manner destroying me, and bringing death upon me.' 
 
 224. V. IS. Tliere dwelleth not in me, that is, i)i my flesh, anything 
 good ; for to toill is present to me, but to ivork out what is beautiful I find 
 not. ' In my flesh,' says the Apostle, ' in that nature which I derive from 
 Adam, I know, there dwelleth no good thing.' He corrects the first ex- 
 pression, ' in me,' because he feels that in himself as a redeemed creature, — 
 as having a second spiritual birth, a spiritual nature, derived from the 
 second Adam, — there is something good. There loas something good in 
 him, though not in his fleshly nature, even under the circumstances he is 
 describing, when he fell down, bowed, as it seemed, even unto death, 
 under the accursed yoke of Sin. There was something good, for ' to will 
 was present in him ;' though, at that time, without any knowledge of the 
 Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, from which his own spirit had derived its 
 life, and might, at all times, draw fresh supplies of life for its daily neces- 
 sities, he found not any means of ' working out ' that which he saw to be so 
 ' fair and good.' He was then working /o>- life, — trying to ' work out ' what 
 is good, that he might establish his own righteousness, and enter into life. 
 Now he has learned the blessedness of working from life, of receiving 
 thankfully God's gracious gift of righteousness, bestowed upon him freely 
 in His Son,, and the gift of life which accompanies it. For in the power 
 of that life, supplied daily from the Living Fountain, he can yield himself 
 up to God, and his members as servants unto God, — not, indeed, perfectly, 
 not so as to ' work out ' that which is good, as he once thought of doing, 
 seeking thereby gain or glory to himself, but so as to ' work ' it, as a child 
 of God, to the praise of his Father in Heaven. 
 
 225. V. 18. Beautiful. This is the nearest English word iK) express the 
 Greek, which implies not merely what is good in itself, but what is seen to 
 be lovely and fair, as well as good. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 21—23. 
 
 (21) I find the law to me^ willing to do what is 
 beautiful, that evil is present to me. (22) For I de- 
 light in the Law of God in the inner man. (23) But 
 I see another law in my members, warring against the 
 
CHAP. VII. 21—23. 149 
 
 law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of 
 sin, which is in my members. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 226. V. 21. I find then thelaw, d'c. Is it then true that, whenever a 
 man wishes to do good, evil is always present to him ? Certainly, evU is 
 always present in our nature on this side of the grave, and ready to tempt 
 us, and draw us aside to evil ; and, more or less, by reason of the weak- 
 ness of our fleshly nature, it does mingle imperfection with all we do, 
 "When we do ' what we would,' Sin more or less defiles the action with 
 its taint ; and often, alas ! it draws us on to do ' the things that we would 
 not.' The pious heathen must have felt this, in some measure, as well as 
 the pious Jew or Christian. He too has had to maintain the same kind of 
 struggle with the evil in his nature, though he could not, perhaps, have 
 expressed in words what he experienced, or explained, in such language as 
 St. Paul has used in this chapter, the meaning of his troubled inner life. 
 He, too, has felt that, when he would be doing good, evil was present 
 to him. 
 
 Aliudque cupido, 
 
 Mens aliud suadet. Video meliora, proboque ; 
 
 Deteriora sequor. 
 
 And if, in spite of this, the pious heathen has given his heart to do the 
 good, and refused to do the evil, it was only because he had a strength 
 supplied to him, from a source which he knew not. In his flesh, indeed, ' 
 though he knew it not, there was no good thing ; but in his Lord, un- 
 known, perhaps, by Name to him as yet, but by whom he was known, 
 there was Life, from which the life of his spirit came. 
 
 But to the true Christian these words of St. Paul are abundantly intel- 
 ligible. He finds it to be ' the law ' — that is, the rule under which his life 
 in this world must be passed — that, when he would do good, evil will be 
 present to him, suggested to him, or tempting him. The more devout and 
 earnest and heavenly-minded a man has grown by God's grace, the more 
 conscious he will be of this, — if not always, at every moment, yet so con 
 stantly, that he feels it to be, as it were, ' the law ' of his earthly existence 
 he is ever reminded that sin is there, close at hand, in his fleshly nature 
 But this is the difference between his present state and his former state 
 when he too, perhaps — like St. Paul — lived for a season ' in the flesh,' un 
 conscious of the spiritual influences, which, by God's grace, were even then 
 acting upon him. Then, when at last he was stii-red to the very depths 
 within him by God's living word, coming home to his heart, — when he 
 
150 EPISTLE TO THE EOMANS. 
 
 thus became convinced of sin, of the perfect holiness of God's Blessed Law, 
 and his own frequent unfaithfulness and utter inability to keep it, — he fell 
 into hopelessness and despair, he fell back under the power of Sin and 
 Death. Noio he understands the whole. He knows that there is this Sin, 
 ' which is in him,' that evil will be present to him, whenever he would be 
 doing good, — that the hateful tyrant will try to bring him under its power 
 as a mere fleshly creature, and may, perchance, through the weakness of 
 the flesh, bound, as he still must be, in this life to this ' body of death,' 
 make him still at times, against his will and better resolutions, do its vile 
 work in some act or other. The knowledge he has of this fact will help to 
 keep him humble and dependent, ' watching unto prayer ; ' but it will not 
 now drive him to despair. For his spirit is still alive unto God, quickened 
 with Christ's Life. He knows this, even when fallen for a season, and 
 lying oppressed under the accursed slavery of Sin. He knows this, so long 
 as he feels within him one single pulse, as it were, of spiritual life, one 
 movement of the heart towards God and the remembrance of His Holiness, 
 one thought of repentance, one desire to return, and throw himself at the 
 feet of his Heavenly Father, and say, ' Father, I have sinned : I am no 
 more worthy to be called thy child.' And, knowing that his spirit is thus 
 still alive with Christ's Life, he knows also that he can have it quickened 
 with the abundance of that Life. He is able now to shake off the hold of 
 Sin. He confesses his fault to that gracious Father, who has known it all 
 along, and receives again that 'righteousness,' that 'forgiveness' of his 
 ' unrighteousness,' that ' covering ' of his ' sin,' which that Father's Love 
 has freely provided for him in His own dear Son. And then, with the 
 sense of that renewal of the gift of righteousness, there comes a flow of 
 fresh life into his whole spiritual being. Being justified by faith, by simple 
 trust in God's Fatherly forgiving Mercy and restoring Love, he has peace 
 again with God. He is able nov/ to look up again to Heaven, with teai-ful 
 eyes, indeed, and with a broken heart, but yet with joy beaming through 
 his tears, and a living hope possessing his bosom. And so he springs for- 
 ward again to his work by his Master's side, singing cheerfully the song of 
 faith, and saying, ' Sin shall not lord it over me ; for I am not imder the 
 Law, but under Grace.' 
 
 227. V. 22. I delight in the Law of God in the inner man. In my 
 heart of hearts I heartily approve and love the blessed Law of God, even 
 when the sin in my fleshly nature tempts me to disobedience, and my weak 
 and foolish will consents to be beguiled. By the ' inner man ' the Apostle 
 means not the spirit, or the will, but the thinking, reasoning, part of man, 
 the ' mind,' as he afterwards calls it, endowed with reason and conscience, 
 the faculties of moral sense, which are quickened into action, because he 
 
CHAP. VII. 21 — 23. 151 
 
 is a redeemed creature, and has a living spirit within him. (See note 228.) 
 He is speaking here, in his own person, of men, like himself, to whose 
 hearts the word of God has come home, and who long to be conformed 
 unto the Holy Will of God, but fall back in despair, at the sense of its per- 
 fection and of their own vileuess. But the statement, which he has here 
 made, expresses also the experience of every human being. As redeemed 
 creatures, we do, every one of us, — the ignorant heathen, as well as the 
 enlightened Christian, — ' dehght in the Law of God in our inner man,' so 
 far as it has been revealed and brought home to us, whether we obey it or 
 not. 
 
 228. V. 22. But I see another law in my members. The Apostle speaks 
 of the human body and its natural desires, as in themselves indifferent, 
 just as in the case of other creatures. The body and its members are in- 
 nocent of all sin, as being mere matter, having no consciousness of good 
 or evil. But the body and its members must be managed, and used as in- 
 struments for good or evil. And the question is, what power shall rule 
 them, — the power of the spirit, quickened by the Spirit of Life in Christ 
 Jesus, or the power of Sin, which is in us, in our fleshly nature, and tries 
 to lord it over the body, and lay down its law upon the members. By na- 
 ture, by our mere natural descent from Adam, the ' law of sin is in our 
 members.' And, if a man is still living ' in the flesh,' knowing nothing as 
 yet of the Spirit of Life, of which the Gospel speaks to us, then, when the 
 word of God comes home to him first with its mighty power, it will seem 
 to him that he must yield up his body to do the work of Sin, and must 
 himself become its slave. It is true, that he is not really, as he supposes, 
 a mere fleshly being. He feels even now a ' law of his mind,' against which 
 this ' law of sin in his members is warring.' That ' law of his mind ' is a 
 sign, if he only knew its meaning, that he is not merely a fleshly and fallen, 
 but a redeemed and spiritual, creature. The ' mind '—the thinking, rea- 
 soning, part of man — stands here, in fact, for the man himself, considered 
 as a thinking and reasoning being, as having reason and conscience, having 
 power to discern the right from the wrong, the good from the evil, because 
 he has a living spirit given him, in union with which these faculties of 
 moral sense are quickened. If he had no living spirit given him, by union 
 through God's grace with the Living Head of the great human family,— if 
 he were only a fallen, fleshly, and sinful, and therefore also an accursed, 
 creature, instead of a redeemed one, — these faculties of moral sense would 
 be dead ; he would have no power to behold the beauty of goodness and 
 the deformity of vice, to approve the one and condemn the other. But 
 every man is redeemed and has a living spirit given him, by virtue of his 
 union with his Lord. And, though he may, by long continuance in known 
 
152 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 evil, crush out by degrees more and more the very life of his spirit, yet BO 
 long as he has still within him, however faint, that spiritual life, his reason 
 and conscience will lay down a law to him, as a thinlcing being, the ' law 
 of his mind.' Thus it is that, in the ' inner man,' he approves of the Law 
 of God, as holy, just, and good, even while he weakly yields to the ' law of 
 sin which is in his members,' which ' wars against the law of his mind,' 
 and is ' led captive ' by it at its will. 
 
 Among the Zulus there is a distinct recognition of the double nature 
 of man. They speak of the uGovana^ which prompts him to steal and lie, 
 commit murder and adultery, and the icNemheza., which ' bids him,' as a 
 native would say, ' leave all that.' 
 
 229. V. 23. leading me captive. The Greek Present here used may 
 imply not actually ' leading captive,' (which may or may not be the case,) 
 but ' seeking to lead captive.' ' The law of sin in my members fights 
 against the law of my mind, and is bent upon bringing me under subjection 
 to itself (the law of sin in my members), as a captive slave.' 
 
 CHAP. YII. 24, 25. 
 
 (24) Wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver 
 me out of this body of death ? I thank God through 
 Christ Jesus our Lord. (25) So then I myself with my 
 mind serve, as a slave, the Law of God, though with the 
 flesh the law of sin. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 230. T. 24. Wretched man that I am ! The groan is at last forced out 
 from a man, who, still living ' in the flesh,' unconscious of his hope and 
 strength as a redeemed creature, knowing nothing of the Spirit of Life in 
 Christ Jesus, by which his own spirit lives, is strong in his own strength to 
 do what is good, or seems to be so, (for the strength, which he has, comes 
 really from God, though he does not yet know this, but thinks it his own,) 
 and finds himself again and again overcome, — finds himself beguiled by the 
 sin in his nature, and led captive to the law of sin in his members, in spite 
 of the voice of reason and conscience, in opposition to the law of his mind, 
 — and so, at last, sinks back in despair. 
 
 231. V. 24. Who shall deliver me out of this body of death ? Then, 
 at last, he cries for help. He cannot save himself from being overcome by 
 the power of evil. But is there none Mighty to save — and Merciful as well 
 
CHAP. VIII. 1 — 4. 153 
 
 as Mighty — able and willing to deliver him ' out of this body of death ' — 
 not ' from,' but ' out of,' as if he were helplessly sunk and held fast in it ? 
 He calls our present body a ' body of death,' because it is a ' body of Sin,' 
 — innocent and helpless, indeed, in itself, indifferent to good or evil, but, 
 as far as our natural birth is concerned, used by our fleshly nature, as the 
 instrument of Sin, to work out death in us, 
 
 232. V. 24. 1 thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank 
 God I am delivered out of it, — not from it, (for that can only be when it is 
 broken up by death,) but out of it, out of the state of helplessness in which 
 I seemed sunk, because tied to this body. For the Spirit of Life in Christ 
 Jesus enables me to strive with and overcome the law of sin and death, 
 which is in my members ; and I can now refuse to be the slave of Sin, and 
 to yield up my members to its will. 
 
 233. V. 25. So then I myself^ dr. Now, therefore, since we have re- 
 ceived the grace of God in Christ Jesus, I, the true man, myself, (with 
 reference to vv. IT, 20, where he had said it is not / that do this evil, but 
 Sin that dwelleth in me,) can serve and do serve with my mind, my think- 
 ing, reasoning powers, the Law of God, although, it is true, my fleshly 
 nature still is a slave to the law of Sin. If I did not know God's grace in 
 the Gospel, I might, indeed, be miserable, be overwhelmed with shame and 
 dread, at finding by daily experience, that, while with my mind I obey 
 God's Law, yet still there is a part of my nature, which is corrupt and evil, 
 and holds me back from obeying it as perfectly as I would, — a fallen, flesh- 
 ly nature, in which Sin dwells. But I will not let the Sin in my fleshly 
 nature work out its work in me, as it seeks to do. It is not lord over me, 
 though it claims to be so. My fleshly nature may and will own its rule, as 
 indeed it must ; but I myself will not ; w^ith my mind I will serve the law 
 of God, walking ' not after the flesh, but after the spirit.' 
 
 CHAP. YIIL 1—4. 
 
 (1) So fhen there is now no condemnation to those 
 in Christ Jesus. (2) For the Law of the Spirit of Life 
 in Christ Jesus freed me from the Law of Sin and 
 Death. (3) For, what to the Law was impossible, that 
 wherein it was weak through the flesh, God, sending 
 his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, con- 
 
154 EPISTLE TO THE EOMANS. 
 
 demned tlie sin in the flesli ; (4) tliat so the require- 
 ment of the law may be fulfilled in us, walking, of 
 course, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 234. V, 1. so then there is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. 
 The Apostle is speaking of earnest, devout believers, like himself, who have 
 realised the true meaning of the blessed gift of righteousness which the 
 Gospel declares to us. Now from his heart, as he says in the next verse, 
 and from the heart of others like him, to whom the words of life have been 
 brought home, the weight has been taken off, the sense of guilt and misery 
 and condemnation, which would otherwise have driven them to despair, 
 and left them helpless under the power of Sin and Death. 
 
 From all, then, which has been said, it follows, and this is the blessed 
 Message of the Gospel, that, though we have a sinful nature, and are con- 
 scious of innumerable faults and shortcomings, there is no condemnation 
 against us for that. We are ' in Christ Jesus,' — objects of favour in Him, 
 regarded by our Heavenly Father, as redeemed and reconciled in Him. 
 The words, ' who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit,' which stand 
 at the end of this verse in the English Version, are not found in the best 
 MSS., and were probably introduced from verse 4 by some transcriber, who 
 thought it necessary to correct in this way what seemed to him too bold an 
 assertion. 
 
 If men, Christians or others, do walk ' after the flesh,' of course, there 
 will be condemnation upon them, as he has said already in ii. 6 — 16. But 
 he is not referring here to that kind of condemnation, which will justly rest 
 on those who ' keep back the truth in unrighteousness,' and wilfully sin 
 against the light, and knowledge of the right and true vouchsafed to them. 
 
 235. V. 2. the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus freed me from 
 the law of Sin and Death. As soon as the words of life in the Gospel 
 came home to my heart, the chains of Sin and Death fell off from my 
 hands. I found that I was no longer obliged to be the slave of Sin, and 
 obey its law. I found that I was under a law of Life and Love, — that the 
 Spirit of Grace was given me, to quicken my spirit, and restore it con- 
 stantly, when faint and feeble. And that Spirit was given as a Spirit of 
 Adoption also, and its operations within my heart, of which I am daily con- 
 scious, are signs to me that I am dealt with as a child, that my Father loves 
 me, that I am not an accursed, but a redeemed creature. Under that law 
 of Love my heart, my will, yielded itself joyfully, choosing to obey the 
 
CHAP. vin. 1 — 4:. 155 
 
 better Law of my mind, and not the law of sin, which is in my fleshly na- 
 ture, and tries to bring me under its power. 
 
 This ' Law of the Spirit of Life ' is, doubtless, brought home, more or 
 less distinctly, to many, who have not been blessed with the full revelation 
 of it in the Gospel, and with proportionate effect in fiUing their hearts with 
 strength and peace in the discharge of life's duties. If any heathen, such 
 as Socrates or Cicero, has felt a cheerful, child-hke confidence in the Divine 
 Goodness and Mercy, while following, though imperfectly, yet sincerely 
 and with a single eye, the Law of his mind, as a redeemed creature, — that 
 which he knew to be the good and the true, — that joy must have been the 
 fruit of the same Good Spirit in his heart, inspiring his spirit with life, 
 ' working in him both to will and to do, after God's good pleasure.' 
 
 236. V. 3. for, what to the law teas impossible, <£r. For ' what the 
 Law,' God's blessed Law, brought home to the heart and conscience in any 
 way, ' could not do,' — the thing, ' in which it was weak by reason of the 
 flesh,' because Sin is in our fleshly nature, and rules it as its slave, — ' God 
 did,' who ' sent His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and on account 
 of sin, and thereby condemned the sin in our flesh.' 
 
 The pure and perfect Law seemed to bring under condemnation human 
 nature itself, as if it were impossible for any human being, for one with 
 such flesh as ours, with such natural desires, passions, and affections, to be 
 perfectly pure and holy. Our Lord took our flesh : He was made in our 
 likeness, in the likeness of this very flesh of ours, this flesh of ours which 
 has the taint of sin, — ' in the likeness of sinful flesh,' with a nature like 
 ours, yet so that His fleshly nature had no taint of sin. He was made like 
 unto us in all points, a true, living, man of flesh and blood, with body, 
 soul, and spirit, such as we have, — subject to all the weakness and infirmity 
 of this sinful flesh, subject to suffering and pain, disease and death, taking 
 the very likeness of this sinful flesh, only without the taint of sin. And 
 He, in that flesh, which He took, — He, as a Man, a true Man, a true 
 Brother of the race, He, — ' bearing all our griefs, carrying all our sorrows,' 
 sharing in all the weakness and pains of our flesh, suffering from hunger 
 and thirst, cold and weariness, trial and temptation, having passions and 
 affections, like other men, — yet wrought, in that very flesh, a perfect right- 
 eousness, and so showed that sin was not a necessary ingredient of a fleshly 
 nature like ours, that it was possible to be clothed with flesh, as we are, to 
 have a fleshly nature as we have, yet not a sinful one, to be a human being, 
 such as we are, and not sin. This is one way in which God condemned the 
 sin in our flesh, by sending His Son in the likeness of that very flesh, to 
 fulfil the blessed Law of God. 
 
 But He sent Him also ' on account of sin,' as a ' sacrifice for sin,' — not 
 
166 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 merely as an evidence and example of what might be done by a human 
 being, clothed with flesh and blood, as we are, if we had the strength of 
 righteous creatures, as He had, but to take away our unrighteousness, by 
 offering up Himself, in His Life and Death of perfect obedience, a living 
 sacrifice, holy and acceptable, and well-pleasing unto God. God sent Him 
 thus, in order that He Himself, our Loving Father, might put away our sin, 
 and receive and bless us as righteous creatures in Him. Thus ' our unright- 
 eousness is forgiven,' and ' our sin covered,' by the Love of our Heavenly 
 Father, looking at Him and His perfect offering of righteousness, and at us 
 in Him, our union with Him being evidenced by His taking a Body in the 
 likeness of our sinful flesh, and being sealed by His Blood. Not only om-- 
 selves, but the living sacriflces, which we offer, though in themselves im- 
 perfect and unclean, are sprinkled with His Blood, in the eyes of our 
 Heavenly Father. They are looked upon as one with that perfect Sacrifice 
 which He offered, by virtue of that Death, which completed His human life 
 of obedience, and fully declared His brotherhood with us ; and so they too 
 are ' holy and acceptable unto God, our reasonable service.' 
 
 In this way, also, by sending His Son to make at-one-ment for sin, to take 
 away our sin in God's sight, by the perfect sacrifice, which He offered, of 
 loving obedience, even unto death, a death which sealed His union with us 
 as our Head, God further and more fully condemned ' the sin in our flesh.' 
 He showed before that sin was no necessary pait of a fleshly nature, that 
 such a being as man, even in his present weak and suffering state, if not a 
 fallen creature, has nothing to do with serving sin, and need not be its 
 slave. He now showed further that even, though fallen, we are not left to 
 be its slaves ; for God Himself has restored and raised us from the Fall ; 
 He has sent His Son as a sacrifice on account of sin, and, looking at Him 
 and His pure offering, He looks with favour upon us, though sinful crea- 
 tures ; He freely puts away our sin for the sake of Him, whom He Himself 
 has sent to be our Head. Our sins fade away and disappear in the light of 
 His perfect righteousness, and we receive the free gift of righteousness and 
 life. In both these ways God ' condemned the sin in our flesh.' He made 
 it plain that, though present in our fleshly nature, it was no proper part of 
 it, it ought not to be there ; and, though it will be there to the end of this 
 mortal life, when ' this body of death ' shall be done away, yet it need not, 
 and viust not, rule the man, as a redeemed creature, a member of Christ, a 
 child of God, whom the ' law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set 
 free from the law of Sin and Death.' 
 
 The Law by itself could not do this. It could only convince a man of 
 sin — make him feel that he had a sinful taint in his nature, that sin was in 
 his flesh. It could not ' condemn the sin in his flesh.' It could not make 
 
CHAP. YIII. 5 11. 167 
 
 the man feel, either that sin ought not to have such power in a fleshly na- 
 ture like ours, or that it need not, and rmcst not, by bringing our members 
 to do its work, as instruments of imrighteousness, be allowed to put forth 
 this power in us, though we are fallen creatures, and our fleshly nature has 
 the taint of sin. Only the Gospel of God's Free Grace and Love in Christ 
 Jesus could do this. 
 
 23Y. V. 4. fulfilled, not perfectly, but with hearty readiness and full 
 desire, embracing the whole Law in all its points. 
 
 238. V. 4. walking, of course, d'c. The words, ' of course,' express the 
 force of the Greek article here. St. Paul qualifies, as it were, his language, 
 knowing that, notwithstanding all the grace of God, the requirements of His 
 blessed Law will not be fulfilled by all, but only by those who walk after 
 the Spirit. 
 
 239. V. 4. after the fiesh. Note, that to 'walk {n ^/le^^es/*,' is not the 
 same as to ' walk after the flesh.' The difference in the two expressions is 
 well shown in 2 Cor. x. 2, 3. ' Some think of us as if we walked after the 
 fiesh. But, though we walk in the fiesh, we do not war after the fiesh."* 
 To ' walk in the flesh ' is to walk as persons still bearing about with us the 
 consequences of the Fall, whether with or without a consciousness of our 
 condition, whether with or without a willing surrender of the heart to abide 
 in that condition. To live ' after the flesh ' is to make this surrender, to 
 follow the suggestions and impulses of our fallen fleshly nature, which is a 
 * slave of Sin.' 
 
 240. V. 4. after the spirit. The spirit, here, is the spirit of the man, 
 which is quickened by the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, and, so long as it 
 lives, is the ' servant of God,' which the whole man, with his mind, is 
 bound to obey. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 5—11. 
 
 (5) For those after the flesh mind the things of 
 the flesh ; hut those after the spirit, the things of the 
 spirit. (6) For the mind of the flesh is death ; hut 
 the mind of the spirit is Hfe and peace. (7) Because 
 the mind of the flesh is enmity against God ; for it is 
 not for heing subjected to the law of God, neither, in- 
 deed, can he ; (8) hut they, who are in flesh, cannot 
 please God. (9) But ye are not in flesh, hut in spirit, 
 
158 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 if, indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you. But, if any 
 mem lias not the Spirit of Christ, that man is not His. 
 (10) But, if Christ be in you, the body, indeed, is 
 dead by reason of sin, but the spirit is life by reason 
 of righteousness. (11) But, if the Spirit of Him, who 
 raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you. He, who 
 raised Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your 
 mortal bodies by reason of His Spirit which dwelleth 
 
 in vou. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 241. V. 6. the mind of the flesh is death, d'c. That which the flesh, 
 the fallen, fleshly, Adam-nature, minds or concerns itself about, is sin, 
 which is another name for death. But that which the spirit of a man 
 minds, quickened by the Spirit of Life in Chiist Jesus, is goodness, which 
 is another name for life and peace. 
 
 According to St. Paul, the flesh, the old, fallen, fleshly nature, derived 
 from our birth from the first Adam, is always setting its heart on what is evil ; 
 while the spirit, the new spiritual nature, derived from our birth from the 
 second Adam, is always setting its heart on what is good. And now, which 
 will the man himself, in the awful responsibility of his own will, choose to 
 obey ? Will he yield himself up to Sin, as a willing slave, surrendering his 
 helpless body and its members, as instruments of unrighteousness, to the 
 Sin which dwells in his fallen, fleshly nature, and so by degrees destroy the 
 life of his spirit ? Or will he yield himself up to God, and so find his own 
 spirit more and more abound with life, and his heart with peace, being 
 filled with all the fulness of God ? 
 
 242. v, 8. they, who are in flesh, in a fleshly state, living as mere flesh- 
 ly creatures, knowing no other mind than that of the flesh, yielding them- 
 selves up to the sin in their flesh, to do its work as slaves, sunk down, as it 
 were, into the midst of their fleshly nature, and making no efforts to rise 
 out of it. Such ' cannot please God : ' He cannot take delight in them : 
 they cannot offer Him the living sacrifice of all their powers, which He de- 
 sires of His children. How far such a state is guilty before God, He only 
 can tell, who knows the secrets of all hearts and lives, what light and 
 knowledge have been granted and abused. 
 
 243. V. 9. in spirit, in a spiritual state, living as spiritual creatures, 
 giving yourselves up to be moulded for all that is good, by the influences 
 of the spirit within you, which is quickened and led by the Spirit of God. 
 
CHAP. vin. 5 — 11. 159 
 
 244. V. 9. hut yoxi are not injlesh, but in spirit, if, indeed, the Spirit 
 of God dwells in you. ' But you, at all events, are not in a fleshly, but a 
 spiritual, state, if, indeed, you are conscious, (as, of course, you are,) that 
 the Spirit of God has quickened your spirits with life, and dwells with life- 
 giving, life sustaining power within you.' 
 
 245. V. 9. the Spirit of Christ. In this passage the three expressions 
 are used as synonymous, ' Spirit of God,' ' Spirit of Christ,' ' Christ.' But 
 it would not be right to force this fact into a proof of the doctrine of the 
 Trmity, which is not necessarily involved in it. Indeed, it is most prob- 
 able that St. Paul uses the words ' of Christ,' in the sense of ' belonging to 
 Christ,' He being, as it were, the proprietor of the Spirit of God, having 
 been entrusted with the gift of Life, as the Head, to bestow it upon the 
 members. Thus (Acts i. 4) our Lord Himself speaks of the Spirit, as ' the 
 promise of the Father,'' and (Acts ii. 32, 33) St. Peter says, ' This Jesus, 
 being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father 
 the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this which ye now both see 
 and hear.' It is the ' Spirit of Life ' which God gives us in His Son. 
 
 246. V. 9. If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, that man is not 
 His. The Apostle states this as an axiom, self-evident. ' Of course, every 
 living member of the Body must partake of the life of the Head. So that, 
 if any man has no sign whatever of a living spirit within him, drawing its 
 life from the Spirit of Life, which is given to us in Christ Jesus, that man 
 cannot belong to Christ.' The words are not intended to imply that some 
 men have the Spirit of Christ, and some not, (whether this be so or not,) 
 any more than the words addressed to Nicodemus, ' Unless a man be born 
 again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,' implied that some men were 
 thus born again, and others not, or that he needed at some future time to 
 be born again, and was not so born already. Those words of our Lord laid 
 down the general truth that a new spiritual birth was needed, besides the 
 natural one, that a man may enter heaven. And the words now before us 
 enunciate in another form the same truth. ' If any man has not the Spirit 
 of Christ, he is not His.' If, therefore, a man can be found, so uttei^ly de- 
 praved, as to have no spark of spiritual life remaining in him, not a single 
 good thought, no desire to do what is right, because it is right, no move- 
 ment of godly sorrow for things done wrong, no wish for amendment, 
 nothing but sullen hatred of all goodness, hatred of God, and hatred of his 
 fellow-men — of such a man, if such can be found, we might fear that it may 
 be true that he has quenched the spirit, the living fire, that was once kindled 
 by God's grace, within his heart, he has crushed out and killed the spiritual 
 life, that was given him in his second spiritual birth, as a redeemed crea- 
 ture ; as he shows no sign of having, in any measure, the Spirit of Christ, 
 
160 EPISTLE TO THE ROSIANS. 
 
 it may be that he has none of it, and if so, he cannot be His. Yet, let 
 every man judge himseh": we cannot dare to judge our brother-man in this 
 way. And, blessed be God, the converse is also true. If any man have 
 the Spirit of Christ in any measure, and however he may have trifled with 
 the heavenly gift, and resisted the grace of God, ' that was for leading him 
 to repentance,' still feels within him one movement of spiritual life, by that 
 sio-n he may know that he is still one of Christ's, still regarded as in Him, 
 still able to draw from the Fount of Life, which is opened in Him, all the 
 plentiful supply which he needs for his fainting spirit. 
 
 247. V. 10. the hody^ indeed^ is dead, hy reason of sin ; hut the spirit 
 is life, by reason of righteousness. St. Paul, in this, and other passages, 
 which shall be noted as we reach them, speaks of the spirit being even now 
 alive with life flowing from the Spirit of Christ ; whereas the body, he says, 
 is still dead, it has not received life, so as to be a fit servant of the living 
 spirit, a spiritual body. The resurrection of the spirit has already taken 
 place ; the resurrection of the body is yet to come. The spirit is life, be- 
 cause of the righteousness which God has given us in His Son. By our 
 natural birth only, it lay under the power of Sin and the necessity of Death, 
 as well as the body ; but already a new life has been given to it ; it is re- 
 deemed and quickened by union with Christ's Spirit. The body, however, 
 is not yet redeemed ; it is dead, because of the sin in our fleshly nature, in 
 that nature which we derive from Adam, and to which our bodies belong. 
 It is still under the necessity of dying, before it can be redeemed altogether 
 from the power of that ' sin in the flesh,' which uses too often, and tries 
 continually to use, the natural bodily desires and its members, as servants 
 of imrighteousness, to do its will, against the better law of the mind and 
 spirit. But the grace of God in Christ Jesus will make the grave a gate of 
 life even for our mortal bodies, as the Apostle goes on to explain in the 
 next verse. 
 
 248. V. 11. If the Spirit of Him, who raised Jesus from the dead, 
 dwell in you, 6:c. If it be, indeed, true, as you know it is, that the Spirit 
 of God dwelleth in you, — the Spirit by whom He Himself, our Head, was 
 raised from the dead, never more to die. His mortal body being changed to 
 a glorified, spiritual body, — this fact itself is a pledge that you also will in 
 like manner be raised, by the power of the self-same Spirit, and this mortal 
 body of yours shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on 
 incorruption ; when the body also shall be redeemed from the power of 
 evil, and this sinful, fleshly nature be wholly done away, and the glorified 
 body be a willing servant of the spirit in the work of righteousness. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 12—17. 161 
 
 CHAP. YIII. 12—17. 
 
 (12) So, then, brethi'en, we are debtors, not to the 
 flesh, to live after the flesh; (13) for, if ye will live, 
 after the flesh, ye will die ; but, if by the spirit ye put 
 to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (14) For 
 ail, who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are 
 sons of Grod. (15) For ye received not a Spirit of 
 slavery again unto fear ; but ye received a Spirit of 
 adoption, whereby we cry, 'Abba ! Father ! ' (16) The 
 Spirit itself witnesseth with our spirit that we are chil- 
 dren of God. (17) But, if children, then also heirs, 
 heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; if, at least, 
 we suffer together with Him, that so we may be glori- 
 fied together with Him. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 249. V. 12. So then, dx. At last, we get the full answer to the ques- 
 tion in vi. 1, ' Shall we continue in sin that so grace may abound ? ' repeated 
 in. vi. 15, ' Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace ? ' 
 The Apostle has intended to give this answer all along, but has been inter- 
 rupted by two or three digressions, into which his train of thought led him, 
 more suo, while dictating this letter to his amanuensis, Tertius — very prob- 
 ably on different occasions, for we cannot suppose so long and thoughtful a 
 letter was written in one day. 
 
 250. V. 13. ye will die, not ye shall die, as in the English version, but 
 ' ye are about to die.' The Apostle is here speaking of death, as the 
 natural necessary consequence of men's living after the flesh, not of any 
 judgment which God will pass upon them. In the latter part of the verse, 
 the Greek construction is changed, and the English version is correct, ' ye 
 shall live.' 
 
 251. V. 13. if by the spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, that 
 is, the deeds of excess, into which, under the influence of the ' sin in the 
 flesh,' the helpless body and its members would be carried, if unrestrained 
 by the spirit, which has the power given it, to put those unruly desires to 
 death, and should do so in the very first promptings of them. 
 
162 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 252. V. 14. for all, who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are 
 sons of God. The point in the Apostle's meaning in these words will be 
 lost entirely, if we do not notice where the stress lies. St. Paul does not 
 say, ' All, who are being led by God's Spirit, they, and none other, are the 
 sons of God.' But he throws the stress (as the Greek shows) on the word 
 Spirit, and says, ' All, who are being led by the Spirit of God, they arc no 
 other than sons of God.' And the whole of the rest of the chapter is em- 
 ployed in showing what glorious consequences follow from this. 
 
 Let us well mark the Apostle's argument ; it is the ground of unspeakable 
 hope and comfort to us. The very fact, he says, that we are being led by 
 the Spirit of God, is a proof that we are dealt with as sons, that we may 
 look up, and call the Great God, our Father. He, who has dealt so gra- 
 ciously with us, as to give us His Spirit to guide and teach us, means us to 
 understand, by that one fact, His Fatherly Love to us. It is the sure sign 
 that He loves us ; and, blessed be His Name, it is an abiding sign. So 
 long as He takes not from any man the light and life of His Holy Spirit, that 
 man may have hope ; for he is still dealt with as a child, and not as a foe. 
 But, if we know that we are being led by that Gracious Spirit, day by day, 
 in the way of righteousness — that, as true, obedient children, we desire to 
 follow the guidance of that Heavenly Friend, whose still small voice we 
 hear continually in our hearts, — then we may, indeed, take all the joy, 
 which this proof of our Father's Love is meant to give us ; we may be sure 
 of this, that, fallen and sinful as we are, yet are we regarded, in very deed 
 and truth, as ' sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.' 
 
 253. V. 15. For ye received not, (kc. ' I say, sons of God ; for the 
 Spirit, which you were given, under the Gospel, in Christ Jesus, was not a 
 Spirit of slavery again, to beget fear in you — a Spirit of slavish fear of a 
 holy God — like that which the Law by itself, (unrelieved by the promises 
 of Gospel Mercy and Forgiveness, which abound in the Old Testament, as 
 well as in the New,) can alone bring with it for a fallen man. But it was a 
 Spirit of adoption, whereby we are enabled to look up with cheerful con- 
 fidence, and cry to Him, Abba, Father.' 
 
 254. V. 16. The Spirit itself witnesseth with our spirit that we are 
 children of God. The Spirit itself, which has quickened our spirit, bears 
 witness with it, that we are, indeed, God's children. Our spirit witnesses 
 this, because, redeemed and quickened by the Spirit of Life, we know that 
 it delights in our Father's Will, and groans over every word and act which 
 is opposed to it. We are grieved with anything which grieves Him ; and 
 so we are assured that we have something at least of the true spirit of chil- 
 dren. God's Spirit witnesseth this by the very fact of its being with us, 
 inspiring and helping us. The first, the spirit of a man, witnesses subjec- 
 
CHAP. VIII. 12—17. 163 
 
 tively ; each one for himself can feel the force of the wi+ness. The second, 
 the Spirit of God, by its very presence with the children of men, witnesses 
 objectively. All men can see the meaning of this great fact. Whether a 
 man hears or forbears to hear, follows or refuses to follow, the voice of bis 
 Gracious Teacher, yet the mere fact, tbat the Spirit of God is still vouch- 
 safed to him, imparting to him light and life in any measure, is a proof that 
 he is treated, not as an enemy, but as a child of God. 
 
 Of course, the Apostle here, as throughout the Epistle, is speaking moi'e 
 expressly of the devout and faithful Christian, to whom his words, here and 
 elsewhere, apply in all their fulness. The inward longings of our hearts, 
 whereby we yearn for God, yea, even the Living God, — which seem to wit- 
 ness of our divine relationship, though we, poor creatures of the dust, can 
 scarcely dare to believe the evidence, — these hidden desires and aspirations 
 do yet become for us a strong ground of living hope and trust, when we 
 consider by whom they have been quickened, by whose power such thoughts 
 have been awakened in us — how God Himself is here ' guiding us by His 
 Counsel, that He may bring us to His Glory,' — imparting Himself to us in 
 some measure upon earth, that we may see His Perfect Beauty hereafter, — 
 giving us a foretaste of that blessedness, into which our Head has already 
 entered, and which shall be the rich ' inheritance of the Saints in Light.' 
 But the Apostle's words are in a measure true of all men, in whom the 
 spiritual life, which they have received as redeemed creatures, still exists, 
 in whatever degree, not having been altogether crushed out and killed, by 
 indulgence in known evil. 
 
 255. V. 17. joint-heirs with Christ. ' Whatever glory shall be shared 
 by our Head, that we shall share also,' The words have an awful meaning 
 in them. They tell us of a joy unutterable, an ' exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory,' which ' eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man 
 conceived, but which God has prepared ' for us, in the counsels of His 
 Almighty Love and Wisdom in Christ Jesus. 
 
 256. V. 17. ^y, at least, loe also suffer together zvith Him. The Apostle 
 puts in the necessary correction to the generality of his language, — one 
 which our own hearts can supply also. If we would reign with Christ, we 
 must be willing also to suffer with him, to be tried and proved and perfect- 
 ed, as He was, through suffering, as our Father shall appoint for us. We 
 too, must ' learn obedience,' as He did, and grow in the true spirit of chil- 
 dren, by what we suffer. In some way or other, we must expe-ct to have 
 our portion of suffering, our share of the cross in our passage to the crown. 
 Whether in the faithful discharge of daily duty, or the endurance of daily 
 affliction, the struggle with some besetting sin, or the effort to grow in 
 
164: EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 some Christian virtue, in whatever way such ' suffering ' is appointed for 
 us, it does but witness of our fellowship with Him, who for our sakes suf- 
 fered as the Son of Man, that we might be made the children of God. 
 
 CHAP. YIII. 18—23. 
 
 (18) For I reckon that the sufferings of the present 
 time are not worthy [to be named] with reference to 
 the glory which will be revealed upon us. (19) For 
 the earnest longing of the creature is expecting the 
 revelation of the sons of Grod. (20) For the creature 
 was subjected to wretchedness, not of its own accord, 
 but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope, 
 (21) that the creature also itself shall be set free from 
 the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory 
 of the children of God. (22) For we know that all the 
 creature groaneth together and travaileth in birthpang 
 together until now. (23) And not only so, but even 
 we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even 
 we ourselves, sigh in ourselves, awaiting adoption, the 
 redemption of our body. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 257. V. 18. for I reckon^ &c. The connexion is obvious. Toil and 
 trial we must have in this world ; we must in our measure suffer with our 
 Lord. But what of that ? We shall also be glorified with Him ; and that 
 should be enough to keep us steadfast and unmoveable in all our trials. 
 ' For I reckon that all the sufferings of this life vanish into nothing, in com- 
 parison with the Glory which will be revealed upon us.' That Glory the 
 Apostle never attempts to describe ; he only glances at it in such passages 
 as these, ' Eye hath not seen,' &c. ; and so St. John says, ' "We know not 
 what we shall be.' To be like our Head, and with Him to dwell in our 
 Father's Presence, and hear His Voice, and behold His Face, and go no 
 more out for ever — such is the wondrous hope of the Christian, — such is 
 the glory which ' shall be revealed upon us,' at that ' revelation of the 
 sons of God,' which the whole human race is expecting with earnest long- 
 ings. 
 
CHAP. vm. 18—23. 165 
 
 258. V. 19. the earnest longing of the creature is expecting the revela- 
 tion of the sons of God. The Greek word here translated ' creature,' is the 
 same which occurs iu Mark xvi. 15, ' Preach the Gospel to all the creature,'' 
 and Col. i. 23, ' The Gospel, which was preached to all the creature under 
 heaven.' From these passages it appears plain that the expression is used 
 for ' mankind,' the ' whole human race,' ' humanity,' with especial reference 
 to the great mass of it, lying still in an unenlightened and degraded state, 
 but not excluding the few to whom the message of life had already come. 
 And in this sense the Apostle employs it here. (So Augustine, Lightfoot, 
 Locke, Turretin, Macknight, &c.) Hence, in verse 23, he selects out of 
 ' the creature,' generally, and distinguishes, * us, who have received the 
 firstfruits of the Spirit,' that is. Christians. 
 
 Thus, then, St. Paul here says : ' The earnest longing of humanity is 
 waiting for that day, when the sons of God, — the true-hearted and faithful 
 of every age and clime, — those, who, with the light they had, whether with 
 the starlight of nature only, or with the brighter light, as of a clouded noon, 
 vouchsafed to the Jew, or under the full clear shining of the Sun of Right- 
 eousness, have, imperfectly, indeed, at the best, in every case, because of 
 the weakness of the flesh, yet with sincerity and singleness of heart and 
 purpose, each according to his gift, ' persevered in well-doing,' — when these 
 * shall be revealed,' shall be disclosed to the eyes of all, shall be crowned 
 with ' glory, honour, and immortality,' and be called to ' enter into the 
 joy of their Lord.' The whole of humanity is looking for this day, when 
 every life of faithfulness on earth shall receive its reward, a reward not of 
 debt, but of grace, — when wickedness shall cease to triumph, and lives of un- 
 repented sin and wilful disobedience, of fraud, injustice, oppression, cruelty, 
 impurity, shall have their just meed of retribution. St. Paul seems to hear 
 the sighing of the human race for deliverance from the power of Sin and 
 Death, the ' bondage of corruption,' under which they groan at present, not 
 being as yet aware of the redemption, which has really been wrought for 
 them, and shall in due time be made known to them. 
 
 259. V. 20. for the creature was subjected to wretchedness, not of its 
 own accord, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope. The Greek 
 word, here translated ' wretchedness,' admirably expresses the frailty and 
 feebleness of our present mortal state, subject to pain and weakness, sor- 
 row, suffering, and death, — that state, which our Lord took part in, and 
 thereby became subject to suffering, — that state, in which we too must 
 suffer with Him. Hence the connection with the words preceding. ' I 
 say, the whole of humanity is looking for that hour ; for now it is in a state 
 of feebleness, beset with evil of every kind, physical and spiritual.' 
 
 260. V. 20. not of its own accord. To this state of feebleness the 
 
166 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 human race was subjected, not of its own accord, of its own free choice, by 
 any voluntary act of evil, like that of Adam's, but wholly without any 
 blame attaching to men, for that state of vanity in which they find them- 
 selves. The Apostle utterly repudiates the notion, that any stain of moral 
 guilt can attach to an innocent infant, for the corrupt taint in its nature 
 derived from its earthly parents. Nevertheless, the coiTuption, the eeed 
 of death, is there in its nature. It has been made subject to the ' ills that 
 mortal flesh is heir to,' not by any act of its own, but by the will of God 
 its faithful Creator, its loving Friend and Father, who was pleased to ' sub- 
 ject it ' to all this vanity ' in hope.' When He willed that the human race 
 should be propagated from its first parents. He willed, indeed, that it should 
 be subject to frailty and to painful trial. But He willed also, in His Faith- 
 fulness and Love He willed, that it should be freed from any curse, for the 
 sinful nature which it bore, and that it should have part in a blessed hope. 
 He willed that His own dear Son should be its Head, and overcome Sin and 
 Death on its behalf, and restore to the whole race infinitely more than ever 
 Adam's sin had lost. The ' vanity,' to which we are now subject, we suffer 
 as the consequence of sin, the sin which we inherit in our own nature, by 
 our birth from the first Adam ; but we do not suffer it as the chastisement 
 of sin. All idea of chastisement, or curse, being laid upon us for Adam's 
 sin, or the ' sin in our nature,' which we derive from him, through no fault 
 of our own, is done away for every member of the race, by the fact that we 
 have now another Head, the second Adam, in whom the Lord our God has 
 loved and redeemed us. Hence, says the Apostle, we are subject to vanity, 
 not willingly, by any act of our own, but by reason of Him, our Heavenly 
 Father, who has been pleased so to subject us, but to subject us ' in hope.' 
 26L v. 21. that the creature also itself shall he set free from the 
 bondage of corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of 
 God. 
 
 I cannot shut my eyes to the truth, which these words appear so clearly 
 to imply, that there is hope in the counsels of Infinite Wisdom and Love, 
 for cdl^ for all ' the creature,' for the whole human race, that fell in Adam, 
 and has been graciously redeemed in Christ. The ' children of God,' the 
 faithful and true of all ages, all lands, all religions, will^be ' revealed,' will 
 receive their ' glorious freedom ' in the Kingdom of their Lord. While 
 others, perhaps the great mass of human kind, who have been wilfully un- 
 faithful, in greater or less degree, to the light vouchsafed to them, and are 
 still willingly held in the bondage of corruption, though they might have 
 asserted their freedom from it, and lived as good men and true, with the 
 grace vouchsafed to them, will receive their righteous judgment unto con- 
 demnation, — ' indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every 
 
CHAP. vm. 18—23. 167 
 
 soul of man that worketh out evil.' But this chastisement, after all, comes 
 from a Father's Haud, upon those who may be wilful, prodigal, unruly, dis- 
 obedient, but yet are creatures, whom He Himself has redeemed, for whom 
 Christ died. Can we say, with these words of St. Paul before us, that such 
 chastisement, however severe, may 7iot be remedial, may not be intended 
 to work out the ' hope,' under which the whole race has been ' subjected 
 to vanity,' which ' hope,' in the Apostle's mind, is the justification of the 
 .Eternal Justice and Love in so subjecting it, when it had not deserved such 
 a fate, nor brought it about ' of its own accord,' by any act of its own ? 
 Is there not ground, from this text, as well as others, for trusting that, in 
 some way unknown to us, the whole race shall, indeed, be made to share 
 this hope at last, and so be ' set free from the bondage of corruption, into 
 the freedom of the glory of the children of God ' ? 
 
 I feel it necessary to say more on this subject. There was a time, when 
 I thought and wrote otherwise. Some years ago, in the year 1853, I pub- 
 lished a small volume of ' Village Sermons,' which I dedicated to a dear and 
 honoured friend, the Rev. F. D. Maurice, and which was violently attacked, 
 in consequence of this dedication, by those who had previously assailed Mr. 
 Maurice's teaching, as containing what seemed to them erroneous state- 
 ments of doctrine, and, particularly, as expressing agreement with Mr. 
 Maurice's views on the subject of ' Eternal Punishment.' I was able to 
 show, by quotations from my little book itself, that these charges were un- 
 true, and that I had given offence, partly by stating larger views of the Re- 
 deeming Love of God in Ckrist Jesus, than the Reviewer of my Sermons 
 himself thought it right to hold, (though views held by such men as Bar- 
 row and Macknight,) but chiefly by expressing my cordial sympathy with 
 Mr. Maurice, in his noble and blessed labours. In particular, I was able 
 then to show that, in several places in those very Sermons, I had distinctly 
 spoken of Eternal Punishment, in terms directly at variance with those 
 which my friend would have used, and in exact conformity with the views 
 of my Reviewer. Accordingly, in the Preface to the second edition of his 
 ' Theological Essays,' Mr. Maurice spoke of me as ' having proved by my 
 Sermons that I believed in the endlessness of future punishments.' I did 
 believe in that dogma, at the time I wrote and printed those Sermons, so 
 far as that can be called belief, which, in fact, was no more than acqui- 
 escence, in common, I imagine, with very many of my brother clergy, in 
 the ordinary statements on the subject, without having ever deeply studied 
 the question, probably with a shrinking dread of examining it, and without 
 having ever ventured formally to write or preach a Sermon upon the sub- 
 ject, and pursue it, in thought and word, to all its consequences. There 
 are many, who, as I did myself in those days, would assert the dogma as a 
 
168 EPISTLE TO THE ROMAICS. 
 
 part of their ' Creed,' and now and then, in a single sentence of a Sermon, 
 utter a few words in accordance with it, but who have never set themselves 
 down to face the question, and deliver their own souls upon it to their 
 flocks, fully and unreservedly. For my own part, I admit, I acquiesced in 
 it, seeing some reasons for assuming it to be true, knowing that the mass of 
 my clerical brethren assented to it with myself, and contenting myself with 
 making some reference to it, now and then, in my ministrations, without 
 caring to dwell deliberately upon it, and considering what might be urged 
 against it. 
 
 The controversy, which arose about Mr, Maurice's Essays, and my own 
 little volume of Sermons, brought the whole subject closely before me. 
 And for the last seven years I have carefully studied it, with an earnest 
 desire to know the truth of God upon the matter, and with an humble 
 prayer for the guidance and teaching of His Holy Spirit in the search for it. 
 I now declare that I can no longer maintain, or give utterance to, the doc- 
 trine of the endlessness of ' future punishments,' — that I dare not dogma- 
 tise at all on the matter, — that I can only lay my hand upon my mouth, 
 and leave it in the hands of the righteous and merciful Judge. But I see 
 that the word ' eternal ' does not mean ' endless.' And, for such reasons as 
 the following, I entertain the ' hidden hope ' that there are remedial pro- 
 cesses, when this life is ended, of which at present we know nothing, but 
 which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will administer, as He in His Wis- 
 dom shall see to be good. 
 
 (i.) There is, in the secret heart of Christi|ns generally, a common feel- 
 ing that such is the case. At this moment, the great mass of Christendom 
 believes in some remedial process after death. A small section only of the 
 Church Universal, a portion only of the Protestant body, and by no means 
 the whole of it, contends that the hour of dissolution from the mortal body 
 fixes the condition of the soul for ever and ever, in endless, unutterable 
 joy, or in endless, unutterable woe. A very intelligent priest of the 
 Abyssinian Church, speaking on this subject to Dr. Krapf, illustrated his 
 views, and, it is presumed, those of the most thoughtful of his Church, as 
 follows, ' It is true that those who die in sin, have nothing but darkness 
 before them. But, /rom behind this world, there fall some few rays of 
 light into their path, which tend to lighten their dark night a little. And, 
 if they make a proper use of those rays, they will increase, and by degrees 
 lead them to a full light.' {Journal of the Church Mission to Abyssinia 
 and Egypt, by Isenberg and Krapf, published by the Church Missionary 
 Society, p. 131.) The Church of Eome distinctly asserts an intermediate 
 state of remedial processes us a part of its Creed ; but it then proceeds to 
 lay down the laws of it, which are not revealed to us, and to exercise the 
 
CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 169 
 
 powers of it, which are not committed unto man. Those Protestants, then, 
 who chng to this dogma, are, at all events, peculiar in their views, and are 
 in a small minority compared with the mass of Christendom. The great 
 majority of Christians, pious Eomanists, such as Bossuet, Fenelon, Pascal, 
 have read the Scriptures, and read them still, without drawing such con- 
 clusions, as those expressed in this dogma, from the passages which are 
 usually relied upon for its support, and which we must suppose them to 
 have read and well considered. 
 
 (ii.) In fact, whatever explanation may be given of those passages, we 
 find in Holy Scripture such words as these : ' That servant, which knew his 
 lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall 
 be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit 
 things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.' Luke xii. 4Y, 
 48. Now, whatever those other passages may seem at first sight to say, 
 they must not have a meaning assigned to them, which shall contradict 
 this. And what does this plainly tell us ? Surely, that there will be grada- 
 tions of punishment, as we generally suppose there will be of bliss. But 
 can there be any possible gradations of endless^ infinite^ irremediable woe ? 
 Can the punishment in any sense be spoken of as one offeio stripes, where 
 the unutterably dreadful doom is still assigned of endless banishment from 
 the Presence of God, and all beautiful and blessed things, into the outer 
 darkness, among all accm-sed things, where not one single ray of Divine 
 Mercy can ever enter ? It seems impossible. The very essence of such 
 perdition is utterly, and for ever and ever, to lose sight of the Blessed Face 
 of God. If it be certain that never, never, in the infinite, endless ages to 
 come, shall one ray of Divine Light shine upon the gloom, in which the con- 
 demned soul is plunged, how can such a state be described as one of ' few 
 stripes,' however differing from that of another soul, by the pangs of bodily 
 pain being less acute, or even (if it be conceivable) the anguish of mind 
 being less intense ? One single ray of the Light of God's Countenance 
 would make Hell cease to be Hell, as it is commonly understood ; for 
 where that Light comes, in any form, in any measure, there is Love, and 
 where there is Love, there must be Hope. But never to have the possi- 
 bility of again beholding our Father's Face, that, that would be the horror 
 of all horrors ! What would all bodily or mental pains whatever be, com- 
 pared with the anguish of being shut out for ever and ever from all hope 
 of beholding one ray of that Light ? And even bodily or mental pain, 
 however diminished, yet if continued without cessation or relief, for ever 
 and ever, how can this be spoken of as ^ few stripes ' ? Is it not plain that, 
 but for a preconceived notion, formed from other passages, which shall be 
 presently considered, such words as these would be understood at once, in 
 8 
 
170 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 their natural sense, to say that there is ' beating,' indeed, for all, -who 
 have ' done things worthy of stripes,' but in proportion to the measure of 
 the fault of each servant, some receiving more, and some fewer stripes, 
 as the righteous Judge shall order ? 
 
 (iii.) Further, when we consider a multitude of cases, it is inconceivable 
 that the hour of death should, under the government of a Just and Holy 
 Judge, draw the line sharply between all those who shall be admitted to 
 endless blessedness, and all those who shall be consigned to endless woe. 
 The infinite shades of difference, which discriminate the moral characters 
 of men, can, indeed, and will, be taken into account by Him, who knows 
 the hearts and lives of all, and can say how far the guilty stain has arisen 
 not willingly — from the helplessness of childhood, it may be, or the ignor- 
 ance of heathenism, from the fault of parents, the carelessness of teachers, 
 the inexperience of youth, the force of temptation, the pressure of circum- 
 stances, — or wilfully, from the deliberate, determined, purpose of men, 
 * keeping back the truth in unrighteousness.' Our God and Father, Blessed 
 be His Name, can take account of all, and will do so, and judge with right- 
 eous judgment accordingly. But where can the line be drawn between the 
 two classes, when the nearest members of the one touch so closely upon 
 those of the other, so that all of the one class shall be admitted at once to 
 never-ending bliss, and all of the other class shall be consigned to never- 
 ending, infinite woe ? In point of fact, how many thoughtful clergy of the 
 Church of England have ever deliberately taught, in plain outspoken terms, 
 this doctrine ? How many of the more intelligent laity or clergy do really, 
 in their heart of hearts, believe it ? 
 
 (iv.) For is no remedial process, are no ' stripes ' whatever, of any kind, 
 needed even for many of those, who yet, as we humbly trust, shall be suf- 
 fered to enter into life, whom, at all events, it would be a fearful and hor- 
 rible thing to suppose consigned to never-ending misery ? Are there not 
 many Christians to be met with daily in the common intercourse of life, 
 persons whom, in the main, we must believe to be sincere in their profes- 
 sion, yet whose weak and imperfect characters often betray them into faults, 
 which are unworthy of the Name they bear ? Do not these seem to need 
 some cleansing process after death, to purify their souls from sin, — not the 
 sin in their nature only, but sin too often allowed and indulged in the life ? 
 Are we not, most of us, all of us, conscious to ourselves, of our own indi- 
 vidual need of some such a gracious operation, to purge out from us the 
 remainder of corruption, and fit us for the more immediate Presence of our 
 God ? Granted that there will be vessels, small and great, in the Kingdom 
 of God, and each vessel full of its own sweet joy, — children, who have died 
 on the mother's breast, or who have only practised in the nursery the first 
 
. CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 171 
 
 simple lessons of love and duty, — boys and girls, who have but just begun 
 to feel the power of evil, and to learn to overcome temptation, — young 
 men and maidens, who have been called away, just as they were about to 
 enter on the busy work of life, and engage in the conflict, — men and women 
 in their prime, who have been withdrawn from the battle, while fighting 
 the good fight, and doing their Master's work, with all their might, with 
 the help He gave them, — aged saints, who have ' kept the faith ' unto the 
 end, and finished ' their course ' on earth, with ten thousand rich expe- 
 riences, with deeper knowledge of God's Love, and of their own necessities, 
 — pastors or philanthropists labouring at home, missionaries abroad, — 
 some, who wait patiently from day to day upon the sick and dying, others 
 who have cast in their lot, for love's sake, with the fallen and the outcast, 
 — the soldier, pressing on from field to field, in his path of duty, the sailor, 
 from the sense of duty, making his death-bed in the icy north — the Con- 
 fessor with his stripes, the Martyr with his cross. All these, with their 
 different stores of Divine Wisdom, having found their highest life while 
 laying down the lower in the service of their Lord, shall each, as we can 
 readily conceive, enter at once, when they leave this world, upon a state 
 of joy proportioned to that which they have reached here on earth ; their 
 life hereafter will be continuous with this, and so grow on, when time shall 
 be no longer. 
 
 But will not some of these need something, some change or remedial 
 process, to pass upon them, before they can enter freely and fully upon 
 this ? One, for instance, shall have been brought to repentance in after 
 life, when many deeds of guilt and shame have been registered against his 
 soul in the awful records of his memory, and many a disfiguring scar has 
 been left upon his spiritual frame. To the last moment of his life, these 
 things will pain and grieve him. He will feel that they may be, as he 
 trusts they are, forgiven ; but they are not wholly done away. With 
 memories such as these about him, with scars such as these upon him, he 
 cannot surely be fitted to mix at once, as he is, with the pure and blessed 
 ones ; nay, he cannot bear the thought of it himself. In some way or 
 other, there must be a process, be it long or momentary, — we know not how 
 or what it will be, — by which this will be effected. Having done ' things 
 worthy of stripes,' there will be stripes. 
 
 We have no difficulty, then, in admitting the idea of a remedial process 
 in the case of some after death. But, surely, the most saintly character, 
 when viewed in the light of God's Holiness, will have manifold imperfec- 
 tions, spots and stains, which he himself will rejoice to have purged away, 
 though it may be ' by stripes,' — by stripes not given in anger and dis- 
 pleasure, but in tenderest love and wisdom, by Him who dealeth with us as 
 
172 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 with eons. If there be any, from whom the Fatherly chastenings of God in 
 this life have already removed all such remainder of evil, doubtless they 
 may not need any further treatment of this kind, when they are called 
 from their work in this world to enter their Eternal Home. This may be 
 the case, too, with infants and young children, — with such as have not 
 transgressed, either wilfully or ignorantly, the Law of their Lord. But can 
 it be true of many adult Christians ? There seems to be, in Rev. xiv. 1 — 4, 
 a reference to such as these, a small and limited number, the ' hundred and 
 forty -four thousand,' who had ' the Father's name written in their fore- 
 heads,' — the ' virgin souls,' who ' follow the Lamb, whithersoever He 
 goeth,' — who ' have been bought from among men, being the firstfruits 
 unto God and the Lamb,' the firstfruits, we may trust, of a large and good- 
 ly harvest, — ' in whose mouth was found no guile, for they are without 
 fault before the Throne of God.' 
 
 But, in the case of the ordinary Christian, of whom we think and speak 
 hopefully, and should tremble, indeed, for ourselves, if we could not, yet 
 how many defects and faults of habit and temper will still be found hang- 
 ing about him, which unfit him, as he leaves this world, for the Company 
 in Light. It may be, certainly, (though the Scripture says nothing of 
 this,) that a sudden change will be made ; and, ' in a moment, in the 
 twinkling of an eye,' such as these shall find every such hindrance, to their 
 entering at once upon the fulness of their joy, removed. The ' dying 
 thief,' for instance, viewing his case, as it is ordinarily viewed, as one of 
 sudden conversion from a life of gross wickedness, — (though I see no reason 
 to hold that view myself, it will serve to many as a type of such instances,) 
 — may have been so purified at once from all defilement, his heart may 
 have been so quickened with the full burst of spiritual life, that when, that 
 night, he entered ' Paradise,' he found himself at once, not merely able to 
 rejoice in the delights of that blessed abode, but fully able to do so, — 
 without one memory of the past to trouble him, without one trace left be- 
 hind of his former career of evil, without the least vexing sense of any loss 
 he had experienced, by long continuance in wilful sin, without any know- 
 ledge even of such loss, without anything to damp, or even moderate, his 
 own proper measure of joy, without the least consciousness that he had not 
 spent his former life in perfect purity, as became a child of God. But, 
 surely, we cannot believe this, without a direct revelation to assure us of it. 
 At least, all the analogies of this life, which we do know, are against such 
 a supposition. They would lead us to believe that we shall assuredly be 
 followed in the next world by some recollections of our doings in this, by 
 some direct consequences of those doings, whether good or evil. And, as 
 we certainly do lose ground, in the way of Life Eternal, by the indulgence 
 
CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 1T3 
 
 of any habit of known sin, by any one habit of wilful conscious evil, so the 
 sense of such loss may attend us in another world, — not to embitter, but to 
 humble and moderate our joy, — to make us thankful that, although our feet 
 may not stand at first so near the Everlasting Throne as they might have 
 been, but for our own past wilful sin and folly, yet that there is progress 
 and growth in another world as well as in this. 
 
 (v.) For, surely, all analogy teaches also to expect this, namely, that 
 there will be growth in the world to come as well as in this. Not only will 
 they, that shall shine brightly as the stars of heaven, differ from one another 
 in glory at their first appearing, but the brightness of any one shall change 
 and increase, as the ages roll on. "We cannot suppose that the hoai-y- 
 headed Christian of ripe experience, and the untried infant or young child, 
 — the faithful servant, that has followed his Lord through all trials and 
 distresses, perchance to a bloody death, and he, who, till a late hour of life, 
 has wasted his Lord's goods all along in the Devil's service, — shall begin at 
 once equally to partake of the joj'S of the Eternal World. If it be said 
 that the servant in the parable, who wrought for one hour only, was made 
 equal to others, who had borne the heat and burden of the day, the answer 
 is plain. In the parable, there is no reference to the case of those, who 
 had been often called, but refused to work. Those called last, when sum- 
 moned, went at once to their labour, with, at least, as much zeal as the 
 first. They were sitting idle, ' because no man had hired them.' And the 
 whole parable is intended to teach us, what St. Paul will lay down more 
 fully in this very Epistle, that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will ' do what 
 He will with His own.' He knows where and how to reward and bless, 
 and where and in what measure to punish. 
 
 We can admit, then, as, in fact, most thoughtful Christians do admit, 
 that there will be differences at first in glory among those, to whom a joy- 
 ful entrance shall be given into God's Kingdom in Heaven, — that there 
 also, as on Earth, there will be some, who shall enjoy a closer converse 
 with their Lord, and lean, as it were, upon His Breast, while others shall 
 ' stand and wait ' in His Blissful Presence, though all shall have their share 
 in the rich Banquet of His Love. Servants, who have been entrusted with 
 five talents, or with two, or, it may be, with some small fraction of a talent, 
 and who shall have been foimd faithful, shall all together enter into the joy 
 of their Lord. But they, that have been faithful with a little in this lower 
 service, shall now be charged with proportionately higher duties, and more 
 glorious offices, in the Kingdom of Light ; he, that * hath gained ten pounds,' 
 shall ' have rule over ten cities,' he, that hath gained five, over five. 
 
 But, as we believe that there will be such differences of glory at first in 
 the Heavenly Kingdom, so we cannot doubt that there will be a growth 
 
174 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 and progress also in glory. "We cannot suppose that the spirit of an in- 
 fant, or young child, will remain always in the undeveloped state in which 
 death found it ; nor have we any ground whatever to think that it will, 
 suddenly, and in a moment, expand at once in all its powers, to the full 
 perfection of which it is capable. Scripture does not inform us on the 
 subject : analogy is wholly against such a supposition. In all nature, there 
 is no instance of such a sudden start into fulness of life, of such a break of 
 continuity, — as this would be. And would it not, in fact, contradict the 
 very idea of life itself, if there were to be no such growth and progress ? 
 Are we not told that, even now, to the principalities and powers in heav- 
 enly places, are being made known by the Church, more and more fully, as 
 the ages go by, the wonderful Wisdom of God ? Is it not, moreover, a 
 main ingredient in our joy, when we think of the blessedness of Heaven, 
 that it will be progressive, — that, through the ages all along, our knowledge 
 of our Father's Glory and Wisdom and Goodness will ever be deepening, 
 while, perchance, we shall be employed, as ministers of His, to do His 
 Pleasure, in other work which He shall find for us in His boundless uni- 
 verse ? 
 
 May there be decrease also of joy in Heaven ? We cannot tell. Per- 
 chance there may be. Our first parents, we are told, were created innocent, 
 and placed in Paradise ; and yet they fell. We are told also that Angels 
 of Light, who once stood near the Throne, have ' left their first estate.' 
 And it may be that the permanence of our joy hereafter may not consist in 
 any fancied security, as if evil could not tempt us, or reach us in any form, 
 but in our being made like unto the Son of God, our Saviour, with bodies, 
 as well as spirits, redeemed from sin, and able, therefore, in that Strength 
 and Life, which flows to us from Communion with our Head, to do, as He 
 did, at all times, when tempted, and tread our enemy under our feet. But, 
 gifted with higher, more glorious faculties than those which we now have, 
 and, doubtless, having higher work to do in God's Kingdom, why should 
 we not have trial in that work, as here, — not, indeed, of our faith, where 
 we shall walk by sight, — but yet of our faithfulness ? Will the blessedness 
 of our future state be maintained by our being absolutely secured from all 
 possibility of falling, or shall we be left free agents, as here, to do lovingly 
 our Father's Will, in His more immediate Presence, with the glorious 
 powers which He will then impart to us, and the glorified spiritual bodies 
 which we shall then have given to us, in place of these corruptible and 
 mortal tabernacles ? We cannot answer this question : we cannot go fur- 
 ther into it. For we touch here upon that great mystery, the existence of 
 sin and evil at all in the Universe, under the Government of a Holy and 
 Blessed Being, and the term, and measure of its existence, when and how it 
 shall be done away. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 175 
 
 (vi.) Seeing, then, that we can recognise even for some of those, "who 
 in the main are good and true, a possibility, rather, a probability, and even 
 a necessity, of ' stripes,' and a presumption, almost amounting to certainty, 
 of growth and progress, an upward, onward tendency in the state of spir- 
 itual being, in the world to come, we may reasonably recognise something 
 of the same kind as possible in the case of all, of the whole human race, 
 who (as St. Paul says in the text before us) ' shall one day be delivered 
 from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the chil- 
 dren of God.' He, who has been pleased to subject them to their present 
 state, has ' subjected them in hope ' of this. Stripes, more or less, accord- 
 ing to the judgment of the All-knowing and All-righteous, may be, and, 
 doubtless, will be, appointed in His Wisdom and Mercy, for those who 
 need them ; ' indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish,' must be the 
 portion, — our own hearts plainly tell us this, as well as the Bible, — of every 
 one who ' keepeth back the truth in unrighteousness,' of every one who 
 ' worketh out evil.' We bow to this rule, as holy and righteous ; we glorify 
 God for it ; we rejoice, even while self- condemned ourselves, at the very 
 idea of such a judgment as this. But, that utter, unspeakable misery 
 should be the portion, for endless ages, for ever and ever, alike of all, who 
 are not admitted at first into the realms of infinite joy, — that there shall be 
 no hope, in the horrible outer darkness, for the ignorant young child of 
 some wretched outcast, who has been noted by the teachers of the Ragged 
 or the Sunday School, as having contracted some evil habit, it may be, of 
 lying, stealing, swearing, or indecency, any more than for the sensual lib- 
 ertine, who has spent a long life in gratifying his lusts, and has been the 
 means of that child, and others like it, being born in guilt and shame, and 
 nursed in profligacy, — our hearts, taught as they are by God's Spirit, in- 
 stinctively revolt at such a dogma, as a blasphemy upon the Name and 
 Character of the High and Holy One, and refuse to believe it, though a 
 thousand texts of Scripture should be produced, which may seem, at first 
 sight, to assert it. 
 
 (vii.) For we must never forget that this witness within our hearts is 
 the Voice of God. We can only know God, His moral attributes, His Jus- 
 tice, Mercy, and Truth, by what we know in ourselves of these excellencies. 
 The Bible reveals to us the Mind and Will of God. Our Blessed Lord 
 Himself, in His own Person, exhibited the brightness of His Father's Glory 
 to us ; He showed us plainly of the Father. The Spirit now takes of the 
 things of God and Christ, and reveals them to us. But what would all this 
 avail, if we were like the brutes that perish, — if we had no power to see 
 what is revealed, uncovered, to our eyes, — if we had no power to appreciate 
 the excellency which we look upon ?, We could not understand, by any 
 
176 EPISTLE TO THE KOISIAKS. 
 
 mere description, the nature of a colour which we had never seen. We 
 must have something in ourselves, which bears relation to that which is 
 without, before we can apprehend, before we can know it. And so be- 
 cause we are not brute creatures, but made in the image of our God and 
 Father, wdth our imperfect goodness of any kind ever shadowing forth, 
 really and truly, however faintly. His Eternal, unutterable excellencies, — 
 because we have that within us, which bears relation to the Perfect Right- 
 eousness, and Truth, and Love, which is in God — therefore it is that we 
 recognise and rejoice in the full revelation of those Perfections in our Lord's 
 own Life, and the fainter emanations from the same blessed Source of 
 Light, which we see in the better acts of our fellow-man, or which we may 
 be enabled to manifest even in our own. God, then, has given this Light 
 of the inner man to be the very guide and polestar of our lives, — that 
 Light, which would enable our minds to see and recognise, if we will, 
 whatever is properly presented to them of the good, and true, and pure, 
 and loving, and to discern what is evil, false, and wicked, even while our 
 own corrupt will may refuse to embrace what the mind approves, or the 
 man may deliberately shut his eyes to the Light, under the impulse of lust 
 or covetousness, passion or pride, contempt or hatred, and resolve, or, at 
 least, be content, not to see what it discloses. That Light is, in fact, none 
 other than the shining of the One True Light within us, ' which lighteneth 
 every man that cometh into the world,' — which is given to every man that 
 he may profit withal, that he may see the path of life and duty, and make 
 good his way to the Kingdom of God. By that Light within us, the acts 
 of our own lives must be judged, and, when necessity requires it, the acts 
 of others also. By that Light, the sayings and doings of good men, the 
 acts of the Church, the proceedings and decisions of her Fathers and Coun- 
 cils, the writings of Prophets and Apostles, the words recorded to have 
 been uttered by our Blessed Lord Himself, must all be tried. ' We must 
 try the spirits, whether they are of God.' If they are required, on the sup- 
 posed authority of the Church, or of St. Peter or St. Paul, to believe that, 
 which contradicts the Law of Righteousness and Truth and Love, which 
 God, with the finger of His Spirit, has written upon our hearts, we are sure 
 that there must be error somewhere. Either we have misinterpreted the 
 words of Scripture, or we have missed their connexion, or we have lost 
 sight of the real point and spirit of the passage, insisting on the mere letter 
 of the word, and some minor particulars, which were only thrown in to fill 
 up the imagery, but were never intended to bind our consciences. To the 
 man himself there is but one lawgiver. He, ' that sitteth upon the Throne, 
 judging righteously,' has set His own Law to be a Law of Life within the 
 heart of every man. Whatever contradicts that Law, whether it be the 
 
CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 177 
 
 word of man, or the dictum of a Church, or the supposed teaching of the 
 Holy Scripture, cannot, ought not to, be a Law for him. Things innumer- 
 able, in the Scripture, and in the world at large, may, indeed, transcend a 
 man's intellect and perplex his understanding ; but he receives them as 
 true, because, in some way or other, he has satisfied his judgment as to the 
 authority on which they rest. One has persuaded himself of the para- 
 mount authority of the Church, another of that of the Scripture ; and, hav-^ 
 ing thus satisfied his private judgment, he may be willing to receive with- 
 out questioning what appears to him to be delivered to him by the one or 
 the other. But no seeming authority of the Church or Scripture ought to 
 persuade a man to believe anything, which contradicts that moral law, that 
 sense of righteousness, and purity, and truth, and love, which God's own 
 finger has written upon his heart. The voice of that inner witness is closer 
 to him than any that can reach him from without, and ought to reign su- 
 preme in his whole being. The Light, in which he there sees light, the 
 Voice which he hears, is the Light of the Divine "Word, is the Voice of his 
 Lord. 
 
 We may be certain, then, that any interpretation of Scripture, which 
 contradicts that sense of right which God Himself, our Father, has given 
 us, to be a witness for His own perfect excellencies, must be set aside, as 
 having no right to crush down, as with an iron heel, into silence the in- 
 dignant remonstrance of our whole spiritual being. And it cannot be 
 denied that there is such a remonstrance heard most distinctly in the heart 
 of every man at first, — in the hearts of most men, even when with their 
 lips they may profess a constrained assent to it, — against the dogma, which, 
 indeed, in these our days, is very seldom stated in plain words in the pres- 
 ence of any intelligent congregation, but which expresses the doctrine, as 
 usually understood, of ' Endless Punishment.' This dogma makes no dis- 
 tinction between those who have done things worthy of many stripes and 
 those who have done things worthy of few, — between the profligate sen- 
 sualist and the ill-trained child. And it is often so stated as to involve the 
 multitudes of ignorant, untaught heathen, the great mass of human-kind, 
 in the same horrible doom of never-ending despair, making this beautiful 
 and blessed world the very shambles, as it were, of Almighty Vengeance, 
 while some few individuals, called by the name of Christians, but living 
 comfortably all the while, notwithstanding their professed belief that my- 
 riads of their fellow-men are, every moment, passing into perdition, will, 
 by some special act of Divine favour, be so fortunate as to be excepted 
 from it. I need hardly say that the whole Epistle to the Romans is one 
 of the strongest possible protests against such a notion. 
 
 That, however, the above is no strained representation of what some 
 8* 
 
178 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 good men have taught and teach, I shall prove by quoting here again a 
 specimen of such teaching, which I copy from pp. 251, 252, of the Journal 
 of my first visitation of the Diocese of Natal (Ten Weeks in Natal). 
 
 " I read the following passage upon a scrap of an American Missionary 
 Intelligencer. It was the report of a colporteur, who was describing to his 
 employers the manner in which he conducted his ministry, entering first 
 one house and then another, and distributing according to the necessities 
 of each. In one, for instance, he would find the people careless and negli- 
 gent in divine things, and then he would talk to them about the heathen., and 
 what would become of them., and ask what would become of themselves, 
 if they lived like heathen. ' They would perish like those heathen ; and 
 their children, about whom they thought so much, would twine about them, 
 like creepers on a gnarled oak, and they would burn — burn — burn on, for 
 ever ! ' 
 
 " Here is another passage from the correspondence of a Missionary. 
 Writing of the heathen, he says, ' Every hour, yea, every moment, they are 
 dying, most of them without any knowledge of the Saviour. On whom, 
 now, rests the responsibility ? If you fail to do all in your power to save 
 them, will you stand at the judgment guiltless of their blood ? ' Said a 
 heathen child, after having embraced the Gospel, to the writer, ' How long 
 have they had the Gospel in New England ? ' When told, she asked with 
 great earnestness, ' Why did they not come and tell us before ? ' and then 
 added, ' My mother died, and my father died, and my brother died, with- 
 out the Gospel.' Here she was unable to restrain her emotions. But, at 
 length, wiping away her tears, she asked, 'Where do you think they have 
 gone ? ' I, too, could not refrain from weeping, and turning to her, I en- 
 quired, ' Where do yon, think they have gone ? ' She hesitated a few mo- 
 ments, and then replied, with much emotion, ' I suppose they have gone 
 down to the dark place — the dark place ! Oh ! why did they not tell us 
 before ? ' It wrung my heart, as she repeated the question, ' Why did they 
 not tell us before ? ' " 
 
 That such views as these are not confined to one class of teachers only, 
 may be gathei-ed from another passage, which I will now quote, from a 
 prayer printed for the use of a Missionary Institution (I am sorry to say) 
 of the Church of England. 
 
 ' Eternal God, Creator of all things, mercifully remember that the 
 souls of unbelievers are the work of Thy hands, and that they are created 
 in Thy resemblance. Behold, Lord, hoio hell is filled with them., to the 
 dishonour of thy Holy Name. Remember that Jesus Christ, thy Son, for 
 their salvation, suffered a most cruel death. Permit not, we beseech Thee, 
 that He should be despised by the heathen around us. Vouchsafe to he 
 propitiated by the prayers of the Church, Thy most holy Spouse, and call 
 to mind Thine own compassion.' 
 
 These words seemed to me to be little short of blasphemy. And, as I 
 have done before, so do I now set forward these passages, to enter, in the 
 
CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 179 
 
 Name of God's Truth and God's Love, my most solemn protest against 
 them, as utterly contrary to the whole spirit of the Gospel, — as obscuring 
 the Grace of God, and perverting His Message of ' Goodwill to Man,' and 
 operating, with most injurious and deadening effect, both on those who 
 teach, and on those who are taught. If such were, indeed, the condi- 
 tion of the heathen world, how could a Christian, with any brotherly love, 
 with any love for his kind in his bosom, consent to enjoy for one moment 
 any of the commonest blessings of daily life ? 
 
 (viii.) One passage of Scripture has been referred to, which evidently 
 points to some distinction of Divine chastisements, to some equitable meas- 
 uring of ' stripes,' according to men's works. Are there any others which 
 tend in the same direction ? There are, indeed, not many individual pas^ 
 sages, which disclose to us in any way the mysteries of the invisible world ; 
 though the whole tenor of Scripture teaches throughout the same lesson, 
 that God will render to every man, justly and righteously, according to his 
 deeds, — to Jew and Gentile, Christian or Heathen, alike, without respect 
 of persons, each according to the Light vouchsafed to him, each according 
 to the talents, or the merest fraction of a talent, committed to his charge. 
 
 But attention may be called to such passages as the following. 
 
 Matt. X. 15. ' Verily I say unto you. It shall be more tolerable for the 
 land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.' 
 
 We are told elsewhere ( Jude 7) that ' these cities are set forth as an 
 example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.'' And yet here we find 
 that, in the very midst of that ' eternal fire,' the punishment shall be ' more 
 tolerable ' for some than for others, — a difference shall be made between 
 those who have sinned very grievously in their heathen state in ignorance 
 of the Gospel, and those who have wilfully shut their eyes to the Light 
 which came to them, and loved the darkness rather than the light, because 
 their deeds were evil. 
 
 How is it possible that the judgment in one case should be ' more tol- 
 erable ' than in the other, if in both the same ingredient is found, which 
 is the very essence of the woe of Hell, as popularly understood, namely, 
 the horror of helpless, hopeless misery, in utter, dark despair, shut out for 
 endless, endless ages, from any possibiHty of ever seeing again one single 
 ray of the Light of God's Mercy ? And what right have we, poor, wretch- 
 ed, ignorant creatures of the dust, thus to limit the Mercies of our God, to 
 bind Him down to our narrow notions and positive interpretations of one 
 or two passages of Scripture, when yet the whole tenor of the Sacred Book, 
 and other separate passages, and our human hearts also, with their best and 
 and strongest utterances, are manifestly teaching us a diSerent lesson ? 
 If, indeed, the ' eternal fire ' be the ever-burning wrath of a Holy Being 
 
180 EPISTLE TO THE KOJSIANS. 
 
 against all sin, that is, against all wilful evil, so long as that evil continues to 
 exist, it is conceivable that they, who sinned against their better light and 
 knowledge in Sodom and Gomorrha, and they that have similarly sinned 
 under the Gospel, may alike be subjected to the vengeance of that fire ; 
 and that, on those who had more light given them than others, and have 
 most abused it, the judgments will be sorer and more permanent. But, 
 were there not infants, too, and young children — perhaps maniacs, — in 
 Sodom and Gomorrha? Were these, too, sunk in infinite and endless 
 horror ? 
 
 Luke xvi. We have in this chapter the story of Lazarus, in which our 
 Lord assumes that, even in the place of torment, there will be loving, ten- 
 der thoughts, in a brother's heart. If there can be such, as they cannot 
 come from the Spirit of Evil, they must be believed to come from the 
 Spirit of all Goodness. While there is life, there is hope. In fact, the 
 rich man is represented as less selfish in the flames of hell than he was in 
 this life. The Eternal Fire has already wrought some good result in him. 
 
 1. Cor. iii. 13, &c. 'Every man's work shall be made manifest: for 
 the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by Fire ; and the Fire 
 shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide 
 which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's 
 work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be saved ; 
 yet so as by fire.' 
 
 The Apostle is evidently referring to the * glorious appearing of the 
 Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ ; ' and seems to be adopting the 
 powerful images, used by the Prophet Daniel, to express the glory of that 
 day (Dan. vii. 9, &c.). ' The Ancient of days did sit ; His throne was like 
 the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire ; a fiery stream issued and 
 came forth before Him ; ' or that of Mai. iv. 1, ' Behold, the day cometh 
 that shall burn as an oven, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble.' 
 So here, ' the day will be revealed with Fire, and the Fire will pi-ove each 
 man's work, of what sort it is.' The ' gold and silver and precious stones,' 
 and all that is permanent and enduring, whatever is true and good, inde- 
 structible and eternal, in every man's work, will remain, unscathed by the 
 Fire, as it passes over it, and he that wrought it shall have his reward from 
 his Lord. But the ' wood, hay, and stubble,' that which is unsound and 
 rotten, will be destroyed, and the unfaithful worker shall suffer loss, shall 
 be mulcted or fined, though he himself shall be saved, yet as one escaping 
 through the midst of fire. What these figurative words exactly intimate, 
 it is not necessary, and it may be difficult, to decide. But they must mean 
 something; and they plainly imply a righteous judgment of some kind, 
 from which Christian Teachers, though they ' shall be saved,' shall not be 
 
CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 181 
 
 exempt. And, what is true of Teachers, is true of Christians generally. 
 Will not that Eternal Fire, with which that day shall be revealed, burn up 
 the ' wood, hay, and stubble ' in the work of every man, leaving only the 
 ' gold and silver,' that which has been good, and true, and pure, and loving 
 in his life, that which is right and sound in his heart ? Shall we not all be 
 exposed to that Fire, and need to be so ; though with some its work may 
 soon be completed, with others it may burn long and fiercely ? 
 
 (ix.) But are there not other passages which plainly imply that the 
 wicked shall 'go into Everlasting Fire, prepared for the devil and his 
 angels,' — to the place ' where their Worm dieth not, and the Fire is not 
 quenched ? ' 
 
 Certainly there are ; only let it be remembered that the word ' endless ' 
 is not a proper representative of the word ' Eternal ' or ' Everlasting,' — not 
 because it says too much, but because it says too little. ' Everlasting ' im- 
 plies life, permanence, unchangeableness ; ' endless ' is a mere empty nega- 
 tive, and expresses nothing but that the object is without an end. We can 
 speak of the Everlasting God, and of the Living God, instead of saying 
 the Eternal God ; but we feel at once how empty is the formula, if we 
 speak of the Endless, or the Deathless, Being. Surely there is an Eternal, 
 or Everlasting, Fire, — understanding the word 'Fire,' of course, not lit- 
 erally, but of a figure, to represent the Divine Anger and Displeasure, 
 which always has been burning, and ever will be burning, with a living, 
 permanent, unchangeable flame, against all manner of evil, so long as there 
 is evil to be destroyed by it. While evil rules in a man, he must be sub- 
 ject to that Displeasure, because the master is, whose slave the man is, 
 whose service he has chosen. It is so in this life, and the man is conscious 
 of it at times, though at others he may beguile away by occupation, busi- 
 ness, or pleasure, the burning sense of that Displeasure. But the time 
 will surely come, when, either in this life, it may be, or in the life to come, 
 it will be revealed fully — that Divine Anger, — that Eternal Fire, — which is 
 burning against sin, against all wilful, allowed evil. And he will not be 
 able to escape it. It may be needful that there should be a dreadful hor- 
 ror in his chastisement, which figures such as these shadow forth. He must 
 be made to feel the gnawing of the undying Worm, which writhed at times 
 within him, and stung him, in the rebukes of his guilty conscience, even in 
 this life ; but then it will be commissioned to do thoroughly the work which 
 is needed. He must bear the pain of the unquenchable Fire, the sense of 
 God's just Anger, which he cannot now put away. 
 
 But where are we told that those, who are thus committed to the 
 *Worm' and to the 'Fire,' shall abide with them for ever and ever? 
 ' Their Worm,' the sense of guilt which preys upon them, and ' the Fire,' 
 
182 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 the consuming anger of God, are ' eternal realities,' not like the worm and 
 fire, in Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, which consumed the offal of the 
 Jewish city, which were things transient and temporal, of this world only, 
 and dealt mei-ely with externals, the things of time and sense, the mere 
 flesh and bones that were cast to them. This Worm and this Fire, of which 
 we are now speaking, have to do with eternal realities, with the spirit of 
 man and his spiritual body ; they are things permanent and substantial, of 
 which such things, as were before their bodily eyes, were mere earthly 
 shadows. We cannot, indeed, conceive how this Fire and Worm, in the 
 eternal world, will act to produce their effects, of clearing away all filth 
 and corruption, that nothing unclean or defiling, no lie or abomination, 
 may remain undevoured or undestroyed. At the best, the Fire and the 
 Worm are but figures meant to shadow forth to us the things that shall be. 
 As many leave this world, whether in Heathen or in Christian lands, it may 
 seem to us almost past belief that the vessel so defiled should ever be 
 cleansed again, and made fit for the Master's use. And it may be so ; 
 we cannot assert to the contrary, whatever hidden hope we may entertain. 
 Yet, — as those who looked upon the fall of man, must have seen with dis- 
 may the vessel, which God had fashioned for Himself, polluted with sin, and 
 yet saw afterwards the Wisdom and Love, which was worldng all the while, 
 and out of that death brought abundance of life, — so may there be a 
 triumph yet resei-ved of light over darkness, of good over evil, when the 
 Son shall have put down all enemies under His feet, and God shall be all 
 in all. 
 
 That Fire, we have seen, will ' try every man's work, of what sort it is,' 
 and some will ' suffer loss ' in that day, while others shall ' receive a re- 
 ward.' The work of some will ' be burned,' while they themselves shall 
 be ' saved, yet so as by fire.' And, with regard to others, may not that same 
 Fii-e hold them, until it has burnt up thoroughly all evil within them ? It is 
 this evil^ which God hates, upon which His wrath is revealed, against which 
 His anger burns, for which the Fire is kindled, — this evil, which is destroy- 
 ing His children. If the blessed Gospel message of their Father's Love, 
 though heard, is disregarded, yet, surely. He, who loves them still though 
 prodigal children, will chasten them in His Mercy that He may bring 
 them back unto Himself. The chastisement may begin in this life : how 
 do we know that it will end here ? The great mass of Christendom, at all 
 events, believes that it will not end here for all men. And may it not be 
 true that the error of the Church of Rome is not in its merely maintaining 
 this principle, to which our human reason, under the impulses of human 
 feeling and the common sympathies of our nature, and gmded by certain 
 passages of Scripture, would lead us, but in its laying down a system of 
 
CHAP. VIII. 18—23. 183 
 
 Purgatory by the mere imaginations of men, and undertaking to administer 
 the affairs of the eternal world? Has the Mercy of God never cut off the 
 life of a bad man, as well as a good man, to save him from evil to come, — 
 to prevent him from plunging further on into guilt, and having the evil so 
 made to be a part of himself that even the Fire of Hell may not avail to 
 burn it out, without destroying the living being also ? 
 
 And, when we consider also how many of those who have died in peni- 
 tence, may have been guilty themselves of coi-rupting and ruining others, 
 who have run a short course of sin, and been cut off" in impenitence, have 
 we no reason to believe that, in some way or other, those who were once the 
 cause of this defacement of God's image in the persons of their fellow-men 
 or women, may likewise have a share assigned to them in the work of res- 
 toration, — may never attain, — (and, indeed, it is inconceivable that they 
 should attain, if the things of this world are at all remembered in the next, 
 as we suppose they will be, — ) their own full joy, until the evil they have 
 done shall have been, by God's Mercy, undone, and the powers of Hell 
 vanquished, and swallowed up in life ? 
 
 Such questions as these have been brought again and again before my 
 mind in the intimate converse which I have had, as a Missionary, with 
 Christian converts and Heathens. To teach the truths of our holy religion 
 to intelligent adult natives, who have the simplicity of children, but withal 
 the earnestness and thoughtfulness of men, — to whom these things are new 
 and startling, whose minds ai*e not prepared hj long familiarity to acquiesce 
 in, if not receive, them, — is a sifting process for the opinions of any 
 teacher, who feels the deep moral obligation of answering truly, and faith- 
 fully, and unreservedly, his fellow-man, looking up to him for light and 
 guidance, and asking, ' Are you sure of this ? ' 'Do you know this to be 
 true ? ' 'Do you really believe that ? ' The state of everlasting torment 
 after death, of all impenitent sinners and unbelievers, including the whole 
 heathen world, as many teach, is naturally so amazing and overwhelming 
 an object of contemplation to them, and one so prominently put forward 
 in the case of those, who have been under certain Missionary training, that 
 it quite shuts out the cardinal doctrines of the Gospel, the Fatherly relation 
 to us of the Faithful Creator. The conscience, healthy, though but im- 
 perfectly enlightened, does not answer to such denunciations of indiscri- 
 minate wrath, and cannot, therefore, appreciate what is represented as 
 redeeming Love, offering a way of escape. Hence missionaries often com- 
 plain bitterly of the hardness of heart of the heathen, and say that it is im- 
 possible to awaken them to a sense of sin. Yet, without such conscience of 
 sin in the hearer, the threats of Divine vengeance can produce no feeling 
 but aversion and a determinate unbelief. 
 
* t 
 
 184: EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 These are questions Avhich deserve to be seriously pondered. We shall 
 have occasion presently to return again to some of them. And, though 
 we may not be able to give a positive answer to them, — though, for rea- 
 sons of His Wisdom, our Heavenly Father has not seen it good to reveal 
 to us the state of the invisible world, or permitted us to get more than a 
 mere glimpse of the things behind the veil, — yet they may serve to check 
 in us the spirit of positive dogmatism in such matters ; they are enough to 
 remind us that these things are too high and too deep for us mortals to 
 profess to comprehend ; and so we may leave them calmly in the Hands of 
 Him, who ' doeth all things well.' 
 
 262 V. 22. for we know that all the creature groaneth together^ d'c. 
 We know that all men, everywhere, are, more or less, travailing, as it were, 
 in pain, oppressed by physical and spiritual evil, by the presence of sick- 
 ness, suffering, and death, and the more baleful consequences of sin in 
 themselves. But these pains, though they may not know it, are, in truth, 
 birthpangs, which, though to be endured for a while by the Will of Him, 
 who has ' subjected the whole race in hope,' are yet tending to a better 
 state of things hereafter. The very fact that we are all suffering here, 
 'not of our own accord,' but through the Will of Him who has sub- 
 jected us to suffering, is adduced here by the Apostle, as a reason why we 
 may hope for some future great deliverance. So far from being a thing to 
 drive us to despair, under the government of a just and righteous Being, 
 our ' Faithful Creator,' it is a thing to give us ground of hope for the whole 
 race. 
 
 263. V. 23. and not only so, d'c. And not only so, but even we our- 
 selves, we, Christians, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, — who are the 
 first to have been gladdened with the full tidings of our Father's Love, and 
 who are assured of it by the constant Presence of His Holy Spirit with 
 us, not merely as in the days of old, when the Sj^irit taught us, indeed, as 
 it taught all men, though the Jews above all others, but with the mightier 
 influences, which have been at work in our hearts since the coming of the 
 Son of God in the flesh, even we still groan within ourselves, from day to day, 
 conscious of infirmity, made aware that we too, like the rest of our race, 
 have been made ' subject to vanity,' have been brought into the world 
 by the Will of our Creator, as fallen creatures, though redeemed creatures 
 also. 
 
 264. V. 23. expecting adoption. The Apostle, then, regarded even 
 Christians as not yet ' adopted,' in the full sense of the word, though, of 
 course, they were adopted iu that lower sense, in "^liich all mankind are 
 adopted to be children of Ggd, and in the higher sense, in which Christians 
 are said to be ' adopted,' declared, avouched, to be children of God, receiv- 
 
CHAP. VIII. 24—27. 185 
 
 ing each for himself, personally, in baptism a formal outward sign of ratifi- 
 cation of that adoption, which they shared already, independently of the sign, 
 with the whole race. There is, still, according to St. Paul, a third, and yet 
 "hio^her, sense, in which the expression may be used, to intimate that full 
 and complete reception before the eyes, as it were, of the assembled Uni- 
 verse, into the family of God in Heaven, into His very Home, into His own 
 more immediate Presence, which will be vouchsafed to all who have been 
 found faithful upon earth, (as St. Paul assumes those to be to whom he is 
 writing,) in the day when the ' sons of God,' the good and true of every age 
 and country and creed, shall be manifested. 
 
 265. V. 23. the redemption of our body. This final adoption will be 
 evidenced by the ' sons of God ' having bodies also given to them, fitted for 
 their glorious state, redeemed, as the spirit is already, from the conse- 
 quences of sin, from the law of sin and death, which, by reason of the ' sin 
 in our nature,' still has power to ' war in our members ' against the better 
 law of our mind, to abuse the natural desires of the body, and to tempt the 
 will to consent to sin. We shall never be released from this, and fully re- 
 deemed, until the body is taken to pieces, and we receive a new spiritual 
 body, after the fashion of Christ's glorious body, which will be henceforth 
 a walling servant of the law of Righteousness, and cheerfully obey the high 
 behests of the spirit, in doing the Will of its Lord. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 24-27. 
 
 (24) For in hope we were saved. But hope, being 
 seen, is not hope ; for, what one sees, why does he also 
 hope for ? (25) But if, what we see not, we hope for, 
 then do we with perseverance expect it. (26) And 
 likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For 
 what we should pray for, as we ought, we know not ; 
 but the Spirit itself intercedeth for us with sighs not 
 uttered. (27) But He, who searcheth the hearts, 
 knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because, ac- 
 cording to God the Spirit intercedeth for the saints. 
 
 NOTES. 
 266. V. 24. in hope we were saved. ' We were saved in hope,' says 
 the Apostle. Our salvation was wrought in the counsels of God's Wisdom, 
 
186 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 from all eternity, though wrought in time when our Blessed Lord had 
 finished His Work. And still the same counsels of Wisdom have made 
 our salvation not a matter of right at present, but one of trust and hope. 
 ' We were saved in hope ' also, at the time God's message in the Gospel 
 came home to our hearts, and was embraced by us. This is God's Will, 
 for pui-poses of His own Almighty Wisdom, that we shall not see plainly, 
 with our bodily eyes, the certainty of these things, but shall see them with 
 the eyes of our mind, with the eyes of faith and hope, ever realizing them 
 more surely and fully, as we walk more closely with God. We are to take 
 God at His Word, and beheve that we are justified, children, beloved, 
 though we see in ourselves, and in our brethren, and in the state of things 
 around us in the world, so much which apparently contradicts that belief. 
 We have however, much, very much, to reassure us, in what we can see 
 of our Father's * loving-kindness to man ' in general, and of His special 
 mercies to ourselves in particular. 'Whoso is wise, will ponder these 
 things, and they shall understand,' in some measure, ' the Goodness of the 
 Lord.' And we have the abiding pledge of His Favour in the help and 
 teaching of His Holy Spirit. So that we may boldly say, ' The Lord our 
 God is with us ; who or what shall be against us ?' We may confidently 
 trust and believe in our Father's Love ; and believe also that this ' vanity,' 
 from which we now suffer, shall be done away hereafter, as He has prom- 
 ised, and we shall be set free in our bodies also, as we are already in our 
 spirits, from the consequences of the Fall. Just so was Abraham made 
 righteous, yet only ' in hope,' by God's assuring grace, not by any thing 
 he had, or could have seen, in himself before this declaration, nor by any 
 change he saw or felt in himself after it. He continued still the same im- 
 perfect, unrighteous being, in himself, that he had always been from his 
 birth-hour. It was purely the outspoken word of grace which he had to 
 trust to, declaring that, in God's sight, he was regarded as righteous then 
 and there, though he felt in himself unrighteousness, and pledging God's 
 faithfulness to confirm the truth of this, by certain gracious consequences, 
 to be wrought out for him and for his seed hereafter. He ' believed in hope,' 
 until out of his body, as good as dead, was raised up in Isaac a new life, 
 and he saw thus far the completion of the promises, and saw by faith yet 
 brighter things to come. 
 
 267. V. 25. then do we with perseverance expect it. This, the Apostle 
 means to say, is one consequence, at all events, of our being saved thus 
 ' in hope,' and not ' by sight.' We cannot sound all the depths of the 
 Divine Wisdom. But this we can see, that this expecting, and having to 
 wait for, the full enjoyment of our privileges, is part of our training, part 
 of that gracious discipline, which God uses, to beget in us the true spirit 
 
CHAP. VIII. 24—27. 187 
 
 of His children, that of ' patient continuance in well-doing,' as being good 
 in itself, and sure of his ultimate blessing, however, for the present, it 
 may be attended with all manner of ' tribulations.' It is His Will that we 
 shall be thus taught to ' persevere,' to ' quietly hope and patiently wait for 
 the salvation of God.' It is thus that He designs to raise up for His ser- 
 vice hereafter, not mere machines, but living agents of His Will, inspired 
 with His Spirit, and, of their own free choice, — like sons and daughters, 
 well-trained in childhood under due restraints, but now grown up to exer- 
 cise the functions of maturer life, — by no constrained compulsion, from no 
 mere selfish principle, because they will then see and enjoy abundantly 
 the things they now hope for, — obeying cheerfully and lovingly the in- 
 spiration. Whether any other system of education would have suf- 
 ficed for this, it passes all our power to know or think. But this is what 
 our Father has ordained for us, not merely as a correction of the evil 
 of the Fall, as if, when He made man at first, His purpose was really 
 blighted by the cunning of the Tempter, and by the folly of the creature 
 He had made. But the mystery, which St. Paul discloses, as now reveal- 
 ed in the Gospel, is this, that, before the foundation of the world, this was 
 the Will and Purpose of the Almighty, to gather up all things in Christ as 
 their Head. The Fall of Man was permitted as a part of this Divine 
 scheme ; but so that, as in the first Adam all died, in the second Adam all 
 might be made alive, and blessings, infinitely more, be bestowed upon 
 every member of the race, through the obedience of the one, than were 
 lost by the disobedience of the other. Such is the doctrine of St. Paul, in 
 chap. vi. of this Epistle. It is only intelligible when we take it in con- 
 nexion with the words of chap. viii. which are now before us, and those 
 which we have just been considering, ' the whole of humanity is expecting 
 the manifestation of the sons of God.' 
 
 268. V. 26. likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities^ dse. Like- 
 wise, also, in addition to the encouragement which our Iiope of the glorious 
 future gives us, we have the present comfort and help of the Holy Spirit. 
 Our Father's loving Voice is heard by means of His Spirit, speaking in the 
 very centre of our being, very near and very close to us, — the Spirit bear- 
 ing witness with our spirits that, indeed, we are His children. The feeble, 
 incoherent cries which we utter, while our will obeys the law of our spirit, 
 have a meaning given them by the Father of spirits, when He hears them. 
 He hears in them the voice of His own good Spirit, under whose influences, 
 acting on our spirits, and through them on our obedient wills, those cries 
 are uttered. Our thoughts are oftentimes too deep for words. The desires, 
 which swell our hearts, cannot be expressed in human language. But those 
 longings, which He Himself has quickened, those sighings of desire, which, 
 
188 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 under the gracious inspirations of His Spirit, our inner man is ever breath- 
 ing forth towards Him, and towards the remembrance of His Holiness and 
 Love, He bears, though unuttered. It is His own gracious Will, part of 
 the wondrous provision which He has made for us, that His Spirit should 
 thus abide with us, and teach us, and work in us, and breathe in our 
 breath of prayer, and speak in our words of truth, and act in our deeds of 
 faithfulness and love. When all other things fail us, and the Scripture 
 itself becomes, as it has at times become to many, as it may for a moment 
 become to us, a source of doubt and perplexity, instead of a spring of 
 hope, yet about this there need to be no doubt in the heart of any man, 
 that, so long as we have one single good thought or wish within us, one 
 wish to be drawn nearer to God, or to be rid of the besetting evil which 
 plagues us, we have a sign that the Spirit of our Father is present even 
 now with our spirits, is witnessing even now with our spirits that we are 
 not treated as aliens and foes, but as children. For the Spirit of God is 
 even then ' helping our infirmities,' and ' making intercession for us,' in 
 God's o^Ti way, by His own express appointment, ' according to His Will.' 
 
 CHAP. YIII. 28—30. 
 
 (28) We know too that, to those who love Grod, all 
 
 things work together for goodj being called according 
 
 to a purpose. (29) For, whom He foreknew. He also 
 
 marked out beforehand to be conformed to the image 
 
 of His Son, that so He might be the firstborn among 
 
 many brethren. (30) But, whom He foreknew, those 
 
 He also called ; and, whom He called, those He also 
 
 justified ; and, whom He justified, those He also 
 
 glorified. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 2G9. V. 28. We know too that^ to those who love God^ all things work 
 together for good, being called according to a purpose. Not only have we 
 the assurance of our justified state before God, and the hope of future 
 glory to cheer us, and the present help and comfort of the Spirit to sustain 
 us, amidst all the ' tribulations,' bodily and spiritual, of this pi-esent state 
 of ' vanity,' to which it is God's Will to ' subject ' us, but we know that our 
 very trials themselves, both of body and mind, are all working out together 
 good for us, for us who ' love God,' and desire that our Father's Will may be 
 
CHAP. VIII. 28—30. 189 
 
 wrought in us and by us. We know this, because we ' have been called 
 according to a purpose.' 
 
 The Apostle is speaking expressly of Christians who have been called 
 to the knowledge of God's Grace in the Gospel, and have embraced lov- 
 ingly their Father's Message of Life. But the words are true, of all men, 
 everywhere, who have obeyed the call, however called, however awakened. 
 It is true that, ' loving God,' listening to the Voice which speaks within 
 them, continuing patiently in well-doing, according to that measure of the 
 Perfect Law of Truth, and Righteousness, and Purity, and Love, which 
 has been revealed to them, ' all things shall work together for their good,' 
 inasmuch as they, too, have been ' called according to a purpose.' Not 
 without * purpose ' has the wox'd of God been carried to the heart of any 
 man. Not without a meaning has the Light of Life been given to lighten 
 any man that has come into the world. It is an express token of God's 
 Favour to that individual man — a sign of God's ' Purpose ' towards him, 
 that, taught by that Word, and lightened by that Light, he should become 
 ever more and more ' conformed to the image of His Son,' 
 
 2*70. v. 29. whom He foreknevj^ &c. What does St. Paul mean by this 
 expression? Shortly after, he says, (xi. 2,) ' God hath not cast away his 
 people, whom He foreknew^ It is plain that He means to speak of the 
 people of Israel, as having been fixed upon beforehand in the Providence 
 of God, to receive certain special signs of His Favour, bestowed upon the 
 whole people, — though many of them, individually^ were, in fact, unfaith- 
 ful and disobedient, while others, as infants and young children, at all 
 events, could have had no title whatever to share in such grace, except as 
 being members of a family, which God had ' foreknown ' for blessing. 
 Just so here, those, whom God ' foreknew ' for special gifts of His Grace, 
 are the whole body of those, who have actually received the awakening, 
 inward call of God's Spirit in their hearts, not merely the outward call of 
 the minister or missionary, which may not reach the conscience of the 
 hearer, often through the many defects of the preacher, and through no 
 fault of the man. But, whenever God Himself has ' called ' a man, there 
 He had a gracious ' purpose ' specially towards that individual man, He 
 ' foreknew ' him for a special blessing, — namely, to be brought more and 
 more into ' conformity to the image of His Son.' The man may obey the 
 call of God's Spirit, or not ; he may surrender his will to be led by the 
 Divine Guide, or he may resist and grieve the Holy Spirit of Grace. But 
 God's gracious purpose remains the same in thus calling him. Whomso- 
 ever He called, He tneant to be made more and more like unto their Lord-, 
 He ' marked them out beforehand to be conformed to the image of His 
 Son.' That many fall short of this end, for which they were called, for 
 
190 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 which they were foreknown, is true, as many fell short of the end for 
 which God foreknew the people of Israel. But the mind and loving pur- 
 pose of God remains the same. 
 
 And this is the point on which the Apostle's stress . is laid in this pas- 
 sage, namely, that Christians should have the most entire undotihting con- 
 fidence in the Goodwill of their Heavenly Father towards them. He, for 
 His part, is faithful, who has called them to His Kingdom and Glory. 
 Having received the call, they may be sure that they are meant for a 
 glorious end, and that nothing will be wanting, in the wise provisions of 
 their Father's Love, which is needed to accomplish that end. He fully 
 intends to bless us, every one of us, whom He calls to the knowledge of 
 His Love. We are not called idly^ by chance, as it were, or merely to be 
 saved from the yawning gulf of perdition, which is all ready to swallow us 
 up, while the mass of the human race are left to perish most miserably. 
 But He has called us with a clearer voice than others. He has specially 
 called us near unto Himself for a special end, with an express purpose in 
 view, that we should be ' conformed to the image of His Son.' God, in the 
 infinite counsels of His Wisdom, from all eternity, foreknew us for this, 
 that His Son should be our Head, should be ' the first-bom of many 
 brethren, and we all should be made like unto Him.' His purpose is to 
 ' bring many sous to glory,' to have, as it were, a chosen inner family of 
 sons and daughters, who shall dwell nearer to the Throne than others, all 
 like unto their Elder Brother, all willing servants of Righteousness, and 
 Truth, and Purity, and Love. 
 
 2*71. V. 80. xohom He foreknew, those He also justified, d'c. If this, 
 then, be God's purpose in calling us, if He predestined us for this particular 
 end, how can we doubt that He will make all things work together towards 
 effecting that purpose, towards attaining that end ? See every step of the 
 work He does Himself, most graciously and lovingly showing forth His 
 goodwill towards us ! Behold how ' all things are of God ! ' He ' called ; ' 
 He 'justified ; ' He ' glorified.' He ' called' you, for He sent His message 
 of Life to you, and brought home His Word, with power to your hearts, 
 by His Spirit. He 'justified you,' for He made you partakers of the Death 
 of His Son. He ' glorified ' you, for He made you partakers of His Life ; 
 He gave you a new life, which you possess now by virtue of the share you 
 have in His glorious Resurrection-Life, and which is a pledge to you of 
 yet fuller life, and brighter glory hereafter. 
 
CHAP. vm. 31—39. 191 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 31—39. 
 
 (31) What shall we then say to these things ? If 
 God be for us, who is against us ? (32) He, surely, 
 who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us 
 all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all 
 things ? (33) Who shall bring charges against God's 
 chosen ones ? It is God who justifies. (34) Who is 
 he that condemns ? It is Christ, who died, yea, rather 
 who was also raised again, who is also on the right hand 
 of God, who also intercedes for us. (35) Who shall 
 separate us from the Love of Christ ? Shall tribula- 
 tion, or anxiety, or persecution, or hunger, or naked- 
 ness, or peril, or sword ? (36) As it is written, ' For 
 Thy sake we are being put to death all the day ; we 
 were counted as sheep for the slaughter.' (37) Nay, 
 in all these things, we are more than conquerors through 
 Him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded that 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
 nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
 (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 
 be able to separate us from the Love of God, which is 
 in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 272. Thanks be unto God for this glorious Gospel, the words of which 
 are so plain, that he who runs may read them ! But note that, through- 
 out, the Apostle is speaking of God's Love to us, not of ours to Him — of 
 the Father's Love, that holds His fearful child to His bosom, not of the 
 feeble clinging of the childish arm around Him. He is speaking also not 
 merely of the Love of Christ towards us, but of the ' Love of God which is 
 in Christ Jesus our Lord. The spirit of these words is applicable to every 
 member of the human race. They are all under the same ' Faithful Crea- 
 tor,' who ' was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,' who is the 
 
192 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 * Saviour of all men, though in a special sense, of Christian believers,' 
 ■who ' gave His Son us a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,' who 
 ' set forth His Son as a propitiation, not for our sins only, but also for the 
 sins of the whole world.' But the Apostle's language is specially true of 
 those who have received their Heavenly Father's call in the Gospel, to 
 come, as God's chosen ones, and be consciously embraced in His Love. 
 He has chosen and foreknown them for a most gracious purpose. He has 
 assured them that He Himself justifies them. Who then is left to con- 
 demn them ? We know that He spared not His own dear Son, but gave 
 Him to be our Head, our Elder Brother, to take part with us in all things, 
 that become a true Man, to live and labour, to suffer and die, with us and 
 for us. How then should He withhold any other blessing that we may need, 
 when He has thus so freely given us the chiefest proof of His Love, the 
 very central essence of all blessing ? He has raised Him also from the 
 dead, and placed Him as our King, at the right hand of power, and made 
 Him our Advocate and Intercessor. What shall separate us from His 
 Love ? These little things of earth, by which our faith and patience are 
 daily tried, these accidents of life, which may take from us many blessings 
 and comforts, can they take from us this, in having which we have all ? 
 Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors, we triumph in life, 
 through our Father's Love. That Love is shed abroad in us, by His 
 Spirit, in the very midst of these tribulations. They do but serve to 
 deepen in us the assurance that He loves us, and is making all thinks work 
 together for our good. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 1—13. 
 
 (1) I speak the truth m Christ, I lie not, my con- 
 science also hearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 
 (2) that there is great grief to me, and unceasing pain 
 to my heart. (3) For I was wishing to be myself ac- 
 cursed from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen 
 according to the flesh ; (4) men who are Israelites, 
 whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, 
 and the giving of the Law, and the service of divine 
 tvorsMp, and the promises, (5) whose are the Fathers, 
 and from whom is Christ, according to the flesh. God, 
 who is over all, is Blessed for ever ! Amen. (6) But 
 
CHAP. IX. 1—13. • 193 
 
 it is not possible that the word of God has utterly- 
 failed. For not aU, who are horn of Israel, are Israel. 
 
 (7) Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are 
 all children ; but, ' in Isaac shaU thy seed be called :' 
 
 (8) that is to say, not the children of the flesh are 
 children of God ; but the children of the promise are 
 to be reckoned for a seed. (9) For the word of the 
 promise is this, 'With reference to this time I will 
 come, and to Sara there shall be a son.' (10) And not 
 only so, but there was also Rebecca, having conceived 
 by one man, Isaac, our father. (11) For when they 
 were not yet born, and had not done anything good or 
 evil, that so the purpose of God according to choice 
 might stand, not in consequence of works, but of Him 
 that calleth, (12) it was said to her, ' The elder shall 
 serve the younger ; ' (13) as it is written, ' Jacob I 
 loved, but Esau I hated.' 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 273. V. 1. I speak tJu truth in Christ, I lie not. Why such strong 
 asseveration ? Because, after what he had before written, it might almost 
 seem as if he did not care so much for his own people as a true Jew ought ; 
 moreover, his enemies, if they reached Rome, as they might do at any 
 moment, would be sure to bring this charge against him ; and, lastly, be- 
 cause he is about to enter more deeply into the whole question of the re- 
 jection of the Jews from their place of honour in God's Kingdom. 
 
 274. V. 3. / was wishing to be myself accursed from Christ for my 
 brethreii's sake. Doubtless, the Apostle meant exactly what he says in this 
 verse. ' I was wishing,' the thought crossed my mind, the wish arose in 
 heart, that, if I could purchase the welfare of my people, by my own utter 
 loss, so greatly is my love to them, I would gladly be content to do so. 
 It is the expression of an affectionate and fervent heart. We need not 
 suppose that he sat down deliberately to calculate all the consequences of 
 being accursed from Christ, or had them before his eye distinctly, Avhen 
 he uttered the wish. Probably, he referred at the moment more to the 
 blessings he should lose than to the woe he should suffer, by using the ex- 
 
 9 
 
194: EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 pression, ' accursed from Christ,' — ^to the sacrifice of that happy confidence 
 and bright hope and living joy, which he now had in his Master's service, 
 and in daily communion with Him, — to the sense of darkness which would 
 attend a state of separation from Christ, — rather than to the ' Fire ' and 
 the ' Worm,' the ' weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.' And, of 
 course, the wish would be constantly put down by the thought that the 
 thing was impossible. St. Paul's words, in fact, are similar to those of 
 Moses, when he prayed (Ex. xxxii. 32) that God would ' blot out his name 
 from the Book of the Righteous.' 
 
 275. V. 4. the glory. From the order of the words, this does not mean 
 the Shechinah, which was only given after the ' covenants' and the ' giving 
 of the Law,' but, rather, the glory which attached to the * adoption,' in- 
 dicated in the promises, ' Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty 
 nation,' — ' all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him,' — ' I 
 will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations ; kings of people shall 
 be of her,' &c., with many other like words addressed directly to them- 
 selves in the law. The 'covenants,' made with Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob : the ' service' of the tabernacle, laid down minutely in the Law : the 
 ' promises ' made to the Fathers, and, throughout the Law, to the people 
 themselves : the ' Fathers,' Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the great 
 men of old, as Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, &c. 
 
 2*76. V. 5. God^ who is over ally is Blessed for ever ! These words are 
 now, by some of the best interpreters, separated from the preceding. The 
 Greek distinctly admits of it, and it appears to be required by the fact that 
 the phrase ' Blessed for ever,' is never once used of Christ, in the New 
 Testament. A Christian, with a Jewish education, would always use them 
 of God the Father (Rom. i. 25 ; Mark xiv. 61 ; Luke i. 68 ; 2 Cor. i. 3 ; 
 xi. 31 ; Eph. i. 3 ; 1 Pet. i. 3). In 2 Cor. xi. 31, nearly identically the 
 same words are found as here. The Fathers, though they generally apply 
 these words to Christ, yet unanimously agree that the expression, ' God 
 over all,' is properly used of the Father alone. The only difficulty is to 
 see exactly the thread of the Apostle's discourse at this point. That, after 
 speaking of our Lord as coming of Israel, ' according to the flesh,' he 
 should break out into speaking of Him as glorious according to the Spirit, 
 is very natural, and just what he has done in Rom. i. 4. And, certainly, 
 if his language admitted of it, we might conclude, with the great 
 majority of interpreters, that this is what he is doing here. But, to my 
 own judgment, the words do not admit of being referred to our Lord, for 
 the reasons above given. And the connexion of St. Paul's ideas seems to 
 be plainly this. ' I could have wished to have been accursed from Christ, 
 for the sake of my brethren, whom God has so highly distinguished, [if 
 
CHAP. IX. 1 — 13. 195 
 
 that would have availed to prevent their present rejection. But, no ; it 
 cannot be: the glory must depart from Israel: God's Holy Will be 
 done, whether He gives or takes away ! to that Will we must meekly bow]. 
 God who is over all is blessed for ever ! Amen.' 
 
 277. V. 6. hut it is not possible that the word of God has utterly failed^ 
 (jcc. Yet do not say that God's promises have failed in any way, though 
 He does see good to withdraw His blessings. He never made a promise to 
 the mere natural children of Israel or of Abraham, so as to give any man 
 a right to claim at His hands the fulfilment of His word to Himself, simply 
 because He has come out of Abraham's loins. On the contrary. He made 
 choice among the children of Abraham, and limited the promised blessing 
 to Isaac. He made choice again among the children of Isaac, born of one 
 and the same mother, and limited it still further to Jacob. Why may He 
 not, with the most perfect consistency, make choice among the children of 
 Jacob, and limit the promised blessing to whom He wiU among them, to 
 those who walk in the faith of Jacob, and of Isaac, and of Abraham ? 
 What word or act of His binds Him to give the Kingdom, which He has 
 promised, to this man or to that, merely because He is a child of Abraham ? 
 On this ground Ishmael might have claimed, as well as Isaac, as being em- 
 braced in the first statement of the promise. Or, if it be said that the 
 promise was afterwards limited to his children by Sara, then, at all events, 
 Esau might have claimed, who was Sara's grandchild no less than Jacob, 
 born of the same mother as Jacob, born not at another time, by another 
 father, but by the same father, and at the very same birth. Has not the 
 Wisdom of God in this way warned you most distinctly to put no trust in 
 your mere fleshly descent from Abraham ? Is it not set before you plainly 
 that the Holy and Righteous God will not put out of His own hands the 
 distribution of His blessings, that He will make choice among the sons of 
 Jacob, as He did among the sons of Isaac and Abraham, and in every 
 generation pour His blessing upon those who serve him, counting them, 
 and them only, the true sons of Israel, the true seed of the faithful 
 Abraham ? 
 
 278. V. 13. Jacob Iloved^ hut Esau I hated. These words, of course, 
 are merely the strong language of prophecy. We may compare them with 
 our Lord's words, ' If any man hate not his father and mother, &c., and 
 his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.' In all the preceding words, 
 however, and in what follows, St. Paul is not speaking at all of eternal 
 salvation and perdition, but of the temporal privileges and blessings, by 
 which it pleased God to distinguish some more than others, and by the 
 proper use of which they would have gained, doubtless, a higher place in 
 the Heavenly Kingdom, whereas, by the abuse of them, they have sunk 
 
196 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 proportionally lower than others. As regards their state in the eternal 
 world, Ishmael and Esau and their descendants, (among whom we may 
 reckon the Zulus and Kafirs,) stand on the same level, and will be judged 
 with the same righteous judgment, as others more highly favoured in this 
 world with the means of grace and the hope of glory, as their brethren in 
 the Jewish Church of old, or in the Christian now. All will be judged ac- 
 cording to their works, and according to the light vouchsafed to them. 
 With reference to the Light, which we, Christians of England, have 
 received, it might be said, in like manner, ' England has God loved, and 
 Africa has He hated.' Yet not all English Christians are children of the 
 Light, nor are all African heathens children of Satan ; but those, who have 
 received most, shall have most required of them. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 14—17. 
 
 (14) What shall we say then ? Is there unright- 
 eousness with Grod .? Nay, not so. (15) For He says 
 to Moses, ' I will have mercy on whom I may choose to 
 have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I may 
 choose to have compassion." (16) So then it is not of 
 him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, hut of God 
 that showeth mercy. (17) For says the Scripture to 
 Pharaoh, ^ For this very thing I raised thee up, that I 
 may show forth in thee my might, and that my name 
 may be spread abroad in all the earth.' 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 279. V. 14. valiat shall we say then? We have here the same question, 
 so often repeated before in different forms. ' Is God, then, unrighteous, un- 
 just to us, unfaithful to His word of promise, in casting off any, or, if He sees 
 good, all the people of Israel ? ' Far from it, says St. Paul. Not only by 
 those instances just quoted, but by His distinct words to Moses, He claimed 
 for Himself the right of distributing His own favours, of judging for Him- 
 self in each individual case, according to the truth and the right. He re- 
 fuses to allow to any one the right to demand at His hands, in the case of 
 any particular person or nation, the fulfilment of a supposed irreversible 
 decree, whether for life or death. No ! God ' will have mercy where he 
 will have mercy.' 
 
CHAP. IX. 14:— 17. 197 
 
 The error of the Calvinist is in supposing that this asserts for the Al- 
 mighty the power to act, by the exercise of an arbitrary prerogative, in 
 choosing whom He will save and whom He will cast away. In point of 
 fact, the whole tenor and object of the Apostle's words is expressly to do 
 away with this notion of an arbitrary election. It was just that which the 
 Jew of his day relied on. He was one of the elect. The Jews were the 
 Calvinists of those days, and believed themselves, as God's chosen people, 
 sure of the kingdom. St. Paul is trying, with all possible arguments, to 
 shatter this fond notion to pieces. He says, " No ! God Himself, with His 
 own wise, and just, and unerring judgment, will pass a righteous sentence 
 upon all, whether Jew or Greek, Christian or Heathen. He will chastise or 
 bless, quicken or harden, as He sees it good, as He sees that the case and 
 circumstances require. And of this. He gave the people of Israel intima- 
 tion abundantly, saying to Moses of old, ' I will have mercy ; ' " &c. 
 
 280. V. 16. so then it is not of him that ivilleth, d'c. So, then, you 
 cannot, by willing or running, gain for yourselves a place in God's King- 
 dom. You must, indeed, both will and r?<n, by the help of that Gracious 
 Spirit, who worketh in you ' both to will and to do after God's good pleas- 
 ure.' But your best work, all your wiUing and running, will fall infinitely 
 short of the holy requirements of God's Law. You cannot enter His King- 
 dom in this way, by any supposed righteousness of your own, by any claim 
 of desert on your part. It will be simply of ' God who showeth mercy.' 
 You can enter only through God's free gift of grace, bestowed upon faith- 
 ful souls among you, as upon faithful souls everywhere, upon Gentiles as 
 well as Jews, — upon all who imperfectly, indeed, at the best, yet humbly 
 and sincerely, seek to walk according to that measure of Light, which has 
 been vouchsafed to them, to ' will ' and to ' run ' according to the truth 
 which they know, to continue patiently persevering in well-doing, accord' 
 ing to that which has been revealed to them of the way of righteousness. 
 
 281. V. 17. For says the Scripture to Pharaoh, etc. And do not think 
 that your exaltation as a nation, your distinguished privileges, are any 
 guarantee to you of such special favour as you imagine, by which you will 
 be screened from God's anger as Jews, even though indulging those very 
 sins, which you are able loudly to condemn in others. Your privileges, 
 doubtless, were given to you as a sign of special favour, but not such ag 
 this. You were meant to be God's Ministers of mercy to all the ends of 
 the earth, and while daily enjoying yourselves the blessedness of com- 
 munion with the true and living God, to be employed as dispensers of His 
 Bounty and Goodness to others. For this cause God ' raised you up ' as a 
 nation, as He once ' raised up ' Pharaoh, and gave him power, and wealth, 
 and dignity. But you have turned your blessings into a curse, as Pharaoh 
 
198 EPISTLE TO THE KOSIANS. 
 
 did his power before you. Aud may not your position before God, at this 
 very moment, as a nation, be just the same as that of Pharaoh, when it was 
 said, ' For this very thing I raised thee up,' — not, as thou vainly thinkest, 
 for thine own aggrandisement and glory, that thou mightest do thine own 
 will, and work out thine own ends, — but that even, in thy obstinacy and 
 self-will, thou mightest serve my purpose, and work out my end, being 
 turned to my praise, and being made to bring glory to my Name ? It is 
 not meant that God created Pharaoh for this express purpose, that by his 
 sin he might the more effectually glorify God, But, as all power is from 
 God, and all the powers that be are ordained of God, and are ' raised up ' 
 to be ministers of God, to uphold the good and to execute wrath upon them 
 that do evil, so are they subject to the control of Him who reigns above, 
 and even, when like Nero, persecuting, or, like Pharaoh, stubborn and op- 
 pressive, will yet be made, in some way or other, ' ministers of God,' for 
 His glory and our good. 
 
 The being ' raised up,' then, and distinguished from others by being en- 
 dowed with special privileges, as Jews or Christians, is no sign in their 
 case, any more than it was in Pharaoh's, or in a thousand other similar 
 instances, that they are regarded as God's favourites, and will be exempted, 
 as such, from His righteous judgment. As God made all the greatness, 
 which He gave to Pharaoh, subserve, in spite of Pharaoh's obstinacy. His 
 own All-wise and Almighty Purposes, so may He deal with the Jewish 
 people, and make the blessings, which they have enjoyed in the past, to be, 
 in spite of their stubborness and unbelief, the very means which He will 
 use for showing forth His Goodness, ay, and His Severity also, to the 
 world. ' Do not, then,' he seems to say, ' be thinking of your privileges, 
 as if they were grounds for any " boasting confidence " in the fact, that God 
 has called you to be His chosen people. Remember the lesson taught you 
 in Pharaoh's case, that, when men are headstrong and disobedient, their 
 very greatness becomes the means of their ruin, and makes their fall the 
 more terrible in the end.' 
 
 CHAP. IX. 18. 
 
 (18) So then, whom He wills, He has mercy on, 
 and whom He wills. He hardeneth. 
 
 ■'; 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 282. V. 18. Not by any mere arbitrary proceeding, but by an unerring 
 law of righteousness, will this blessing or this judgment go forth. Where 
 
CHAP. IX. 19—33. 199 
 
 He sees a faithful, humble soul, following the light already given, continu- 
 ing patiently in well-doing, according to the grace already bestowed, there 
 He ' wills ' to pour out His Mercy, and His Hand will not be stayed, be- 
 cause that man is a heathen, nor hastened, because he is a Jew or a Chris- 
 tian. And where, on the other hand. He sees, as He alone can see, that 
 there is a * root of evil ' within the heart, and men obey not the Law of 
 Righteousness revealed to them, but yield themselves to unrighteousness, 
 there He ' wills ' to pour out His judgment. And what will the Mercy be ? 
 Increase of grace to those that use grace, the softening and subduing, the 
 cleansing and purifying of the heart, while it grows in the tempers w^hich 
 become the children of God. And what will the judgment be ? The loss 
 of that grace already received, the hardening and deadening of the heart, 
 which is the natural and necessary consequence of indulged evil, just as the 
 growth in.grace is the natural and necessary consequence of obedience (see 
 note 40). ' To them, which have, it shall be given, and they shall have 
 abundantly ; but from him, that hath not, shall be taken away even that 
 which he seemeth to have.' 
 
 Such is the present necessary consequence of such sin. It does not fol- 
 low that there are no remedial measures, however painful, which the Wis- 
 dom and Goodness of God may bring hereafter, to bear upon the man for 
 his recovery. The Apostle is presently going to speak of such recovery, as 
 actually in store for the Jewish people itself, after they shall have been cast 
 off for a time, and hardened in unbelief. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 19—33. 
 
 (19) Thou wilt say tlien to me, 'Why does He 
 still lay blame ? For His wish (or design) who hath 
 resisted ? ' (20) Nay, but man, who art thou that 
 answerest back to God ? ^ Shall the thing fashioned 
 say to him that fashioneth, Why didst thou make (or 
 Why didst thou treat) me thus ? ' (21) Has not the 
 potter power over the clay, out of the same lump to 
 make one vessel for honour, and another for dishonour ? 
 
 (22) What if Grod, willing to show forth His anger, and 
 to make known His power, endured, with much long- 
 suffering, vessels of wrath already fitted for destruction, 
 
 (23) and that He may make known the riches of His 
 
200 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 glory upon vessels of mercy, whicli He before prepared 
 for glory ? — (24) whom also He called not only from 
 Jews, but also from Gentiles ; (25) as, in fact, He says 
 in Hosea, ^ I will call that, which is not my people, my 
 my people, and her, which is not beloved, beloved ; ' 
 (26) 'And it shall be, in the place where it was said to 
 them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called 
 children of the living God/ (27) Esaias too cries con- 
 cerning Israel, ' Though the number of the children of 
 Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet the remnant only 
 shall be saved. (28) For He is completing the matter, 
 and cutting it short in righteousness ; for a shortened 
 work will the Lord make upon the earth/ (29) And as 
 Esaias has said before, ' Except the Lord of Hosts had 
 left us a seed behind, we should have become as Sodom, 
 and we should have been made like unto Gomorrha/ 
 (30) What shall we say then ? That Gentiles, though 
 not pursuing after righteousness, obtained righteous- 
 ness, a righteousness which is of faith ; (31) whereas 
 Israel, pursuing after a law of righteousness, did not get 
 before into a law of righteousness. (32) Why ? Be- 
 cause they pursued after a righteousness , not as of faith, 
 but as of works of law. (33) For they stumbled at the 
 stone of stumbling, as it is written, ' Behold, I lay in 
 Sion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of tripping ; and 
 every one, who believeth in Him, shall not be con- 
 founded.' 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 283. V. 19. 2hou wilt say then to me, '■Why does He still lay blame P 
 It is plain that St. Paul is here referring back again to the same kind of 
 arguments, on the part of the Jewish mind, as he had already silenced in 
 chap. iii. He has just asked (ix. 14), ' What shall we say then ? Is there any 
 unrighteousness with God ? ' — a question precisely parallel to that in iii. 5, ' l3 
 
CHAP. IX. 19—33. 201 
 
 God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance ? ' And now he repeats, in another 
 form, the question which followed this in iii. 7, namely, ' Well, but if the 
 truth of God, through my falsehood, abounded to His glory, why am I after 
 all to be still judged as a sinner ? ' Here he says, ' Thou wilt say to me, 
 " Why does He after all find fault ? for who hath resisted His purpose ? " 
 that is, if all my proceedings have only helped towards the accomplishment 
 of His designs, why, then, am I to be blamed ? ' To the question, as it 
 stood in iii. 7, he gave no direct reply, but broke off into an indignant de- 
 nunciation of the gross immorality involved in such an argument. To the 
 present question, also, he gives no direct reply, but breaks off into the im- 
 piety of a creature arraigning in this way the acts of the all-wise and good 
 Creator. 
 
 284. V. 20. shall the thing fashioned, <kc. " As Isaiah said long ago, 
 ' Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what makest thou ? ' [Note 
 that the reference throughout is to clay, still soft under the potter's hand, 
 which can be moulded afresh, not to that which has been baked, and hard- 
 ened into a fixed form.] As he has said again, ' We are but the clay, and 
 Thou our Potter, and we are all the work of Thy Hand.' May not the 
 Heavenly Potter deal with the Jewish nation, as He sees fit, fashioning it 
 first, if He sees good, into the shape of a vessel designed for high and hon- 
 ourable use in His service, and then, if He sees that the vessel is marred in 
 the making, and will not answer His purpose, unmaking it again with a 
 stroke of His Hand, and out of the selfsame lump making another vessel, 
 for dishonour, for some lower use, which shall answer His purpose still, and 
 be used in His service, though in another less honourable way ? " 
 
 That the above is the true meaning of the passage, and that St. Paul is 
 not arguing (as the mere words of the Greek and English would allow us to 
 suppose), that the Potter has power to make out of the same lump, at 
 the same time, two vessels, at his own arbitrary will, one for honour, and 
 the other for dishonour (so as to support the Calvinistic view), will be plain, 
 if we turn to the passage in Jeremiah, to which he is evidently referring 
 (Jer. xviii. 3 — 6), ' I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he 
 wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was 
 marred in the hand of the potter : so he made it again another vessel, as 
 seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to 
 me, saying, House of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter ? saith 
 the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine 
 Hand, House of Israel.' So, then, the Great Potter, when a vessel is 
 marred in His Hand in the making, when He sees that a people, or a 
 Church, or an individual, will not answer to the end for which He fashioned 
 it, will make it into another vessel for His use, as it seemeth good to Him 
 9* 
 
202 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 to make it. He will not cast it away, but refashion it, to serve for a lower 
 and less honourable use in His Kingdom. ' And so,' says the Apostle, 
 ' may it now be with you. You were fashioned, indeed, to be a vessel unto 
 honour ; Israel was to be the Light, and Jerusalem the joy, of the whole 
 earth. But the Potter may see that you have become marred in His Hand 
 in the making. He may even now be fashioning you into another vessel, 
 a vessel still for His own use, but for a lower purpose, that, even by the 
 loss of those high privileges which you have hitherto enjoyed, by being de- 
 prived of that Glory for which He designed you, and portions of which 
 have already been vouchsafed to you, you may serve His great ends, as a 
 witness and a warning to others, until the time of mercy shall come again 
 for you, and the clay be once more taken into the Potter's Hand, and 
 fashioned anew at His Will.' 
 
 285. V. 22. what if God^ willing to shoio forth His anger y dc. ' What 
 then, if it should really be true that, during all these many years, when you 
 have been priding yourselves, in your own security, upon your rights as 
 children of Abraham, God, meaning in due time to show His displeasure at 
 your sins, and make known His power to deal with you as to Him seems 
 best, has only been " enduring " you with much long-suffering, when in 
 reality you were vessels already fitted, not by His Hand, but by the in- 
 numerable flaws and imperfections, which your own iniquities have caused, 
 and which the Great Potter has noted in you, to be destroyed, done away 
 with, crushed up in His Hand, and refashioned into some other form ? ' 
 
 286. V. 23. and that He may make known, &c. And so that He may 
 make known, at the same time, the riches of His mercy also, upon vessels 
 of mercy, whom He before prepared for glory, — prepared them in His own 
 wise way ' beforehand,' before He broke up the Jewish vessel, — for ' glory,' 
 for a service more glorious and ' honourable ' even than that service of 
 ' honour,' for which the Jewish vessel had been originally intended ; and 
 whom He called, — us, I mean, not ' only from among the Jews, but also 
 from the Gentiles ; ' as, in fact. He has all along intimated His intention of 
 doing, however blind you may have been to His purpose, and deaf to the 
 teaching of your own prophets. Thus Hosea, &c. 
 
 St. Paul here quotes the words of Hosea (ii. 23) as expressing what he 
 wishes to say, though the Prophet is speaking of the ten tribes, whereas 
 the Apostle uses the word as applicable to the Gentiles. 
 
 28'7. V. 27. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, &c. From this pas. 
 sage you might have learned that not the whole mass of the people of Israel, 
 merely because they are Israelites, will inherit the Kingdom. ' A remnant 
 only shall be saved.' 
 
 288. V. 29. as Esaias has said before, <kc. Speaking of the people of 
 
CHAP. X. 1—3. 203 
 
 his time, the prophet said, ' Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a right- 
 eous seed, a small number, the true and faithful few, the " ten righteous," 
 the " seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal," in whom the 
 life of God was still maintained, we should have been like Sodom and Go- 
 morrha.' May it not be so now ? and the present season of calm be but 
 the stillness preceding the doom of wrath, which the sins of the Jewish na- 
 tion have deserved ? 
 
 289. v. 30. What shall we say then ? ' Why, we must allow that Gen- 
 tiles, though not claiming to be righteous before God, though not aiming 
 at obtaining such a righteousness, have yet had it freely bestowed upon 
 them through God's grace in the Gospel ; whereas Israel, aiming at a law 
 or rule of righteousness, thinking to make sure of righteousness, by a kind 
 of law or rule, a methodical process of working^ and to acquire, as it were, 
 a patent right to be considered as righteous before God, by taking up their 
 freedom as natural sons of Abraham, and submitting to the necessary 
 Mosaic ordinances, have not " got before " the Gentiles, into any such law.* 
 
 290. v. 32. why, because they pursued, d;c. They might have found a 
 law or rule of righteousness, indeed, a process by which righteousness may 
 be surely obtained ; but that is the very ' law of faith,' under which (iii. 27) 
 all boasting is ' excluded,' 
 
 CHAP. X. 1—3. 
 
 (1) Brethren, the wish of my heart, and my sup- 
 plication before God, on behalf of Israel, is for salva- 
 tion. (2) For I bear witness to them that they have 
 a zeal for God, but not according to clear knowledge. 
 (3) For, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and 
 seeking to establish, their own righteousness, they have 
 not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 291. V. 1. for sahatio.n. St. Paul distinguishes between justification 
 and salvation, between a man's being justified and being saved. He is jus- 
 tified freely by the gift of righteousness, which God bestows upon all men 
 generally, and reveals for their comfort and joy to all believers. And this 
 righteousness He gives us in His Son, and ratified the assurance of it, that 
 we were made righteous and reconciled, when He raised Him from the 
 dead. This is what St. Paul calls (Rom. v. 2) ' having access into this state 
 
204 EPISTLE TO THE KOMAJNS. 
 
 of grace in which we stand.' But a man, being thus justified, needs now 
 to be ' saved ' by the life of Jesus from the ' wrath to come,' from that 
 ' wrath ' (Rom. v. 9) which his daily sins deserve. 
 
 Through Him, and His Presence at the right hand of God, where, by 
 God's own gracious appointment, He stands our Head and Lord, and Elder 
 Brother, ever making intercession for us, we trust to be ' saved from that 
 wrath,' for the sins which we confess before God, and turn from with true 
 repentance. Even if our Father sees that we still need to be chastened for 
 them, yet it will not be in ' wrath ' and severe displeasure, if He sees a 
 broken heart and contrite spirit. The Apostle then says here that he 
 earnestly desires and prays that Israel may be ' saved ' from the Divine dis- 
 pleasure. He does not doubt of their being justified by God's grace as 
 other men ; but he fears that heavy judgments are coming upon them, as 
 upon children, from a Father's Hand, for their manifold sins. 
 
 292. V. 2. not according to clear knowledge^ that is, of God's gracious 
 Will and Purpose, in calling them first of the whole human race, into 
 special nearness of relationship to Himself. They turned this grace of God 
 into a ground for their own self-exaltation, instead of regarding it as a de- 
 claration of His Favour to them, indeed, at first, but through them to all 
 mankind. 
 
 293. V. 3. being ignorant of God's righteousness^ that is, of the right- 
 eousness of which the Apostle has been speaking all along, which God 
 bestows freely on all, who will humbly trust in His Love and will be con- 
 tent to be righteous in His Sight, not for any worthiness of their own, or 
 any peculiar claim they may fancy themselves to have upon His Favour, 
 but simply because He is graciously pleased to call them righteous, to ac- 
 count them as righteous creatures, for the sake of His own dear Son, whom 
 He has given to be their Head and King. 
 
 294. V. 3. seeking to establish their own righteousness^ <kc. They have 
 sought a righteousness which they may call their own, and boast in, which 
 they can make sure for themselves, independently of God's Justice and 
 Mercy. Hence, they have not ' submitted themselves,' become subject, 
 obedient (see note 194) unto God's Righteousness ; they have not been 
 willing humbly to receive by faith God's gracious gift to all mankind, and 
 welcome its law of love as the law of their lives. 
 
 CHAP. X. 4—10. 
 (4) For Christ is tlie end of the Law for righteous- 
 ness to every one that believeth. (5) For Moses writes 
 of the righteousness which is of the law, that 'the man, 
 
CHAP. X. 4— -10. 205 
 
 who does these things, shall live in them.' (6) But the 
 righteousness, which is of faith, says thus, ^ Say not in 
 thy heart, Who shall ascend up into Heaven ? ' — that 
 is, to bring down Christ, (7) 'or. Who shall descend 
 into the deep,' — that is, to bring back Christ from the 
 dead. (8) But Avhat saith it ? ' Near thee is the 
 word, in thy mouth, and in thy heart,' that is, the 
 word of faith, which we preach, (9) that, if thou con- 
 fess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thy 
 heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt 
 be saved. (10) For with the heart it is to be believed 
 unto righteousness ; but with the mouth it is to be con- 
 fessed unto salvation. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 295. V. 4. for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, <&c. Yet, 
 if the Jews had known God's Righteousness, if they were not ignorant of 
 the whole spirit of their own Law, they would see that, even there, Christ 
 is preached throughout, God's righteousness through Christ is the end, to 
 which the whole Law is pointing and tending, — God's righteousness be- 
 stowed, not as the reward of works, but as a free gift of His Love, which 
 we have only to believe in, and live, — God's righteousness, bestowed not 
 on the Jew only, but on ' every one that believeth.' 
 
 296. v. 5. for Moses writes, dx. Moses, indeed, does write of the 
 righteousness which comes by the Law, the righteousness which comes 
 through the works, as follows, ' The man who ' does these things, shall live 
 in them.' And if a man could ' do these things,' and do them faithfully 
 and perfectly, could work all righteousness, no doubt he would ' live in 
 them.' But God and our own hearts know that we cannot do so, that we 
 are all fallen and sinful creatures at the best, that, left to this rule, we 
 must die. And, therefore. He Himself vouchsafes to give us life through 
 Him, the One Man, who did ' do those things,' those righteous require- 
 ments of the Law, and ' lived in them.' 
 
 297. V, 6. but the righteousness which is of faith, says thus. Hence 
 the same Moses, who wrote as above, describing the righteousness which is 
 by works, wrote also, in God's Name, other words such as these, which set 
 forth the grace of God, the righteousness which is by faith. ' Say not,' &c. 
 (Deut. XXX. 11—14.) 
 
206 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 ' See ! ' says the Apostle, * words like these show that it is no great and 
 impossible thing which God requires of His creatures, in order that they 
 may enter into hfe, as if they had to work out their own righteousness and 
 salvation, amidst all their infirmity and ignorance, their sense of utter help- 
 lessness. Moses speaks not of any great work to be done by them, as if 
 they had to go up to Heaven, to bring Christ down, or to go down to the 
 deep, to bring Christ up from the dead. Tfiey have not to bring about 
 these mighty wonders. God's Love has wrought these signs of His Grace 
 for us. He speaks not of any thing peculiar to the Jew above other men, 
 or to one man above another, but of something simple and common, within 
 the reach and compass of all, of something near and close to every man, of 
 a word very nigh, in the heart and in the mouth, that he should do it, — 
 just such a word of faith as that which we now preach, a word of mere 
 faith and trust in God's Mercy and Love.' 
 
 298. V. 9. if thou confess^ d:c. And the word of faith is this, that if 
 thou, man, whoever thou art, wilt * confess with thy mouth,' that is, wilt 
 confess outwardly before men, with thy lips and in thy life, that Jesus is 
 Lord, and wilt ' believe inwardly in thy heart that God hath raised Him 
 from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' The full meaning of this statement 
 will appear more plainly in the next note. 
 
 299. V. 10. for with the heart it is to be believed unto righteousness ; 
 but with the mouth it is to be confessed unto salvation. If we believe in our 
 hearts that God raised our blessed Lord from the dead, then we are sure 
 that He accepts Him as our Head and Elder Brother, and us in Him ; we 
 are certified by that fact that God justifies us, makes us righteous, calls us 
 near unto Himself, allows us a gracious ' access ' to His Presence, as our re- 
 conciled, or, rather, reconciling Father and Friend. But, being thus justi- 
 fied of God's free grace, we must seek to walk worthy of our high calling ; 
 we must confess Jesus Christ in all our daily thoughts, and words, and ac- 
 tions, as our Lord, ever seeking to bring forth, as His servants, the fruita 
 of holiness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 
 And, though our lives will still be full of frailty and imperfection at the 
 best, though still we must have daily to confess and mourn before God 
 many things which we have done wrong or left undone, yet, thus seek- 
 ing to confess our Heavenly Master with sincerity and singleness of heart, 
 we shall be 'saved' from wrath through Him; even, if needing to be 
 chastened by our Father's rod, we shall be ' saved ' from the visitations of 
 His angry displeasure. 
 
CHAP. X. 11—21. 207 
 
 CHAP. X. 11—21. 
 
 (11) For the Scripture saitb, ' Every one, that be- 
 lieveth in Him, shall not be confounded.' (12) For 
 there is no difference both of Jew and Greek ; for the 
 same is Lord of all, rich unto all that call upon Him. 
 (13) For ' every one, who shall call on the name of the 
 Lord, shall be saved.' (14) How then shall they call 
 on Him, in whom they believed not ? and how shall 
 they believe in Him, of whom they heard not ? And 
 how shall they hear without a j)reacher ? (15) And 
 how shall they preach unless they be sent ? as it is 
 written, ^ How beautiful are the feet of those, who 
 bring the message of peace, who bring the gospel of 
 good things I' (16) But not all obeyed the gospel 
 (who heard of it) ; for Esaias says, ^Lord, who believed 
 our report ? ' (17) So then faith does come by hearing, 
 and hearing by the word of Grod. (18) But I say, 
 ^ Have they not heard ? ' Yea, verily, ' into all the 
 earth hath gone out their voice, and unto the ends of 
 the world their words.' (19) But I say, ' Did not Israel 
 know ? ' First Moses says, ^ I will excite you with what 
 is no nation, with a simple nation will I anger you.' 
 (20) But Esaias speaks boldly out, and says, '' I was 
 found by those not seeking me, I became manifest to 
 those not enquiring after me.' (21) But to Israel he 
 says, ^ All the day I stretched out my hands towards a 
 people disobedient and contradictory.' 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 300. V. 11. for the Scripture saitk, Every one, d'c. * I say, these words, 
 though addressed, in the first instance, to Jews, have nothing in them 
 
208 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 which confines their meaning to Jews. They are true of thee, man, 
 whosoever thou art. Thy God requires of thee no impossible thing, but 
 simply to believe in His Fatherly Love, and yield thyself up to the gracious 
 leading of His Holy Spirit. The word is very near thee, in thy mouth and 
 in thy heart. For what says the Scripture, ' Every one that believeth in 
 Him shall not be confounded... For there is no difference... But the same 
 Lord is over all, rich unto all that call upon Him.' 
 
 301. V. 14. How then shall they call on Him^ (kc. But it maybe said, 
 this language of the prophet assumes that men shall first have heard of 
 Him, in whom they are to trust, on whom they are to call. And how shall 
 they hear without a preacher ? and how shall there be preachers, unless 
 God sends them? &c., as Isaiah wrote. And it may be argued, perhaps, 
 that because the Gentiles have had no preachers sent to them, as the Jews 
 have had, therefore they cannot be included in such promises ; for they 
 cannot have heard of God, they cannot have believed in Him, they cannot 
 have called upon His Name. Such words as these, then, it may be said, 
 belong only to us, Jews, whom God has specially distinguished from all 
 other of the sons of men, by sending His prophets and vouchsafing His 
 favour to them. 
 
 302. V. 16. but not all obeyed the gospel^ that is, even in that case, to 
 which these words of the Prophet refer, all did not obey the Gospel, though 
 they heard it. In other words, the Apostle, in reply to the supposed objec- 
 tion, says, ' It does not follow, because the heathen do not generally do the 
 Will of God, that they have never heard anything about it. You argue this 
 from what you see in their lives. You take for granted that they have never 
 heard any words of life from the Mouth of God, because you see, what 
 every one sees, that their lives generally are impure and unholy. But has 
 all Israel obeyed the Gospel, the Message of Life and Love, which God sent 
 them of old by His Messengers ? You know well they have not. And, if 
 you were even ready to deny this, Isaiah himself would tell us, for he cries, 
 " Who hath believed our report ? " You might as well, then, argue that 
 the people of Israel have never had Light from God's Holy Place vouch- 
 safed to them, because His Holy Name is so often "blasphemed through 
 them among the heathen," as infer that the heathen have never " heard," be- 
 cause the great mass of them seem not to have " believed " and " obeyed" 
 the word of God.' 
 
 303. V. lY. So then faith does come by hearing^ and hearing by the 
 word of God. ' So, then, I am quite ready to say with you, men cannot 
 believe in God, except by hearing, in some way or other, and they cannot 
 hear, except God speaks to them.' 
 
 304. V. 18. But I say, Have they not heard, dec. " But, I say, has He 
 
CHAP. X. 11—21. - 209 
 
 not spoken to them, and have they not heard, and have not some among 
 them behoved and obeyed, though the great body of them may, perhaps, 
 be as unbeUeving and disobedient as the great body of the Jewish people, 
 both of old and now ? Have they, indeed, been left alone in the world by 
 their ' Faithful Creator,' uncared for, and utterly untaught, and unenlight- 
 ened ? Have they not had ' preachers ' all along, to tell them of God's Ma- 
 jesty and Goodness, to declare to them in some measure the 'invisible 
 things ' of their Father in Heaven ? Has not that, ' which is knowable of 
 God,' been 'manifested among them, for God has showed it unto them, even 
 His Eternal Power and Godhead ' ? Do not the very Heavens declare the 
 glory of God ? Has not ' their voice,' the voice of God's great company 
 of preachers, ' gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the end of 
 the world ' ? Has God left any of His rational creatures without some in- 
 telligible signs of His Presence, some intimations of His righteous Will, — 
 on the one hand revealing His wrath against all ungodliness and unright- 
 eousness of men, who keep back the truth which they know by their ini- 
 quity, — on the other hand, declaring His Fatherly Love towards them, 
 * giving them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with 
 food and gladness,' showing that ' He is not far from any one of them, in 
 whom they live and move and have their being ' " ? 
 
 And are we so sure that none among the heathen have called upon the 
 Lord in sincerity and truth, according to the light vouchsafed to them, 
 though they did not know Him as Jehovah, the Living God, or as the Fa- 
 ther of our Lord ? Has there been no Job, or Melchizedek, or Jethro, or 
 Cornelius, — no Socrates, who could die a glorious martyr to the truth, — no 
 Cicero, who could stretch out his neck to the murderer's stroke, after a life 
 spent faithfully and zealously, though amidst much infirmity of body and 
 mind, in the service of his country, — ^no Nebuchadnezzar, who, after chastise- 
 ment, could ' bless the Most High, and praise and honour Him that liveth 
 for ever,' (Dan. iv. 34), — no King of Nineveh, who with his people could 
 cry mightily unto God in the time of his distress, and ' God saw their 
 woi'ks, that they turned from their evil way ' ? Yes, most assuredly. From 
 the beginning of the world it always has been, and is, and ever will be, 
 true, that ' in every nation, he, that feareth God and worketh righteous- 
 ness,' according to the light vouchsafed to him, though he may not be cir- 
 cumcised as a Jew, nor baptized as a Christian, ' is accepted of Him,' who 
 is the Faithful Creator, the Merciful God, and the loving Friend and Father 
 of all. 
 
 305. V. 19. hut I say^ Did not Israel know? " And is all this, I repeat 
 again, news to the Jews ? Have they had no intimation given ihem, that 
 the Gentiles were meant to share in the Mercies of their God, as well aa 
 
210 EPISTLE TO THE EOMANS. 
 
 themselves? Did not Israel know this, or might they not have known it, 
 all along? What says Moses himself? And what says Isaiah, still more 
 plainly and boldly ? Do they not tell you of the ' no-nation,' the ' simple 
 nation,' that is, the Gentiles, by whom God will be found, though they 
 ' seek Him not,' and ' enquire not after Him,' and upon whom He will 
 pour out His blessing, and so provoke and anger you. His disobedient 
 people ? " 
 
 CHAP. XI. 1—6. 
 
 (1) I say then, ^ Did God cast off His people ? ' 
 Nay, not so : for I too am an Israelite, of the seed of 
 Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. (2) Grod cast not 
 off His people, whom He foreknew. Know ye not what 
 the Scripture saith in the story of Elias, how he pleads 
 with God against Israel, saying, (3) * Lord, Thy prophets 
 they killed, and Thine altars they dug down ; and I was 
 left behind alone, and they seek my life.' (4) But what 
 says the Divine utterance to him ? ' I left to myself 
 seven thousand men, such as bowed not the knee to 
 Baal.' (5) So then in the present time also there is a 
 remnant according to election of grace. (6) But if by 
 grace, it is no longer of works ; since then grace becomes 
 no longer grace. But if of works, no longer is it grace ; 
 since then work no longer is work. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 306. V. 1. did God cast off His people, that is, when He saw such fault 
 in them, when he spoke so severely of them, and even dealt so severely 
 with them? God forbid! How could I bear to say or imagine such a 
 thing of my own people, my own kith and kin ? No ! He may chastise 
 severely, and, if need be, for a time cut off from the enjoyment of His 
 favour, those whom He once foreknew for better things. But he will not 
 cast them off. 
 
 SOY. V. 2. God cast not off His people, whom He foreknew, that is, 
 whom He fixed upon beforehand, for a gracious purpose (see note 2*70). 
 And in fact, there was always left a righteous seed, a seed of life among 
 
CHAP. XI. 1 — 6. 211 
 
 them. And this of itself was a proof that God had not cast them off, nor 
 utterly withdrawn His loving-kindness from them. 
 
 308. V. 5. so then in the present time also there is a remnant according 
 to election of grace. As one might have thought in the days of old, as 
 Elias did think, that the whole nation was apostate, and yet there were 
 seven thousand true and faithful souls to be found in Israel, unknown to 
 the prophet, but marked of Him who ' searcheth the hearts, and trieth the 
 reins of the children of men, so now, though the great mass of the Jewish 
 people is self-willed, and obstinately fixed in unbelief, yet, doubtless, there 
 are many among them, whether the Gospel Message has reached them 
 as yet or not, whom the Eye of their Lord approves in their daily lives 
 of piety and faithfulness, and on whom the blessing of their God 
 descends. 
 
 And the words may be extended to have a wider meaning than this. 
 ' The Lord knoweth them that are His,' in every age, in every nation under 
 heaven. He knoweth those, who, according to the Light vouchsafed to 
 them, ' do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.' He 
 knows such as these ; and He ' elects,' He chooses them, for His own dear 
 children, from among the mass of human-kind. To them He will grant 
 His peace, the Peace which passes understanding, and reveal more fully 
 the secrets of His Love. 
 
 We know not how many there are of these in any age. There were in 
 that day, and, probably, there will be at all times, compared with the great 
 mass of any nation or mankind at large, but a few only of those, who en- 
 ter by the ' strait gate,' and pass on by the ' narrow way ' that leadeth unto 
 life, — a ' remnant, according to election of grace.' These are approved 
 and elected of God's free grace, not for any worthiness of their own, which 
 has deserved it, — not for any works which they have wrought with the 
 strength He gave them. He knows, and they know also, that they have 
 but feebly used that strength and grace He gave them, — that their best 
 works fall utterly short of that perfection, which the Law of Holiness re- 
 quires, — that, in themselves, they are ' unworthy and unclean, unfit to 
 stand before Him, unable to bear the scrutiny of His Pure Eyes. But, as 
 He blessed Abraham, and called him righteous, though in himself un- 
 righteous, ' forgiving his unrighteousness and covering his sin,' not as one 
 obliged to do it, not as if Abraham had a right to clai7n it at His hands, but 
 as an act of free grace, so are all those, whom God sees in any nation, to 
 be ' working good ' and ' patiently continuing in well-doing,' approved and 
 ' elected ' by Him, to enjoy the richer blessings of His favour, not for their 
 righteousness' sake, but through His free Grace and infinite Mercy. There 
 is not a word in all this to countenance the Calvinistic notion, of the Al- 
 
212 EPISTLE TO THE UOMANS. 
 
 mighty ' elected,' by an arbitrary fiat of His Will, a few only, a ' remnant,' 
 of the human race for life, and consigning the rest to endless miery. 
 
 CHAP. XL 7—27. 
 
 (7) What then ? What Israel seeks after, that it 
 attained not, but the election attained it ; whereas the 
 rest were hardened, (8) as it is written, * God gave them 
 a spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and 
 ears that they should not hear, unto this very day/ 
 (9) And David says, ^ Let their table become a stum- 
 bling-block and a recompense to them. (10) Let their 
 eyes be darkened, that they should not see, and ever 
 bow thou down their back.' (11) I say then, ' Did they 
 stumble, so as to fall ? ' Nay, not so : but through 
 their lapse there is salvation to the Grentiles, so as to 
 excite them. (12) But, if their lapse is the world's 
 wealth, and their impoverishment the Gentiles' wealth, 
 how much more their enrichment ! (13) For I speak 
 to you, Gentiles ; inasmuch as I am an apostle of Gen- 
 tiles, I glorify my ministry, (14) if I may somehow 
 excite my flesh, and save some of them. (15) For if 
 the casting away of them be the reconciliation of the 
 world, what then the reception, but life from the dead ? 
 (16) But, if the first fruits be holy, so is the lump ; and 
 if the root be holy, so are the branches. (17) But, if 
 some of the branches were broken out, whereas thou, 
 wild-olive as thou art, wert graffed in among them, and 
 became partaker of the root and fatness of the olive, 
 
 (18) boast not against the branches ; but, if thou 
 boastest, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 
 
 (19) Thou wilt say then, ^The branches were broken 
 out, so that I may be graffed in.' (20) Well ! through 
 
CHAP. XI, 7— -2Y. , 213 
 
 unbelief they were broken out, whereas thou by faith 
 standest. Be not high-minded, but fear. (21) For, 
 if God spared not the natural branches, beware lest He 
 spare not thee either. (22) Behold, then, the goodness 
 and severity of God, — upon them which fell, severity, 
 but upon thee goodness, if thou continue in the good- 
 ness ; since (otherwise) thou also shalt be cut off. 
 (23) And they too, if they do not continue in unbe- 
 lief, shall be graffed in ; for God is able to graff them 
 in again. (24) For, if thou wert cut out of the natu- 
 rally wild olive, and unnaturally wert graffed into the 
 good olive, how much rather shall these, the natural 
 hrancheSj be graffed into their own olive ? (25) For 
 I wish you not to be ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, 
 so that ye may not be wise in your own conceits, that 
 hardness in a measure is come to Israel, until the ful- 
 ness of the Gentiles shall have come in. (26) And so 
 all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, ^ There shall 
 come from Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away im- 
 pieties from Jacob. (27) And this is my covenant with 
 them, when I shall have taken away their sins.' 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 809. V. V. what Israel seeks after, that it attained not, but the election 
 attained it. That righteousness, which Israel is now seeking after, in its 
 own way, upon its own footing, by way of claim, in right of works, the 
 nation at large, the great body of the race, did not attain. But the faith- 
 ful few, the approved and elected ones, did attain it ; they sought it not by 
 works, but thankfully embraced it, as the free gift of God's grace, saying in 
 their hearts, with the Psalmist, ' Blessed is the man, whose unrighteousness 
 is forgiven, and whose sin is covered.' 
 
 310. V. Y. the rest were hardened, the natural consequence of their 
 obstinacy, by the Eternal Laws, which God maintains in His Kingdom, 
 which are the necessary Laws of the Moral World ; so that we may say, 
 
214 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 either they hardened themselves by their wickedness, or they -were hardened 
 by the judgment of God, they became hardened under the operation of 
 God's Eternal Laws (see note 40). 
 
 811. V. 9. and David says, dec. It has come upon them, as upon those 
 of whom David writes, that their ' table,' — the very goodness with which 
 their cup overflows, the very blessings and privileges which they have en- 
 joyed, — has become ' a snare ' to them. They have become proud and 
 high-minded, and boasting of their security : and their fall will be, in con- 
 quence, more marked and terrible. 
 
 312. V. 11. did they stumble. The Apostle refers to the time, when the 
 nation finally rejected the grace of God, and the ' things of its peace ' were, 
 therefore, ' hid from its eyes.' 
 
 313. V. 11. did they stumble, so as to fall ? that is, so as to fall only, 
 never to rise again, — to lie utterly prostrate, without any prospect or hope 
 of recovery ? Not so. They have stumbled, indeed, and fallen, and lost 
 the place, which they once enjoyed in God's favour. But this was needful, 
 in God's great mercy, to chasten them, and rouse them, it may be, from 
 their state of torpor. And God will use this very season of their lapse and 
 impoverishment, as a time of blessing for the Gentiles; and He would 
 have them stirred by this to a godly rivalry ; that so they may rise again 
 from their fall, and the whole Church be enriched by their enrichment, 
 
 314. v. 13. / spealc to you, Gentiles, — that is, to you, believers from 
 among the Jewish proselytes at Rome. (See Introduction.) The Jew, my 
 own countryman and kinsman after the flesh, may not appropriate what I 
 say : but you, I trust, at all events, will do so. Nay, I glorify and make the 
 most of this ministry to the Gentiles, which is committed to my trust. I put 
 it forward prominently, and draw attention to it, if I may thus stir up to 
 rivalry those of my own flesh and blood (the Jews), and save some of 
 them. 
 
 315. v. 15. reconciliation. This is the very same word which is used 
 in verse 11, 'by whom we have now received the at-one-ment.'' It will be 
 at once evident how far from the Apostle's meaning is the interpretation 
 usually given to these last words, which assumes that St. Paul is there 
 speaking of Christ's * atoning for ' our sins, by bearing some dreadful 
 weight of vengeance in our stead, if we translate the words now before us 
 thus, ' If the casting away of them be the atonement of the world.' 
 
 316. V. 15. life from the dead, that is, like the joy of receiving back a 
 dear friend from the embrace of death. 
 
 317. V. 16. if the firstfruits be holy, <hc. If the fathers, Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, whom God called, and set apart for Himself, be His, so> 
 too, is the mass, the whole race, who were called and set apart in them ; 
 
CHAP. XI. 7 — 27. 215 
 
 and if the root, (the fathers, as before,) be holy, so too are the branches, 
 that is, the whole tree. This does not prevent, however, some of the 
 branches being cut out, if they bear no fruit, and other branches from the 
 wild olive being graffed in, and made to share the richness of the true 
 olive, the blessiugs enjoyed by God's chosen inner family of sons and 
 daughters. 
 
 318. V. 19. so that, not ' in order that,' but merely ' to the effect that.' 
 The Apostle's words may be paraphrased thus : ' Well ! ' you may say, 
 ' however this may be, about the root bearing us, instead of our bearing the 
 root, yet, at all events, the root does bear us now : they were broken out, 
 for whatever cause, and the result is, that we are were graffed in.' ' True,' 
 says the Apostle, ' and now you must lay to heart the same lesson, as they 
 have had to learn, not to be high-minded, trusting in yourselves, as if you 
 had any merit of your own, which deserved your new position, or could 
 maiatain you in it for a moment ; but fear, remembering ever that " the 
 Lord's delight is in them that fear Him, and put their whole trust in His 
 mercy." ' 
 
 319. V. 22. if thou continue in the goodness, if thou continue patiently 
 in well-doing, and so abide in the goodness of God, ' keeping yourselves in 
 His Love.' 
 
 320. V. 22. since thou also shalt be cut off. This is the thought you 
 should have, while considering what has happened in their case, — not ' they 
 were cut out, in order that I may be graffed in,' but — ' they were cut out, 
 and in their room I was graffed in ; but I may be cut out also, if I prove 
 unfaithful as they.' 
 
 321. V. 23. and they too, if they do not continue in unbelief shall be 
 graffed in. The analogy of the tree, which the Apostle has used, must not 
 be carried too far, beyond the use for which he himself employs it. In 
 ordinary pruning, branches ' cut out ' are left to perish, are regarded as 
 useless, as so much fuel for the fire. But here St. Paul speaks of those 
 very same branches being ' graffed in again,' if they abide not in unbelief ; 
 for ' God is able to graflf them in again,' however dry and withered they 
 may have become, or, even, if they have been, perchance, already burnt in 
 the fire. In other words, God will still regard them as His children, even 
 in His severest chastisements. In cutting them off. He will not cast them 
 away. They are still beloved, for the fathers' sakes : ' for the gifts and 
 calling of God are without repentance.' 
 
 322. V. 25. mystery. This word is never used in the New Testament 
 in the ordinary sense of something dark, obscure, hidden up, but always of 
 something that has been hidden, and is still, perhaps, hidden from the 
 many, but is made known and revealed to the initiated. 
 
216f EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 323. V. 26. and so all Israel shall he saved. This passage does not 
 seem to be meant as an authoritative prophecy, but rather as a statement 
 of what the Apostle's own reflecting mind saw, as it were, disclosed to him, 
 as the explanation of God's past and present dealings, which he believed 
 the Divine Spirit had enabled him to see, and which he wished to commu- 
 nicate to others. It may be that here, also, as, certainly, in his expecta- 
 tion of the speedy manifestation of the Second Advent, St. Paul imagines 
 that the fulness of the Gentiles would be gathered into the Church, and the 
 Gospel be preached among all nations, in his own day^ and so the Deliverer 
 would come, and iniquity be turned away from Jacob, by the Jews, as a 
 nation, embracing the Gospel, and all Israel, the whole believing Family, 
 whether originally Jews or Heathens, ' be saved ' from the wrath revealed 
 against all wilful sin and disobedience. 
 
 324. v. 27. this is my covenant with them. St. Paul does not go on 
 to quote the words which declare what the gracious covenant is. ' This is 
 my covenant with them, saith the Lord ; My spirit that is upon thee, and 
 my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy 
 mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy 
 seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.' (Isaiah lix. 21.) 
 
 CHAP. XI. 28—32. 
 
 (28) As regards the Gosi3el, they are enemies with 
 reference to you ; but, as regards the election, they are 
 beloved with reference to the fathers. (29) For the 
 free gifts and the calling of God are not repented of. 
 
 (30) For, just as you once disobeyed God, but now 
 w^ere dealt with mercifully, through their disobedience ; 
 
 (31) so these also now disobeyed through your mercy, 
 so that they too may be dealt with mercifully. (32) For 
 God shut them all up together into disobedience, so that 
 He may deal mercifully with them all. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 325. V. 28. as regards the Gospel^ they are enemies with reference to 
 you. As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies, are treated as enemies, 
 with a view to you, — not ' through you,' ' on your account,' (which the 
 Greek will not allow,) as if this was the reason for their being so treated, 
 
CHAP. XI. 28—32. 217 
 
 — but with a view to you, that good may result to you through their being 
 so treated, as the Wisdom and Love of God saw good to treat them. 
 
 326. V. 28. as regards the election, they are beloved with reference to 
 the fathers. But, though treated as enemies, and cut off for a season, from 
 the enjoyment of His nearer Presence, they are not regarded by Him as 
 enemies even now. Nay, as regards the election, — as regards God's choos- 
 ing them of His own free grace to be the objects of His Mercy and Favour, 
 — they are beloved as children still, with reference to the fathers, — not 
 ' through ' the fathers, on their account, as if that were the sole reason 
 for God's mercy to them, but with a view to them, that blessing may result 
 to the fathers also, from the mercies shown to the children. 
 
 How wonderfully this statement of the Apostle meets some of the 
 deepest wants of the human spirit ! What soothing comfort it brings to 
 loving parents and dear friends, mourning under strokes of sad bereave- 
 ment, when they cannot feel assured, as they would wish to be, of the state 
 of mind of those whom they have lost, by reminding them that, besides the 
 general Fatherly Love of God, in which they may trust for the departed, 
 and which embraces all mankind, there are sweet words of special conso- 
 lation for them, believing, friends. These Jews, though so wicked in them- 
 selves, unbelieving and disobedient, and so chastened and for a time cut off, 
 as enemies, are yet beloved for their fathers' sake, with reference to them, 
 that they, the fathers, may not be grieved and dishonoured. And shall 
 not the child of Christian parents, though he may need many stripes, be 
 beloved for the parents' sake ? Shall not the thousand tender ties, which 
 bind us to one another in fiimily, and social, ay, and in human relations, be 
 held by us as pledges of hope, which God Himself our Father has given us, 
 to keep us ever longing, praying, and labouring, in faith and trust for one 
 another ? Can we suppose that the mere word of promise, made outwardly 
 to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, shall make all the difference between the 
 case of a Jewish child, and the child of any other parents, Christian or 
 Heathen? Shall we not rather joyfully remember that the promises, made 
 to Abraham, spoke of One greater than Abraham, who should spring from 
 his loins, ' in whom all families of the earth should be blessed ' ? Surely, 
 He, who Himself sanctified all human relationships, by taking part with us, 
 in our nature, as Man, has taught us how to read clearly their blessed 
 meaning, and to know that, when a woman can forget her sucking child, 
 or a true, loving father, though broken-hearted, cast off from his affections 
 his prodigal son, then the Lord our God, from Whom those tender human 
 feelings came, as faint shadowings forth to us of His Love, will cast off 
 utterly any one of His creatures, into whom He has breathed one breath 
 of His Spirit, and by that gracious act has called him His child. 
 10 
 
218 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 327. V. 29. the free gifts and calling of God are not repented of. 
 God, having once granted gifts of free grace, having once in His mercy 
 called never ' changes His mind,' so as to recal His Love from the object, 
 on which He has been pleased to bestow it. This is, undoubtedly, what 
 the Apostle means to say. And, if the words seem, at first sight, to con- 
 tradict other words in the Bible, and other facts in the Scripture history, 
 we must seek for the truth which underlies the whole, and connects all 
 to"-ether, as diflferent branches of the same root. The root is the Fatherly 
 Love of God to His creatures, which leads Him at one time to bless His 
 children at another to chasten them, at one moment to reveal to them the 
 si'^ns of His Favour, at another to cut them off for a time in displeasure, to 
 banish them, it may be, into the outer darkness, and yet suffers Him never 
 to forget them, or cast them off altogether. 
 
 Will it be said that the Apostle is referring only to the Jews, and to 
 the ' gifts and calling ' they had received ? But the argument equally 
 holds good of all. And, unless we deny that other men have received any 
 * gifts of grace,' have been ' called,' in any sense, to know the truth, though 
 they may have kept it back in unrighteousness, we must admit that this 
 general assertion of the Apostle holds good of them also. And, in fact, 
 the very same reasoning, which the Apostle uses, to satisfy his own mind 
 with respect to Israel, arguing that it was certainly not cast off altogether 
 in the days of Elias, because there was still left a righteous seed in it, may 
 be used in the case of any man, where there is still a seed of life remain- 
 ing, — a precious remnant left, which still clings to righteousness, — seven 
 thousand, seven hundred, seventy, or seven, or even one single thought or 
 movement of the heart, which has not bowed the knee to Baal. God has 
 not cast away altogether any such child, whom He foreknew for a great and 
 blessed hope. He may need severe correction and chastisement, — to be 
 cut off for a while from all enjoyment of God's Presence, — to be banished 
 from the cheerful Light of day,— to be excluded from the Feast, and cast 
 into the outer Darkness, — to be burnt up with the Fiery sense of God's 
 Displeasure, and devoured with the undying "Worm of a guilty conscience, 
 —until the work shall be done effectually, and the evil, long indulged, 
 purged out, and the corruption of the flesh, which clings to his spiritual 
 nature, be wholly consumed. But while there is yet one spark of spiritual 
 life, manifesting itself in the heart and actions of that child, though it be 
 the poor harlot in the street, or the felon in his cell, there is a sign that the 
 Father of Spirits has not yet forsaken the creature He has made,— that for 
 her and him also, individually, as well as for the Jewish people, corporate- 
 ly, the words of the Apostle are true, ' The gifts and calling of God are not 
 repented of.' 
 
CHAP. XI. 28—32. 219 
 
 This is very different from saying that all men, be they never so un- 
 godly, shall at length be saved, ' when they have suffered pain for 'their 
 sins a certain time, appointed by God's justice,' — a proposition that was 
 very rightly condemned, as a dangerous opinion, in the first draft of the 
 Articles of the Church of England. It is ' dangerous,' assuredly, to mete 
 out punishment of any kind, temporal or never-ending, as an equivalent 
 appointed by God's Justice for sin, as if sin could be compared by the 
 Divine Law with pain, and measured out exactly, with a due proportion 
 of it, or, as if all sin, which needs punishment at all, is equally to be 
 visited with a never-ending judgment of unutterable woe. It is true, that 
 human laws, which aim more at prevention of crime, than amendment of 
 the offender, do mete out in this way, beforehand, a certain measure of 
 punishment for a certain offence. The man, who covets his neighbour's 
 property, may, if he like, obtain it dishonestly, at a certain definite expense. 
 He knows he may possibly escape altogether ; or, at the worst, he can 
 only suffer this or that pre-arranged penalty, after suffering which he may 
 remain, (so far as the effect of the punishment itself is concerned, and un- 
 less other influences act upon him,) as bad and as base a villain as before. 
 But God's punishments are those of a Father. And, as a true, loving, 
 earthly parent will never think of weighing out, by fixed laws, a certain 
 definite measure of punishment, as the proper amount of penalty, in case 
 his child commits such and such an offence, but will punish him with more 
 or less severity, as he judges to be needful in each particular case, ever 
 seeking, not merely to check the like fault in others of his children, but to 
 amend or correct what is evi> in the offender himself — sometimes, indeed, 
 remitting punishment altogether, as a King, in the exercise of his fatherly 
 prerogative, may do, but not a Judge, — even so will our gracious Father in 
 Heaven not cease to punish, in this world or the next, if He sees it to be 
 needful. "VVe have no ground to suppose that a wicked man will at length 
 be released from the pit of woe, when he has suffered pain enough for his 
 sins, when he has suffered time enough, a ' certain time appointed by God's 
 Justice.' But we have ground to trust and believe that a man, in whose 
 heart there is still Divine Life, in whom there lingers still one single spark 
 of better feeling, the gift of God's Spirit, the token of a Father's still-con- 
 tinuing Love, will at length be saved, not from suffering, but from sin, 
 when he has suffered suflSciently, according to the wonderful provision of 
 God's Love, — when a Father's Hand has dealt with him sufiiciently to purge 
 out the evil which is destroying his spirit's life, in His own wise way, though 
 He may see it good toleave His guilty child for a time in the outer dark- 
 ness, where is the ' wailing, and weeping, and gnashing of teeth,' to expose 
 him to tltc ' Worm which dieth not, or to the Fire which is not quenched.' 
 
220 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 328. V. 82. so that He may deal mercifully with them all, that is, both 
 Jews and Gentiles, the whole human race. These words may point to a 
 blessing to be bestowed at some futtcre day; and the Apostle maybe 
 speaking of the whole race collectively, not of individuals, who may despise 
 and reject then, as now, the mercy, which God is ready to bestow. For 
 the word ' all ' does not here, as iu Rom. v. 18, imply necessarily every in- 
 dividual ; and St. Paul is, no doubt, referring in his mind to the glorious 
 time which shall be, when Jew and Gentile shall be partakers together of 
 the blessings of the Gospel, though many individuals may be unfaithful and 
 disobedient then, even as now. But the words which we have just been 
 considering, as well as other passages which we have had brought before us 
 in this Epistle, prove more than this, and whatever these particular words 
 may imply, those other words give us ground to beheve that God has con- 
 cluded the whole human race under sin and unbelief and disobedience, so 
 that allowing no one to put forth a claim, as a matter of right. He may 
 have mercy upon all. 
 
 For what a mockery of hope would it be for any human being, one of 
 whose choicest ' gifts ' from the Hand of his Creator is this love of his kind, 
 which makes him long for the welfare of his fellow-men, to be told that 
 God will have mercy upon some men, who shall live ages hence, not those 
 who are living now, the generation with which he himself is personally con- 
 versant, for whom he has laboured, by whom he has been loved, or, per- 
 haps, hated ? It is for these, more than for all others, that his soul, like 
 Stephen's, or like his Heavenly Master's, yearns. And, if there be no hope 
 for these multitudes of his own countrymen, acquaintance, kinsmen, — if 
 the countless myriads of his own age must go down into the pit, and dwell 
 in horrible, hopeless misery, for ever and ever, — what matters it to him 
 what will become of those, who shall be born a thousand years hence, or 
 what shall become of himself, or the Universe ? It would be, indeed, a 
 drqadful world to live in. Let him ' curse God, and die.' Yes ! there is 
 one other course he might take, worthy only of such a state of things. He 
 may wrap himself up in utter selfishness. He may steel his heart to all 
 true and tender human feeling. Brothers or sisters, children or friends, 
 kindred, and country, and the human race at large, what are they worth 
 considering, so that he can but save his own miserable soul ? Let it not 
 embitter his joy on earth or in heaven, to know that his noble boy has died 
 on some battle-field, cut off in the prime of his career, while now, at all 
 events, doing manfully his duty in his station, although in God's Great 
 Book, and in his own conscience too, there are registered sins of his youth, 
 which had not yet been truly and deeply repented of, and washed with 
 floods of godly tears, — which now there is no time to repent of, for he has 
 
CHAP. XI. 33—36. 221 
 
 laid down his life in the service of his Sovereign, whom God's word teaches 
 him to honour and obey. Or why should he suffer it to grieve his soul, 
 that his daughter groans with a mother's deep anguish over the death of 
 her child struck down by some sudden blow, as to human eyes it seems, 
 without repentance, and, as some would say, without hope ? What has he 
 to do with such matters, except, indeed, that he may use them as wholesome 
 medicine for his own spirit's health ? They may serve to keep him low in 
 abasement, to keep him from putting too much trust in the Power, and 
 Wisdom, and Faithfulness, and in the Fatherly Love, of God. 
 
 No ! the ' gifts and calling of God arc not repented of.' And, whom 
 He has called to know anything of His Name, He means to know it ; and, 
 whom He has endowed with gifts for serving Him, He means to serve Him. 
 Though it may be through a long and sore discipline, the work will be 
 wrought at last, and death and hell shall be cast themselves into the lake 
 of fire, and God shall be all in all. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 33—36. 
 
 (33) the depth of the Kiches and Wisdom and 
 Knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are His judg- 
 ments' and untraceable His ways ! (34) For ^ who 
 hath known the Mind of the Lord ? Or who hath be- 
 come His fellow-counsellor ? ' (35) Or who hath given 
 first to Him, and it shall be returned to him again ? 
 (36) For of Him, and by Him, and to Him, are all 
 things. To Him be glory for ever ! Amen. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 329. v. 33. the depth of the Riches and Wisdom and Knoioledge of 
 God ? Of His Riches, for ' who hath first given unto Him 'i^ '' of Him are 
 all things ; ' — of His Wisdom, for ' who hath been His counsellor ? ' ' through 
 Him are all things ;' of His Knowledge, for 'who hath known the Mind of 
 the Lord, His plans and purposes, the way by which, the end to which, all 
 things are moving ? Yes ! Thanks be to God, we do know the end, — 
 
 ' That one Divine far-off event, 
 To which the whole Creation moves.' 
 
 To Him are all things, to whom be glory, for ever and ever ! Amen. 
 
222 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 1—9. 
 
 (1) I exhort you, then, brethren, by the mercies of 
 God, to present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, well- 
 pleasing unto God, your rational service. (2) And be 
 not fashioned with this world, but be transformed by 
 the renewing of your mind, so that ye may prove what 
 is the will of God, the good and well-pleasing and per- 
 fect. (3) For, 1 say, by the grace which is given to 
 me, to every one who is among you, not to be high- 
 minded beyond what it is right to be minded, but to be 
 minded unto sober-mindedness, as God hath appointed 
 to each a measure of faith. (4) For just as, in one 
 body, we have many members, but all the members 
 have not the same office ; (5) so we, being many, are 
 one body in Christ, and each, singly, members of one 
 another. (6) Having then gifts, differing according to 
 the grace which is given to us, whether preaching, let 
 us preach according to the proportion of faith, (7) or 
 ministry, let us abide in our ministry, or he that teach- 
 eth in his teaching, (8) or he that exhorteth, in his ex- 
 hortation ; (9) he that distributeth, in his liberality ; 
 he that presideth, in diligence ; he that sheweth mercy, 
 in cheerfulness. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 330. T. 1. Since, then, you Gentiles have»been so highly blessed with 
 the full revelation of your Father's Love, while the Jews, as a body, have 
 for the present been laid aside, give up yourselves as a living sacrifice, in- 
 stead of that sacrifice of dead beasts, which their Temple service offered,— 
 give up your bodily members (vi. 13, 16) to be agents of the redeemed 
 spirit, as ' instruments of righteousness,' unto God, which is the ' reason 
 able ' service God desires of you, as his children and intelligent creatures, — 
 not a system of ritual observances, the time for which is now gone by, but 
 
CHAP. XII. 9—21. 223 
 
 the worship in spirit and in truth, which God delights in, which becomes a 
 living, enlightened, reasonable man. 
 
 331. V, 2. Do not fashion yourselves, or guide your actions, by the 
 rules and maxims of the world. Let not your aims and ends be low and 
 grovelUng. But fix the eyes of your mind on high ; have God in your 
 thoughts always, and seeli to be changed more and more from your old 
 natural state into the likeness of your Lord. So shall you grow more truly 
 and perfectly to know your Heavenly Father's will. Your spiritual senses 
 shall be quickened, and in God's own Light you shall see light. 
 
 332. V. 3. For, though a stranger, and unknown to you in person, yet, 
 through the oflSce with which I am entrusted, and the grace which God 
 has given me for the right discharge of it, I give this charge to you all, that 
 you, each one, labour, according to the gift of God, which you have sever- 
 ally received, to bring forth fruit to his praise, harmoniously co-operating, 
 as members of one body, each one honouring and esteeming the other for 
 the gift he possesses, though it may be different from his own, each con- 
 tributing his own share to the common end, but all working together to 
 glorify God by the willing sacrifice of body, soul, and spirit, which are 
 His. 
 
 333. V. 6. p7'eachi7i(/. This appears to be the modern word, most 
 nearly corresponding to that which is usually translated ' prophesying,' but 
 which is used to express the gift, granted to some then as now, and in all 
 ages of the Church, of speaking boldly out, in strong, stirring language, the 
 living truths of God, and exhibiting their bearings upon the past, the pre- 
 sent, and the future. 
 
 334. V. 6. according to the proportion of faith, that Is, according to the 
 measure of faith he has received, not with an over-beariDg, self-magnifying 
 spirit, but with the moderation of men, who remember that the talents 
 which they use, are God's, and that they are responsible for the due use of 
 them, whatever they may be. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 9—21. 
 
 (9) Let love be unfeigned. Be ye hating evil, 
 cleaving to good, — (10) in brotherly love affectionate 
 to one another, — in honour preferring one another, — 
 (11) in diligence, not slothful, fervent in spirit, serving 
 the Lord, — (12) rejoicing in hope, enduring patiently in 
 tribulation, persevering in prayer, — (13) imparting to 
 
2^4 EriSTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 the necessities of the saints, following after hospitality. 
 
 (14) Bless them that persecute you, bless, and curse not. 
 
 (15) Bememher to rejoice with the rejoicing and weep 
 with the weeping. (16) Be of the same mind to one 
 another., not minding high things, but led away with 
 humble things. Become not wise in your own conceits. 
 (17) Repay to no one evil for evil. Provide things 
 excellent in the sight of all men. (18) If possible, for 
 your part, keep peace with all men. (19) Avenge not 
 yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath ; for it is 
 written, ^ Vengeance is for me, I will repay, saith the 
 Lord.' (20) If, then, thine enemy hunger, feed him ; 
 if he thirst, give him drink ; for, this doing, thou shalt 
 heap coals of fire upon his head. (21) Be not overcome 
 by evil, but overcome evil with good. 
 
 XOTES. 
 
 385. V. 16. led away loith^ going contentedly off with, 'putting up' 
 cheerfully with. 
 
 336. V. 20. thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, that is, in this 
 very way you will be taking the most effectual means to melt him into 
 amity and love, even if you do not succeed, because of the hardness of his 
 heart. 
 
 3 3 7. It must be noted, as remarked in the Introduction (p. 4), that not 
 a word is said in this chapter about Church offices of any kind or ordained 
 ministers. For it can hardly be supposed that the expression in verse 8, 
 'he that presideth,' can point to him, who presides in the Church, as 
 Bishop, Presbyter, or Pastor, inasmuch as that, which would be the higher 
 office, would then, in the Apostle's list, come after the lower offices of 
 ' preaching,' ' ministering,' ' teaching,' ' exhorting,' ' distributing,' and 
 would be thrust in confusedly before that of showing mercy. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 1—14. 
 
 (1) Let every soul be subject to the superior author- 
 ities. For there is no authority, except from God ; 
 
CHAr. XIII. 1 — 14. ■ 225 
 
 but the authorities, that are, have been ordained of 
 God. (2) So, then, he, who resisteth the authority, 
 resisteth the ordinance of God ; but they, who resist, 
 shall take to themselves condemnation. (3) For rulers 
 are not a terror of good works, but of evil. But wilt 
 thou not be afraid of the authority ? Be doing the 
 good, and thou shalt have the praise from it (tJie au- 
 thority). (4) For it is the minister of God to thee for 
 good. But, if thou do the evil, be afraid ; for it is the 
 minister of God, an avenger of wrath to him that does 
 evil. (5) Wherefore it is needful to be subject, not 
 only with a view to the wrath, but also with a view to 
 conscience. (6) For, with a view to this, pay ye tribute 
 also ; for they {the collectors) are officers of God, attend- 
 ing continually on this particular thing. (7) Bender, 
 therefore, to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is 
 due, tax to whom tax, fear to whom fear, honour to 
 whom honour. (8) Be owing nothing to any one, ex- 
 cept to love one another ; for he, that loveth the other, 
 has fulfilled the law. (9) For that, ' Thou shalt not 
 commit adultery,' ' Thou shalt not kill,' ^ Thou shalt 
 not steal,' ' Thou shalt not bear false witness,' ^ Thou 
 shalt not covet,' and, if there be any other command- 
 ment, it is being summed up in this word, namely, 
 ^ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' (10) Love 
 worketh no ill to one's neighbour ; love, then, is the 
 fulfilling of the law. (11) And that do, knowing the 
 season, that it is time for us now to be roused out of 
 sleep ; for now is salvation nearer to us, than when we 
 believed. (12) The night is far spent, but the day is at 
 hand. Let us put off, then, the works of darkness, and 
 put on the equipment of light. (13) As if in the day, 
 10* 
 
226 EPISTLE TO THE ROMAXS. 
 
 let us walk becomingly, not in i-evels and drunkenness, 
 not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and 
 party-spirit. (14) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and make not provision for the flesh unto lusts. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 338. It is remarkable that, in the above passage also, where an oc- 
 casion is so obviously given for it, there is no reference to any ecclesiastical 
 authority of any kind existing at Rome. Nero was at this time the Roman 
 Emperor. 
 
 339. Whereas they are for judging and condemning their rulers, they 
 shall be condemned themselves. 
 
 340. V. 4. an avenger to execute wrath. They are ministers to execute 
 ' wrath,' as well as blessing, executing on His behalf, and, in their meas- 
 ure, helping to reveal that wrath of God which is declared against all wil- 
 ful evil. 
 
 341. V. 5. It is plain that St. Paul does teach in this chapter the 
 duty of absolute submission to constituted authority, acting within its own 
 proper sphere. But it would be wrong to quote a few texts, such as these, 
 as expressing the wJiole of the Apostle's mind upon the subject. What- 
 ever lesson we may wish to draw from his teaching, on these and other 
 matters, must be drawn from a general view of all that he has said and 
 done, not from a few words only, which he might have modified with ref- 
 erence to special circumstances. For instance, ' Be doing good, and thou 
 shalt have praise of the authority,' would, certainly, not apply to all the 
 acts of the Roman Emperor, Nero, or his officers. And, in the rapid 
 changes of government, which took place after his death, when, within 
 twelve months, there were four Emperors, whose supporters fought with 
 one another, it must have been difficult for a Christian of ' Caesar's house- 
 hold ' not to feel it to be his duty to resist the ' superior authority ' for the 
 time being, and seek to place a Vespasian in the room of a Vitellius, or to 
 do what Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer did, when they supported Lady Jane 
 Grey upon the throne, which belonged to Queen Mary. 
 
 The point, however, of his teaching, is this, that we are to regard all 
 rightly constituted authority as God's merciful provision for good, and, as 
 such, to reverence and submit to it, — to make this our ruling principle of 
 life, not only for fear of punishment, but also for conscience' sake, and the 
 sense of duty towards God — whatever exceptions we may, for conscience' 
 sake, and a sense of duty tov,^ards God in matters of yet higher moment, be 
 compelled to make at times in the carrying out of the ride. 
 
CHAP. XIV. 1—23. 227 
 
 342. V. 8, You can never pay the debt of love. You must always be 
 owing that, though you pay daily. 
 
 343. V. 11. The 'salvation,' here referred to, as near at hand, is prob- 
 ably that which would be manifested at the appearance of the Lord, which 
 the Apostle thought was immment. ' The Day of the Lord is at hand, 
 nearer than it was when we first received the message of His Love in the 
 Gospel. Let us prepare for the coming of our King and the brightness of 
 His appearing.' 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 1—23. 
 
 (1) Him that is weak in the faith take to yourselves, 
 hut not for decisions of doubts. (2) For one believes 
 to eat all things ; but one, who is weak, eats herbs. 
 (3) Let not him, that eats, despise him that eats not, 
 and let not him, that eats not, judge him that eats ; 
 for God took him to liimself (4) You, who are you, 
 that judgest another man's domestic ? To his own 
 master he stands or falls. Nay, but he shall be kept 
 standing ; for God is able to make him stand. (5) One 
 esteems one day above another ; another esteems every 
 day. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
 (6) He, that regards the day, regards it to the Lord ; 
 and he, that regards not the day, to the Lord he regards 
 it not. He that eats, eats to the Lord ; for he thanks 
 God ; and he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and 
 thanks God. (7) For no one lives to himself, and no 
 one dies to himself. (8) For, whether we live, we live 
 unto the Lord ; or, whether we die, we die unto the 
 Lord. "Whether, therefore, we live, or whether we die, 
 we are the Lord's. (9) For to this end Christ both 
 died, and lived, so that He may have lordship both over 
 dead and living men. (10) But thou, why judgest 
 thou thy brother ? Or thou too, why despisest thou 
 
228 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 thy brother ? For we shall all present ourselves before 
 the tribunal of God. (11) For it is written, ^As I live, 
 saith the Lord, to me shall every knee bow, and every 
 tongue shall confess to God/ (12) So then each of us 
 shall give account for himself to God. (13) Let us no 
 longer, then, be judging one another. But this deter- 
 mine rather, not to lay a stumbhngblock for a brother, 
 or a snare. (14) I know and am sure in the Lord Jesus 
 that nothing is unclean of itself ; only to one, that con- 
 sidereth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 
 (15) But if for food's sake thy brother is being grieved, 
 thou art no longer walking according to charity. Do 
 not with thy food be destroying him, on behalf of whom 
 Christ died. (16) Let not then your good be evil spoken 
 of (17) For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, 
 but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
 (18) For he, that in this serveth Christ, is well-pleasing 
 to God, and approved of men. (19) So, then, let us 
 follow after the things of peace, and things of edifica- 
 tion for one another. (20) Do not, on account of meat, 
 be destroying the work of God. All things, indeed, are 
 clean ; but it is ill to that man who eats with a stum- 
 blingblock. (21) It is good not to eat flesh, nor drink 
 wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or 
 is snared, or is weak. (22) The faith, which thou hast, 
 have to thyself before God. Happy is the man, who 
 condemneth not himself in that which he approveth. 
 (23) But he, that doubteth, is condemned if he eat, 
 because it (Jiis act) is not of faith. But everything, 
 which is not of faith, is sin. 
 
CHAP. XIV. 1—23. 229 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 344. The Apostle well knew that in Rome, as everywhere else, there 
 would be sure to arise disputes between the Jewish and Gentile believers ; 
 and while desirous that the latter should be freed from the yoke of cere- 
 monial observances, he wished them charitably to respect the scruples of 
 their Jewish brethren, and these, on the other hand, not to condemn the 
 liberty of the others. " 
 
 345. V. 1. hi the faith, m the Christian faith, not yet understanding 
 the principles of Christianity, not realizing the liberty wherewith Christ 
 has made us free, and still retauiing more or less of the Jewish scrupulosity. 
 
 346. V. 1. take to yourselves, as an associate, in a friendly and kindly 
 spirit. 
 
 347. V. 1. woif /or (?easzons o/f/o^ii^s, not to decide about his scruples, 
 or put them down, in a short, sharp, peremptory way, condemning them as 
 needless, or ridiculing them as absurd. 
 
 348. V. 2. eat herbs, for fear of eating unclean meat, things strangled, 
 blood, &c. There does not seem to be any reference here to food offered 
 to idols. 
 
 349. V. 3. took him to Himself, when He called him to the knowledge 
 of His Word of Life in the Gospel, and took him to Himself as a servant, 
 yea, rather, as a child, 
 
 350. V, 15, Do not for thy paltry morsel of food be destroying (be for 
 destroying), humanly speaking, and as far as in you lies, one on behalf 
 of whom Christ was willing to forego, not merely food, indeed, but life 
 itself. 
 
 351. V. 4, ' You may condemn him as strongly as you please, because 
 he does not walk by your rule, or utter the Shibboleth of your party. But 
 in God's sight he is not condemned, if sincere in his desire and aim, to 
 please in all things the Great Master, who is the only true Judge of all His 
 servants' doings. 
 
 352. v, 6. The Apostle says that the man, who keeps the day, as the 
 Sunday, even with Jewish strictness, because he believes it to be his 
 Lord's will that he should, is keepmg it to the Lord, and will receive his 
 reward. But he says also, that he who does not keep it with the same 
 strictness, but does this with a conscientious desire to please his Heavenly 
 Master, by using soberly and thankfully the hberty wherewith Christ has 
 made him free, is equally pleasing to his Lord, and will receive also his 
 reward. 
 
 353. V. V. For this is the true Spirit of a Christian's life, that he 
 
230 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 should give up, not one day in seven, but all his days — his whole Kfe, 
 and his death also, — to the Lord who owns him, 
 
 354. V. 9. He is the Lord both of dead and living; He rules in the 
 world beyond the grave as here ; He appoints to each the portion of bless- 
 ing or of chastisement after death, as in life. 
 
 355. V. 16. ' It is a good thing, we might say, to know that Christ 
 does not require of us the observance of the Jewish Sabbath. It is a good 
 thing to know that, without a form of prayer, or set times and places, 
 " neither in Jerusalem, nor in this mountain," we can worship the Father 
 — to know that there is no rite, or ceremony, or ordinance, that God cannot 
 dispense with, or, rather, that there is none which we are required to ob- 
 serve, except so far as they tend to a moral end. It is a good thing to 
 know that Revelation can be interpreted by no other light than that of 
 Reason. It is a good thing to know that God is not extreme to mark hu- 
 man infirmities in our lives and in our conduct. But all this may serve for 
 a cloak of licentiousness, may be a scandal among men, and, humanly 
 speaking, the destruction of those for whom Christ died.' Jowett. 
 
 356. V. IT. The joyful freedom of God's Kingdom does not consist in 
 having license to enjoy freely the good things of this life — but in the living 
 joy and freedom of the heart, in the sense of God's favour, in the power to 
 live as becomes a child of God glorifying Him, either in the thankful use 
 of His bounties, or, if we can serve Him better among our brethren by so 
 doing, in the cheerful resignation of them. 
 
 35*7. V. 18. he that in those things. It is very possible that the true 
 reading here is, ' he that in this,' — ^namely, in the Holy Ghost — ' serveth 
 Christ, is pleasing to God, and approved among men.' And the truth is, 
 that even worldly men will secretly honour the faithful life of a true Chris- 
 tian, who follows righteousness and peace among men, renouncing his own 
 private wishes for the sake of others, and content with that rich treasure of 
 heart-joy, which God will abundantly pour into his bosom. 
 
 358. V. 21. There must be, of course, a limit to this. It would do 
 our brother no good merely to give way to some idle fancy or ignorant 
 prejudice of his. And there are cases (as, for instance, with reference to 
 the observance of the Sunday or Tee-totalism) in which it is absolutely ne- 
 cessary, for his good, that we refuse to comply with his morbid scruples 
 and mistaken practices, and eat flesh and drink wine, in order to express 
 our plain dissent from them. Only on such occasions, let us remember that 
 we have to answer to our Lord for our conduct in such a matter. Let us 
 take care that we are not influenced by a merely selfish and self-asserting 
 spirit — that we are clear as to the duty of maintaining a higher principle, 
 at a sacrifice, for the present, of this rule of the Apostle — that we are 
 
CHAP. XV. 1—13. 231 
 
 ready in heart to act upon it still, whenever a right occasion calls 
 for it. 
 
 359. V. 23. ' There are many occasions in which our first thoughts, 
 or, to speak more correctly, our instinctive perceptions, are true and right, 
 — in which it is not too much to say, that he, who deliberates, is lost. The 
 very act of turning to a book, or referring to another, enfeebles our power 
 of action. Works of art are produced we know not how, by some simul- 
 taneous movement of hand and thought, which seems to lend to each other 
 force and meaning. So, in moral action, the true view does not separate 
 the intention from the act, or the act from the circumstances which sur- 
 round it, but regards them as one, and absolutely indivisible. In the per- 
 formance of the act, and in the judgment of it, the will and the execution, 
 the hand and the thought, are to be considered as one. Those, who act 
 most energetically, who in difficult circumstances judge the most truly, do 
 not separately pass in review the rules, and principles, and counter-prin- 
 ciples, of action, but grasp them at once in a single instant. Those, who 
 act most truthfully, honestly, firmly, manfully, consistently, take least time 
 to deliberate. Such should be the attitude of our minds in all questions 
 of right and wrong, truth and falsehood. We may not inquire, but act.' 
 Jowett. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 1—13. 
 
 (1) We, however, who are strong, ought to be bear- 
 ing the infirmities of the weak, not to be pleasing our- 
 selves. (2) Let each of us please his neighbour for 
 good unto edification. (3) For even Christ pleased not 
 Himself, but, as it is written, ^ The revilings of those 
 reviling Thee fell on me.' (4) For what things were 
 written aforetime, were written aforetime for our in- 
 struction, so that, through endurance and comfort of 
 the Scriptures, we may have our hope. (5) But the 
 God of endurance and comfort grant you to have one 
 mind among one another, according to Christ Jesus ; 
 
 (6) so that, with one accord, with one mouth, ye may 
 glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 (7) Wherefore take to yourselves one another, as Christ 
 
232 EPISTLE TO THE KOMAKS. 
 
 also took you to Himself, to the glory of God. (8) I 
 mean that Jesus Christ is the minister of circumcision 
 for the Truth of Grocl, so as to confirm the promises 
 made unto the fathers ; (9) but that the Gentiles for 
 His Mercy should glorify God, as it is written, ' For 
 this cause will I confess to Thee among the Gentiles, 
 and sing unto Thy Name/ (10) And again, he says, 
 ^Kejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people/ (11) And 
 again, ^ Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud Him, 
 all ye peoples/ (12) And again, Esaias saith, ^ There 
 shall be the root of Jesse, and He who is to rise up to 
 rule over the Gentiles ; in Him shall the Gentiles hope/ 
 (13) Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace 
 in believing, so that you may abound in hope, through 
 the power of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 360. V. 3. even Christ, our Lord and Master, lived not to please Him- 
 self; He bare our griefs, and carried our infirmities. Surely, then, we 
 may well bear the infirmities of one another. 
 
 361. V. 3. as it is written, d'c. If this passage be understood in its 
 strict meaning, as it occurs in the Psalm, St. Paul quotes it as prophetical 
 of the Messiah, feeling the revilings of those who reviled His Heavenly 
 Father. But St. Paul possibly quotes it in his usual way, merely, as il- 
 lustrating the self-sacrificing, sympathising spirit of our Lord's life, with- 
 out recalling distinctly to his mind to whom the pronoun ' Thee ' pointed. 
 ' He pleased not Himself; ' but his whole life is well described in that pas- 
 sage of the Psalmist, ' who suffers when another suffers, and is reviled 
 when he is reviled.' 
 
 362. V. 4. It is difficult to see whether the Apostle means to say, 
 ' through the exercise of endurance on our parts, and through the comfort 
 which we derive from the Scriptures,' or rather ' through the endurance 
 and comfort of the Scriptures,' that is, through the examples of endurance 
 and comfort, which we find in the Scriptures. 
 
 363. V, o. the God of endurance and comfort, that is, the Giver of the 
 grace of endurance and of all consolation. 
 
CHAP. XV. 14: — 33. 233 
 
 364. V. 1. take to yourselves one another^ both Jew and Gentile, — live 
 in mutual love with one another, since Christ has taken you both together 
 in one body to Himself. 
 
 365. V. 8. On the one hand, Jesus Christ is the minister of the circum- 
 cision, to confirm the ancient promises, to make good the Truth of God to 
 the Jews ; on the other hand. He is the Messenger of God's Free Grace 
 and Mercy to the Gentiles. 
 
 366. V. 9. as it is writteji, dtc. As this doctrine, of the admission of 
 the Gentiles to equal privileges with themselves, was so strange and un- 
 palatable to the Jews of his day, St. Paul quotes again several passages 
 from the prophetical writings, to show that it is no new doctrine after all, 
 — that they might have understood the mind of God all along in this 
 respect, — for the Gentiles are everywhere mingled up with the blessings 
 promised to the Jewish people. 
 
 SQl. v. 9. for this cause will I confess to Thee among the Gentiles, dec. 
 These words are quoted from the LXX. of Psalm xviii. 49, and are parts 
 of David's song of praise, ' In the day that the Lord delivered him from 
 the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.' St. Paul here 
 adapts this to his own purpose. 
 
 368. V. 10. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. 'These words are 
 taken from Deut. xxxii. 43, in which passage Moses exhorts the heathen to 
 sing the praises of God for His dealings with the Jewish people. The verse 
 in the LXX. is greatly interpolated, and, in the midst of the interpolation, 
 exhibits the words here quoted.' Jowett. 
 
 368. V. 11. Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, d'c. " These words are 
 taken, with a slight change in their order, from Psalm cxvii. 1. The writer 
 of the Psalm meant to say, ' Praise the Lord, all ye nations, for His Good- 
 ness to Israel, His people.' The application which St. Paul makes of the 
 words, is, ' Praise the Lord, ye Gentiles, for He has given you a share in 
 His Mercies to the House of Israel.' " Joioett. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 14—33. 
 
 (14) And I myself also am persuaded, my brethren^ 
 concerning you, that you yourselves also are full of good- 
 ness, being filled witli all knowledge, being able also to 
 admonish one another. (15) But I wrote the more 
 boldly to you, brethren, in some measure as reminding 
 you once again, through the grace which has been given 
 
234 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 to me by God, (16) so as that I should be minister of 
 Jesus Christ to the Grentiles, officiating as to the Gos- 
 pel of God, that so the offering up of the Gentiles may- 
 be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Ghost. (17) I 
 have, then, my confidence in Christ Jesus in things 
 pertaining to God. (18) For I will not undertake to 
 say anything of that, which Christ has not wrought by 
 me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and 
 deed, (19) by the might of signs and wonders, by the 
 might of the Spirit of God ; so that from Jerusalem, 
 and all round to Illyricum, I have published fully the 
 Gospel of Christ, (20) but so making it a point to 
 preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, that 
 so I may not be building on another man's foundation. 
 (21) But, as it is written, ' They to whom it was not 
 reported about Him, shall see, and they who have not 
 heard, shall understand.' (22) For which cause also I 
 was chiefly hindered from coming to you. (23) But 
 now, having no more place in these parts, and having 
 had a longing these many years to come io you, 
 (24) whenever I journey into Spain I will come to you. 
 For I hope, on my journey through, to see you, and be 
 forwarded on by you thither, if first I shall have had in 
 a measure my fill of you. (25) But now I am going to 
 journey to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints. (26) 
 For Macedonia and Achaia have thought good to make 
 a certain contribution for the poor of the saints in 
 Jerusalem. (27) They have thought good, truly, and 
 they are their debtors. For, if the Gentiles were made 
 to share in their spiritual things, they ought also to 
 minister to them in fleshly things. (28) Having then 
 completed this, and having sealed to them this fruit, I 
 
CHAP. XV. 14—33. 235 
 
 shall go off by you into Spain. (29) But I know that, 
 coming to you, I shall come with the fulness of the 
 blessing of the Gospel of Christ. (30) But I exhort 
 you, brethren, by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the 
 Love of the Spirit, to strive together with me, in 
 prayers on my behalf before God ; (31) so that I may 
 be delivered from the unbelieving in Judeea, and so that 
 my ministry to Jerusalem may turn out acceptable to 
 the saints ; (32) so that I may come with joy to you by 
 the Will of God, and refresh myself with you. (33) But 
 the God of peace be with you ail. Amen. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 369. V. 14. I know that you do not need these words of mine. And 
 this, in fact, emboldened me the more to write rather freely to you, as 
 only reminding you, in discharge of my duty as an Apostle, of what you 
 know already. ' St, Paul was a man of the finest manners ever known.' 
 Coleridge. 
 
 SYO. V. 17. As then a minister of Christ to the Gentiles, I can proceed 
 with confidence in the discharge of my duty, as, for instance, that of now 
 addressing you, — a confidence placed, not, of course, in myself, but in my 
 Lord. 
 
 3*71. V. 18. I will not undertake to say anything of that mhich Christ 
 has not lorought hy me. These words are usually explained to mean, ' I 
 will not speak of anything which Christ has wrought by the other Apostles, 
 or by my disciples, — only of what He has wrought by myself individually.* 
 But, possibly, they may be used in the English idiom, ' I will not say what 
 Christ has not done by me,' that is, ' He has wrought all kinds of wonder- 
 ful results by me.' The context, which follows, certainly favours this. 
 
 372. v, 19. all round to Illyricum. Perhaps, St. Paul refers to what 
 he did, as briefly mentioned in Acts xx. 1,2,' when he departed for to go 
 into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts, and had given 
 them much exhortation, he came into Greece.' 
 
 373. v. 21. I made it a point, rather to act in the spirit of those pro- 
 phetic words, &c. 
 
 374. V. 22. And this, — namely, my being engaged in preaching to 
 others, who had never had a teacher, — was the reason of my being delayed 
 in coming to you. 
 
236 EPISTLE TO THE KOIklANS. 
 
 3*75. V. 24. St. Paul does not speak of coming expressly to Rome, for 
 the purpose of seeing them, and staying with them, perhaps for some 
 mouths or years, as he had done at Corinth and Ephesus. That would 
 have been too bold a proposal, for a man of his refined delicacy of feeling. 
 He will see them in passing^ meaning, we may be sure, to stay with them 
 as long as he found it desirable to do so. 
 
 376. V. 27. they are their debtors, that is, it is quite right that they 
 should do this, it is no more than they are bound to do. 
 
 377. V. 29. I shall come to you with the fulness of the blessing of the 
 Gospel of Christ. He refers to the rich spiritual blessings, which God (he 
 was sure) would impart to them by his ministry, or, rather, (i. 11, 12) 
 which he himself should be privileged to share with them in the communion 
 of saints. 
 
 378. V. 30. St. Paul, it seems, had a strong presentiment of the dangers 
 which threatened him at Jerusalem, and which made him say to the elders 
 of Ephesus, ' Ye shall see my face no more.' 
 
 379. V. 31. These dangers threatened liim from two sources, (1) the 
 open hostility of the unbelieving Jews, (2) the secret suspicions of the be- 
 lieving Jews. These latter he hoped to quiet by the signs of 'respect and 
 love which he brought from the Gentile Churches, if they would accept 
 the present pleasantly from his hands. Nothing is said in Acts xxi. about 
 the way in which these offerings of the Gentiles were received by the 
 Church at Jerusalem : and, in fact, the whole tone of the passage in Acts 
 xxi. 20-25, implies that there was still no friendly feeling for him among 
 the ' multitude,' the ' many thousands ' of Jews which ' believed,' and were 
 all ' zealous of the Law.' 
 
 380. V. 32. so that I may come ivithjoy to you^ by the will of God, and 
 refresh myself loith you. 'Man proposes, God disposes.' St. Paul came 
 to them, indeed, at the very time he contemplated, as soon as he had taken 
 these gifts to Jerusalem. But he came as a prisoner, — after having been 
 ' beaten ' and nearly ' pulled to pieces ' by his own countrymen, — ' bound ' 
 by the chief captain, and ordered to be ' examined by scourging,' brought 
 before the ' chief priests and all their council,' — plotted against by ' more 
 than forty men, who bound themselves under a curse, saying that they 
 would neither eat nor drink, till they had killed him,' — sent off by night to 
 Felix, and left by him in bonds, after having been kept two years in cus- 
 tody, — examined before Agrippa under Festus, and despatched to Rome, 
 which he reached at last, after perilous shipwreck. And then, instead of 
 seeing them at Rome in passing, God's Providence ordained that, though 
 still detained as a prisoner, he ' dwelt two whole years in his own hired 
 house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the Kingdom of 
 
CHAP. XVI. 1 — 16. 237 
 
 God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with 
 all confidence, no man forbidding him.' 
 
 CHAP. XYI. 1—16. 
 
 (1) Now I commend to you Phoebe our sister, wlio 
 is a servant of the Church at Cenchreas ; (2) so that 
 you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy 
 of the saintSj and may assist her in whatever manner 
 she may need you ; for, in fact, she shewed herself a 
 succourer of many, and of me myself. (3) Salute Prisca 
 and ilquila, my fellow- workers in Christ Jesus, — (4) 
 {persons, who laid down their own neck on behalf of my 
 life, whom not only I thank, but also all the Churches 
 of the Gentiles, — ) (5) and the church in their house. 
 Salute Epenetus, my beloved, who is the first-fruits of 
 Achaia unto Christ. (6) Salute Mary, one who laboured 
 much upon us. (7) Salute Andronicus and Junias, my 
 kinsmen and fellow-prisoners, persons, who were of note 
 among the Apostles, who in fact were in Christ before 
 me. (8) Salute Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. 
 (9) Salute Urbanus, my fellow-worker in Christ, and 
 Stachys my beloved. (10) Salute Apelles, the approved 
 in Christ. Salute those of the household of Aristobulus. 
 
 (11) Salute Herodion, my kinsman. Salute those of 
 the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. 
 
 (12) Salute Tryphoena and Tryphosa, who labour in 
 the Lord. Salute Persis the beloved, one who laboured 
 much in the Lord. (13) Salute Eufus, the chosen in 
 the Lord, and his mother and mine. (14) Salute 
 Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and 
 the brethren with them. (15) Salute Philologus and 
 Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the 
 
238 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 saints with them. (16) Salute one another with a holy 
 kiss. All the churches of Christ salute you. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 381. V. 1. servant. It is probable that Phoebe was a 'deaconess' of 
 the Church, at Cenchrese, the port of Corinth, about nine miles from it. 
 Pliny, in his letter to Trajan, expressly mentions that he had put two 
 maid-servants to the torture, who ' were called Ministrae,' that is, dea- 
 conesses. In Greece and the East, where women were kept in much great- 
 er seclusion than at Rome, such persons would be needed for the instruc- 
 tion of female converts, as well as for charitable services to the sick and 
 needy. No doubt Phoebe took this letter to Rome, and her going was the 
 immediate occasion of the Apostle's writing it. From the use of two legal 
 terms in the Greek of this passage, translated ' assist ' and ' succourer,' it is 
 conjectured that her ' business ' was connected with some trial at law. 
 
 382. V. 2. and of me myself. Possibly Phoebe had lodged the Apostle, 
 when he came to Cenchreae, for embarkation, being about to ' sail into Syria, 
 with Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head in CenchrCce.' Acts 
 xviii. 18. 
 
 383. V. 3. Priscilla is the diminutive of Prisca. Priscilla and Aquila 
 had now returned to Rome (Introd. p. 23), and would heartily welcome 
 this letter from their beloved teacher and friend, and, doubtless, would 
 take care that it should be circulated, as largely as possible, among their 
 acquaintances at Rome. They had been ' fellow-workers ' with him at Cor- 
 inth and Ephesus, and had probably incurred danger for him in the vio- 
 lent tumult at Ephesus, of which he speaks so feelingly in 1 Cor. xv. 32 
 and 2 Cor. i. 8. It is noticeable that the xvife is mentioned first, here and 
 elsewhere, as if she were the most prominent and zealous of the two, or, it 
 may be, the most able and intelligent. She took part, at any rate, in the 
 teaching of Apollos. 
 
 384. V. 4. all the churches of the Gentiles " had reason to be thankful 
 to them, for having rescued the ' Apostle of the Gentiles ' from danger." 
 Alford. 
 
 385. V. 5. the church in their house, either the members of their fam- 
 ily being all Christians, or the believers being accustomed to meet for wor- 
 ship and Christian converse in their house. Alford quotes the answer of 
 Justin Martyr to the question of the preefect Rusticus, ' Where do you as- 
 semble ? ' His reply was, ' Where each one can and will. You believe, 
 no doubt, that we all meet together in one place. But it is not so ; for the 
 God of the Chinstiaus is not shut up in a room ; but, being invisible, He 
 
CHAP. XVI. 1 — 16. 239 
 
 fills both heaven and earth, and is honoured everywhere by the faithful. 
 Justin adds that, when he came to Rome, he was accustomed to dwell in 
 one particular spot, and that those Christians, who were instructed by him, 
 and wished to hear his discourse, used to meet at his house. Doubtless, 
 Aquila and Priscilla carried on still at Rome the business of instruction, in 
 which they had been engaged at Corinth and Ephesus. 
 
 386. V. 5. In 1 Cor. xvi. 15, St. Paul speaks of the 'house of Stepha- 
 nas,' as the first-fruits of Achaia. Probably Epenetus was one of this 
 house. Some MSS. read Asia for Achaia. 
 
 387. V. 6. None of the persons whose names are here mentioned, from 
 verse 5 to verse 15, twenty-five in number, besides others who are referred 
 to, are named anywhere else in the New Testament. Of these, Mary ap- 
 pears to have shown the Apostle some personal kindness ; Andronicus and 
 Junias seem to have been somewhere in bonds with him, who was ' in pris- 
 ons oft;' Urbanus had 'worked with' him; Persis, 'the beloved, who la- 
 boured much in the Lord,' seems also to have come at some time under the 
 Apostle's personal cognisance ; and Rufus and his mother were probably 
 known to the Apostle. Omitting these seven, and Aristobulus and Narcis- 
 sus, (note 389,) there will remain sixteen persons named, and others refer- 
 red to, whom St. Paul salutes, but who may or may not have been known 
 to him in person, but of whom he may have heard from Aquila and Pris- 
 cilla, and others, (See Introd. p. 30.) 
 
 388. V. 7. Junias, the name of a man, not Junia : kinsmen, that is, 
 Jews, like himself (ix. 3, xvi. 11, 21). 
 
 389. V. 7. loho were of note among the Apostles, that is, distinguished 
 as Apostles. So says Chrysostom, ' To be Apostles is a great thing ; but 
 to be also among those distinguished, consider how great is the praise ! ' 
 For Paul to speak of any persons as " celebrated among the Apostles," that 
 is, among the Twelve, would imply that he had more frequent intercourse 
 with the Twelve than we know he had.' Alford. ' Andronicus and Ju- 
 nias may have been of the number of those mentioned in Acts viii. 4 ; xi. 
 19 — 21, who were not unworthy to be classed with Barnabas and Paul, 
 Acts xiv. 4, 14.' Peile. 
 
 390. V. 7. who ivere in Christ before me, who were Christian believers 
 before I was. 
 
 391. V. 10. It would seem that Aristobulus and Narcissus (v. 11) were 
 not themselves believers, though some of their people were. Does not thia 
 again intimate that St. Paul must have heard of these, without having 
 known them personally ? Aristobulus and Narcissus appear, both of them, 
 to have been men of distinction, having large households. And, in fact, 
 Aristobulus was, probably, the great-grandson of Herod the Great, mention- 
 
240 EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 ed by Josephus and Tacitus, to whom Nero, in a.d. 55, gave the govern- 
 ment of Lesser Armenia. He had very likely lived previously at Rome, 
 and may still have kept up an establishment there, or, perhaps, had not yet 
 gone to his government. ' Narcissus was not the weU-known favourite of 
 Claudius, who was put to death by Nero, a.d. 54, before this epistle was 
 written, but another person of the same name, who was a favourite of 
 Nero's, and put to death by Galba.' Conyheare and Howson. 
 
 392. V. 13. ' St. Mark mentions Sunon of Cyrene, as the " father of 
 Alexander and Rufus." The latter, therefore, was a Christian, well known 
 to those for whom St. Mark wrote, and probably is the same here mention- 
 ed. It is gratifying to think that she, whom St. Paul mentions here with 
 such respectful affection, was the wife of that Simon, who bore our Sa- 
 viour's Cross.' Conyheare and Howson. 
 
 393. V. 14. Hernias^ not the author of the ' Shepherd,' who lived about 
 A.D. 150. 
 
 394. V. 12. St. Paul appears to have heard of the two women, Try- 
 phoena and Tryphosa, as being active in labours of instruction or of mercy 
 at Rome. Persis he had, probably, met with on some former occasion, as 
 is indicated by his saying that she ' laboured much,' in the past tense. 
 
 395. V. 16. Salute one another with a holy kiss. In ancient times, as 
 now in many foreign countries, a kiss was the usual salutation between 
 friends, 2 Sam. xx. 9 ; Luke viii. 45. This custom the Christians adopted, 
 and it was regularly practised in their religious assemblies, as a sign of the 
 close friendship and brotherly kindness, which bound them all as one body 
 together. So says Justin Martyr. ' Prayers being ended, we salute one 
 another with a kiss, and then the bread and the cup is brought to the presi- 
 dent, &c.' But, on those occasions, the men and women, sitting separately, 
 after the custom of the synagogue, saluted only those of their own sex. So 
 we find it in the Apost. Constit. ii. 5Y, ' On the other side, let the laity sit, 
 with all silence, and good order ; and the women, let them also sit sep- 
 arately, keeping silence Then let the men salute one another, and 
 
 the women one another, with the kiss in the Lord.' 
 
 396. V. 16. All the churches of Christ salute you. From his relations 
 to them, St. Paul can pledge ' all the churches ' to this, without, of course, 
 communicating with them. 
 
 CHAP. XYI. 17—27. 
 
 (17) But I beseech you, brethren, to mark those 
 who cause divisions and scandals, contrary to the doc- 
 
CHAP. XVI. IT — 27. 241 
 
 trine which you have learned ; and turn away from 
 them. (18) For such do not serve our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, but their own belly ; and, through fair speak- 
 ing and glosing, they deceive outright the hearts of the 
 simple. (19) For your obedience came abroad to all. 
 I rejoice, therefore, at the state of things among you. 
 But I would have you to be wise, indeed, with respect 
 to what is good, but pure with respect to what is evil. 
 (20) But the God of Peace shall bruise Satan under 
 your feet quickly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 be with you. 
 
 (21) There salute you Timothy, my fellow-worker, 
 and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 
 
 (22) I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in 
 the Lord. 
 
 (23) Gains, mine host, and of the whole church, 
 saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, 
 saluteth you, and Quartus, the brother. 
 
 (24) The. grace of out Lord Jesus Christ be with 
 you all. Amen. 
 
 (25) Now to Him, that is able to establish you, 
 according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus 
 Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, 
 which has been kept secret in the eternal ages, 
 
 (26) but was manifested now, and by prophetical 
 Scriptures, according to the command of the Eternal 
 God, made known to all nations, for obedience of faith, 
 
 (27) to God only wise, through Jesus Christ, be the 
 glory for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 397. V. 17. The Apostle does not apparently refer to Judaizing 
 teachers expressly, nor to any particular kind of false doctrine. But, 
 11 
 
24:2 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 knowing well that evil would come in some form or other, he gives them 
 this caution beforehand, to beware of sordid, self-seeking, self-exalting 
 men who would form parties, and draw them aside from the simplicity 
 that is in Christ, and the life which is according to godUness. He is now 
 writino- from Corinth, where such teachers as these had done much 
 
 mischief. 
 
 398. V. 18. their own helly^ their own low ends, interested motives, 
 love of gain, sensual appetites, &c., of such men, ' whose god is their belly, 
 who glory in their shame, who mind earthly things.'' 
 
 399. V. 19. 'I say this, because I hear the best possible report of you 
 now ; your obedience to the faith is spoken of throughout the world (i. 8). 
 But I wish you to be on your guard, to be wise and watchful for good, as 
 well as simple and innocent, (as you are,) in respect of evil.' The Apostle's 
 Christian courtesy and great judgment are manifest in every line. 
 
 400. V. 20. And, if you do this, marking such persons as seek to cause 
 divisions, and turning away from them, depend upon it, the God of Peace 
 will bless you, and soon put down the Enemy, the Evil One, that is sowing 
 tares among the wheat of his field. 
 
 401. V, 20. the grace., &c. It would seem that the Apostle meant to 
 finish his letter at this point, as far as his own remarks are concerned, and 
 so inserted the usual blessing here. He goes on, however, to send a list 
 of salutations from those with him, closing again with the benediction. 
 And then he cannot refrain from adding a few more glowing words at the 
 end, ascribing glory to God Most High, for His Blessed Gospel. 
 
 402. V. 21. Timothy and Sopater (Sosipater) of Berea, are mentioned 
 (Acts XX. 4) as among those who ' went before ' St. Paul, into Asia, from 
 Corinth, at the end of his three months' stay in Greece, during which 
 he wrote this letter to the Romans. We read of Jason, as the host 
 of Paul and Silas, at Thessalonica, in Acts xvii. 5 — 9. Liicius is most 
 probably St. Luke, the writer of the Acts. For it is noteworthy that the 
 narrative in the Acts begins to run in the first person, in the very passage 
 above referred to, immediately after the mention of the three months' stay 
 in Greece. ' These going before tarried for us at Troas.' 
 
 403. V. 22. Nothing is known about this ' brother Tertius,' who was 
 the scribe or amanuensis of St. Paul, on this occasion. His name seems 
 to imply that he was a Roman by birth, as, no doubt, was also the ' brother 
 Quartus.' 
 
 St. Paul usually employed such a scribe, (see 1 Cor. xvi. 21, Col. iv. 
 18, 2 Thess. iii. 18). But he sometimes wrote with his own hand. Gal. vi. 
 11. It is worth remembering that so long an epistle as that to the Romans 
 could not have been written at one sitting, and probably required several. 
 
CHAP. XVI. 17—27. 243 
 
 This will account for his not taking up the thread of the argument, in some 
 places, exactly as he left it. 
 
 404. V. 23. This Gaius is probably the same mentioned in 1 Cor. i. 14, 
 as having been baptised by St. Paul, at Corinth. He was, no doubt, 
 resident there, and so able to be the ' host of St. Paul and the whole Church^ 
 By the last expression it is, perhaps, meant that the believers at Corinth 
 met at his house for worship, or else that his hospitality to Christians com- 
 ing from abroad was universal. 
 
 There was another Gaius, of Derbe, with St. Paul at Corinth, at this 
 very time, (Acts xx. 4,) and in the same verse is named another companion 
 of St. Paul, Aristarchus. In Acts xix. 29 Gaius and Aristarchus are men- 
 tioned as • men of Macedonia^ Paul's companions in travel.' It seems as 
 if this Gaius of Derbe must be the same man with the man of Macedonia. 
 However the name Gaius (Caius) was as common then as John is now. 
 
 405. V. 14. the city^ that is, Corinth. Erastus is named as one that 
 'ministered' to St. Paul, in Acts xix. 22, with Timothy. They were then 
 at Ephesus, and were sent to prepare the way for him in Macedonia, and 
 thence, no doubt, went on into Achaia, where Erastus would be again at 
 home. Hence, while in Acts xx. 4, we read of Timothy accompanying St. 
 Paul into Asia, Erastus is no longer with him. So in 2 Tim. iv. 20, St. 
 Paul writes that ' Erastus abode at Corinth.' 
 
 406. V. 25. It would seem from 2 Thess. iii. lY, that St. Paul always 
 wrote with his own hand the concluding benediction, as a token that the 
 epistle was genuine, and from liimself. Here, however, before dropping 
 the pen, after writing a second time the doxology, he appears to have gone 
 on to add this grand ascription of praise. 
 
 407. V. 25. my gospel, that is, the glad tidings which I have to carry : 
 so in ii. 16. 
 
 408. V. 25. the preaching of Jesus Christ , that is, the preaching about 
 Jesus Christ, the message about Him, which, as a herald, I am commis- 
 sioned to deliver to the world. 
 
 409. V. 26. St. Paul here throws in a last word, reminding his readers 
 once more of what he has told them all along, namely, that the Gospel, 
 which he had to preach, was no new message, but only a more clear and 
 full declaration of that ' righteousness of God,' which He, as a Faithful 
 Creator, had prepared for His creatures, in His infinite counsels, before the 
 foundations of the world were laid, — a revelation of that ' mystery of god- 
 liness ' in Christ Jesus, by which that righteousness is bestowed by the 
 grace of God upon mankind, — a mystery which had been hidden hitherto, 
 but was now made known, by God's own command, for obedience of faith, 
 to all the nations upon earth, in full accordance with the prophetical 
 
244: EPISTLE TO THE ROMAiq^S. 
 
 Scriptures of the Jews (i. 2), nay, rather, hy or through, them, through 
 their express intimations and injunctions, in which God's will is made 
 known in this respect, as the Apostle has abundantly shown in the course 
 of the epistle. 
 
 410. The following dates are adopted mainly from Conybeare and 
 Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul. 
 
 A.D. BIOGRAPHY OP ST. PAUL. CONTEMPOKARY EVENTS. 
 
 36. St. Paul's Conversion. 
 
 37. At Damascus. Death of Tiberius, and acces- 
 
 sion of Caligula. 
 
 38. Flight from Damascus to Jerusalem, thence to Tarsus. 
 
 39. St. Paul preaches in Syria and Cilicia, 
 
 40. making Tarsus his head-quarters, 
 
 41. and probably undergoes most of the Death of Caligula, and ac- 
 
 42. sufferings in 2 Cor. xi. 24 — 26, viz. cession of Claudius. 
 
 43. two Koman and five Jewish scourg- Judaea and Samaria given 
 ings, and two shipwrecks. to Herod Agrippa I. 
 
 44. He is brought to Antioch, (Acts xi. 26.) Deaih of Herod Agrippa I, 
 
 45. He goes to Jerusalem with Barnabas. 
 46 and 47. At Antioch. 
 
 48 and 49. His First Missionary Journey from Antioch to Cyprus, An- 
 tioch (in Pisidia), Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and back to Antioch. 
 
 50. St. Paul and Barnabas attend the Council at Jerusalem. 
 
 51. His Second Journey from Antioch to Cilicia, Lycaonia, Galatia. 
 
 52. Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Bercea, Claudius expels the Jews 
 
 Athens, Corinth, finds Aquila and from Eome. 
 PrisciUa ; writes I. Thess. 
 
 53. At Corinth ; writes II. Thess. Felix procurator of Judaea. 
 
 54. Leaves Corinth for Ephesus, where he Death of Claudius, and ac- 
 
 leaves Priscilla and Aquila, and goes cession of Nero. 
 
 on to Jerusalem, thence to Antioch. 
 His Third Journey. He reaches Ephesus. 
 
 55. and 56. At Ephesus, with Aquila and Priscilla. 
 
 57. {Spring.) Still at Ephesus, with Aquila and Priscilla ; writes I. Cor. 
 {Summer.) Macedonia ; writes II. Cor. ; Aquila and Priscilla at Rome. 
 ( Winter.) To Corinth. Writes Gal. 
 
 58. {Spring.) "Writes Rom. ; from Corinth, by Philippi and Miletus, to 
 
 Jerusalem. Arrested and sent to Caesaraea. 
 69. At Caesar ea. 
 
 60. {A^ltumn.) Sent to Rome by Festus. Felix is recalled, and suc- 
 ( Winter.) Shipwrecked at Malta. ceeded by Festus. 
 
 61. (Spring.) Arrives at Rome. 
 
 62. At Rome, in his own hired house ; writes Philem., Col., Eph., Phil. 
 
 63. Is freed, goes to Macedonia (Phil. ii. 24) and Asia Minor, (Philem. 22.) 
 
 64. In Spain. Fire of Rome : Persecution. 
 
 65. In Spain. Florus Procurator of Judaea. 
 
 66. From (?) Spain to Asia (1 Tim. i. 8), Jewish War begins. 
 
 67. {Summer.) Writes I. Tim., from Macedonia. 
 
NOTE ON 262. 245 
 
 A.D. BIOGRAPHY OF ST. PAUL. CONTEMPORARY EYENTS. 
 
 {Aictximn.) Writes Tit., from Ephesus. 
 ( Winter.) At Nicopolis. 
 68. {Spring.) In prison at Rome ; Writes II. Tim. 
 
 {Summer.) Executed -May or June. Death of Nero in June. 
 
 N.B. The date of the year of our Lord is considered to represent ap- 
 proximately the age of the Apostle. 
 
 APPENDIX. Note on 262. 
 
 And thus also a reply may be given to those, who say that by the Atha- 
 nasian Creed, which we read from time to time in the Church Service, we 
 are shut up into a confession that we believe in the ordinary doctrine of 
 Endless Punishments. 
 
 I answer, in the first place, that laymen are not bound at all by the dog- 
 mas laid down in this Creed, not even when they take their part in singing 
 or saying it. They do not here say, as they do in repeating the other two 
 Creeds, or as they do in repeating the Apostles' Creed in their Baptism, 
 answering by themselves or their god-parents, each one personally for him- 
 self, ' I believe in all the statements of this Creed.' They do but repeat, 
 at the direction of their Church, an ancient form of words, which goes, 
 indeed, by the name of Athanasius, but which is wellknown not to have 
 been composed by him, and to have only come into use in the Church in 
 the fifth century, and in England in the ninth. When, in reading the 
 alternate verse of a Psalm, a layman comes upon the words, in which David 
 or any other fellow-man, under the Old Dispensation, in direct contradic- 
 tion to the spirit of the New, curses, instead of ' blessing,' ' those who curse 
 him,' and imprecates evil, instead of ' praying for mercy,' on the heads of 
 * those, who despitefully use him, and persecute him,' — as when he cries, 
 ' Let Satan stand at his right hand, and let his prayer be turned into sin ; 
 let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow ; let there be no man to 
 pity him, or to have compassion on his fatherless children ; let the wicked- 
 ness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of the Lord, and let 
 not the sin of his mother be done away ; ' or when, in another place, he 
 says, ' The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance ; he shall 
 wash his footsteps in the blood of the ungodly ; ' — and he repeats these 
 words, as appointed by the Church in the Daily Service ; — he does not con- 
 sider that he himself is committed to such language ; he merely acts as an 
 obedient son of the Church to which he belongs ; and he concludes that 
 she must have some good reason for prescribing the reading of such words, 
 among the rest, in her Services. In short, he feels no scruple of conscience, 
 preventing him from joining in the Service here, because he holds himself 
 at liberty to go along with the words he utters, just as far as his sense of 
 truth, and righteousness, and love, allows, and no further. 
 
 Just so may every layman do with regard to the Athanasian Creed. To 
 the Apostles' Creed lie is bound by his Baptism, To the Athanasian Creed 
 his conscience is in no way bound. He does not profess his personal ad- 
 herence to it ; he does not say, with respect to that Creed, ' I believe.' He 
 simply joins, as above, in obedience to the directions of his Church, in read- 
 
246 NOTE ON 262. 
 
 ing a certain ancient form, which she pronounces to be true and scriptural, 
 which she desires her children to hear from time to time, and requires to be 
 sung or said in the Service. And he is at liberty to let his hearty assent 
 go with the words, as far as his conscience allows him, and no further. 
 
 It is otherwise with a clergyman. He is bound by the Articles, which 
 he subscribes at ordination, to hold that this Creed, as well as the other 
 two, ' ought thoroughly to be received and believed, for it may be proved 
 by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.' He must be able, therefore, 
 to give an account of the faith which he thus professes. It is, indeed, to 
 be regretted that this Creed, by whomsoever written, should be so worded, 
 as to present any stumblingblock to a free and hearty reception of it, on 
 the part of either clergyman or layman — that it should be at all liable to 
 be misunderstood — that any of its words should require such explanation, 
 before they can be assented to, as the simple and unlearned cannot easily 
 supply. I allude, of course, mainly, to what are commonly called the 
 ' damnatory clauses,' at the beginning, middle, and end. There are, in- 
 deed, other phrases in it, employed in speaking of the high mysteries of the 
 Christian Religion, which few ordinary readers could be expected fully to 
 understand. But these do not present the great difficulty to a hearty re- 
 ception of it. That arises in most minds from the damnatoi*y clauses — from 
 an unwillingness to pass judgment upon others for holding views on certain 
 matters of religion, which may differ from our own, and which they may 
 hold conscientiously, and with as earnest and humble a desire to please God 
 in so doing, as we may have ourselves in maintaining our own Creed, and 
 whose lives may possibly, for consistency, devotedness, and purity, con- 
 demn our own — and from a sense of the absolute wickedness of undertak- 
 ing to pass such a judgment. 
 
 These clauses in the Creed are, indeed, much to be deplored. They 
 were the offspring of a stormy and violent age, when good men, not freed 
 from human infirmities, were too apt to usurp the place of the Great Judge, 
 and to pass anathemas on one another. Yet even this is better than a cold, 
 sensual indifference, which has no heart or life, which is equally uncon- 
 cerned about all religious matters, about all those things of deep, eternal 
 interest, which belong to a living man, and contents itself, perhaps, by ask- 
 ing, with a sneer, in the words of Pilate of old, ' What is Truth ? ' 
 
 But let us see what these damnatory clauses really amount to. The 
 middle one is this, ' He, therefore, that will be saved, must thus think of the 
 Trinity.' But here our own English Version mistranslates the Latin orig- 
 inal, which merely says, ' He, therefore, who wishes to be saved, let him 
 thus think of the Trinity.' This is the advice which the Church gives to 
 each enquirer — to each one who comes sincerely anxious to know the Liv- 
 ing Truth, which she has to teach him. ' Whoever wishes to be saved,' or 
 rather, to be safe, to be in a state of salvation, ' it is above all things neces- 
 sary that he should hold the Catholick Faith.' And then follows the sen- 
 tence, so terrible to many, ' Which except every one do keep whole and 
 undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly,' and this supported 
 by the closing words of the Creed, ' This is the Catholick Faith, which ex- 
 cept a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved,' or rather, as before, he 
 cannot be safe, he cannot be in a state of salvation. These words, as they 
 are generally understood, are supposed to imply the eternal damnation of 
 all, who do not believe in the doctrines laid down in the Creed, whether 
 
NOTE ON 262. 247 
 
 they have rightly and fully understood them or not, whether even they 
 have ever heard them or not. 
 
 Yet, certainly, the writer of the Creed could never have meant this : 
 for he must have excepted baptised infants, and young children, from so 
 sweeping a condemnation. He must, surely, also have excepted the weak 
 ~in intellect and the insane ; and, if so, by parity of reasoning, he must have 
 excepted the untaught and ignorant, — ignorant by no fault of their own, — 
 and as helpless in things divine as children ; he must have excepted the 
 heathen, who have never heard at all the Message of Life. And, looking 
 more closely at the Creed, we find in each of these two clauses a saving 
 word to this effect. If a man is required to ' keep ' the CathoUc Faith, he 
 must first have received it, — not with his ears only, but with his inner 
 being, with his head and his heart. The truth must have been brought 
 home to him, with more or less of clearness and fulness ; his conscience 
 must have felt the power of it, more or less forcibly, as the message of 
 God to his soul. Now, in proportion to what he has thus received, he is 
 bound to embrace it, to keep it ' whole and undefiled ' with falsehood, im- 
 purity, and sin, with ' whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie ; ' he is bound to 
 ' believe it faithfully,^ as the last clause of the Creed says, that is, with an 
 honest and sincere obedience to it, as far as he has received it. If he does 
 not, if he lives unfaithfully, if he does not walk in the light, and bring his 
 daily doings to the light, which has thus been vouchsafed to him, and 
 think, and speak, and act, as a servant of the light, — if he ' loves the dark- 
 ness rather than the light, because his deeds are evil,' — that man does not 
 need the Bible, or the Athanasian Ci'eed, to tell him that he is condemned. 
 He is condemned already. His own heart will judge him, and pronounce 
 him to be a guilty creature. He will begin to feci the gnawing of the ITn- 
 dying Worm, the scorching of the Eternal Fire, within him. And he will 
 know in himself that this woe will follow him all his life through, while he 
 clings to the sin which is destroying him, and in the life to come, — that in. 
 the other world also God's righteous judgment will rest upon him — that he 
 will ' perish everlastingly.' He will perish — not temporarily — suffering 
 merely, with respect to things of time and sense, that wretchedness of out- 
 ward condition, which sometimes follows sin in this life, by which some 
 perish miserably before our eyes, but which ends at last with this body of 
 corruption, and may even be relieved while it lasts, or, perhaps, may be 
 escaped altogether. But he will perish ' everlastingly,' with respect to 
 things eternal and spiritual, those things that are real and permanent, and 
 concern his true being, which was made for a higher world than this ; he 
 will suffer then, as he even now suffers, that inward misery, of which the 
 worst external woe of this life is but a figure — which may be coupled in 
 this world with outward woe or with outward prosperity, but, in the world 
 to come, will be mitigated by no relief, as it may be here ; he will then not 
 be able, as he may be now, to ignore, as it were, the pangs of a guilty con- 
 science, and brave the terrors of God's Displeasure. He will then be all 
 alone with God, and with the awful judgment, which a Father's Anger and 
 a Father's Love has appointed for him. There will he perish everlastingly 
 — and will lie perishing, until that Father sees the work is done. In the 
 cold and gloom of night he will lie, in the outer darkness, shut out from 
 Home, and the place where God's brighter glory shines, while the faithful 
 ones are admitted within, and the children look upon their Father's Face, 
 
248 NOTE ON 262. 
 
 and rejoice in His Love, — or, to use the other figure, he will pass into that 
 ' Eternal Fire,' which is ever burning to destroy all evil things in God's 
 Kingdom. And there, too will he lie, till God sees that the work is done, 
 the wood, and hay, and stubble consumed, the filth purged away, and the 
 pure gold left, or silver, or precious stone, which, even in the heart of that 
 sinful child, the Father's eye can see. 
 
 I do not assert that this is what was meant by the writer of the Creed ; 
 for it bears the stamp, as I have said, of a harsh and intemperate age, when 
 men were too ready to consign each other to endless perdition. But it is 
 all that we can understand when we use the words, in accordance with what 
 we feel to be the general teaching of the Bible, and the spirit of the Gos- 
 pel, and in accordance also with the Article which tells us that we must 
 ' receive God's promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in 
 Holy Scriptures.' 
 
 That we are warranted, however, as Christians, in thus interpreting the 
 damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed, we may learn from the practice 
 even of the Church of Rome. For that Church receives the Creed, even as 
 we do, and yet it believes in some remedial measures after death ; though 
 it takes the judgment out of the hands of Him, who is the only true and 
 righteous Judge, and assumes the power, beyond what is written, to lay 
 down the laws of the world beyond the grave. 
 
SEEMOK" OE" THE EUCHAEIST, 
 
 Referred to in Note on 180. 
 
 St. John vi. 51. 
 
 / am the Living Bread xohich came doioii from Heaven : if any man eat of 
 this Bread, he shall live for ever : and the Bread that I will give is My 
 Flesh, which Iivill give for the life of the icorld. 
 
 We shall all remember those memorable words, which declare 
 the secret of Man's life from the beginning, and will declare it to 
 the end of time — yes, and throughout eternity. 'It is written, 
 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that pro- 
 ceedeth out of the mouth of God.' These things which we see 
 and handle, the bread and other outward things, with which the 
 life of our bodies is sustained, have after all no power of support- 
 ing life, but what God gives them. It is His "Word alone that 
 makes them what they are to us. By that Word alone, by that 
 ever-working gracious WiU of God our Heavenly Father, do we 
 find that this bread has power to nourish our bodies, and sustain 
 our present life in being. How wretched, then, must be the blind- 
 ness and foUy of those who seek the bread of this life even, the 
 daily supplies of food and refreshment, which their bodies need 
 and long for, yet forget Him, Who alone is the very Source and 
 Giver of all these good things which they desire and enjoy, — in 
 Whom alone they ' live, and move, and have their being ! ' 
 11* 
 
250 SEEMON ON THE EUCHAKIST. 
 
 But then the bread of this life does but shadow forth to us the 
 Bread of the Soul — the Living Bread, bj which alone our spirits 
 live — and which the same good Word of God vouchsafes so freely 
 and bountifully to us. As daily we need to sustain our bodies 
 with the wholesome and pleasant food which God supplies to us, 
 so surely do we need that our souls should feed upon the Living 
 Bread, if their life is to be sustained. And that bread the Living 
 Word shall give us, Who came to us as the utterance of His 
 Heavenly Father's Gracious Will towards us. Eather He is Him- 
 self the Living Bread, and we must feed on Him daily, and mingle 
 by faith His Body and Blood with our spiritual being, so that we 
 may be truly one with Him, ' Members of His Body, of His Flesh, 
 and of His Bones.' As He says to us Himself in the text, ' I am 
 the Living Bread which came down from Heaven : if any man eat 
 of this Bread, he shall live for ever : and the Bread which I will 
 give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' 
 
 I desire this day, with the Blessing of God, to consider with 
 you more closely these words of our Gracious Lord. It is of 
 deepest importance that we should consider them, and clearly un- 
 derstand what they mean : because we remember how it follows, 
 a few verses after the text, from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself, 
 ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the Flesh of the Son 
 of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you.' Unless, 
 therefore, we have, each of us, been ' eating His Flesh,' and ' drink- 
 ing His Blood,' we have here the Eternal Truth Himself testifying 
 that ' we have no life in us.' 
 
 And the subject is specially appropriate to this occasion, when 
 we are gathered together to witness the admission of one here 
 present into the Holy Order of Deacons, and to take part, all of 
 us, I trust, in the solemn service of the day, with our Christian 
 sympathy and prayers. It is true that, by the Order of the Church, 
 a Deacon is not fully authorized to be a dispenser of God's Holy 
 Word and Sacraments, as a Priest is. He may baptise, in the ab- 
 sence of the Priest, and he may preach, with the Bishop's permis- 
 sion. But he may not minister, in the celebration of the Holy 
 Communion, except as a helper to the Priest, whose office alone 
 it is to consecrate the Bread and Wine, which are the signs to us 
 in that Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord. Neverthe- 
 less, the Deacon, as well as the Priest, hath ' obtained part of the 
 
SERMON OX THE EUCHARIST. 251 
 
 Ministry ' of Christ. Of him also — more especially if her be one 
 who is to minister chiefly among the heathen — may it be said, in 
 the words of St. Paul, that ' the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed 
 God is committed to his trust.' It behoves him to consider well 
 what a precious trust this is, which he has received of God, on 
 behalf of his fellow-men ; and in what way he is to explain, for 
 them as well as for himself, such words as these, ' Except ye eat 
 the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life 
 in you.' It behoves him to ponder well what are the great truths 
 of that ' Glorious Gospel,' which he is to be continually setting 
 forth before the eyes of his flock, that so, in God's own Light, they 
 may see Light, even ' the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of 
 God in the Face of Jesus Christ.' 
 
 For him, therefore, who is this day to be ordained a Deacon 
 in the Church of Christ, and for you, and for me, my brethren, it 
 may be well that we should together ponder for a while on these 
 words of our Blessed Lord. What then do these expressions mean 
 in the text? "What are we to understand by this 'eating the 
 Flesh,' and ' drinking the Blood,' of the Son of Man ? 
 
 IsTow, in the first place, it is plain that our Lord is not here 
 referring, expressly and exclusively, to the Holy Eucharist, which 
 we caU the ' Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood.' I say this is 
 plain ; because the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not yet 
 instituted, and yet He seems to speak as if there were those, who 
 were already 'eating His Flesh,' and 'drinking His Blood,' and 
 who actually had thereby ' Eternal Life.' For He says, ' Whoso 
 eateth my Flesh, and drinketh my Blood, hath Eternal Life, and I 
 will raise him up at the last day.' At all events, if the spiritual 
 Food, of which He is here speaking, were only to be obtained by 
 partaking of the Holy Sacrament, then those whom He was ad- 
 dressing, the Apostles whom He had chosen, the disciples whom 
 He was teaching, inasmuch as they had not yet eaten the Flesh of 
 the Son of Man in this way, nor drunk His Blood, would have had 
 ' no life in them.' Moreover the holy men of old, Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, t-he Patriarchs, Psalmists, and Prophets, would have 
 had ' no life in them' — would have died in their sins, and perished. 
 Not to speak of the mass of human kind, who would all be lying 
 under a sentence of death, notwithstanding the coming of the Son 
 of God into the world, and the publishing of those ' good tidings 
 
252 SERMON ON THE EUCHAKIST. 
 
 of great joy, wliicli were to be to all people,' — our own children 
 even, though baptized into the Name of their Pwedeemer, and 
 walking, as we trust, in the fear of God and in the path of pious 
 dutj, but not yet of age to be confirmed, and so be admitted to the 
 Holy Table, would have ' no life in them.' If they could not ' eat 
 the Flesh,' and ' drink the Blood,' of Jesus Christ their Lord, in 
 some other way than by partaking of the Holy Sacrament, all 
 these would be lying now under the doom of death, having ' no 
 life in them.' The words are so plain and strong: we cannot 
 escape them. ' Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and 
 drink His Blood, ye have no life in you.' 
 
 It is certain, then, that we must seek some other meaning {o\ 
 them than this, that they are spoken expressly and exclusively ol 
 the Holy Eucharist. I do not believe, indeed, that our Blessed 
 Lord was speaking expressly of the Holy Eucharist at all in this 
 passage. Yet, if we wish to find the true meaning of Eucharist 
 made plain to us, we may find it here. For here our Blessed 
 Lord condescends to teach us what that Holy Feast is meant to 
 signify- — ^how, while it is itself a Feast, a means of grace and spir- 
 itual strength to all who worthily receive it, it is a sign and 
 pledge to us of that eating and drinking of Christ's Body and 
 Blood, by which alone our souls can live, and which is carried on 
 within us by eyery act of true faith which we exercise upon the 
 Life and Death of our Eisen Lord, as really and truly, and in the 
 very same kind of way, as when we meet together at His Com- 
 mand, and eat the Bread and drink the Wine ' in remembrance 
 of Him.' Beware then, brethren, of attaching a superstitious 
 meaning to the Holy Sacrament, and fancying that our Lord is 
 Present to us more really, when we eat and drink at his Holy 
 Table, than He is when we are privileged to have communion with 
 Him at any other time, and m any other manner,— as if, by par- 
 taking of the consecrated Bread and Wine, we are made, in some 
 mysterious way, more truly partakers of Christ's Body and Blood, 
 than we are by virtue of any other act of living faith, whether 
 wrought in our secret chamber, or among the busy duties of daily 
 life, or amidst the prayers and praises of the Great Congregation. 
 It is the result of man's theorising, and not derived from God's 
 "Revelation, to attempt to make a distinction in hind between our 
 .^ord's Presence in the Holy Eucharist, and that which He vouch- 
 
SEKMON ON THE EUCHAEIST. 253 
 
 safes to US, when we kneel in our own retirement, or meet in our 
 ordinary assemblies for the Common Worship of Prayer and 
 Praise. 
 
 As I do not feel, so would I not speak, lightly of the dignity 
 of that Holy Feast, to which our Lord invites us — of the blessed- 
 ness of those who ' come to it, holy and clean, in the marriage gar- 
 ment required by God in Holy Scripture, and so partake fully in 
 the rich benefits thereof — or of the great peril, either of the care- 
 less neglect, or of the unworthy receiving, of the same. Just as 
 we believe that there is a special benefit to be looked for, by rea- 
 son of our Lord's gracious promise, that He will specially be pres- 
 ent 'where two or three are gathered together in His Name,' be- 
 yond that which is promised to private prayer, and yet we believe 
 that in both cases He will be present with us in the same hind of 
 way, — so must we hold that the highest and holiest Form of 
 "Worship, in which we can ' eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of 
 the Son of Man, is when we partake together of the One Bread and 
 the One Cup, as members of One Body in Him. Yet still, as I 
 have said before, so say I now again in your hearing, the bread 
 which we then break, the cup which we bless, in token of our 
 Lord's broken Body and poured-out Blood, are visible signs to us 
 of that Communion with Him, of that Communication to us of His 
 Body and Blood, which is daily and hourly supporting our spirits' 
 life. This Divine Food is, indeed, imparted to us, at that moment, 
 at the Holy Table, if we come with penitent believing hearts to 
 seek it. The Sacrament is not only a sign and seal to us of God's 
 grace, but an actual means of grace itself to all devout receivers. 
 But the Food which is then supplied to us, the grace and strength 
 which we then receive for our souls, is the same as that which we 
 may trust to receive at all times, according to our need, when dili- 
 gently treading the path of Christian Duty, and looking upward 
 by Faith unto our Lord. 
 
 ' I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven.' Yes, 
 brethren ! our Blessed Lord is always Present with us, as really 
 and truly Present, and in the very same kind of way, when we 
 bow our hearts before Him in public or in private, — when we- 
 speak the word of Truth and Love, or act the deed of Faith, in His 
 Name, in the commonest walk of life, in the midst of our every- 
 day duties and charities, — as when on some High Festival we 
 
254 SERMON ON THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 gather round His Board, and keep the Feast at His command. 
 This, indeed, is that Real Presence of our Lord, of which you have 
 doubtless heard. We must not think of the Holy Sacrament as 
 onhj a 'badge of our Christian Profession,' as only a sign and seal 
 of God's Favour to us, as only a memorial-feast, in which we make 
 mention of the great things which Christ hath done for us, and 
 look for no special blessing as coupled with the faithful use, and no 
 special harm to be dreaded from the neglect or abuse, of it. "We 
 cannot venture, brethren, to neglect, without fear of consequences, 
 any plain command of our gracious Lord, and more especially so, 
 when it is one Avhich the Apostles understood so well, that we 
 know, in the Primitive Church, they habitually practised it, and 
 far more frequently than we do now. By so doing, we cannot but 
 be sorrowful losers of the rich gifts of Grace, which He has in 
 store for those who faithfully obey His Word. Even if we know 
 not Tiow He will vouchsafe to bless us, we may be sure of this, that 
 if He has promised to be Present specially, ' where two or three 
 are met together in His Name,' so most certainly will He be Pres- 
 ent, whenever they are ' met together in His Name ' to do what 
 He Himself has expressly commanded. If we understood no more 
 about the matter, we might be sure of this, and be sure also that 
 they who abuse the Sacred Rite which He has enjoined upon us — 
 who come to it with light, careless steps, and irreverent, impeni- 
 tent, unchastened hearts — shall incur the guilt of those who ' do not 
 discern the Lord's Body,'^who do not discern it, that is, as the word 
 properly means, separate it, separate it from all things that are 
 unclean and unholy — who do not rightly value and esteem it — who 
 do not appreciate it in its mighty depth of meaning, and prepare 
 themselves for devout meditation upon the two great mysteries, 
 summed up for us in the mention of His Body and His Blood, of 
 which we are reminded in that Holy Sacrament. These two great 
 mysteries should, indeed, be the Food of our daily life— should 
 be pondered by us continually, and wrought into our very being by 
 daily acts of faith and prayer. But on these High Days of the Churcn 
 they are specially presented to us, and set before us more distinctly 
 and visibly, that so they may abide with us on other days. We 
 ' eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man,' when we 
 approach, with humble faith, the Holy Eucharist, in order that so 
 we may be able more vividly to realize His Presence at all times. 
 
SEEMON ON THE EUCHAEIST. 255 
 
 and (in His own gracious words) may ' eat Him,' and ' live by Him,' 
 habitually and constantly. Just so the Lord's Day is set apart by 
 us, Christians, as it was by the Church of Old, for Holy Worship. 
 And thus we are reminded that all days are to be the Lord's — that 
 all are to be sanctified and set apart for Him — that the spirit of the 
 Sunday must flow over into the week days, and our whole life and 
 our whole being be made one living sacrifice to Him who hath 
 loved us. And the Sunday services not only remind us of this, but 
 help us to accomplish it. 
 
 But I have said that there are two great mysteries, which are 
 visibly set before us in the Holy Sacrament of our Lord's Body and 
 Blood. The one is that which is represented by the Bread, which 
 is the symbol of His Body, and tJiat of His Humanity. The other 
 is that represented by the Wine, which is the symbol of His Blood, 
 and that of His Suffering, Humiliation, and Death. These two 
 things are together set before us in the Scriptures as the ground 
 of our Christian hope ; and one without the other is not suflScient 
 for us. His Body and His Blood — His Life and His Death — His 
 Coming into our nature to take part with the sons of men, to be 
 our Brother-Man, with all the feelings of a true Man, full of love, 
 and tender pity, and brotherly kindness to us all, full of righteous- 
 ness and truth and love before God, a perfect Man, in whom the 
 Father is well pleased, and with us in Him, as the second Head 
 of our race — and His Dying in our nature. His being ' obedient 
 even unto death,' His yielding up His human life upon the Cross 
 into His Father's hands, as the crowning act of that ' full, perfect, 
 and sufiicient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction,' which He offered 
 as the Son of Man for the sins of the whole world. 
 
 Thus, then, we have need to make memorial both of His Body 
 and His Blood — of the Body which He took, of the Blood which 
 He shed. We are to feed upon this Living Bread, which came 
 down from Heaven, that, so feeding, we may ' have life,' that, so 
 living, we may live ' for ever.' For this spiritual Bread, which Ave 
 must eat. He tells us must be 'His Flesh, which he will give for 
 the life of the world.' Daily and hourly we should be thus feed- 
 ing on this Living Bread, as daily and hourly we should be drink- 
 ing of the Living Water, which His Love also supplies to us. 
 And so, too, daily and hourly, we shall be dwelling in Him, and 
 He in us. ' He that eateth my Flesh,' He says, ' and drinketh 
 
256 SEKMON ON THE EUCHAKIST. 
 
 my Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.' Our Blessed Lord 
 does not mean that by eating once or twice only in our lives, 
 or once a month, or once a week, this heavenly Food, when 
 it is offered to us in the Holy Sacrament, we shall ' have eternal 
 life.' He means that we should be eating it continually, that it 
 may become, as it were, incorporated with our whole spiritual 
 frame by a true living faith, the very strength and sustenance of 
 our spirit's life. Let this be the use we make of the Holy Eucharist, 
 not to regard it, in the words of one of old, as a ' tremendous mys- 
 tery,' only to be approached by us with unutterable fear and 
 trembling, as something wholly different from the rest of our daily 
 spiritual life, in the hope of then realizing, in some ineffable extra- 
 ordinary way, the Presence of our Lord, as we do not at other 
 times. But let us come to it, as the appointed means for keeping 
 us in mind of that far more awful, but withal cheering, hope-in- 
 spiring, life-giving Mystery, of the Eeal Presence with us of our 
 Lord at all times, of our dependence upon Him, of our union with 
 Him — as a means for helping and quickening us to ' work out our 
 salvation daily with fear and trembling, because it is God ' — our 
 gracious God and Father, by His Spirit, which He hath vouchsafed 
 to us, through the human life and death of His own dear Son — it 
 is God Himself who ' worketh in us both to will and to do of His 
 own good pleasure.' 
 
 "Were it not so — were the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our 
 Lord only to be eaten in the Holy Communion — I know not how 
 the Church could presume to fix any limit to the number of times 
 a year, 'not less than three at the least,' at which the Communion 
 in every parish should be celebrated. Surely we should, in that 
 case, be bound to be perpetually communicating, Sunday after 
 Sunday, day after day, rather during every hour of waking life — 
 at least, as often as we can do so, without forsaking any plain pos- 
 itive duty. Thanks be to God, we may feed thus upon the Liv- 
 ing Bread — yea, we may feed upon the Body and Blood of Christ 
 our Lord — on Sundays and on week days, from day to day, from 
 hour to hour, even when we cannot press the Sacrament with our 
 lips at all, if we are feeding in our hearts by faith upon Him. W.e 
 shall not then presume to despise or neglect His Holy Table. We 
 shall always be ready to draw near to it, when the call and oppor- 
 tunity are given to us. We shall always desire to have our faith 
 
SERMON ON THE EUCHAKIST. 257 
 
 quickened, and our souls strengthened and refreshed with that 
 spiritual Food, which is verily and indeed taken and received by- 
 all faithful souls in the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Upon this point listen to the striking words of our own Church 
 Prayer Book, in one of the Eubrics at the end of the Service for 
 the Visitation of the Sick. ' If a man, either by reason of extrem- 
 ity of sickness, or for want of warning in due time to the Curate, 
 or for lack of company to receive with him, or by any other just 
 impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body and 
 Blood, the Curate shall instruct him that, if he do truly repent 
 him of his sins, and steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suf- 
 fered death upon the Cross for him, and shed His Blood for his 
 redemption, earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, 
 and giving him thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the Body 
 and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's health, 
 although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth.' If it 
 be said that these words suppose the case of one, who does desire 
 in his heart to eat the Holy Supper of the Lord, and that the 
 Church has only here provided for a case of extreme necessity, as- 
 suring her child that the desire of his heart wiU be heard and 
 answered with the blessing of Him, ' Who seeth in secret, and will 
 reward openly,' yet must there not be multitudes in whom the 
 same desire exists, as really and truly as in the heart of this sick 
 man, and who, by necessity as strong as his, are kept from sharing 
 outwardly in this Sacred Feast? Missionaries, labouring among 
 the heathen, where there is no ordained Minister — settlers in a 
 colony like this, dwelling far from the public means of grace — the 
 many who travel by land or by sea — those detained at home by 
 weakness, or the care of children, or any other 'just impediment,' 
 though they may live under the care of a pastor, and within reach 
 of the sound of the church-going bell — those even who liaTie a 
 Minister, and diligently attend the House of Prayer, yet are rarely 
 invited to the Holy Table, perhaps through the indifference and 
 negligence of their spiritual guide, perhaps through his inability 
 to summon them, from not having received authority in the Church 
 to do so — shall it not be said of many of these, that the desire of 
 their hearts is towards the remembrance of their Lord's command, 
 and towards the Feast which He has made for them ? And sure- 
 ly He, that has quickened their hearts, and kindled these desires 
 
258 SEEMON ON THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 within them, ' will hearken thereto ;' and ther, too, like the sick 
 man, shall ' eat and drink profitably to their souls' health, the 
 Body and Blood of their Saviour Christ, although they do not re- 
 ceive the Sacrament with their mouth.' 
 
 "We may not then neglect this Holy Feast, which our Lord hath 
 commanded to be observed. No true Christian will do so. We 
 shall most thankfully embrace each opportunity, which the order 
 of the Church allows, for ' breaking bread' together in the Name 
 of our Lord, and partaking of this Holy Communion, which will 
 not only be a source of life and strength to each faithful individual 
 soul, but will be so specially, because it witnesses of Grace, and 
 Love, and Blessing, for all — because it testifies that we all, who 
 are baptized, are members of one Body in Him. The Holy Sup- 
 per is one of the Sacraments, which, as the Church teaches us, is 
 ' generally necessary for salvation.' But, when deprived by the 
 Providence of God of this privilege, or when hindered by any 'just 
 impediment' — sach as we can plead before Him who seeth in se- 
 cret, and who can be deceived by no juggle of the conscience, — 
 we can, under such circumstances, eat the Sacred Body and drink 
 the Precious Blood of Christ our Lord, by devout meditation and 
 prayer, by acts of repentance, faith, and thanksgiving, at home, in 
 our retirement, without the use of Bread and Wine, with no Table 
 upon which to spread the Elements, with no Minister at hand to 
 bless them. And we can derive our needful supply of spiritual 
 life thereby, and ' dwell in Christ our Lord, and He in us.' We 
 can do this just as really and truly, as we can worship at all in 
 private, whenever we are hindered by any just impediment from 
 joining in the prayers and praises of the Church — -just as really 
 and truly, as we can then go into our closet, and shut the door, 
 and bend the knee to our Father in Heaven, and be sure of having 
 fresh gifts of spiritual life supplied to us ; and this we know can 
 only come (as our Lord tells us in the text) by ' eating His Flesh 
 and drinking His Blood,' which we therefore do efifectually in all 
 such moments of devotion and prayer. 
 
 O ! thanks be to God, our Living Lord is present everywhere 
 to the believing, penitent, and prayerful soul. And we can see 
 Him with the eyes of faith, and touch Him with our hands, and 
 feed upon His Divine Humanity, His Life and Death, His Body 
 and Blood, as that which God has given to be the Bread of our 
 
SEEMON ON THE EUCHAEIST. 259 
 
 Souls, the means of quickening, reviving, and strengthening us, — 
 though we may be far away from our fellow-Christians, far from 
 the goodly Houses of Prayer and Common Worship, far from the 
 reach of Christ's appointed Ministers — living, it may be, among .a 
 barbarous people, and amidst the wild tribes of heathenism. 
 
 And should this be the lot of any one of us, let us remember, 
 further, what is written in the text, from the Blessed Lips of the 
 Son of Man : ' The Bread, which I will give, is My Flesh, which I 
 will give for the life of the World.' Tor the life of the World, He 
 says — not for the life of believers only — of those who already 
 know something of the Truth, who are permitted to rejoice in 
 some measure even now in the bright rays of the Sun of Eight- 
 eousness, who are privileged, beyond others of the great human 
 family, to look with glad eyes and hearts upon the Light of Life. 
 But 'I will give my Flesh,' He says, 'for the life of the WorW— 
 of the whole human race. I will give it that all the World may 
 have life — that the curse of death may be taken olF the whole race 
 together, and the free gift of life be imparted to all. Yes! in the 
 secret counsels of Almighty Wisdom, He had given it already — 
 His Flesh — for the life of the world. He was 'the Lamb slain,' in 
 the purpose of God, ' from before the foundation of the world.' 
 And through Him has life been given to us. That life, which the 
 first Adam's sin had forfeited, has been restored to us in our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, Even as it is written, ' As by the offence of the one 
 man judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the' 
 righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justifi- 
 cation of life.' And again, 'God was in Christ reconciling the 
 World unto Himself, not imputing our trespasses unto us.' 
 
 Mark then, my brother, now about to be admitted to the Holy 
 Functions of the Ministry, you wUl be an Ambassador for Christ 
 to the Heathen to tell them these things — to tell them plainly that 
 all men, the whole human race, are receiving even now the bless- 
 ings of life, of life for the body, and of life, spiritual life, for the 
 soul, from Him, Who is the Life and Light of all men — the ' True 
 Light,' as St. John says, 'Who lighteneth every man that cometh 
 into the world.' You are to tell them that all men are sharing 
 even now in the blessings of the Great Redemption — are made 
 partakers of Christ's Humanity, of His Life and of His Death — are 
 deriving life and strength from Him, Who ' gave His Flesh for the 
 
260 SEEMOX ON THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 life of the World '— ' Who (says St. Paul) gave Himself a ransom for 
 All, to be testified in due time'—' Who (says St. John) is the Pro- 
 pitiation, not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole 
 World.' You are to bear in mind that the Sacraments of the 
 Christian Church are not meant to be exclusive, negative, con- 
 demning, in their character ; but they are meant to be standing 
 Witnesses of God's Love to all the World. Just as we do not sup- 
 pose that, because we keep the Sunday as the Lord's Day, there- 
 fore the six other days are not the Lord's, but may be given to the 
 World, the Flesh, and the Devil ;— just as we believe that the Sun- 
 day being kept by us as the Lord's Day, from week to week, is a 
 standing Witness that all days of the week are His, and a means 
 of helping us to consecrate our whole lives to Him ; — so, too, the 
 Church itself is set up, not to cut off and to condemn the whole 
 world besides, as having no part in Christ, no share in the Bless- 
 ings of His Coming, but as a Witness that all men are Christ's, 
 that the whole human race belongs to Him, Who has redeemed, 
 them. Who has doiigJit them laclc for Himself, Who lived, and died, 
 and rose again, for all. It is set up as a Light in the World, — as 
 a City shining bright upon a hill, that cannot be hid — not in order 
 to throw the gloom of darkness over all the world besides, but in 
 order to witness of the Love, which is even now brooding over 
 all, as it did at first, when the earth was without form and void, 
 and the Spirit of God, informing, life-giving, was moving over the 
 ^ace of the waters. Our baptism is the ratification to each one of 
 us individually of those Gracious Promises, which were made to 
 Him, who is the Great Head of our Race, as the Eepresentative 
 of us all. And while it admits us, so to speak, into God's inner 
 Family of Sons and Daughters, and gives us a claim, beyond the 
 rest of our fellow-men, to look up cheerfully to Heaven, and call 
 the Great God our Father; it is a Witness also, that He, who 
 came down from Heaven to be the Son of Man, by His Body and 
 His Blood, ' hath redeemed us. Christians, and all mankind.'' 
 
 And so too the Holy Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood is 
 a standing Witness to us, with its 'outward visible sign,' appoint- 
 ed by our Blessed Lord Himself, Who knew what was in man, 
 and how we should need this constantly-recurring Feast, these 
 outward symbols, to bring vividly before us Eternal Realities — it 
 is a Witness, I say, of the Great Fact that by Him alone we live — 
 
SERMON ON THE EUCHAEIST. 261 
 
 by Him, Wliom God Almighty, of His tender Love towards man- 
 kind, liath sent to take upon Him our Flesh, and to give that Flesh 
 for the life of the "World — by Him, "Who is the "Word of God, in 
 "Whom is Life, and that Life the Light of men. It is a "Witness 
 that, if any man, whether Christian or Heathen, have any one 
 spark of spiritual life within him, have any one good thought, or 
 movement, or desire, upon which he strives to act in his daily 
 duties, it must be because he has been fed, in his measure, in some 
 real and life-giving way, with the Living Bread, although, per- 
 haps, he knew it not — because he has been drawing light and life, 
 however unconsciously, from the Living "Word, made Flesh for 
 man — because to him also has flowed some divine virtue from our 
 Blessed Lord's Humanity — because it has been granted to him to 
 ' eat the Flesh,' and ' drink the Blood ' of the Son of Man, although, 
 perhaps, not yet revealed to him — because he has had that spark 
 of inward life supplied to him, by virtue of his relation, as a mem- 
 ber of the Great Human Family, to its One Living Head, to the 
 Lord and Elder Brother of us all. 
 
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 I.— THE EDUCATION OF THE WOELD. By the Eev. E. M. Gould- 
 burn. 
 II.— BUNSEN, tlie CRITICAL SCHOOL, and Dr. WILLIAMS. By the 
 
 Eev. J. H. EosE. 
 III.— MIEACLES. By the Eev. C. A. Heurtley, D.D. 
 IV.— THE IDEA OF THE NATIONAL CHUECH. By the Eev. W. J. 
 
 Irons, D.D. 
 v.— THE CEEATIVE WEEK. By the Eev. G. Eorinson, M.A. 
 VI,— EATIONALISM. By the Eev. A. W. Haddan. 
 
 VII.— ON THE INTEEPEETATION OF SCEIPTUEE. By the Eev, Chr. 
 WoRDSVrORTH, D.D. 
 
 APPENDIX: 
 
 L— LETTEE FEOM THE EEV. EOBEET MAIN, M,A., Pembroke 
 
 College, Eadcliffe Observer. 
 II.— LETTEE FEOM JOHN PHILLIPS, M.A., Magdalen College, Eeader 
 in Geology in the University of Oxford. 
 
 II.— AIDS TO FAITH, 
 
 A Series of TJieologieal Essays ly Various Writers. 1 Volume, limo, 539 
 pages, $1.25. 
 
 c o N" T K isr T s . 
 
 L— ON MIEACLES AS EVIDENCES OF CHEISTIANITY, By H. 
 
 D, Mansel, B.D. 
 II.— ON THE STUDY OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHEISTIANITY. 
 
 By WiLLiARD Fitzgerald, D.D. 
 IIL— PEOPHECY. By A. McCaul, D.D. 
 
 IV.— IDEOLOGY AND SUBSCEIPTION, By F. C. Crooke, M.A. 
 v.— THE MOSAIC EECOED OF CEEATION. By A. McCaul, D.D, 
 YI._ON THE GENUINENESS AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE 
 
 PENTATEUCH. By Geo. Eawlinson, M.A. 
 VII.— INSPIEATION. By Edward Harold Browne, B.D. 
 VIII.— THE DEATH OF CHEIST. By Wm. Thomson, Bishop of Gloucester 
 and Bristol. 
 IX.— SCEIPTUEE AND ITS INTEEPEETATION. By Chab. John El- 
 
 LICOTT, B.D. 
 
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Aids to Faith : 
 
 A SERIES OF THE.OLOGI0AL ESSAYS 
 
 By VAEIOUS WEITEES. 
 Being a Reply to " ESSAYS AND REVIEWS." 
 
 1 vol., 12mo, cloth, 53S pages, $1.25. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. On Ifiracles as Etidences of Chris- \ H. L. MANSEL, B. D., Wayn- 
 tianity. ) flete Professor of Moral and Me- 
 
 taphysical Philosophy, Oxford ; 
 late Tutor and Fellow of St. 
 John's Coll, 
 II. On the Study of the Ecidenees of ) WILLIAM FITZGEEALD, D. 
 Christianity. ) I>.,'Lord Bishop of Killaloe. 
 
 III. Prophecy A. M'CAUL, D.D., Professor of 
 
 Hebrew and Old Testament Ex- 
 egesis, King's College, London, 
 and Prebendary of St. PauFs. 
 
 IV. Ideology and Subscription F. C. COOKE, M. A., Chaplain in 
 
 Ordinary to the Queen, one of 
 H. M. Inspectors of Schools, 
 Prebendary of St. Paul's, and 
 Examining Chaplain to the 
 Bishop of Lincoln. 
 V. The Mosaic Record of Creation... A. M'CAUL, D.D., Professor of 
 
 Hebrew and Old Testament 
 Exegesis, King's College, Lon- 
 don, and Prebendary* of St. 
 Paul's. 
 VI On the Genuineness and Authenti- \ GEOEGE EAWLINSON, M.A., 
 city of the Pentateuch. ) Camden Professor of Ancient 
 
 ^ -^ History, Oxford ; and late Fel- 
 
 low and Tutor of Exeter Coll. 
 
 VII. Inspiration EDWAED HAEOLD BEOWNE 
 
 "' ^ ^ B. D., Nornsian Professor of 
 
 ^ Divinity at Cambridge, and 
 
 Canon Eesidentiary of Exeter 
 Cathedral. 
 
 VIIL The Death of Christ WILLIAM THOMSON, D. D 
 
 Lord Bishop of Gloucester and 
 Bristol. 
 IX Scriature and its Interpretation... CHAELES JOHN ELLICOTT, 
 
 B. D., Dean of Exeter, and Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity, King's Col- 
 lege, London. 
 
 EXTEACT FEOM PEEFACE. 
 This volume is humbly offered to the great Head of the Church, as one at- 
 tempt among many to keep men true to Him in a time of much doubt and 
 trial. Under His protection. His people need not be afraid. The old ditncm- 
 ties and objections are revived, but they will meet in one way or another the 
 old defeat. While the world lasts skeptical books will be written and answered, 
 and the books, perhaps, and the answers alike forgotten. But the Eock oi Ages 
 ehall stand unchangeable ; and men, worn with a sense of sin, shall still nnd 
 rest under the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 
 
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